Late Autumn
When next he woke, something felt different. Well, many things felt different—he scarcely knew where he was, for one—but what really stood out to him was the smell in the air. Or, more accurately… It doesn't stink, was his first coherent thought. At least, he had to amend, I think it's improved from what it was before…before… Before what?
Forcing his eyes open with some difficulty, he looked around him, keeping still half from exhaustion (though he couldn't recall why) and half to stop himself panicking as he worked to remember where he was and what was happening.
It didn't take him long to recall his cage and all the recent events that it brought to mind. But what was different?
More space, for starters. Rather than a dog crate, he was now simply in a room—storage closet or some such notion—which had no window, and a door he assumed was locked, but much more spacious than his previous prison all the same. And in one corner… Really? They'd provided him an actual litter box. He glanced down, and right beside him was a dish of water and some bits of meat and kitten chow.
That did it. This must be some bizarre form of psychological torture. Starving him one day, stuffing him the next… Well, never mind that for the moment. Might as well take advantage of the conveniences as long as they were here, he reasoned to himself. Accordingly, he used the litterbox and then resumed his former place, forcing himself to slowly eat a little even though he felt somewhat nauseated.
As he ate, he attempted to sort things out in his mind. The last "news" he had was, as far as he could make out, that Gilbert was trying to persuade Demeter and Bombalurina to "cooperate" with whatever it was Griddlebone wanted them to do. He'd brought Demeter to see how badly-off MacVitie was…but now…
Mack grimaced down at the piece of meat in his paw, resisting the urge to spit out what was in his mouth. If he was now being fed and well-treated, it could only mean the queens had finally agreed to…
Not necessarily, he tried to reason with himself, perhaps you are only meant to think so. He entertained this hope for barely two minutes together before dismissing it. Gilbert might play such games—he hardly knew—but Griddlebone wouldn't. She was ruthless. She held everycat to his or her word, even if the Persian queen failed to honor her own promises. If she had truly given Demeter and Bombalurina an ultimatum as to what they were required to do in exchange for Mack's well-being, she would be certain to hold them to it. And who knew how long it had been since the time in question? Well, clearly not long enough for him to starve to death, but…
"Stupid, stupid idiot queens!" Mack hissed, unreasonably furious in his worry about them. "First they follow us here, then they get themselves and me in trouble…" He had, of course, been in plenty of trouble without them and had been making no progress whatsoever before their arrival, but he was hardly ready to admit that even to himself. Too angry to form anymore sentences, he began uselessly pounding the floor with his paws.
In this state Rumpelteazer found him a short time later. "'Ere, now, wot's this? 'Avin' a kitten fit, are we?" she exclaimed in that obnoxiously cheery tone of hers. "Not 'ungry fer yer vittles? Eat 'em, they's awful nice…"
"Listen, Teaz'," Mack fairly snarled, "I'm in no mood for games. You're going to tell me something even if I have to…" He took a deep breath in an attempt to rein in his temper. "…Even if I have to tickle it out of you," he finished lamely, though his tone suggested he'd rather have said "throttle."
"Tell ya somethin'…?" Teazer seemed to ponder for a moment. "All righ' then! If'n y'wants me t'be brutally honest… Yew could use a bath."
"What?" Mack stared at her, too taken aback to make an even angrier remark.
"Yeah," she nodded solemnly, "looked at yerself lately? Dusty coat, uncombed whiskers, headfur stickin' out ev'ry which way… I won't deny yer awful 'andsome when ya wants to be, but ya mostly looks like a circus clown jus' now." She scratched her head. "Naw, maybe more like one o' them shaggy carpets I've seen in 'umans' sittinrooms…"
Before Teazer could go on—or MacVitie could interrupt her with another exasperated attempt to get sense out of her—the door suddenly burst open, admitting Teazer's twin.
"Teazah!" Mungojerrie gasped, slamming the door shut behind him, "They's—they's…" He puffed and blew, panting, trying to get his breath sufficiently to talk. "Some'un's…"
"Wot, Jerrie? Speak up!" Teazer exclaimed in annoyance. "Gracious. Can't get no sense outta somefolk!"
