The little white kitten jumped at the sound of the train pulling into the station. She peeked out from under the bench and squinted in the sunlight. People were rushing around, grabbing baggage, and coming off and going on the train.
An orange tabby came walking jauntly down the platform. The kitten heard several humans call out "Hiya, Skimble!" or "Good morning, Skimbleshanks!"
"He looks nice enough," she thought to herself. She ran over to the big tom and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Skimbleshanks?"
The orange cat smiled at the white cat, "What can I do for ye, lass?"
"My name's Victoria," she answered, "and I'm lost."
"Do ye have an owner?" Skimbleshanks asked.
"No," she answered quietly.
"Well, before I can help you, I have some business to do. Why don't I get you an owner, okay, Victoria?"
"Okay, but first, what is an owner?"
"An owner's a human who will feed ye and give ye a place to sleep, " the kind cat explained.
"That sounds nice," Victoria said, sweetly. Skimbleshanks picked her up and started walking towards a formally dressed young girl. He set Victoria down infront of the human and raced off. Victoria called out to him, but her attempts were futile.
"Oh, look, Mom!" she heard the girl cry. "This kitten is so cute and she doesn't have a collar! Can I keep her, Mom, please?" The young girl picked up Victoria. Blue eyes met brown eyes and a bond was formed.
"I'm not sure, Rose," an older human said, "We'll take her home and ask your father."
Victoria soon found herself herself infront of a big, white house, mansion really. Rose took her inside and gave her some milk. Victoria played around the house for awhile before settling down on Rose's bed and going to sleep.
The kitten awoke to the sound of yelling voices. Rose ran in the room and slammed the door. "Oh, kitty," she sobbed out. "Daddy said I can't keep you. We have to take you to the pound." Victoria didn't know what "pound" meant but it didn't sound good. The kitten curled up next to Rose and cried herself back to sleep.
The next morning, Rose's mother fed Victoria some milk and put her in a box. Victoria didn't know what was going on until the box stopped moving. She heard dogs barking and knew this must be the pound. She peeked out of a hole in the side of the box. She saw a big, grey building with a high fence around it.
The woman said some things to a man at a desk and before Victoria knew it she was in a cage the size of a shoebox. The kitten collapsed and let out her sobs.
"Oh, shut up, will you!" a grumpy voice said.
'Stop it, Copious! The poor thing's scared to death," a female voice said.
"Yeah, well, this poor thing's trying to get some sleep. Someone was snoring last night," the cat named Copious grumbled.
"It was probably you, dimwit! You know, I know why your mom called you Copious. She probably said, 'This one's going to give me plenty of complaining!'" the female voice shot back.
"Alright, you two, that's enough!" a deep female voice scolded.
Victoria poked her head out throught the cage. She looked next to her and gasped when she saw a cat smiling back at her.
"Hi, I'm Ticksy," the queen said. She was a white queen with a black sideways V on her stomach. The stripes reminded Victoria of hands on a clock she saw in Rose's room.
Victoria turned her head the other way and a black cat with white stripes grinned sheepishly at her. "Hi, I'm Copious," he told her.
"And I'm Joanna, but you can call me Aunt Jo," a deep, motherly voice said. Victoria looked up and a big Himalayan cat winked above her.
"I'm Victoria," she said, shyly. Copious began humming "God Save The Queen". Ticksy did a drum roll on her cage wall with her tail. Victoria giggled and blushed.
When she glanced over at Copious, she just stared. He was gone! "Oh, no!" she gasped. "What happened?"
"Copious," Aunt Jo scolded. "Don't do this to her. She's new."
Victoria heard chuckling and Copious slowly appeared before her eyes. "I'm baaack," he said, laughing.
"You're a magician, too?" the kitten asked excitedly.
"Why, are you one? I just disappear."
"No," Victoria sadly sighed, "but my brother and sister are. If they are still alive," she added, quietly.
"What do you mean?" Ticksy asked. Victoria slowly told her story. Then she turned and fell asleep.
