So, I was on my way. Success seemed almost within reach. Little did I know, though, another layer was about to be added to this already too-complicated case.
Corruption is something that no one ever wants to find, least of all in a governing figurehead. But, unfortunately, these are the individuals that corruption seems to favor. And, for the most part, they get away with it. A leader can be nothing but rotten to the core, and yet his people will do nothing to stop him. Sure, they can protest and they can revolt – but in the end, their own fear of anarchy comes out on top. Power wins over justice, one voice drowns out many, and corruption reigns supreme over fear.
The people rarely realize their own power.
Times were changing and I was changing. Winter was upon London now, and a thin blanket of snow dusted the ground, much to the delight of the kittens. Epellina was huge, with the newest member of our family due to arrive within the week. I was trying not to think about it, but Munkustrap refused to let anyone talk about anything else, which made it rather difficult to ignore. Fortunately, though, there was something else on my mind that took up much more of my concentration: the alley toms. I'd given up trying to figure out the whole thing – Demeter and I had collectively decided that I simply didn't have enough information to piece it all together. So I was going to go back to the alley for more.
I knew it was risky, but I told myself that the risk of letting this secret go unknown to the tribe was greater. All the same, I already knew that I couldn't bring Demeter along with me. I was afraid to think of what the alley toms might do to a young queen who stumbled into their domain, particularly one as pretty and as innocent as she. And, besides, in the quite-likely event that this would get me in trouble with the tribe, I didn't want to bring her down with me. Frankly, I was surprised I hadn't been caught as it was.
As I would soon find out, though, I wasn't the only one who had other matters to worry about.
"You're very quiet today," Demeter observed. It was colder outside than it had been in a while, and so the two of us had willingly retreated, as we had been doing increasingly often, into the insulated warmth of the old oven. The kittens were out playing in the snow, which was light and powdery in the chilly air. It wasn't the kind of snow that packed well, but it still seemed enough to keep the simple-minded kittens occupied. My queen-friend was leaning against me to share the warmth of my thick fur, her paw clasped in mine and our fingers laced together. As she spoke, I blinked, realizing that I hadn't said a word for several minutes.
"Oh – sorry," I murmured, shaking my head. "I was just thinking."
There was a pause before Demeter answered. When she did, her tone was decidedly neutral as she guessed, "About those toms?"
"Yeah," I confirmed. It wasn't a lie, at any rate. I was thinking about the alley toms, but not about the mystery and what it had to do with my father – I was thinking about my new plan to see them again. I'd already decided that I wasn't going to tell Demeter that I was going back to the alley – if she knew, she would either try to stop me or want to come with me, and I couldn't risk having either of those things happen. My secrecy was for her own safety, but in retrospect, perhaps that was my first mistake.
Demeter frowned. "I thought we'd decided to give up on that," she reminded me.
I gave her a slight smile. "I never give up," I told her. "I only take breaks."
"But we decided together that we weren't getting anywhere," she persisted.
"That's not gonna stop me from trying." The smile widened into a grin, but to my disappointment, she didn't grin back.
"Deme, come on," I tried when she didn't say anything. "You know how important this is. This secret is huge. It's bigger than both of us. We can't just turn a blind eye to it, not when we're so close to the truth."
She still didn't respond. Instead, she gave me a look I couldn't decipher and turned her attention outside.
"Well, you go ahead and try," she finally told me. "But I've done all I can."
Confused by her sudden lack of enthusiasm, I followed her gaze outside. She seemed to be looking at my brother. "Deme, are you okay?" I asked. "What are you looking at?"
She was silent for another moment before she mused, "He won't be a kitten for much longer."
My brow furrowed. "I'm aware," I acknowledged. "And . . .?"
"He's grown up nicely," she added.
I looked at her and frowned. "Deme, what are you—"
"I'm just saying," she interrupted lightly. "It's true."
"You sound like my mum," I grumbled, looking away.
Demeter looked at me. "You're tired of hearing me talk about him, aren't you?" she mewed. Before I could answer her, though, she continued, "Well, that's how it is when you keep talking about those toms. There just comes a time when I don't want to hear about it anymore."