"I know just what you mean," muttered Mack, though he too watched Jerrie anxiously, waiting for an explanation what the striped tom was so frightened of.
"Some'un's come an'…an'…kitnapped Lady Mother! Scary monstrous-lookin' cats! An' now they may be comin' fer us!" Jerrie practically wailed.
"Monstah-cats," Teazer scoffed, rolling her eyes meaningfully in Mack's direction. "Clearly yew needs ta lay off the catnip…"
"What did they look like?" demanded Mack, causing both twins to turn and stare at him.
"Yew b'lieve 'im?" Teazer exclaimed. "Why Oi never 'eard such nonsense…"
"Shuttup," Mack growled, more rudely than he needed from already being fed up with the queenkit and her self-contradictions. "I don't doubt you've believed stranger things. Jerrie, tell me what these strange cats looked like."
"Looked like?" Jerrie hesitated. "Like…like Genghis, I reckon. But scarier. Y'know 'is eyes, them gigantous bright blue eyes, they stares at ya like they knows yer thoughts. They's like that. I didn't see more'n that. Ran fer it. They'd already taken Lady Mother," he added, "an' I thought ta find help. But they seemed t'be ev'rywhere an' I couldn' get outta the basement… Then I thought at least yew'd be 'ere an' we c'ld come up with sommat of a plan…B'fore they comes an' kills us…"
"They won't," Mack interrupted.
"How c'n yew possibly know that?" Jerrie gasped. As if on cue, the sound of quickly-moving paws approached. "Wot'd I tell ya?" the tomkit cried. He stared at the door in terror, but it didn't burst open. Instead, they heard a "click" as it locked.
"Catnip!" Teazer cried. "I'd forgot it locked fr'm the outside…"
"Do not interfere," snarled a voice through the woodwork. "Stay here and keep quiet and you will come to no harm." Before any of them could respond, whoever was outside had gone.
"Stay here?" MacVitie rolled his eyes. "As if we could go anywhere…"
"'Course we can," Teazer countered. "They's always a way out… Well, you'll 'ave t'stay here, Mac-o-thing, yer still in disgrace…"
"Yew fink that even mattahs?" Jerrie demanded, grabbing his sister's paw. "D'yew even realise wot's happenin'…" He scratched his head. "Er, er… wot is happenin', Macvee?"
"Wot makes ya fink he'd know?" cried Teazer, as if she'd had it with both toms and was utterly oblivious to the fact that there was a crisis on. She whirled round to face Mack. "Do y'know? Why d'yew know? What in catnip is goin' on?" she fairly screeched the last bit, flinging the remains of MacVitie's dinner at the wall and then proceeding to collapse into a sobbing heap on the floor.
At his wits' end, Mack threw a desperate glance in Jerrie's direction. The younger tom's expression—of concern, but not shock—indicated to Mack that this was by no means an unheard of behavior on Teazer's part. At least, Mack supposed, concern over his sister had caused Jerrie to forget his own terror for the moment. But they'd be none of them any good if he couldn't get both twins to pull themselves together and…as he'd been longing for all along…talk sense.
Carefully, he moved to Jerrie's side. "So what d'you do when she's like this?" he asked in a low voice, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
"Erm…" The tiger tomkit shrugged helplessly. "Heaviside if I've figgered it out yet. Gen'rally just er…wait…till it stops?"
Well. Mack shouldn't be surprised.
On the wild chance that Teazer might respond differently—or snap out of it more quickly—to someone other than her brother, MacVitie sat down next to her and gave her an awkward pat on the head. For the umpteenth time he wished Munkustrap were here to deal with this madness. "Teaz…it's okay…we'll think of a plan…" Emotional queens…again…why… Reminded of the situation at paw, he motioned to Jerrie to sit down across from him, trying not to show his worry.
