A cat's particular and dignified name is supposed to be a secret to all other living beings. So what happens when a simple teenage girl from America guesses them on the first try? The worst part is, she doesn't know what she's doing until it's too late.
[A/N] to save confusion, the first person bits are from Cassie's point of view, and third person bits are from the cats'. Yes, this is the Cassie mentioned in A Thief and a Warrior.
[=^..^= point of view change]
[… time cut in same POV]
…
I frowned into my pillow, trying to get back to sleep, but it was no use. It was about three in the morning, and my mind was suddenly active. I tried to remember my dream, but it was gone.
"Whatever," I muttered. I reached up to turn on my lamp, blinking in the sudden light and felt around for my glasses. I jammed them onto my face and flipped onto my back. I stared up at the posters on my ceiling, smiling at the signatures in silver Sharpie on my Wicked, Beauty and the Beast, and Into the Woods posters, and the pictures taped onto my Pirate's poster of me and Kiera Knightly, Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp. My favorite one was where Johnny had dared Orlando to kiss my cheek right when the picture was taken. Of course, I didn't know about it, so my mouth and eyes were wide open with shock.
A scratching at my window distracted me, and I stood on my bed to peer out into the darkness. I saw nothing, but that didn't mean anything. I turned the flash from my phone on, pointing it out the window. I jumped when the light caught a large pair of eyes.
"Sam!" I whispered. He stared at me, and I left my room to let him in. I dropped my phone into my scrubs pajama's pocket, wrapping my thick alumni blanket around me. I slid open the back door, dancing in the cold while I waited for our stubborn cat to come inside. He was sitting about ten feet away from the door, his tail flicking back and forth.
"Oh come on," I whined. "You already do this when you're inside, do you really have to when you're coming in?" I stood there a bit longer, wishing I'd put socks on. Finally, Sam stood and waded through the snow, glancing up at me as he passed. I sighed gratefully and shut the door, and began making my way back down to my room. Sam walked ahead of me, his head down low. At the top of the stairs, he stopped and turned around, looking up at me.
I sighed again, and reached down to pick him up. "Down we go, Beaver." I had my hands securely under his floppy stomach when he suddenly took off towards the door. I watched him, rubbing my neck with confusion. I followed after him, opening the door once again. He turned away like he was leaving, but came up behind me and butted my ankles with his head. He obviously wanted me to go outside.
"Let me get my shoes then."
I slipped them on, still wishing for socks, and followed the overweight cat outside into the early morning.
=^..^=
Munkustrap had gathered all the cats in the center clearing, all of them awaiting Samuel's return. Alonzo was seated on one of the tallest junk piles, watching for the old tom and the mysterious human girl. He called out, jumping lithely to the ground.
"They're coming."
Minutes later, Samuel entered with the girl walking cautiously behind him. She was wearing thin clothes, and wrapped in a blanket, and she had chunky black glasses sliding down her nose. Munkustrap turned to Alonzo.
"Is this the girl who saw you?"
Alonzo studied her face, suddenly leaping up to swipe the glasses off her face. She gasped and jumped back slightly, but stayed frozen in place otherwise; she'd never seen so many cats in one place before.
"Yes, that's her." Alonzo sniffed, returning to his place by Cassandra.
"Jellicles!" Munkustrap called, collecting their attention. The girl bent down, squinting at the ground for her glasses. "This girl is a danger to us. She appears to have the ability to guess our names, and we have a choice to make." He waited until the tribe was completely silent. "Either we kill her," Samuel, along with some of the kittens, protested loudly at this. "Or we make her one of us." Munkustrap received shocked silence from the tribe. How could a human girl become a Jellicle?
"Munkustrap…"
Everyone looked at the human girl, suddenly terrified. Here was the proof of what they'd been told. She continued somewhat nervously.
"I think you're mad at me for some reason, but could you somehow let me know why?" she asked slowly.
Munkustrap swallowed. He found it hard to go against the girl's question. He turned to Mistoffelees. "Go get Deuteronomy."
