Chapter One
A full year and a half passed, without much incident. Alonzo's two sisters had grown into lovely queens named Bombalurina and Demeter. Bombalurina was a flirtatious, outgoing queen who reminded Lonzo very much of himself, but Demeter was uncharacteristically shy. While Bomba was a risk taker and was the friend of almost everyone, Demeter almost never spoke at all. Their differences puzzled their brother, when ever he thought about them.
Lonzo and Munku had long since given up trying to rile her up by playing tricks on her, because she invariably did nothing in return and instead simply let them pick on her. Bomba was a much more fun target for their practical jokes.
And that was what lead the two toms to be sneaking up on the red queen, each with a discarded balloon full of puddle water in their paws. However, before they got too close, Bomba heard them coming.
"Don't you dare..." she warned sternly before even turning around. Both Bomba and Demi seemed to have the uncanny ability to tell what was going to happen before it did. Though this talent alarmed many of the Jellicles, their brother just took it in stride. Lonzo grinned at Munku, and they both threw the balloons full force at Bomba anyway.
The red queen screamed in fury when the balloons exploded simultaneously on her back. "YOU!!" she screeched, unable to think of anything mean to say as a retort. "You know, this means WAR!"
The two toms loped away, without a single, intelligible word exchanged, laughing hysterically. "Munkustrap," came the reprimanding voice of the Jellicle leader, who happened to be Munkustrap's grandfather, Old Deuteronomy. Munku groaned under his breath.
"Get outta here before he brings you into this," whispered the silver tom to his friend. "Yes, Grandpa?" he asked innocently a moment later. Lonzo heeded Munku's advice, and scurried off into the shadows, but stuck around once there to wait for his friend.
"Your kittenish pranks must soon stop, Munkustrap," Old Deuteronomy spoke, his raspy voice made him seem ancient. "You're past two and a half years old now, much too old to behave in such ways." Lonzo and Munku both practically mouthed the words with the Jellicle Leader. It was a speech they had heard many times before in the last week and a half alone.
"I know, I know," Munku said at last. He didn't remind his grandfather that a Jellicle was considered a kitten until three human years old. Instead, he turned silently away and followed Lonzo into the shadows.
Once they were a considerable distance from the tyre upon which Old Deuteronomy sat all day, they were greeted by a creamy-brown queen who tossed rings of bright yellow dandelions and deep purple sweet-violets about their necks. Lonzo eyed the queen, half a year younger than himself and Cassandra by name, skeptically.
"And what are the flowers for, Cassie?" he asked her, with a cute cock of his head. She giggled insanely for a moment.
"Happy Beltane, you idiot," she informed him between laughs. Her wonderful smile caught his eye, and held it for a moment. He shook it off. "It's the first of May by the human calendar, Beltane by ours." Cassie wore a crown made of woven pure white sweet-violets around her head, balanced between her exotic ears. She was an exotic short hair, born the daughter of Exotica and an unknown stray. She was also one of Lonzo's crushes.
"How could you forget Beltane?" asked Munku, pretending to be stunned. "Even I remembered it this year." Lonzo shook his head, and said nothing.
Cassie threw her arms about Lonzo's neck, and jumped upon him, digging her knees painfully into his side. He gritted his teeth, and did nothing for a moment. Then an idea suddenly popped into his head.
"Shall we see how much Miss Cheerful Cassandra, Queen of Beltane likes being kitnapped?" he asked Munku with a sly grin. Munku nodded, a grin passing over his features as well.
"No..." Cassie warned, alarm flashing over her face, but it was by then far too late. Lonzo had already grabbed her waist and slung her over his shoulder. "Eeeek!" she cried out, and tried to kick the older tom, who just laughed.
"And shall we see how much she enjoys being dumped in a mud-puddle?" inquired Munku, with a mischievous smile. Lonzo nodded his response, and they headed toward an opening in the drain-pipe that gave the Junkyard its water supply. There they knew that they could find a mud-puddle with tremendous ease.
"Don't you dare…!" Cassandra growled, her eyes wide. She knew they would.
Sure enough, when they got within twenty feet of the opening, puddles littered the ground, which was soggy from rain. They searched out the dirtiest one, and promptly dropped Cassandra on her head into it. The brown queen lay on her back in the puddle, unable to breathe for a moment after having the wind knocked out of her.
"You evil... THING!" she spat when she regained the ability to speak. "I'll get you back for this!" But by the time this was said, the two best friends were out of hearing distance, once more laughing hysterically.
Traditionally, on the night of Beltane, the Jellicle tribe would have a festival similar in most respects to the Jellicle Ball itself, only not necessarily held under the light of a full moon. It was at this festival that the queen and tom that would come of age that year at the Jellicle Ball were decided upon. Old Deuteronomy would make the decision, and would announce his choices to the rest of the tribe.
Evening was imminent. The sun had barely gone down, and all the Jellicles were gathering near the centre of the Junkyard. The centre had been decorated by some of the younger queens of the tribe. Flowers and petals were scattered along the ground in random swirls, but it gave the Junkyard a somewhat magickal feel.
A half moon had begun to rise, and there were sparse clouds in the sky above the Junkyard. Bombalurina closed her eyes, and relished the familiar scent of the Junkyard. It was home, and it always would be.
She wondered who would be chosen by the Jellicle Leader to have their coming of age at the Jellicle Ball. She knew it would most likely not be herself. There were a few queens older than herself who had not had theirs yet, namely Cassandra and Tantomile.
The Jellicles began to come out of hiding as night fully set in. The air grew slightly colder, but was nothing like the winter that had just passed. She noted that the older Jellicles seemed to congregate nearer to Old Deuteronomy than the younger Jellicles. Perhaps the younger cats just didn't want to be watched too closely. She, however, didn't care how closely she was watched, as long as she got Munku and Lonzo back for their earlier prank.
