A half-grown ginger tomcat reclined lazily on a shredded pillow in his hideout. Annas, his Chief of Rats, stood nearby, waiting for any orders from his master. The tom, Macavity, rolled over so that he was facing the three cats who stood before him. Grumbuskin was glaring pure hatred at Ambelodon, who in turn was hissing and spitting; Bothriodon ignored them both.
"So," Macavity began, letting the word rest in the air as a warning, "You allowed three young ones, who could have made valuble additions to my growing empire, to escape?!" Grumbuskin stared at the ground.
"We would have brought them, if it hadn’t been for that female!" spat Ambelodon.
"Shut up," said Macavity. "Let me think about just how I’ll go about boiling your miserable skulls."
The unfortunate felines were silent as Macavity thought. This would not be good.
The brown tomcat led Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer, and Fred to a large warehouse. He climbed up a heap of old crates and entered by means of a broken window. When it began apparent that he wasn’t climbing back down to help them, Fred started climbing, closely followed by the other two.
In the building, they found themselves in an empty room. The tomcat nodded in the direction of the door. They proceeded in this manner for quite some time; the tom leading, the kittens following. The tom paused when they were walking alone a narrow catwalk above a large room.
"Hold still, kits," he whispered. "Let’s listen in for awhile." Puzzled, Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer sat down alongside him. Fred moved a short ways away and continued standing.
"What is going on here?" yelled a screechy, feminine, voice.
"Mo-om," whined a masculine voice, obviously belonging to someone much younger than the female. Both voices sounded feline. Fred gave the tomcat a quizzical look, plainly wondering why they were listening to this. The tom merely smiled and gestured downwards.
By straining his neck forwards, Mungojerrie was able to see what was going on below. A young ginger cat lay on a shredded pillow, with a large rat sitting alongside him. In front of him a full-grown female cat, reddish-brown in color, paced back and forth, lashing her tail. Mungojerrie gasped softly as he recognized the three cats sitting a little off to the side, staring at the floor. It was the tabby, gray female, and brown male from the alley, the ones that had tried to capture them. A small hiss escaped his mouth.
The tom shushed him, jabbing his paw downwards once more. Below, the reddish-brown queen growled at the ginger cat, her tail lashing even more.
"Macavity, I demand to know what you are doing with these three. Aren’t they quite valuable to you, as they were to your father?" she pressed, moving a little closer.
"Mother," hissed the ginger cat—whom Mungojerrie presumed to be Macavity—shifting a little on his pillow. "Shut up. Or I’ll rip your throat out. Mother or no." The older female laughed, a harsh, grating, sound.
"You’d lose sorely in a fight against me," she spat. "I’m much bigger and stronger than you are." The rat at Macavity’s side crouched down, his furless tail lashing in time with the reddish-brown queen’s.
"Oh, be off with you, Mother," snarled Macavity. "And if you won’t go, at least get these fools out. OUT!" Without waiting for him to change his mind, Grumbuskin, Ambelodon, and Bothriodon rushed out, tripping and stumbling over each other in their haste to escape.
"’S bout time I introduced you," whispered the tomcat, snapping the three kittens back to reality. He turned from the view below and strode towards a staircase of sorts. The kittens followed, moving in his shadow as he approached the ginger cat. Macavity turned his yellow gaze on them and smiled.
"Well, well, well, Hortensio, what have you brought me, hmm?"
"Sire, I found these three in an alley, looking as if they had nowhere to go. I thought they might be of use to you, so I told them they should come with me. They did, and here they are." Hortensio stepped aside to reveal Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer, and Fred.
"Prrow," laughed Macavity. "And what might their names be?" Hortensio shrugged, gesturing for the three to introduce themselves.
"Mungojerrie," said Mungojerrie.
"And Rumpelteazer," interjected Rumpelteazer, not about to be left out.
Macavity purred softly, watching the orange-and-black striped kittens carefully with his gleaming yellow eyes. "And you are?" he asked, turned to the fluffy long-haired kitten, colored a mix of gray and black, with a white muzzle and throat.
"Fred," said Fred, the faintest hint of a growl in his tone.
"Just Fred?" purred Macavity.
"Jus’ Fred," the kitten confirmed.
Hmmm……a feisty one, thought Macavity, shifting a little more on his pillow.