I stared at her. "You never told me that," I defended myself. "And, anyway, that's different. I thought you were excited about helping me with this."
"And I thought you cared about your little brother," she countered without missing a beat.
I froze with my mouth open for a moment, trying to fathom some retort but unable to think of anything. She had me cornered. Dammit, how do queens always do that? Even when they're wrong, they can still trick you into believing that they're right.
I sighed and let my shoulders sag. This was an argument I would be bound to lose. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. You've made your point."
"It's all right," she murmured. "Just keep that in mind. I'll gladly help you when I have something to help with, but in the meantime, just . . . try to focus on other things. For me." She gave me that delicate little smile.
In spite of everything, I couldn't help but smile back. "All right," I agreed. "For you."
She giggled softly, and I could see that she was looking me over. "You know," she hinted with a purr in her voice, "you've grown up nicely too."
"As have you," I chuckled in reply. I slid an arm around her and pulled her in to me; I leaned in and placed a little peck right on her lips. We broke apart with a quiet smack, and she looked up at me with a grin. I returned the look, and this time it was she who leaned in, and her slightly-parted lips, soft and warm against the cold outside air, met mine halfway.
You wouldn't think it from looking at her the way she is now, but when she was younger, Demeter knew a thing or two about romance. She could give a tom what he wanted. Perhaps this was a trait inherited from her mother, but wherever it came from, I never complained about it. When she kissed me, she had this way of making me feel like I was the only tom in the world. Everything else around us dissolved; we were all that existed in that moment that was always too short no matter how long it lasted.
Several seconds dragged on, and I began to want more. I came up for air, and slid my other arm around her as I leaned back in. I felt her arms drape over my shoulders, and a paw buried itself in my headfur, pulling my face closer to hers. A few seconds more, and our tongues were playing with each other.
I tightened my grip around her. Things were getting heated, but I didn't want to stop now. She tasted so good, and the cold winter air felt warmer with her in my arms. I didn't take notice of the young voice complaining, "Hey! Lemme go!" until an older one sharply cleared its throat.
Demeter and I sloppily broke apart and looked toward the oven entrance. Munkustrap and Bombalurina were standing there; my brother was staring at us with a disapproving frown, and he held a paw clamped over the scarlet kitten's eyes. There was a brief moment in which none of us knew quite what to say, but then Munkustrap impatiently asked, "Are you done?"
His voice was changing. I'd already known this, but something about the way he spoke then emphasized it. Suddenly, he seemed very authoritative. Demeter was right – he wasn't much of a kitten anymore.
I opened my mouth to reply, but Demeter, who was blushing fiercely, beat me to it. "Er—yes," she managed timidly. "Sorry you had to see that. She can come in." She was more embarrassed than she really should have been. After all, Munkustrap had seen us kiss before . . .
My brother raised an eyebrow, but let go of the squirming Bombalurina, who stumbled into the oven, blinking.
"She needs to go relieve herself," Munkustrap explained, and the kitten nodded, crossing her legs with a look of obvious discomfort on her face.
Demeter frowned. "Why can't Mummy help you?" she asked her sister.
"I can't find 'er," Bombalurina whimpered. "She's not home."
Demeter and I exchanged a glance. This had been happening more and more recently. Grizabella would disappear in the middle of the day without a trace and without warning. No one seemed to be noticing, though – just Demeter and her sister. It was strange, but not, so we all thought, a big deal. Demeter seemed to be doing well enough raising her sister in Grizabella's place. We all assumed that whatever was going on would blow over and come to an end in its own time.
My queen-friend gave me a slight nod, and I grudgingly nodded back. She looked at Bombalurina and softly murmured, "All right, come on." The kitten turned and bolted away; Demeter turned back to me and kissed me once more before following.
I grinned stupidly as I watched her walk away, but then I realized that Munkustrap was still there. The grin faded as I turned and saw him staring at me. "What?" I asked him. "Are you expecting some sort of apology? If you are, you'll be waiting a long while."
To this day, I sometimes wonder if he's still waiting.
"Tell Demeter I've gone inside," I continued as I ducked out of the oven. There was something I needed to take care of. Our passionate exchange had gotten me worked up, and Little Macavity was getting impatient.
