His ears twitched in wintery contentment as he curled up by the fire. His masters had long since gone to bed, and he was on the verge of a deep sleep. Dreams of colorful decks of cards and twirling dice began to dance in his head. Oh, he was quite content, so content that he even felt a tingling sensation in his tail. He thought it to be simply excess magic and gave it a flip. It did not go away. Instead, it tingled even more and even started to burn, forcing the cat to turn around and open his eyes...wide open!!
His poor tail had caught a stray ember from the fire. In a frantic attempt to put his tail out, he bumped into a small table next to the fireplace. Carelessly left on the edge of the table was an open box of matches. Out of the corner of his eye he saw each match fall out one by one, almost in slow motion, as their heads seemed to "point" at him before inevitably spinning out of control. In one movement he smothered his tail and leapt across the room as only a cat can. A small explosion immediately followed, the windows giving way to the sudden expansion of air.
Dizzy from the smoke, he found himself next to the door. He clawed and scratched until he realized that his masters were probably fast asleep and would not hear a thing. Meanwhile, the flames were eating away at the carpet and slowly crept up to his shaking paws. It was now or never.
He managed to throw himself over the flames to the other side of the room and tumble into the wall under the window. He could hardly breath. With no hesitation, he jumped up onto the window sill, which was covered in shards of glass, and dropped into the bushes below.
He laid there in shock for a moment trying to catch his breath. Just as he was inhaling, there was another explosion that blew smoke and fire through all of the first-story windows....one being right over him. His lungs burned as he darted across the yard as fast as his legs could carry him. The freezing snow stung the pads on his singed paws at every step. Coughing and gasping for any gulp of oxygen, he turned around and attempted in vain to create a shield of his own powers to prevent the flames from gaining the bedrooms. He managed to produce the "shield" (or so he thought), but after a few seconds he collapsed from not having one good breath in all the action.
The crying and death-affirming screams (that would haunt him for the rest of his life) echoed through the neighborhood and put his fur on end. Unfortunately, his magic had only provoked the growing fire and ensured the worst for the poor souls trapped inside. He lifted his head and with dilated eyes saw the house, entirely engulfed in an orangy redness with absolutely no sign of his masters.
"Hey, aaaaaagghhh....wait! No!!" yelled Vicky as a growing pile of snow blew her cover. The Jellicles chuckled as Electra defeated her.
"Hey!" Munkus laughed as Mungo and Rumple pelted him from both sides. He ducked and the two siblings hit each other. A free-for-all broke out and it was every Jellicle for himself. Snow flew every-which-way, into faces, covering tails and occasionally covering a kitten here and there. Eventually, they exhausted themselves and lay on the ground giggling and panting; even the ever-so-cool Tugger let out a goofy grin.
As they laid there in silent glee, the crisp, morning atmosphere began to brighten as the sun appeared over the rubble in the junkyard. Jemima, forever scoping ahead, turned her face to the dawn, her eyes beaming in the new sunlight. With that sweet reminder, all of the Jellicles who had homes started on their separate ways so that they would not worry their masters too much. The strays went to their hide-aways. All was quiet.... except....
There was a singular lump of snow that caught Jellylorum's eye.
"You silly kitten, come on out," she said with a smile, not knowing exactly to whom she was calling. There was a slight pause before a long, depressing sound was heard. She stepped over to the lump and sniffed at it for a moment, "What....? Smoke?" , then proceeded to remove the snow.
A small, soot-covered face appeared and Jelly jumped back not realizing who she had just come upon. His eyelids fluttered for a few seconds until he could focus on Jelly's face. She recognized that lost expression almost immediately.
"Misto? Mistoffolees??" She gently pawed his face leaving a white paw print on his cheek. "Misto, what ever happened to you?!" He didn't dare speak. He was just glad to be able to breath without gagging. With smoky contamination circulating through every inch of his body, he passed out with an exhausted sigh while Jelly did her best to get him to a warmer place.
Definitely to be continued....