"I don't really know what exactly is going on," he explained carefully, thinking perhaps Teazer would 'snap out of it' more quickly once she realized they weren't paying attention. "Gil—Genghis mentioned…that something was coming, but was very vague about it. But I believe what they said out there—that as long as we stay put, we won't be harmed." He wasn't as confident as all that, but he couldn't have the twins panicking any more than they already were. "Now, I need you to think a moment and tell me—where are Demeter and Bombalurina? Are they safe? I think you can say anything you want now," he added quickly, anticipating protests. "The Leader and the Lady Mother are a bit busy at the moment." Whatever The Tiger's involvement in this whole situation, it was a pretty good gamble the doings of the twins and MacVitie were not foremost in his mind. As for Griddlebone…according to Jerrie she was kitnapped.
"They…" Mungojerrie hesitated. "They wos…perfec'ly well when…when Oi last saw 'em."
"Which was…?" Mack prodded.
The tiger tomkit hung his head and almost whispered, "Just a bit ago."
"You…" Mack tensed, willing himself not to lose his temper again. "You left them? On their own?"
"They wos in their cage," Jerrie explained, looking pleadingly up at the other tom. "They said Oi sh'ld run, whoever-it-was didn't 'ave a key an' so couldn' harm 'em an' I sh'ld hide till the newcats'd gone an' then come back to check on 'em…"
MacVitie kicked a few pieces of his spilt food around, but otherwise controlled himself. Only the reminder that Jerrie was just a kit kept him from doing more. "Fine," he said shortly. "The other cats have gone now. We can go fetch Bomba and Demeter." Ignoring Jerrie's protests that they were trapped and didn't have a key to the queens' cell in any case, Mack turned and gave the queenkit a shake. "Teazer? Teazer, I need you to get up now. The danger's passed for now, and others need your help, so quit blubbing. You mentioned something about 'there's always a way out'?"
Startlingly, Teazer leapt up onto her paws and grinned at the two toms as if nothing had been amiss in the first place. "Well, Oi was wonderin' when you'd ask!" Mack frowned, unable to escape the feeling that he and Jerrie had both been "had" by nothing more than a queen's tricks for attention, but let it pass. If she was going to do something useful now, he didn't mind a bit of melodrama on her part.
"But d'yew really know a way out?" Jerrie asked, still puzzled. "They's no windows…an' don't recall ever bein' in 'ere b'fore…guess we've gotta start fr'm scratch an' find some crevice er other?"
Mack glanced at him in genuine surprise. "So you two actually have secrets from one another?"
"No!" Jerrie responded immediately, offended at the idea. "She just means we're so 'andy wit' findin' our way outta places, we're sure to fin' a way outta this'un…" He looked to his sister for confirmation. "Er, righ', Teaz'?"
"Well…" Teazer attempted a penitent look, but failed miserably and gave herself completely over to her expression of triumphant glee. "I can't tell yew everythin', can I, brothah?" Seeing his devastated look, she rushed on, "S'pose we were in trouble an' Leadah decided to torture us an' we both gave away all each other's secrets? Then how'd ya feel? Didn't considah that, didja?"
"All right," MacVitie broke in, growing restless, "so do you know a secret way or not?"
"Shame," she sighed, "soon's I show ya, we're all gonna be in the secret, an' there goes that safety-net…"
"Teazer!" both toms prodded. Her only response was to glance up at the ceiling. Following her gaze, Mack saw that one of the tiles appeared to have been chewed by mice.
"Boost," she said to Jerrie in a commanding tone. Still offended at her having secrets from him, Jerrie rather grudgingly bent down and let her scramble up onto his shoulders. Very carefully, he stood up again to his full height, allowing his sister to just barely reach the ceiling. Whacking and shoving at the chewed tile, she shifted it until the opening was large enough for her, and, with a slight jump, managed to pull herself up into the crawlspace.
MacVitie looked on, baffled, afraid any attempt on his part to aid in the operation (which they'd clearly carried out before on burglary missions) would only cause the two younger cats to fall. "How'd you ever manage that on your own?"
