Demeter was absolutely terrified when Macavity grabbed her arms and dragged her away from the others. She spent her life acting, but she never had to act when Macavity was around. As far as the rest of her current tribe knew, she had known Macavity in her past, but was always reluctant to talk about him. He had a bad reputation as it was, and she never had to fill in the gaps of their relationship together. The others saw her fear at the thought of him being nearby, and the rumors were enough to satisfy their curiousity and not pry.
They figured he did something to her. But the truth was worse. She did something to him. She damaged his pride. And as she was being dragged away, she knew she was going to pay for it.
Munkustrap stepped in, along with the other Jellicle protector, Alonzo. The latter took her away to a safe place as her mate fought with the ginger tom. "You'll be okay here," Alonzo said. For a moment, Demeter thought how different things would have been if she had just gotten Alonzo to be her prospective mate. Things would have been less complicated. But those thoughts were torn away as he raced out to help the fallen tom. Demeter cringed as she watched her mate thrown violently to the ground.
"You okay?" Demeter looked behind her to see Bombalurina crawling up to her, looking out momentarily to the melee. Demeter nodded to her sister. "This isn't good," she continued in a whisper. "He knows where we are now. If he tells these so called 'Jellicles', we're done for."
"Macavity isn't like that," Demeter reminded her sister softly. "He wouldn't humiliate himself in front of another cat. He wouldn't admit he was so easily conned. After all, he is the Napoleon of Crime." She had hoped this would be enough to stall her sister a while longer.
"Either way," Bombalurina whispered urgently. "We have to wrap up all our business here and leave as soon as possible."
"But--!"
"No," Bombalurina said harshly. "You've been putting this off again and again. We're going to be found out, now that Macavity knows where we are." Demeter looked at Bombalurina with pleading eyes, but the red queen dutifully ignored them. "One week. And we're gone. Now go out there…you're mate needs attention."
She was right. There was a light shining around the junkyard. She could barely see Munkustrap getting up. He was limping from his injuries, but ignoring them in order to look for her.
'If only he wasn't such a sweetheart,' she reasoned to herself, 'this wouldn't hurt so much…'
They raced up to each other, and she licked his wounds. They didn't say anything to one another. He must have thought she was worried, as he purred gently so only she could hear. He was trying to tell her he was okay. But while she was concerned for him, that wasn't why she felt the need to fuss over him. No…she was being eaten away by terrible guilt.
"We have to find Old Deuteronomy…" All the cats chorused. Demeter's attention was brought back to the scene before them, everyone confused, everyone frightened at the loss of their leader. When the Rum Tum Tugger came forward with a solution, Demeter had to pretend like her troubles were gone, and put on a smile.
Always playing the part. Always smiling on cue. She wasn't the best actress, but others were easily duped by her deception. They always were.