In the coming weeks after the incident by the river, leaving the junkyard with her friends was out of the question for Demeter. Though she was a bit skittish by nature, her anxiety had increased since the encounter with the mangy red cat. She really couldn't tolerate being alone anymore, and would spend a lot of time in the den with Jenny and Jelly if there was no one else around to accompany her.
Bombalurina felt it was her duty as her older sister to be by Demeter's side, and would often turn down alone time with Tugger or even alone time with herself to make sure Demeter wasn't left alone. Even when Demeter told her to go and not worry about her, Bomba felt that she'd be abandoning her only sister and If something happened to her, she'd never be able to forgive herself.
The Jellicle ball was approaching, and after that, all of the kittens still living in the care of Jenny, Jelly and their mates, would be considered adults and be allowed to find dens of their own. Of course all of the young couples were planning on living together even though Bombalurina would need to stay with Demeter on nights that Munkustrap was on patrol (which would be a new responsibility he would have to take on after the ball). Despite the looming anxiety that the red cat could be lurking somewhere, life was looking up for Demeter and the rest of the gang.
It was another average night. The young adult kittens all lay asleep in the row of beds that lined each wall. A thud outside the room woke Demeter up. She groggily rubbed her eyes and looked around. Everyone was still sleeping and everything seemed normal. However, just as she went to lay back down, a light just outside of the room appeared and caught her eye. In an instant, Demeter was entranced. Completely unaware of what she was doing, she got up out of her bed moved slowly towards the light which was leading her outside of the Den. When she finally reached it, it disappeared, and the red Tom was in its place. The trace broke, but before Demeter could react, he shoved a chloroform soaked rag into her face and she was knocked unconscious in seconds.
Back in the den, a bad feeling woke Bombalurina. She shot up and looked around. At first everything seemed normal, however it didn't take long for her to see Demeter's bed empty. A horrible, knowing feeling overtook Bombalurina, and without a second thought she bolted out of her bed, out of the room, out of the den and into the clearing of the junkyard.
"Demeter" she screamed but there was no sign of her.
Bomba let out a an anguished sob and sprinted out of the yard and on the to street. In the distance, she saw a tall figure with something slung over its shoulder walking quickly in the opposite direction. She bolted after, and quickly caught up. Just as she was about to attack her sister's captor, he turned around and confirmed to Bomba that it was the same cat they met by the river that was now kidnapping her sister.
"I thought I might be seeing you" he said in his low raspy voice and shoved the chloroform soaked rag into Bombalurina's face.
Soon after Bombalurina and taken off after Demeter, Tantomile woke up with a similar feeling to what Bomba felt when she woke up. When she noticed that both sisters were not in their beds, her mystic senses told something terrible had happened. Moments later, Coricopat woke up too with the same feeling. The exchanged looks and hissed in synchronization.
"Everyone wake up" Tantomile spoke loud enough to jolt the remaining sleeping cats from their slumber.
"Tanti what's wrong?" Cassandra asked sleepily, before she noticed the two empty beds where Bombalurina and Demeter should have been.
"Where is Dem and Bombalurina?" she asked, afraid of what the answer might be.
"Are you two getting any leads on where they are." A now wide awake Munkustrap asked frantically.
Tears formed in Tantomile's eyes and she shook her head "That Red Cat" she choked out in a pained whisper.
"We need to act quick" Coricopat added much more composed than his twin was.
They promptly woke up the adult cats in the other rooms and and informed them of the urgent situation.
Skimbleshanks and Asparagus rounded up the tribe's s other able bodied Toms and went out into the night looking for the missing queens. Jenny and Jelly paced frantically around the room, clutching their stomachs.
"This can't happen now!" Jelly sobbed "not now, not now" she repeated, pressing a paw to her forehead.
"Jelly darling we can't get this worked up it will hurt the kittens" Jenny soothed, grabbing a hold of her friend's shoulders, despite having trouble staying calm herself.
"Don't worry about us Jen" Tugger said from his place on the sofa where he sat with the rest of the young cats.
He assumed they were talking about them, because despite them all about to leave kittenhood for good, the two motherly queens still referred to them as such.
Jenny shook her head "I know dear I'm not talking about you" she explained "we're...we're"
"We're pregnant" Jellyorum interjected with exasperation. She then put a paw over her mouth and sobbed.
Jenny sighed "we going to tell you all tomorrow over breakfast."