Disclaimer, if you don't know by now, then you must have started with this chapter.
Dorothy awoke later to feeling of something rubbing against her bare feet. She giggled and looked back to see four kittens sitting at the end of the bed. Dorothy moved her feet out of the way and shifted herself so that she could see them more closely.
"Hello little ones, did the jester take you from your mommy?" Dorothy asked all childlike.
"No, I'm over here." Came a rather rough sounding female voice.
"Where are you?" Dorothy asked looking around.
"On the table, are my children bothering you?" She asked curiously.
"No, they're fine mam, they're really cute." Dorothy said picking one of them up.
"Please put me down." The kitten said in a low pitched voice.
"Sorry." Dorothy said setting it back down.
"Where are you guys from?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"A box, from the emerald city, my owners decided to get rid of us once they found I had kittens." The cat said.
"Okay another question, do you guys actually talk or am I the only one who can understand you?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"No, we can't talk, yes you are the only one who can understand us at least the only person, and other animals can understand us perfectly." The cat said
"I've always wondered, how can some animals in Oz can talk, like the queen of the field mice or Lion while others cannot? Like the Flying monkeys or certain other animals." Dorothy asked curiously.
"No one ever really figured that out my pretty, it's just how it works, why can't your dog talk while he's in Oz?" The jester asked walking into view.
Dorothy thought about that for a moment, she hadn't actually hadn't thought about that. She just sort of shrugged it off whenever she did. And she could talk with animals now and she could drown out the sounds so that it didn't annoy her and give her a headache. Dorothy shrugged and returned her attention to the kittens.
"Right, food is on the table, you can name them if you'd like." The jester said vanishing.
"You guys don't have names?" Dorothy asked.
"They're only about two months old, we've been in out box for over two months." The cat said jumping off the table and walking over to her.
The cat was a calico, a pure calico. Not like the one she had once become.
"Mama, is this our new home." One of kittens asked in a high squeaky voice.
"I think so darling, I'm Eve by the way, and who are you?" The cat named eve asked curiously.
"I'm Dorothy, Dorothy gale." Dorothy said picking up Eve.
"Not the Dorothy gale?" Eve asked in a surprised tone.
"Well I'm not normally referred to as that anymore but yes, the one that everyone talks about." Dorothy replied as Eve rubbed her face against Dorothy's
"Fancy that, we're in good hands then, oh, the queen of the field mice mentioned you a lot in passing.
"I can imagine, so you guys don't eat mice?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"No, of course not, mice are people to, eating them would be like cold blooded murder." Eve said.
"Well, you're welcome to stay with me if I ever get out of here, and it's a bit rotten that your owners tried to get rid of you because you had kittens." Dorothy said setting eve down, getting up and walking over to the table.
There was a plate of toast, eggs and an apple sitting on the table waiting for. Eve walked over with her kittens following closely behind. When they reached the table they watched her eat with intent.
"You know, the jester turned me into a cat once, it was sort of relaxing but sort of a pain at the same time." Dorothy said looking down at her.
"Yes, well, you're a person, though I guess in a way we are all people since we all can communicate in some way." Eve replied.
Dorothy was about to say something when one of the kittens rubbed against her foot again and made her giggle. She leaned over and picked it up. Immediately it meowed and licked her on the nose making her giggle again.
"You're a girl, I can tell, so I'll call you, Alexa, after my boyfriend Alex." Dorothy said placing the kitten on the table.
"I like that name, hey momma, I'm an Alexa!" Alexa called with a girly sounding tone.
"You're not an Alexa dear, you are Alexa." Eve replied.
Alexa looked like her mother but with larger patches of tabby colored fur, and small patches of brown and white. She then picked up the kitten who asked her to put him down earlier and set him on the table. She knew it was a he so she had to think about it for a moment. The cat was an odd looking cat unlike the rest of his siblings and his mother. His fur was patterned with stripes going from the tip of his ears to the tip of his tail. The pattern was starting at the tip of his ears, white, orange, black, and brown. She was thinking about calling him stripes but that would be too much of an obvious thing to do. It was then it struck her.
"How about oddball? You're the only cat I've ever seen with a pattern like that in both Oz and Kansas." Dorothy asked curiously.
"I like it." He replied.
"Same here." Alexa replied.
Dorothy was about to pick up another kitten when one of them jumped up, attached to her dress and worked its way into the lowest of her dress pockets. It stuck its head out a few seconds later making Dorothy laugh.
"Are you a boy or a girl?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Girl." The kitten replied climbing out of her pocket and exploring the others.
"I think I'll call you pockets, since you seem to like mine so much." Dorothy said.
"I like that." The kitten said crawling into another one of Dorothy's pockets.
"She likes anything she can explore, she spent half an hour roaming around the room when we got here." Eve said.