"This's the fuhst time I've tried it in this partic'lar room," Teazer admitted. "Been explorin' the ceilin' space fer some time now, an' coun'ed on there bein' a loose tile in here like there is in most've the rooms. So! I'll just go off an' see wot c'n be done fer our friends, shall I? Be righ' back to report!" And she scurried off before either tom could object.
"An' here I thought we shared everythin'," Mungojerrie sighed dramatically.
MacVitie's mind was on a completely different strain. "She could have gotten us all out long ago," he breathed. "Or we could have at least tried…If she really knows so many passageways…" He fought down fury that threatened to choke him once more, fury at all the wasted time, the needless months of misery…Forgetting that Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer believed escape to be out of the question, and furthermore weren't aware of any plan to bring them along even should Mack and the queens miraculously manage it.
Mungojerrie turned to him with a look of astonishment. "Nevah," he said earnestly, "we c'ld never've done it. Ye've been locked up an' asleep much o' the time, Mackavee, y'don' realize just 'ow secure this place is. Even when you an' yer friends was all free t'move about… Some'un's always watchin'…" Even now, he glanced around uneasily as if a spy would spring out at them any moment. "Dontcha think," he continued in a whisper, "we've ever wan'ed t' try fer a…diff'rent way o' livin'? All respect an' love t' Lady Mother, but it's 'ard not t'be curious about othah ways…we seen nice cats livin' with 'umans, smallah groups o' cats runnin' the streets t'gether, it seemed like a lark. Once we figgered we'd try it, just fer awhile. We wos fixin' t'get some fings from 'umans any'ow, so we decided t'stay there fer the night an' see 'ow fun it was. But b'fore we c'ld climb in th' window, we found ourselves dragged by the ears back 'ere. Got a talkin'-to an' a long while in th'cage fer that'un. Cured me of evah thinkin' 'bout diff'rent ways o' livin', lemme tell ya!"
MacVitie was not convinced this whole place was as secure and inescapable as Jerrie made out, but regardless, the twins had clearly been terrorized into believing it was. If they were helping him now, it must mean the place was truly deserted. Maybe it really is mainly smoke and mirrors here and Growltiger and Griddlebone are not nearly as powerful as they seem… "And so you never got to try living with humans… But I suppose you got a little bit of time trying the other different way? Living with another group of cats. Did you like it?"
Jerrie's face lit up noticeably. "Ehh, that junk place where yer friends live, yeah? Well, some've it's fuzzy, but every'un seem'd nice an' fun. That Mist cat wos quite the wondah. M…Mu…Monkee Tap? That stripey one… 'e wos nice too, an' some nice-lookin' ol' mothah-queens. Wouldn't've minded stayin' a longer visit, but duty called, y'know."
It was interesting hearing the twins' understanding of right, wrong, and "duty" explained so fully. Mack's heart sank at the mention of his brother, but simultaneously he had to turn around and hide a laugh at the other bit. What would Jelly and Jenny think of being called "old mother-queens"?
"Well," he shrugged, getting ahold of himself, "maybe you two will get a chance for a longer visit soon." He had never intended to give them even that much hope or a hint of escape, but with everyone else so occupied with…whatever was going on, some sort of great showdown between Growltiger and the strangers, he imagined… This was the best chance to slip away unnoticed. Gilbert had said not to interfere…but surely it made no odds to him if MacVitie, the queens, and the twin striped kits simply left here altogether? Unless The Tiger still has some sort of hold on him…or perhaps he had to strike a new deal with those other cats…Maybe now matters are worse than ever… It occurred to him that, even if Growltiger and Griddlebone were defeated (he refused to consider any possibility of their being killed, which would only open up a whole new dilemma of "should-we-save-them-even-though-they're-our-enemies"), these strangers who were fighting them might be even worse overlords.
In any case, first they had to get Demeter and Bombalurina out, Mack reminded himself, pushing aside these other anxious thoughts until later.
