Bright sunlight hit Mistoffelees, confusing him for a few moments. But then the memory hit him: he had had the best night of his life, and was now sleeping next to the little white cat he had dreamed of. Victoria's room was so peaceful. All of the furniture was plushly upholstered, and lacy white curtains overlooked the sweeping gardens. The sun shone through the window, and the sounds of birds had replaced those of crickets from the night before.

Mistoffelees sat bolt upright, his eyes the size of silver dollars. Birds! Sun! It must have been late morning, and his friends in the junkyard were certainly curious about where he could have been! He hurriedly started to get up, but he paused when he saw the kitten at his side. The other cats could wait a little while. He wouldn't be missed too much.

Carefully, Mistoffelees nudged Victoria. "Victoria," he whispered, "I have to leave now."

Victoria rolled over and looked up at Mistoffelees. "So soon?" she queried.

"Darling, it's late in the morning. I must have been here for hours. I wish I could stay, but I didn't tell anyone where I was going."

"It's all right. You wouldn't have been able to stay anyway. The family will be in any minute now with breakfast," Victoria said, yawning.

Mistoffelees looked into her eyes. "I promise to come back when I can," he said. And with that, he was gone through the window.

Refreshed by a lovely cat nap, Mistoffelees soared through the late morning sky. Only a few minutes later he realized that he might be seen, and possibly mistaken for a UFO. He decided to land and walk home, long as it would be. Then another thought hit his lovestruck brain. Now that he had wooed Victoria, nothing was stopping him from revealing his new power to Alonzo, or Tumblebrutus and Pouncival, or anyone else for that matter. Touching down on the ground, he tried to think of elaborate ways of wowing his friends. His original idea of hovering while washing wouldn't be enough, because no one would notice. Subtlety was not Mistoffelees' strong suit; he wanted to be the center of attention. The trick was figuring how to do it. At least a long walk would give him a long time to think about it. Rounding a corner, Mistoffelees considered just taking off in the middle of the day, but that too wasn't enough. He needed everyone to be watching. Maybe he could announce that he had a new trick? It was a little cheesy. This was going to be harder than he thought.

After Mistoffelees had been walking for about ten minutes, he halted suddenly. The fur on his back bristled. Something unexpected was around. He could feel it. Mistoffelees thanked his lucky stars that he had this power and peered around to try to find the source of the disturbance. His magic surged through him, preparing him for whatever was coming. It seemed to guide him to his left, behind a fence. Making sure no one was watching, Mistoffelees flew up to peek over the fence. Sure enough, there was the cause of the disturbance.

In a run-down alley, there were Pouncival and Tumblebrutus, arguing over how to open a can of tuna. Alonzo was there as well. He'd apparently stayed the night with them, and was interjecting into their row of how to best extract the fish from its imprisonment. Mistoffelees breathed a sigh of relief. The animosity among the three of them had led him to feel that there was some real danger. He smiled crookedly and hopped over the fence.

Pouncival and Tumblebrutus jumped at his sudden appearance, but relaxed when they saw who it was. Tumblebrutus exclaimed, "Mistoffelees! Just who I needed. Please tell my friend here that the best way to open a can of tuna is to bite it!"

"Oh!" Pouncival retorted. "If you bite it, you lose all of the juices. You have to use a claw to open a hole, and suck out the fish."

"Hey, hey," Alonzo said. "Everyone knows that you have to throw it into a wall until it gives up. Isn't that right, Mistoffelees?"

As an answer, Mistoffelees grabbed a can of tuna and set it on the ground. He took a few steps back, and ZAP! The can was now open. Smoldering, but open.

"That works," Pouncival said sheepishly.

Mistoffelees did this to three more cans, and all four of them sat down to devour as much fish as they could. Talking between mouthfuls, Alonzo asked, "So where have you been, Mistoffelees? I thought you said you couldn't come."

Mistoffelees smirked, seeing his chance to reveal his wonderful secret. "Oh, I finished what I had to do."