Munkustrap blinked. "But—" he started, but I cut him off with a sharp look. He ducked his ears and murmured a bewildered "Okay . . ." and turned and wandered off, leaving the two of us alone.
I glanced down. This was a big one. This, too, was something that had been happening increasingly often lately, but it was less of a mystery. I knew what it was by now and I knew what to do about it. With a tingling sense of urgency, I hurried to my den, past my heavily pregnant mother dozing on the giant tire and past the trail of fresh pawprints in the snow that led right into the den.
I went directly to my room and closed the door with a breath of relief. Then, with a smirk, I padded up to the pile of old socks in the corner of my room that I'd been using for just this purpose and wasted no time in getting down to business.
It lasted a good several minutes. The touch of my own paws never felt so good. A shudder of ecstasy that drew forth a groan from deep in my throat, and it was over. I spent the next short while simply reclining on my bed, paws behind my head and tail swishing lazily, eyes half-closed and a relaxed purr flowing. My mind began to drift back to the subject of the alley toms. My plan to see them again was coming together, and I had to keep it a secret. That didn't seem like too much of a challenge. Once I got there, I had to figure out how to get information from them without them chasing me away again – that would be more difficult. These toms seemed convinced that I was just a stupid, weak kitten. If I could somehow show them that I was more than that and make them respect me . . .
Suddenly, I sat up, jolted out of my thinking by strange noises coming from another room. My ears flicked straight up, listening closely. It was two voices, one male and one female. But they didn't seem to be speaking – the noises sounded more like moans. The male voice was easily recognizable as my father's, and so I assumed that the other cat was my mother. But my brow furrowed as I remembered seeing Epellina on the tire when I came inside. She was still out there; I would have noticed if she had come in. And then another detail came back to me that I hadn't even noticed in my haste: there had been fresh pawprints in the snow leading directly to the den. Someone had snuck in while my mother was sleeping. And whoever it was, she seemed to be getting quite comfortable with my father.
Automatically curious, I hopped off the bed and crept out of my room. I followed my ears to a spare room in the back of the den and found the door half-open; I hid behind the jamb and peeked in. The sight that greeted me was similar to what I'd seen that night after my second visit to the alley toms, but both parties involved seemed much more passionate. My father was definitely one of them; peering closer, I stifled a gasp as I recognized the queen.
Suddenly, I knew why Grizabella kept disappearing in the middle of the day. She was screwing the Jellicle Leader.
Neither of them noticed me; my first instinct was to call out and show them that they had been caught in the act, but I stopped myself. I could use this to my advantage. Deuteronomy and Grizabella were both harboring a dangerous secret, and it had just unwittingly fallen into the wrong paws. I felt a twisted grin cross my face as I turned away. Even if he didn't know it, I now held something over my father, and I could prove everything I was seeing.
The grin faded from my face as a new perspective occurred to me. This was Old Deuteronomy. The Jellicle Leader. Our figurehead and patriarch. And he was having an affair behind his mate's back.
Corruption. I hadn't known much of anything about it before, but now it was staring me in the face. What should I do? What was anyone supposed to do when they stumbled upon a secret like this one?
I could tell Demeter. I could tell my mother. I could tell everyone. Or I could tell no one. I realized that if I was going to unmask my father, I had the potential to reveal so much more than this. It was just a matter of getting all the right information.
As I returned to my room, my mind jumped right back, once again, to the alley toms. I would sneak out and see them again, and I would do it as soon as I could. There was a dark secret being harbored – that much I knew for sure. This made two big things that my father was hiding. I hadn't failed as a prince half so much as he was failing as a leader. We both had our secrets, and we were both endangering the whole of the tribe in keeping them. The difference between us was that my father thought he could get away with it.
It was then that the urgency of my task hit me. It was no longer just a task to prove myself – it was also to reveal my father for who he truly was. He, like the alley toms, thought I was too young and stupid to do anything about him. He had no idea how wrong he was. He didn't know what I knew. Finally, finally, I had the upper hand. My father had wronged me one time too many, and I wouldn't rest content until I made sure he knew what a horrible mistake he'd made.