"Alright," Munkustrap said looking around the junkyard, "Alonzo, Tugger, Mungojerrie, Tantomile, and Coricopat come with me. The rest of you stay here."

"Be careful," Deuteronomy said as the rescue party gathered.

Munkustrap nodded and then looked at Bombalurina, who was leaning against Plato for support. "We’ll find her." The rescue party disappeared and the rest of the Jellicles could do nothing but wait.

* * *

Demeter opened her eyes, but could not see anything. She was in a room of some sort, but she did not know where. She sniffed the air, but nothing was familiar. She cautiously tried to walk forward, but ran headfirst into a bar. She was in a cage of some sort. Demeter touched the spot on her forehead that had made contact with the bar and felt blood. Great, she thought to herself, now I’m bleeding.

Suddenly, the lights came on. Demeter jumped back, hissing. Her eyes tried to adjust to the light, which made her head hurt. When she could finally focus, Demeter saw a lone figure standing by the door on the other side of the bars. He was a large red and white tom with a wild mane and she knew exactly who he was.

"Why have you brought me here, Macavity? I won’t join your little clan."

"You’re bleeding." He slowly stepped closer to the cage.

Demeter hissed again and sat back against the wall of the cage. She watched him unlock the cage door. As soon as it opened, she darted past Macavity towards the main door. When she reached it, she soon discovered that it was locked. She quickly turned and slid to the floor.

"I’m not going to hurt you."

"They’ll come for me."

"And they won’t find you." He walked toward her. Demeter looked frantically around the room and realized she had nowhere to go. When Macavity reached her, he knelt down so he was eye level with her. She cringed when he raised his hand, but all he had was a handkerchief. Demeter hadn’t noticed it before. He gently wiped the blood off her forehead and then sat on the ground facing her.

"Why am I here?"

"Because I know you’ll listen to me." He looked at the ground. "You know, I didn’t mean to hurt you last year. I just wanted to talk to Old Deuteronomy, but that wizard cat took him back before I had a chance. So, now I want to talk to you."

"Talk? About what?"

"I want to be a part of the Jellicle Ball."

* * *

Bombalurina watched the other cats. Everyone was trying to keep themselves busy. Mistoffelees was doing magic tricks for the kittens. Jennyanydots and Jellylorum were trying to cross-stitch while talking to Gus. Cassandra, Pouncival, and Tumblebrutus were sitting with Old Deuteronomy. Plato and Admetus were on guard.

Bombalurina had tried to join in with the others, but she couldn’t. Demeter was her best friend in this world and she couldn’t even imagine what had happened to her. She sat up when she heard a rustling. The rescue party appeared from the alley—but with no Demeter. The other stopped what they were doing.

"We had to come back," Munkustrap explained. "It was starting to get cold. Once we get warmed up, we can go back out again."

"We checked every place that I could think of," Mungojerrie continued. "Macavity must have found a new spot."

"He did and it wasn’t very pleasant."

Everyone turned toward the voice and was surprised to see Demeter standing there. Bombalurina ran over to her and gave her a big bear hug.

"What happened?" Bombalurina asked. "Did he just let you go?" She grabbed Demeter’s arm and stepped back when she saw Macavity standing just a few inches away.

"She was never a prisoner," said Macavity. The toms quickly surrounded him.

"You really have the nerve to show your face here," spat Tugger.

"No, guys, just listen to what he has to say," Demeter pleaded.

Munkustrap looked at Deuteronomy for direction. The old Jellicle waved his hand as an order for the toms to let him through. The toms obeyed, but not without reservations. They watched Macavity carefully as he walked towards Deuteronomy.

"Say what you came here to say," said Deuteronomy.

"I want to be a part of the Jellicle Ball," Macavity said. "All my life I have been an outcast. When I saw you last year, well, I thought that maybe I’d like to be a part of it. I guess I might have gone about it the wrong way, but I didn’t know what else to do."

Old Deuteronomy looked at his Jellicle followers. They were not very receptive of the idea—especially the toms. He wasn’t sure what he could say to them. Then he saw he did not have to say a thing.

Demeter slowly walked to Macavity and rubbed her head on his shoulder. Then, one by one, the Jellicles approached Macavity and accepted him into their tribe. Old Deuteronomy knew what it was time for now.

He raised both hands in the air and said, "Jellicle Cats come out tonight. Jellicle Cats come one, come all. The Jellicle moon is shining bright. Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball."