MacVitie stood still in the middle of the floor as if he'd taken root there.
Rumpelteazer crept up to him and gave his paw a tentative squeeze. "It'll be a'right," she tried to cheer him. "You'll see. An' no'un was even killed after all—cats or 'umans!"
"All right?" Mack shook his head. "Teazer, it's even worse than I imagined!"
"Ahh, I wouldn' say that. We knew ev'ry'un'd be a bit upset, but since we're all t'gethah an' safe now, it'll soon blow ovah."
"Safe. So, you think Griddle's going to leave us alone from now on? Knowing her as well as you do, do you truly believe that?" Griddlebone wasn't finished with them, MacVitie felt certain of that. Indeed, it seemed she was toying with them. How could burning a single flat—even forcing a Jellicle to do the actually burning—possibly make up the entirety of Griddlebone's 'Grande Scheme'? No, that must have been some sort of a distraction…or a precursor to something far worse…A test to see how far she could get him to go, and now… Next time, would she command him to set fire to the entire Junkyard?
"Er…well, p'rahps not," Teazer admitted reluctantly. "But we'll all work to come up wif a plan to be rid'f 'er fer good! Togethah this time. No more o' this runnin' off an' 'idin' an' tryin' t'fix it all on yer own. Now, c'mon," she urged, "let's go t' miz Jenny's den an' wait an opportune time t'see Munkeytapp…"
"No." MacVitie recoiled in horror. "You think I can talk to him now, knowing what I've done?"
"Almost done," Teazer corrected.
"Fine," Mack snorted, "Almost. As if that makes a difference."
"It makes a great diff'rence! Life an' death diff'rence, y' silly goose! An' any'ow," Teazer added, "on'y 'Lonz' an' Tuggah knows…"
"Which means that soon everyone will know. Tugger will see to that, even if Alonzo doesn't."
"Mebbe not. Mebbe 'e jus' needs time t' cool down an' reconsidah…"
"You don't know him. He will. And then no one will be able to look me in the eye without remembering that I'm the one who almost killed members of the Tribe. You heard what Alonzo said. They can't help blaming me, even if they don't want to. Who could help it? Not to mention…everything I'd already done…before that…" Again Jezza's face rose up in his mind.
"Oi dunno where ya gets such notions," Teazer shook her head in exasperation. "Listen. I've lived wif criminals me 'ole life. Didn't even realize we were wot y'd call criminals till meetin' yew an' Bomba an' D'metah, an' findin' out somecats was diff'rent. Believe yew me, yew ain't no criminal. Yew don' even know how t'be a criminal! If yew did, the Lady Muvvah wouldn't've foun' out yer 'idin' place so easily! The way I see it, ev'rythin' yew've done has been to 'elp othahs. Me'n Jerrie's prime examples o'that. An' so's Miz Bomba, an'…an' Miz D'metah an' Adme. They may not see it that way," she added, as if anticipating his protests, "not now. They're upset. They ain't used to such bad fings 'appenin' to'em. But they'll get through it. By'n'by, they'll be a'righ' again, you'll see."
"All right again. You keep saying that. But how can they be all right ever again after all that's happened? How can I—how can any of us? How…how can you be all right after living with that monster…?"
"Easy," Teazer grinned. "Wot I've always done. I jus' fin' somefin' fun er funny in everyfin' wot 'appens t'me. I tell meself it'll all be fine, an' so it is!" Her grin faded. "Tell the truf', though, sometimes…sometimes I don't feel all righ' at all." She brightened again. "But I gots Jerrie! I mean, we've bof' got each othah! We've always 'ad each othah. After a partic'larly bad time, we take the fuhst opportunity to get alone an' cry, yell er wotevah 'twas we needed t'feel bettah." She giggled. "Our fav'rite game growin' up was 'How Did Lady Mothah Die?' How it works is, one on us asks that question, an' the othah makes up a way fer her t'die, say 'choked on chicken,' an' then the othah one…"
"I think I get the idea," Mack interrupted, stopping her short of a full description. Sometimes he marveled at how quickly the twins 'got over' things despite all that had happened to them. Then one of them would come out with something like this morbid 'game,' showing that—goofy and innocent as they seemed most of the time—Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had certainly not emerged unscathed from their life among the henchcats. "Sounds like what Munkustrap would call 'sorting your feelings,'" he commented. "Talking to someone about the bad things so you don't simply bottle it up and go stark raving mad with it."