"Well, what was it?" Tumblebrutus asked, chewing.

Mistoffelees looked around and grinned. "Do you really want to know?"

Before either Pouncival or Tumblebrutus could respond, Alonzo saw what was going to ensue, and said, "Yes, we really want to know, and don't be vague and dramatic again. We really want to know!"

Alonzo really had a way of ruining suspense. Mistoffelees shrugged his shoulders and said, "If you insist." He had been lying down on his side, but now he lifted himself up to a sitting position. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his power. That sweet smile appeared that always did when he was going to do magic. Pouncival started to quiver. He didn't care for Mistoffelees' magic; it made him nervous. Tumblebrutus was only curious, and cocked his head; he had no idea what Mistoffelees was about to do. Alonzo crossed his arms. He was skeptical, and thought Mistoffelees was just trying to get attention (which he was, to some degree).

Mistoffelees rolled his shoulders as he tried to grip his magic. But something was wrong. The power that twisted inside him would not respond to his commands. He frowned and tried harder. The more force of will he applied, the more his magic seemed to rebel against him, until he realized that he would not be able to make it do his bidding. Grimacing and opening his eyes, he rubbed one ear and started thinking of an explanation.

"Well, what were you doing last night?" Tumblebrutus asked.

"Yeah, Mistoffelees, what were you doing last night?" Alonzo repeated, feeling justified.

Mistoffelees hesitated. This was going to be dangerous. He cautiously said, "You know I was dirty yesterday, so I went off to wash. Yeah, I went off to wash!"

"All night? You must have been really dirty," Pouncival said, internally relieved that no magic was going to interrupt his eating for now.

"Oh, yeah, you know that downpour yesterday was really, uh, wet." What am I thinking? Mistoffelees said to himself. Really wet?

"Ooookay," Alonzo drawled. "Anyway, hand me another can. This time I'll show you how to really open a can, the hard way," he said, casting a look at Mistoffelees.

Mistoffelees wasn't paying attention. He was caught up in why his magic wouldn't respond to him, not to mention his stupid excuse (really wet?!). This had never happened before. His power had always done what he had asked it to (sometimes more, in fact). For it to refuse to do his bidding was an outrage. Who was it to say whether or not he would perform high-flying feats for his friends! Then again, it had a point, in a way. Mistoffelees had been using his power a little too much recently. If Munkustrap knew, he would go through the roof with anger. But still, why shouldn't it do what he wanted it too?

A deformed can leaking tuna was forced under Mistoffelees' nose, startling him out of his thoughts. "What do you say to that? I told you the can would give up, eventually," Alonzo boasted.

Tumblebrutus had other ideas. "The can did not 'give up.' You just lost half of the fish trying to get it out!"

"Hey, at least the can is open. If I had been trying to bite it, we would be here all day!" Alonzo retorted.

Mistoffelees couldn't take much more of this. He told his friends that he had to leave, and, ignoring their protests, left. As he twisted through the streets on his way back to the junkyard, he couldn't stop thinking about why his power wouldn't respond to him. Would he ever be able to do magic again? There was a scary thought. Imagine, never again impressing everyone with show stopping displays of pyrotechnics. Never again to float a mouse toward himself to eliminate the necessity of hunting when Munkustrap wasn't looking. Never again to fly with Victoria! That simply could not happen. Magic was a big part of Mistoffelees; he was nothing without it. Somehow, he would have to make his power work for him again.

And now it's time for the Q&A part of our show!

Jemima-luvah: I know. Misto/Jemima stories are usually pretty good, and I can't wait to see what you do with it! But I'm a dedicated Misto/Victoria writer, myself.

Krissy4: Awww! I hope you feel better!

Chimalmaht: I feel touched that you've been wondering about my story for a while tear. Mistoffelees does indeed have a mother! However, she shall remain unnamed at the moment. But don't worry, all will be explained in time!