Hello!!! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
~*~
Tantomile's POV
"WHAT?!" Demeter screeched. "You're… you're…" Jemima sighed.
"Yes, Mum, I'm going to be a mother."
"The reason why we're telling you now is because we need to get your daughter to Jenny and Jelly," I explained. Our two healers had escaped with Mistoffelees and Quaxo right before Deuteronomy was overthrown. They had gone to create alliances with nearby tribes, hoping to amass an army to take back the Junkyard. We still hadn't heard from any of them.
Demeter took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
"All right. I'll see what arrangements I can make. Tantomile-" she added as a nervous afterthought, "Has there… has there been any news on Munkustrap yet?" Her mate- Jemima's father- had been captured and held prisoner when Macavity conquered us.
"I'm afraid not, Demeter."
"Oh… okay then. Oh, and Tantomile?" I was about to leave when she called after me.
"I'm sorry. About Coricopat."
"I'm sorry, too. But that isn't going to bring my brother back," I replied bitterly.
~*~
Jemima and I left during the changing of the guards. Macavity's hench-cats were lazy creatures, and if one of them didn't show up at the end of the shift, it was of no concern to them. They would just walk off, leaving the gate wide open.
Demeter had arranged for Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer to… "detain" the guards while we ran from the Junkyard. Once Jemima and I had crept through the "Fire Zone," the area with various traps to stop escapees from… well, escaping, we broke out into a run, Jemima running as fast as a pregnant queen could. I slowed down to stay by her side.
We ran for as long as we could, before collapsing into a heap in an alley.
"Ow," Jemima moaned.
"Are you okay?" I inquired, concerned.
"Yeah," she panted, "Just a little sore."
"You better take care of her, or else…"
I startled at the sudden voice, appearing and disappearing in a short gust of air.
"Coricopat?" I whispered fearfully.
No reply.
~*~
Coricopat's POV
"Let me in!" I snarled. The Heaviside-Guard shook his head in a no.
"I need to speak to one of Them!"
"That's what they all say," he replied in a bored voice.
"Let me in… or… or I'll kill you!"
"Good luck with that. It might be a bit hard, seeing as how I'm already dead."
"Oh. Right…. LET ME IN!" Now he was getting annoyed.
"How many times do I have to tell you, kit, Bast and the Everlasting Cat don't see visitors on Tuesday! Come back tomorrow between eight and twelve, and I might be able to book you an appointment for the next century."
"The next century?! I don't have that long!" He looked at me funnily.
"Of course you do; you're dead."
"Stop reminding me," I grumbled. Suddenly, I had an idea. "Let me in… or I'll start singing horribly off-key opera!"
"I can take that," the Guard replied.
"Stop teasing my son, Damien." A loud voice swept through the room like a summer breeze. With it came the hot, dry feel of the desert. A glowing light appeared between the Guard- Damien- and I. It quickly solidified into a dark-skinned woman with the head of a cat. I instinctively kneeled.
"Bast, Lady of the Flame, consort of the Supreme Pollicle Anubis, Protector of Ra, Sister of the Everlasting Cat, Savior of the Jellicle Empire," Damien announced. Then he looked at me. "He's your son?" Bast nodded.
"In spirit… he and his sister are two of the Sacred Three."
"The Sacred Three?" I questioned, confused. In all of my readings, I had never discovered anything like this.
"Yes. The Three are destined to save the Jellicle Kingdom, with the combined power of the Three Kingdoms of the Soul- the psychic, the supernatural, and the holy. You are the Ghost-cat, protector of the Supernatural Realm. You are represented by the new moon, the yew tree, and azurite. Your sister is the Twilight-cat, protector of the Psychic realm. I won't bore you with the details." Bast smiled.
"Um… yeah, that's really cool, but… Macavity's taken over and is destroying the tribe!"
"I know," the goddess told me. "That's why you haven't moved on to your next Jellicle Life yet. You're not supposed to be here." I perked up a bit.
"So… can you resurrect me, or something?" I asked.
"No." My hopes fell.
"But you're a goddess!" She chuckled at this.
"Damien, you may leave us now. Coricopat, come with me to the Blue Sitting Room." She waved her hand, and my sight started to blur. I felt like I was crumbling; crumbling into millions of grains of sand…
We landed on an elegantly upholstered couch inside the "Blue Sitting Room."
"Now, _-"
"How do you know my third name?" I asked automatically. I had felt an unfamiliar, but strangely comforting tug at my soul when she said it.
"As you said, I am a goddess. Anyways, I would like to explain why I won't resurrect you." She summoned two cups of tea with a flick of her tail.
"Sometimes, _, it is better not to directly interfere in the lives of Jellicles." That's it? No long, fancy speech dictating exactly why she wouldn't bring me back to life?
"However, it is occasionally acceptable to plant ideas into certain Jellicles' heads. It is just a matter of choosing the right mind." She smiled and waved a paw towards the floor. The carpet dissolved, revealing…
Tantomile and Jemima.
"Jemima?" I whispered.
"She can't hear you," Bast said. "Step through the portal, _." I stepped through the hole in the floor, until I was beside my sister. The goddess elegantly moved next to me, and bent over to whisper into Tantomile's ear.
"Go; find Mistoffelees. He will be able to help you. He'll have a spell that can resurrect Coricopat." She gestured for me to say something. I took a look at my sleeping mate, and murmured to my sister,
"You better take care of her, or else…"
~*~
Ta-da! Did you like it? Did you not like it? Review and let me know!