"When did you guys get here?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Some time earlier this morning, maybe about an hour or two ago." The fourth kitten replied in a low pitched gruff sounding voice.
"Oh." Dorothy said picking him up.
This cat was like his sisters, but had the same color pattern as oddball, except his fur was arranged in patches of the colors. It took her a moment but she then decided on a name
"I think I'll call you patch, because you're like your sisters, but you have the color pattern of oddball, just with patches instead of stripes." Dorothy said before looking over to the crystal ball, "Oh if I ever get out of here you guys are going to love my cousins." Dorothy said placing patch down on the table before finishing her food.
"Patch, Alexa, Oddball and pockets, good names for cats." Eve said.
"Thank you Eve, do you like that name or would you like a different one?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I'd have to think about it dear." Eve said jumping up on the table.
"Well let me know, I'm sure I can think of something." Dorothy said getting up and walking over to the crystal ball.
She waved her hand over it and immediately it showed Alex. Helping uncle henry with the chores out at the barn.
Back in Kansas.
The news that Dorothy had been found and is alright was well received by most people. The fact that she wasn't back in Kansas is what worried others. They wanted to know where she was and why she couldn't be here per say. This however was dismissed by officer grey and everyone else and eventually things died down by about eight in the morning. Glinda had returned to Oz to retrieve Alyssa and Finley who took the news real well and were now at the gale farm house helping Ellie and ace with their chores. Alex was helping clean out the barn as well as the mess of burnt straw he had created the day before. He had gotten the scepter back from Glinda earlier that morning and had set against the old mirror at henry was currently repainting the frame for.
"I'm glad she's alive, I just wish she was here." Alex said sighing.
"Same, but let's just be relieved that she's alive, and unharmed." Henry said wiping some paint off his hands and onto his jacket.
"Em is going to scold you something fierce for that." Alex said.
"Well what else was I going to do, rub my hand off on the wall and risk a splinter?" Henry asked curiously.
"You could have asked me for a handkerchief, I have loads of those." Alex said taking one from his pocket.
"Dorothy is probably watching us and laughing at this conversation right now." Henry said getting up and taking the handkerchief from him.
"Either that or crying her eyes out, but let's face it, if it were me in that position, I would be crying to if there was a chance I'd never get to see her or physically talk to her again." Alex said as his father walked into the barn.
"Henry, your wife wants you in the kitchen." Mr. Teak said as his eyes fell on the smudge of paint on henry's jacket, "Emily is going to scold you something fierce for that." He added pointing it out.
"Oh wow, I'm hearing echoes today." Alex and henry said in unison.
"Oh, okay then we've already established that, that's nice." Mr. Teak said walking out.
"Alex, continue what you're doing, get all that burnt straw out of here." Henry said placing the lid on the paint bucket and running out of the barn.
Alex sighed and went back to sweeping. It didn't take long for him to finish clearing out the mess so he eventually walked over to the mirror and picked up the scepter. He squeezed it tightly in his grasp and sighed. He then walked over to an over turned metal buck and sat down upon it. Eliza walked into the barn a few minutes later carrying two mugs of cocoa.
"Mrs. Gale thought you might be cold, so she sent me out with some cocoa for you." Eliza said handing him a mug.
"Thanks Liza." Alex said taking the mug and taking a sip.
"I thought I told you to stop calling me that years ago." Eliza said taking a sip from her own mug.
"Sorry." Alex said setting down the scepter.
"I know you miss her, and I know what happened yesterday, don't let it get to you, just be glad she's alright and is alive and well, albeit rather lonely." Eliza said ruffling her cousin's hair.
"Don't do that, please just don't do that, I hate it when people do that." He said smoothing his hair down again before downing the cocoa in a few gulps.
"Isn't that painful?" Eliza asked curiously.
"No, it's not that hot." Alex said handing her the mug.
"Alex, Mr. Gale said if you're done cleaning up the mess you made you can come back in and take a rest, according to him he found you out here at four in the morning sitting on the edge of the hayloft." Eliza said.
"Well, Dorothy has a clearing that she goes to, to sulk, I prefer haylofts, don't judge me." Alex said as Annabella ran into the barn.
"Alex, mommy wants to know if you'd like to come in for lunch, or if I should bring it out here." Annabella said walking over to her brother.
"Tell mom that if it can be brought out here I'd rather enjoy that." Alex said.
"Alex, I've never seen you sulk before, it's rather depressing, come on Dorothy's fine, she's alright, once again she's probably really lonely." Eliza said before Alex cut her off.
"And she's probably listening in on this conversation right now." Alex said.
At that point Eliza nodded and ran out of the barn as quickly as she could.
"Still doesn't like to be spied on then." Alex said as Annabella ran back into the barn carrying a sandwich on a plate.
"Here you go." Annabella said setting the plate on Alex's lap and sitting on the ground.
"Thanks Annabella, now please get up and go back inside, no point in both of us being cold." Alex said taking a bite of the sandwich.