Teazer's face soon reappeared in the opening made by the missing ceiling tile. "Ready?" she called out.
"Are they all right?" MacVitie grilled her. "Can we get them out? Can we help them up into the crawlspace—"
"Already done," the tabby queen declared. She giggled at the two toms' stunned expressions. "Jerrie, y'look like y' can't decide whether to be proud o' me or mad 'cause you didn't get to'elp. C'mon, be a sport, lemme 'ave the oh-kay-shnull solo stunt!"
"All right, all right," said Mack, impatient to see if the queens were really there and were well off. "Let's get you three down. Or shall Jerrie and I just get out of the way as you can manage just fine on your own?"
"Oh-ho, don't yew be bittah too, Macavee," Teazer scolded. "Yew silly toms. Yew c'n last a few minutes not playin' the heroes and still survive okay, b'lieve me! But yeah, Oi fink we c'n manage… Do stan' by in case'f emergency if y'like." She paused. "Actually, if'n the two'f yew c'ld shove that there ol' desk this way…so's we don't need t'drop quite so far…"
MacVitie and Mungojerrie rolled their eyes, but did as asked. "Coulda done that in the fuhst place," Jerrie commented, "then y'needn't've got on me back."
"Yeah," Rumpelteazer laughed, "an' you'd've been hurt thatcha didn't get to 'elp at all!"
"All right," Mack interrupted again, "we get it, we're useless and you're brilliant, now will you all just get down now and explain how you managed the escape so easily?" It troubled him that they'd got away unchallenged—and that, as yet, he hadn't heard a word from Bombalurina or Demeter. Teazer seemed unconcerned, but that didn't mean a lot—not much that happened here could shock the twins, and besides she was rather caught up in her own triumph.
"Fine," Teazer sighed dramatically. She hopped nimbly down onto the desk and then to the floor, followed closely, though rather more slowly and carefully, by the two Jellicle queens.
MacVitie half held out his paws, uncertain whether he was about to gather the two queens into the world's largest bear-hug or— But Bomba's decidedly vindictive glare and the way Demeter shrank back, practically hiding behind her sister, made him reconsider and back off to give them space. "Are you all right?" he asked, in a much more subdued tone than he'd been using a moment ago.
"You've got a nerve, asking that," hissed Bomba through clenched teeth. "But never mind. Just get us out of here. What's the plan?" Not even allowing time for a response, she added, "Of course. There isn't one."
"There will be," Teazer put in helpfully. Jerrie only eyed the queens uncertainly, unnerved by Bomba's harshness.
Mack, too, was rather taken aback, but determined to make the most of it. No doubt he deserved Bomba's abuses and then some, but the priority was getting everyone out of here; even in her anger she could appreciate that. But Demeter had still said nothing; that terrified him. "The first plan was getting you two out, so we could all form the next plan together," the ginger tom explained, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "I didn't realize that bit would take so little time." He winced slightly, realizing as soon as he said it that he'd made a poor choice of words. Drifting in and out of consciousness as he had, he'd had little concept how long their captivity had lasted; doubtless it had seemed an eternity to the queens. Again, he forced himself not to think of what they must have been through; at this moment, that could help no one. "I mean," he added uselessly, "so little time since the strange cats showed up. How did you manage it, Teazer? Getting them out of their cage, I mean?"
"We were never in a cage," Bomba practically snarled, cutting off Teazer's reply. MacVitie glanced confusedly at Jerrie, who had definitely mentioned a cage. "Not a locked one, at any rate," the scarlet queen added, as if that made matters any clearer.
MacVitie's eyes widened. "But then…" he began.
"No," Bomba stopped him. "Don't ask. Do. Not. Ask." She looked at the twins. "And you two, whatever you think you know, keep it to yourselves. If I talk about it…or anyone else talks about it in front of me…" She turned her glare back on MacVitie. "I just may kill you. And much as I would enjoy killing you, I do think it would be somewhat unhelpful to our escape, not to mention one of your brothers would never forgive me. So forget it. Just tell me how you aim to get us out of this rat hole once and for all."