"Exac'ly!" cried Teazer, clapping her paws. "When they're ready, that's wot D'metah an' Adme will do! An' Tuggah, an' 'Lonza, an'—an' yew, fer that mattah. Ye'll all gather up in a group an'…an'…well, talk an' 'ug each othah an' fings like that, I s'pose."
MacVitie shook his head. He couldn't imagine Demeter coming anywhere near him ever again, let alone speaking to him; as for the two of them ever sharing a friendly hug—that was simply laughable. "Except how d'you just talk about something like…like this?"
"I dunno," she admitted. "But there mus' be a way…"
"Mac-a-Thing! Teazah!"
The two turned at the unmistakable sound of Mungojerrie's voice. He was headed toward them, Quaxo following close at his heels.
"We heard you were back," Quaxo announced as he and Jerrie matter-of-factly seated themselves beside MacVitie and Teazer. "And now it's time to tell you about the plan."
"Plan?" repeated Mack, bewildered.
"Steady on, there, Quax'," said Mungojerrie, nudging the tuxedo tom in the ribs. "Let's at least say 'ello fuhst!"
"Fine," Quaxo rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Hello. Good to see you." He glanced at Mungojerrie. "Was that all right?"
"It'll do," Jerrie laughed.
"Yew two're bonkers," giggled Teazer, flicking each of them on the ear in lieu of hugs. "Now wot's goin' on?"
"And how can you be so confounded cheerful?" added MacVitie, rather irritably. "Haven't you heard what's happened?"
"Of course we know what happened," Quaxo sounded deeply offended, "after all, we aren't the ones who've been AWOL lately!"
"Wot's 'AYE-wall'?" Teazer interrupted.
"Oh," Quaxo waved a paw carelessly, "some human word that means gone without permission."
"It's German, Oi fink," Jerrie piped up helpfully.
"Anyway, we know what's happened," Quaxo continued, "and I just came from Jenny's infirmary where Munk is resting—he'll be fine, by the way, so enough with the mother-hen worrying, MacVitie—and where I assured him we'd handle everything."
"We?" MacVitie raised an eyebrow.
"Yew an' me an' Teazah an' Quax'," explained Mungojerrie.
"And what did he think of that?" asked Mack, rather skeptical.
"Well…I may not have used those exact words," Quaxo admitted, "or he might have panicked and hurt himself. He worries—you know? Kind of like how you worry, only different. Anyway, I just said the sort of nice things you're supposed to say to a sick person, and then Jerrie and I left. It was crowded."
"And what's this about a plan…?" MacVitie prodded.
"Shh!" Mungojerrie put a paw to his lips. "Not here! We've gotta go talk it over in Quax's den. It's a secret!"
"No, Jerrie," Rumpelteazer groaned, "I jus' got done tellin' Mack that secrets are no good. Whatevah's done, needs t'be done togethah…"
"It will," Quaxo assured her. "The four of us together. With Coricopat and Tantomile's help, of course. And the others will come into it later…"
"Why does that not reassure me," sighed MacVitie.
"Come on," said Quaxo, jerking his head to indicate that the others should follow him. "Come into the pipe. I'll explain everything. It's foolproof, you'll see."
"Ohh, I'm a bundle o' nerves," squeaked Teazer. "Stop laughin', Jerrie!"
"Can' 'elp it. Yew an' Mack's been 'avin' all the adventures lately an' now it's my turn."
"Wot d'yew mean?"
"Ye'll see in a bit. This'll be fun!"