…
The old patriarch of the tribe followed Mistoffelees, deeply troubled by what the tuxedo tom had explained. He saw the girl had seated herself inside the hollow oven, pulling at her blanket as she wished she was still in bed.
Deuteronomy sat on the tire, listening to Munkustrap's decision. He frowned. "That would take quite a lot of effort. Not to mention, she will be missed by her family."
"There's nothing we can do to change her ability." Munkustrap said gravely. "It's the only way to preserve our culture. Don't you remember the legend of Yvaine?" He said quietly.
"Yes," Deuteronomy said, recalling the story. About two hundred years ago, a girl could communicate with cats, speak their language, even know their names. Eventually, she had unintentionally become the near downfall of all cats. Deuteronomy sighed. "If you say it is the only way, then it is the only way."
=^..^=
I shivered violently. I didn't like the look on the cat's faces, especially the two sitting on the tire. I felt something touch my leg, and I looked down to see a white kitten at my feet. Instinctively I stretched my hand down to let her sniff it. She pressed her soft head against my palm, and I smiled. I rested my chin on my knees. "Can I pick you up?" I whispered.
They tiny kitten meowed at me, and I scooped her up, scratching the back of her head. Suddenly I had five other kittens clustered around me, rubbing against my legs and trying to get me to scratch them too. I laughed and picked them up, alternating between whose head I scratched. Samuel sat at my feet, the smug look on his face saying, 'yes, that's my human.'
=^..^=
"C'mon, Munk!" Jemima called out. She was seated with the rest of the kittens on the girls' lap, all of them enjoying getting their heads scratched. "She can't be bad if she's this good at scratches!" Jemima flopped on her back, giggling with delight when the girl scratched her chest.
Munkustrap sighed. He wished he didn't have to do this to a human, but he had no choice. "Deuteronomy," he said. "Open her ears."
Old Deuteronomy nodded, and bowed his head, muttering under his breath. Finally he looked at Munkustrap, signaling that the silver tabby could start. Munkustrap cleared his throat.
"Human girl," he said.
"Cassie."
Munkustrap blinked. "What?"
"My name is Cassie."
Munkustrap chuckled. "You hear us talking and your first reaction is to tell us your name?"
Cassie tilted her head to the side. "Well, it's about five in the morning, so I'm pretty sure I'm hallucinating right now. Why shouldn't cats start talking?"
The cats around the clearing laughed quietly before letting Munkustrap continue.
"Yesterday, you saw one of our tribe and called out a name," Munkustrap stated. "I am here to tell you that you accurately guessed his dignified name, a carefully guarded secret from any being aside from cats. You also guessed mine, and from what he tells us," he nodded at Samuel. "You have known his since you were a little girl."
"I was five," Cassie said calmly. "It was like a dream come true when my dad came home with a kitten, and he's been a member of the family ever since."
"But the fact of the matter is that you know how to discover our names," Munkustrap said patiently. "This is unacceptable."
"What are you going to do about it?" Cassie demanded. She was tempted to stand up, but she didn't want to dump the kittens off her lap.
"I must apologize, Cassie," Samuel said, looking up at her. "But they will not allow you to return home. You know too much."
Cassie laughed. "OK, I'm having one of those dreams that feels so real that I can't tell that I'm dreaming…" she rubbed her eyes. "Holy trap, I'm even going cross-eyed."
Deuteronomy glanced at Munkustrap, who yelled out, "Surround her!"
Cassie leapt to her feet, the kittens on her lap scattering as the rest of the cats in the tribe began pulling at her blanket and pulling her down. One even jumped on her shoulders and stuffed her mouth with some cloth to keep her silent. Soon they were all piled on top of her, holding her under the blanket while Deuteronomy and a select few did their work.
[A/N]
I have to clarify: in this world, there is no musical called CATS, because they are in the world of the musical. Does that make sense? So Cassie would have no source for guessing names.