Ivy's head swam; she saw fish in her mind, lots of fish in a river that she used to be taken to by her humans. She reached out to grab one of the fish. It began to scream.

"Ey! Get yer paws offa me!" Ivy opened her eyes in alarm to see a tom with orange fur sitting next to her, rubbing his arm. It was bleeding from 4 claw marks near the elbow. "That 'urt!" He said. Ivy lost consciousness again.

"So this is the chick huh?" Ivy heard a female voice say when she regained awareness a few hours later.

"Yep, that's 'er! Mac found 'er out beyind the ware'ouse." The tom that she had injured earlier spoke.

"This was it? She wasn't with anyone?" The queen spoke again.

"Yeh, Mac says there was another one of 'er, but he ran off to find Loynis instead. Might as well 'ave, Loynis was more impor'ant at the time."

"Send her downstairs when she's up. She looks like she needs some refreshments."

"Right."

Ivy lay for a few seconds on the sheet that she had been set upon on the floor of an unknown building. She tried to soak in all that had happened. The alley, that was where she and Laurali had been. She had seen a very handsome cat. The cat turned and she went black after that. Ivy started when she opened her eyes again to see the spirited tom looking down on her.

"Ah! Yer up!" He smiled.

Ivy sat up, cautiously.

The cheerful tom presented his paw, "I'm Caspian."

"I'm Ivy," the queen said in her rich accent slowly as she shook his paw.

"Nice to meetcha Ivy. I hope ya enjoyed yer 'ccommodations. They're provi'ed 'sclusively by me." Ivy smiled at the tom's vivid Yorkshire accent. He danced a quick jig and then motioned to the door, which led to a hallway. "Now ya best be gettin' downstairs. There's 'omeone waitin' fer ya."

Ivy stood up and walked to the door, pausing when she got there. She turned "It's Caspian, right?"

"Yes ma'am." He bowed low to her.

"Sorry about earlier." She pointed to his now bandaged limb.

"S'alright, I'll live."

The queen smiled and walked out into the hallway. Caspian's eyes followed her tail out the door.

Making her way down a long flight of stairs, Ivy could hear music and many voices in the distance. Nearing the end of the staircase, the din crescendoed. She walked in to a room at the end of a hallway downstairs where she was met with the overwhelming scent of so many new cats. Glancing around the room she noticed a group of cats crowded around another that was talking swiftly and quietly about his stash of catnip. In another corner, a large male cat dealt out cards to younger toms; he had a sly look on his face as he muttered words to the toms. The room had a bar where cats sat and talked with each other as well as many tables scattered here and there. In the far back of the room Ivy saw a stunning queen standing on top of a table, smiling as she observed two toms fighting roughly. "Now boys! Boys! You can all by me drinks." She gave a wink to one of the cats that was not joined in the fight. When this cat spotted Ivy across the room she stepped off the table with the help of a few paws from the toms. "'Scuse me boys. I have to tend to business."

She sashayed over to Ivy and said "Good morning girly, I see you've rested well." Ivy had once been with her owners when they were watching a video set in the 1940s about a detective. The detective's flame had a smooth accent and Ivy could sense it in this cat's voice.

"Why am I here?" Ivy didn't regard her with the same leisure as she did Caspian.

"Why you've been captured, why else?" The queen turned and started walking toward the bar. Ivy followed.

"So you got a name or what?" She motioned to the cat behind the bar, whispering something and holding up two fingers.

"Ivy."

"They call me Dina 'round here. Not too gabby huh kid?" The bartender arrived with two bowls filled with an icy liquid. It looked like deep blue ink. Placed in the bowls were two straws.

"This isn't exactly what I expected to happen when I was lugged off earlier. I thought maybe like a cage or something?" Ivy said with obvious experience.

"Well whatever you want, kid…" Dina trailed off, taking a sip of her drink.

"NO!" Ivy blushed from the outburst. "What I mean is… this is fine." She smiled. This is more than fine. Obviously close watch wasn't something regularly practiced in this unknown tribe. It would be extremely easy to escape.

"Take a swig honey, you look tired." Dina motioned to the bowl.

Ivy only swished the straw around in the thick substance, eyeing it suspiciously.

"It ain't gonna hurt ya. Here, I'll take a sip of yours then," Dina declared after Ivy continued to toy with the elixir. She didn't get a chance though, another brawl broke out in a corner of the room. Dina's name was heard in broken threatening sentences.

"Go upstairs hun," She patted Ivy on the back and headed toward the scuffle. The Siamese disregarded the order and sat at the bar watching the riot from a distance. From behind her came a low, deep voice.

"Where are you from?"

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," she replied. The male voice from behind her chuckled. She turned around to face the cat with extreme seriousness on her face.

"Okay…" The tom lowered his eyes and gave a low whistle. "Well then, you could be from one of three tribes. The Amazons I'm gonna say."

"How did you know that?" Ivy continued with utter solemnity in her voice.

"Cause you're wearing that band thing." He took reference to the green leaves twisted about her arm. "Besides, you think Macavity keeps quiet after his captures?"

"Macavity? Yeah, I have yet to see him." She turned back around to face the room.

"Oh c'mon! You're joking right?" When no reply came the bartender said, "Tall, mean, sinister, vicious, red, most of the queens usually dig him. Kind of gets rid of whoever is in his path."

"Oh," came the answer as Ivy thought back to only a few hours ago. She gasped as she remembered the tall red cat. Previously, Ivy had no idea what he looked like, now she noticed that the tom directly to her left matched that description. She looked out of the corner of her eye, slowly. Her eyes jolted back to facing ahead when she saw that he was looking at her. Without a sound she walked to the door, out to the hallway. Carefully she peeked around the corner of the door. Macavity had gotten up and was heading toward a door on the other side of the room. He was so large and ominous that she could have collapsed. Caspian was waiting for her up in the room she had woken in.

"What's wrong? Looks like yuh seen a ghost," Caspian smiled.

Ivy sat down by the mattress she had been unconscious on only an hour ago. Saying nothing, she could only think of the best way to escape. The stories she had heard of Macavity were bad enough, she didn't need the real thing standing next to her. "Macavity," she whispered.

"Ah, it sokay! Just don't geh on 'is bad side, that sall."

"I already AM on his bad side!"

"Ah yeah, 'at's right," he chuckled. Ivy rushed to the wall with windows facing the street. They were so high up that she needed to stack a few crates on top of each other to see the view.

"No use, besoides, if ya geh caugh'." Caspian made a slit with his finger on his throat, knowing what Ivy wanted to attempt.

"Why are you telling me all of this? Aren't you supposed to be on his side?"

"Hoose side?"

"Macavity!" she yelled.

"Why wou' I be on 'is side? He dunn't rule this troibe. Dina's the only cat we listen to."

Ivy sat down on the ground with crossed limbs, staring at the floor. She was too confused to say anything.

"Sure, maybe in a li'l while 'e'll take over for Dina, but for now, the Strays are 'ers for the rulin'." The tom looked over at Ivy then continued rambling on when he saw her sunken figure. "Yeh, I joined 'bout three years ago. Shoulda seen me! Wha' a fright, thin as a stick. Thank goodness fo' Miss Dina. Back then, we only 'ad loike ten cats. Now look a' us." He drew a huge smile.

Dina appeared at the doorway. "Kiddo, come with me, there's someone I wantcha to meet."