"Wot're yew sayin'?" Mungojerrie gasped. "You ain't…you ain't really thinkin' of escapin'?"
"What'd you think we've been talking about?" Bomba demanded. "You bother to explain anything to these kits?" she asked MacVitie without looking at him.
"I didn't want to get their hopes up," Mack began.
"Oi jus' got through explainin' to ya, Mac-a-thing…" Jerrie looked round at all of them, exasperated. "We've explained to all of yew, sev'ral times, that there is no escape from 'ere. Right, Teaz'?" He appealed to his sister.
"Well…" Teazer hesitated. Jerrie's eyes widened, and he gripped his headfur with his paws as though he meant to keep himself upright by this method as his whole world came crashing down around him.
"We're all gonna die," moaned the tiger tomkit, sinking down to the floor.
"Oh, just shuttup an' listen," growled his sister, eyeing her twin with disgust as if she hadn't been the one crumpled in a dramatic heap only a short time ago. "Normally, o' course, yew'd be right. But think on it; righ' at this moment, the entire place is deser'ed…"
"We don' know that," Jerrie mumbled feebly into the ground.
"It's as deser'ed as it'll evah be," Teazer insisted. "If'n there were evah time to escape, now'd be it."
"So you do want to leave?" MacVitie cut in, eyeing the queenkit in some surprise. He'd assumed she and her brother were both attached to this place not only by fear, but by at least some semblance of loyalty, however misplaced.
"Well, Oi at least wanna get yew three outta here," Teazer snapped. "It's clear yer all soft as daisies an' won't last much longer. As fer me'n Jerrie, well… Lady Mother prob'ly won't take so kindly to our gettin' yew'uns away, so…we may end up exiles, an' then if yew fink yer folks won' mind, we c'ld stay with yew a while?"
"We won' get the chance," Jerrie repeated stubbornly. "She'll fin' us an' kill us. An' if we stay at that junk place, she'll fin' all our new friends and kill 'em too."
"It's pos'ble," Teazer acknowledged, sounding perfectly unconcerned. "But worth it, ain't it? Ain't it?" she demanded when her brother failed to answer immediately.
"I…er…"
"I never 'eard of such bloody cowardice in me whole life!" Teazer screeched, turning from her brother to look in exasperation at the others. "Yew three're the on'y proper friends we ever made. Leastways, Oi fink so. Ev'ry'un we ever knew 'ere demanded somefin' of us, but yew…yew barely knew us an' decided straight-off t' try an' protect us fr'm…fr'm…well, yew didn' even know wot, jus' that yew'd try to stop us dyin' if'n it ever came to it. Fer no reason but that yew…yew wanted to?" She whirled back round to face Jerrie, who'd sat up and now at least had the good grace to look slightly ashamed of his display. "An' yew won' even take a tiny risk fer them?"
"It ain't no tiny risk," Jerrie muttered. "But…but Oi reckon yer righ', sis…Oi…we…" He gulped, stood, and took MacVitie by the paw. "We'll, er… So wot's the plan?" he stammered, by way of apology.
"Well, that's better," said MacVitie gruffly, trying to conceal the fact that Teazer's assessment of their short acquaintance had caused his eyes to blur somewhat. "I'm…not going to try to order anyone to do anything," he continued, looking round at all of them, though afraid to meet Demeter's gaze. "We all decide on a plan together, or we don't have a chance."
Bombalurina rolled her eyes. "How profound."
"And you," Mack snapped, his willingness to be abused by the scarlet queen only going so far, "focus on the task at paw. Feel free to kill me later, but don't ruin our chances now."
"I can't leave," spoke a voice, barely above a murmur, startling them all into turning round and looking at Demeter.
"Demeter," MacVitie ventured pleadingly, "we have to…" Bombalurina glared him into silence. Demeter kept her gaze fixed on her sister, as if no one else had spoken.
"I'm not going anywhere," the gold queen repeated.