When the white kitten woke up, there was a bowl of cat food in her cage. After eating and washing herself, she talked with Ticksy, played with Copious, and talked some more with Aunt Jo. This was pretty much Victoria's schedule over the next few weeks. Every day, a man in a uniform came and let them out into a big, open area. There they could stretch and play for an hour. Victoria practiced her dancing then.
Victoria awoke one morning to a bright, sunny day. She stretched as best as she could and started to eat her breakfast. As she was cleaning herself, the man came in with a teenage girl and a woman.
The girl started walking down the rows of cages. She stopped in front of Victoria. "Oh, Mom, look at this one! Her eyes are so blue. She looks like an angel. I want this one!" the girl exclaimed. She and her mom stood there looking at Victoria and saying how adorable she was. The frightened kitten huddled in the back of the cage.
The man came around and opened the cage door. Victoria was plopped into the girl's arms. As the girl started walking away, Victoria called out, "Aunt Jo! Ticksy! Copious! Help me!"
Aunt Jo sat up, "It's okay, honey. You'll be fine. She's your new owner."
The girl climbed into a car and placed Victoria on her lap. "Wait 'til you meet Rose. She'll love you, Angel." Victoria purred in reply.
The car pulled up to a house that looked almost identical to Rose's. Seeing the house, Victoria's heart sank. She never forgot Rose.
Once again, Victoria was taken inside and fed. As she looked around her new home, she felt content. There were toys she could play with, a scratching post, and a comfortable bed(even though she preferred the human bed).
The next day, her owner, whose name Victoria heard was Nikki, placed something around Victoria's neck. Nikki placed Victoria in front of her bedroom mirror. "Look, Angel!" Nikki said. "Do you like your new collar?" Victoria looked at her reflection. The sky blue collar had diamonds around it. The color set off her eyes beautifully. Victoria meowed and rubbed Victoria's leg.
In a few days, Victoria was allowed outside. Nikki's dad had built a cat-door for her. The first time Victoria tried the cat-door she had gotten her tail stuck. Victoria had won the hearts of Nikki's whole family.
One day, a few weeks later, Victoria decided to visit Rose. Rose turned out to be Nikki's best friend so Victoria saw her a lot. As Victoria was walking along, she decided to go down a different street.
After walking a few blocks, Victoria became strangely aware that she had been here before. "Don't be silly!" she thought to herself. "You've never even seen this place." But what she saw next stopped her in her tracks.
She had turned into an alley. At the end of the alley was a box with a blanket hanging out. Dried blood was splattered in two places. Burnt marks covered one wall. Claw marks covered another wall. This was her old home.
Victoria collapsed as the memories swept over her. Her and her siblings playing, arguing, laughing. Her mother and father scolding, teaching, and loving. The white kitten covered her head and sobbed.
Suddenly, Victoria shot up. "I have to find them," she said aloud. "I have to find my family." She raced off forgetting about Rose. She ran up and down streets, asking any cat she saw. Finally she returned home to Nikki, exhausted, hungry, and low.
The next day, Victoria was off again. She continued this for a week until one day a thought popped in her head. "Skimbleshanks!" she exclaimed. "He can help me!" She raced off to the train station and sure enough there was the orange tabby.
"Mr. Skimbleshanks!" she called out.
The orange cat looked up in surprise. "Well, hello there, lass. Haven't seen you in a while."
"I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?"
"That would depend on the favor, lass."
Victoria quickly told him her story. A strange light cam into Skimble's eyes when Victoria described Alonzo.
"You'd better come with me then lass," Skimbleshanks said, gently. Victoria curiously followed him to a junkyard. When they went inside, a large group of cats gathered around them. Victoria smiled shyly at three kittens her age.
Suddenly she heard someone gasp, "Victoria!" Alonzo stood behind the kittens with his mouth open.
"Alonzo?" Victoria couldn't believe her eyes. Suddenly she was swinging around in Alonzo's arms. She laughed and hugged her brother tightly. "I thought I'd never see you again." she said, trying to hold back the tears.
"I'm going to make sure you never have to say that again," Alonzo said, tapping her nose. "I'll follow you everywhere!" Victoria giggled and hugged him again.