Bomba noticed that her sister was looking uncomfortable, and seemed to not want to be there, so she added 'make Demi not so uptight and quiet' to her list of things to do that night. She might be forced to spend the entire evening trying to accomplish both of her tasks. However, she decided that it would be well worth it if she could do both.
Her sister, on the other paw, was planning to stay out of the way for the entire celebration, after deciding that she would probably ruin everyone else's time at the festival. Loneliness was beginning to eat away at her inside. Presently, she felt her sister's presence approach her.
"Demi?" came Bomba's contralto voice in a very hushed and private manner. "Demi? What's wrong?" Demi closed her eyes to avoid having to look directly at her sister.
"Nothing," she lied, wishing Bomba would leave it at that and say nothing more to her about it that evening.
"There's something wrong," Bomba persisted, and a growl almost rose in Demi's throat. "I can tell when you're lying Demi."
"It's nothing," Demi repeated. "You shouldn't concern yourself with it." She turned her back on her sister and decided to say nothing more, even if Bomba should speak to her. Her sister sighed in utter exasperation.
Apparently, Bomba decided to listen to what she said, for her presence moved off to another place. Demi was relieved deep in her heart. She hadn't wanted to discuss things with her sister at all, much less at a festival.
Bomba, however, was intent on making her sister a happier feline. She took another look at her sister, and decided that she had had enough of watching her sister stay in the shadows, longing to be a true part of the Jellicle tribe. Bomba and Alonzo were the only Jellicles that even thought that Demi might be blaming herself for their mother's death. They were the only Jellicles who knew why she was so quiet and isolated all the time.
Alonzo was only a little surprised when Bombalurina joined Munkustrap and himself near the Old Ford. "Hey, sis," he greeted her with a smile, hoping she had by now forgotten the balloon prank they had pulled. And although her face was serious, it seemed she had.
"We have to do something about Demi," she told him briefly. "She's too unhappy, for no real reason..."
"She's still blaming herself for Mother's death," he responded with a light-hearted toss of his black, gold and white head. "I'm sure she'll get over it at some point."
"No," Bomba hissed. "She hasn't yet... who's to say it will ever change? So we must do something to help her get past it." Her expression remained serious, and she knew that Lonzo had no real intentions of helping her in her crusade.
"She's too stubborn, just like you," he continued with a yawn which he had been trying to stifle for quite some time; it was getting rather late. "You forget that I know her as well as you, Bomba. I don't think she'll ever change, and it's useless to try." Bomba growled at him.
"Fine," she spat. "Then don't help me. If she thinks you don't care about her, then that's your problem and you'll have to deal with it." She moved off, perhaps to find Cassandra, without another word to either of the toms.
Munku had not said a word the entire time, and when Lonzo turned to ask him what he thought they should do, the silver tom had disappeared, once more using his curious ability to melt into the shadows.
Lonzo frowned for a moment before getting Munku's message in leaving. He should help his sister with Demi. Bomba would need his help to get through to her. Without wasting another moment, he darted after Bomba.
It was almost a full minute before he caught up to her. She was walking at a brisk pace, and didn't seem to want his help. "I thought you didn't care," she said icily. "Did you have an attack of conscience, my dear brother?"
Lonzo growled, and one of his eyes twitched involuntarily, but for the most part, he hid his disgust with her. In reply, he said nothing; he only followed her for quite a ways.
"Where are we going?" he asked at last.
"To find Demi."
"What do you mean?"
Bomba paused, turned, and gave her brother an unusually serious glare. "You can't tell me you didn't sense her leave."
Demeter had left a short while after her sister had departed. She didn't want to be dragged into the festival; she knew that that was what was coming next. Bomba would make her dance with someone and she would make an utter fool of herself. It was something she desperately wanted to avoid.
The truth was, other Jellicles intimidated her. She didn't feel at all comfortable around any of them except her siblings. Jennyanydots made her feel unwanted, Deuteronomy made her feel ignored (even the Jellicle Leader didn't have time for her), and so on and so on with the rest of the tribe. It was always the same: unwanted, ignored, useless, inferior. And she hated it.
She needed to get away; to be by herself for a while. She needed to be away from those who loved her because they were expected to, not because they really cared about her.
Even though she tried to pretend she was happy and content, loneliness was eating away at her strength inside. She no longer cared about being alive, or about anyone around her, not even Bomba or Lonzo, both of whom she idolized above everything and everyone else in the tribe. They were both so... outgoing, wonderful, friendly, ideal, understanding, attractive... perfect. They were everything she wished she could be. They were everything she knew that she would never be able to be.
Her life seemed full of endless comparisons... Why can't you be more like your sister? Why can't you be more like your brother? Why can't you be responsible like Munkustrap? Why can't you be more mature like Jellylorum?
And so she had come to believe that she was only a burden to those around her. Still, she didn't see what stood before her: a silver tom by the name of Munkustrap who would do anything possible to see her smile at him, to see her look at him. To him, she was absolute perfection, or at least she would be if she could get over her troubles.
But she never saw him in that sense, never even noticed that he paid special attention to her, that he watched her at every opportunity he got. She never smiled any more, either. To her, life was too pointless to smile any more. It was too pointless to keep living...
And so it came to be that on that evening, the Beltane Festival Eve, Demeter decided to end it all; to kill herself and end the burden she was absolutely certain she placed on everyone around her.
She searched almost frantically through a pile of discarded human junk until she located a discarded razor that humans used for some purpose which was unknown to the Jellicles. Using her claws, she twisted one of the blades out of it. She slipped it in-between the two layers of leather that made up her collar with an almost sadistic smile passing over her lips.