"Mommy wanted me to keep you company." Annabella said playing with a piece of straw she picked up.
"That's nice, but you'll catch cold, I mean you're not even wearing your jacket, which I'm sure mom will noticed in a minute and then come running out here with it." Alex said finishing the sandwich and checking his pocket watch.
About thirty seconds later Mrs. Teak ran into the barn carrying Annabella's coat. Alex chuckled and put away his pocket watch before looking at his mother.
"What, were you timing that?" Mrs. Teak asked walking over to Annabella and standing her up before helping her with her jacket.
"Yes mom, I knew that once you noticed Annabella's coat was still in the house you'd rush right out here, and it didn't take too long either." Alex said chuckling.
"How's the sulking going?" Mrs. Take asked curiously.
"Rather difficult since no one will leave me alone for more than five minutes." Alex said picking up the scepter and getting up.
"Well you were the one that was positive about things when we all lost hope, why are you sulking now?" Mrs. Teak asked curiously.
"It's hard to bear the thoughts of someone you love being trapped and alone." Alex said.
"Ah, I see, now that you know where she is, you want to find her badly even though she's in a place you can't get to." Mrs. Teak said leading Alex and Annabella out of the barn and back to the farmhouse.
"Yes, I don't like the thought of her being a prisoner." Alex said sighing as they walked into the farmhouse.
"It could be worse, it could be you." Ellie said as they walked in.
Alex said nothing, he merely shook his head and walked over to the couch. Toto was sitting on the far end cushion next to the playpen watching the triplets as Aislynn and Jessica played with them. Alex stretched and yawned and began to doze off.
Back in the room.
Dorothy was upset, sure Alex was still able to give hope, but he seemed to be the one most affected by her capture. The cats had been watching the scene in the crystal intently and were interested by it. Except for pockets who continued to fool around in Dorothy's dress pockets.
"Momma I'm hungry." Patch said rubbing against his mother's fur,
"Me too son, but we'll have to wait." Eve said licking her son's fur.
Dorothy looked at them and smiled. She then waved her hand over the crystal and it went dark. The jester then appeared behind the crystal ball carrying a basket.
"Here are some things for the cats." He said placing the basket on the ground and kicking it over to her.
Dorothy looked at him and opened the basket, inside were five small metal dishes, a saucer, a few cans of tuna, a can opener and two glass bottles of milk. They all laughed as pockets jumped out of Dorothy's pocket and into the basket. She stuck her head out a moment later and looked around.
"Thank you." Dorothy said taking pockets out of the basket.
The jester nodded and simply vanished. Pockets however decided to protest.
"Hey I like it in there, sure there's stuff in the way but it's still rather roomy." Pockets said to her.
"Sorry pockets, as soon as I get you guys fed you can play in there all you want." Dorothy said taking out the bowls, two cans of tuna, the can opener a bottle of milk and the saucer.
She set out the metal bowls and immediately opened the cans of tuna. Divvying the contents of the two cans out equally between the five bowls. Patch was the first one to start eating, soon his siblings and eve followed suit. Dorothy smiled and set the saucer down. She then opened the bottle and pour enough milk into the saucer for it to almost go over the edge. She then placed the cap back on and set the bottle on the table. Dorothy then got up, walked over to her chair and sat down. She then went back to sketching.
"Dorothy?" Alexa asked curiously.
"Yes Alexa?" Dorothy replied.
"Can I watch?" Alexa asked curiously
"Sure, just try not to get in the way of the paper." Dorothy said picking her up and setting her on the table.
Alexa meowed and licked Dorothy's hand that was holding down the paper as she sketched. Dorothy giggled and went back to sketching. It wasn't long however before the sound of rustling came over from the picnic basket. Pockets was trying to climb into it but the tapered body didn't really help much. Dorothy giggled and got up. She then picked up pockets as well as the picnic basket and set it on the table before putting pockets in the basket. She meowed in delight and immediately began running around inside the basket. Dorothy giggled and went back to her sketching.
"What are you drawing?" Alexa asked curiously.
"Right now, this room." Dorothy said turning around the paper and showing it to her.
"I like it, reminds me of the stuff you might see in the city." Alexa said rubbing up against Dorothy's hand.
"Thanks, Patch, Oddball, what are you doing?" Dorothy asked as she noticed them rolling around on top of each other.
"They're just playing Dorothy dear." Eve said walking over and rubbing against Dorothy's legs before jumping into her lap.
"Just wanted to be sure they aren't hurting each other." Dorothy said returning to her sketching.
"You know, my old owner used to show me a lot of kindness, but she didn't want to have kittens around with her kids, so we got put in a box and here we are now." Eve said stretching out in Dorothy's lap.
"Don't worry eve, I'll take care of you guys." Dorothy said scratching eve behind the ears causing her to purr.