"Come with me," Alonzo said. "I want you to meet some friends of mine." He led her over to two identical black, white, and brown striped cats. "This is Tantomile," he said, pointing to the queen. The queen smiled and nodded at Victoria, but her eyes were on Alonzo.
"And this is Coricopat," Alonzo said and nodded to the tom. Victoria smiled sweetly at the handsome tom in front of her.
"He seems nice," Victoria thought as the tom grinned at her.
"Thank you," Coricopat said to her. Victoria's mouth dropped. She glanced back between Alonzo and Coricopat.
"They're psychic," Alonzo explained. Alonzo took Victoria's paw and led her around the circle of cats. She immediately struck up a relationship with Electra, Etcetera, and Jemima. The tom kittens seemed to like her until Alonzo glared at them. Jennyanydots and Jellylorum asked her different questions about her age.
"I suppose you'll become an adult with Plato next ball," Jellylorum said.
After Victoria met everyone, the three girl kittens took her to play a game. Alonzo thanked Skimbleshanks.
"You don't know how much this means to me," he said.
"It's alright. She's such a sweet thing," Skimble said.
"Yeah, she is," said Coricopat, walking up. The four kittens were now talking to Rum Tum Tugger. As always, Tugger had played his cards well and Victoria was all over him.
That night as Alonzo walked Victoria home, she couldn't stop saying how much fun she had.
"I'll be back for you tomorrow," Alonzo said, giving his sister a hug.
Victoria's schedule was mostly the same over the next few weeks. Every morning, Alonzo came and took her to the junkyard. There she played with the kittens or talked to Alonzo. Sometimes Cassandra would join them, but she hung out mostly with Bombalurina.
Victoria's friends had noticed something about her. When they sat talking or even playing, she would always do this one thing that confused them. She kept looking over her shoulder. At first her friends thought she was looking for her brother, but one day Electra noticed something else. She decided to talk to Victoria about it.
"You like Coricopat, don't you?" Electra probed.
"Of cource, I like him. He's a very nice tom."
"Oh, come on, Victoria!" Electra cried. "You know I don't mean that way! You like him like a crush-like him.
"Okay, okay! Maybe I do like him a little. Okay, a lot," she said at Electra's frown. "But, 'Lect, he's an adult and I'm just a kitten. And his best friend's little sister too!"
"You're going to be an adult in a few months," Electra said. "And the best friend's little sister thing won't matter."
"Maybe," Victoria said with a sigh. "I'm gonna take a walk." The white queen walked slowly into a different section of the junkyard. She had never been out of the Jellicle part, so this was all new to her. She heard some music and followed the sound to a pretty, little box. The box was brown with a picture of a butterfly drawn on the top. The butterfly was surrounded by green gems. Victoria saw a small key and turned it. She opened the box and the soft music began to play again. She listened for a minute and then decided to dance.
She made up a dance as the melody played out. Victoria played the music box again and again. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the music. She felt someone come up behind her and catch her waist. They began to dance with her. When the music ended, Victoria turned to see her partner. "Coricopat!" she gasped.
Coricopat grinned down at her. She looked at the ground, blushing. Coricopat lifted her head up and looked into her eyes.
"Did I startle you?" he asked, gently.
"No," she whispered.
"Alonzo's looking her you. I came out here to find you and..." Coricopat trailed off. Victoria blushed again. Coricopat took her arm and started to walk her to the Jellicle section of the junkyard. "You dance beautifully," he said, suddenly.
"Thank you," she smiled. "My mother taught me."
"Victoria!" Alonzo shouted when he saw them. "Come here quick!"
"What?" Victoria said, curiously.
"Look who I found!" Alonzo pushed a small black queen with a white face forward. The queen smiled and threw her arms around Victoria.
"Oh, Victoria!" she cried. "I never thought I'd see you again!"
"Bethany!" Victoria smiled. She held her sister at arm's length. "Let me look at you." Alonzo walked up next to Bethany and wrapped his arm around her. Victoria gasped when she saw the queen's body. "What happened, Bethany?" Bethany immediately sobered up.