"’o’re yew?" queried Rumpelteazer, head cocked to one side.
"My name is Macavity, the Mystery Cat, the Hidden Paw," he said grandly, raising himself up to his full height. The reddish-brown female standing nearby snorted. Macavity rolled his eyes. "And this is my mother, Aemilia."
"Ah," Rumpelteazer nodded.
"Hortensio, take Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer to the ‘guest quarters’ for now, Macavity began, but was interrupted by Mungojerrie.
"Wot ‘bout Fred?" he demanded.
"Fred will be taken to another one of my ‘guest quarters,’ and I will escort him personally," explained Macavity, the slightest edge in his voice suggesting he didn’t like being interrupted. "Now, Hortensio?"
The brown tomcat was quick to obey, beckoning Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer to follow him with a flick of his tail. The two kittens shrugged, but did as they were bid.
Hortensio led Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer to a large, somewhat-empty room in the warehouse. This room had been furnished with many large cardboard boxes, blankets, and a few cat toys. Once the two were safely in the room, Hortensio left, pushing the door shut behind him.
"’is place I’n’t s’bad," mused Mungojerrie, prowling around for a few minutes to get the lay of the land. Rumpelteazer merely nodded, sniffing around one of the large boxes. A muffled hiss came from within.
"Blimey!" cried Rumpelteazer, jumping back. Her fur stood on end, her tail bristled, and her legs were stiff. "Wot’s ‘at?"
"Who are you?" came a frightened voice from within the box.
"’o wants t’know?" spat Mungojerrie, his fur beginning to bristle.
"My name’s Demeter," came the answer. "Now, who are you?"
"Oi’m Mungojerrie, an’ this is m’sister, Rumpelteazer," answered Mungojerrie.
There was silence from the box for a few moments, and Rumpelteazer shifted nervously from paw to paw. Mungojerrie gave her a look, and she settled.
"Ummmm…" Demeter broke the silence. "D’you think you could let me out of the box?" Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer exchanged glances, then hurried over to the back of the box and began clawing it open. The cardboard began giving way, falling to the ground in shreds.
A female kitten a little younger than the two tabbies staggered out, sucking in large gulps of air. Mungojerrie studied this other kitten. Her fur seemed to be a golden-yellow color, with many black streaks and patches running through it. On her forelegs, the yellow gave way to a reddish color, which ended in white toes. Her back paws were white, as was her face, which was framed by brownish fur, with small patches of yellow and white apparently thrown in for good measure.
"’ello," he said, somewhat shyly. Demeter examined him, seeing a cream-colored male kitten, his body striped with flashy black and orange stripes. His face was framed with a pattern of orange, black, and white. His lower face was a light shade of orange-yellow, the upper half white. A slightly smaller, obviously female, kitten moved up behind him, her markings virtually identical. Remembering what had been said earlier, Demeter supposed that the larger kitten was Mungojerrie and the smaller one Rumpelteazer.
"Um, hello," she said, thinking of nothing more to say. Mungojerrie smiled, and Rumpelteazer purred.
"’owja do," said Rumpelteazer, extending her head for a cheek-rub. Demeter rubbed her cheek against the tabby’s, keeping a wary golden eye on the two kittens before her.
"Sooo…" she said finally. "How did you two get here?"
"Well, I’s kin’a a lon’ story," began Mungojerrie. When Demeter did not object, the two rolled their eyes and began to explain.
Though his part had been a small one, no one could say it had not been another stirring performance by Gus the Theatre Cat. He strode nonchalantly out of the theatre, the sun reflecting off his coat, silver and coppery-brown, patched with black. As far as age went, he was slightly older than Deuteronomy.
He purred softly, his eyes settling on the almost-grown kitten sitting beneath the park bench nearby. She was off-white, with stripes and patches of ginger-brown and gray, as well as some black. She looked up as he came nearer.
"Hello, Dad," she said. "How was the performance?" Gus smiled as he placed a paw around the other cat—Jellylorum’s—shoulders. She was still young, at that stage between kittenhood and adulthood, but when she spoke, she was very grown-up and efficient, and was good at keeping track of the kittens, which was an ability Jennyanydots found most helpful.
"Oh, it was wonderful," Gus said, getting a wistful look in his eye. "Still, it wasn’t as wonderful as—,"
"As Firefrorefiddle, I know, Dad," sighed Jellylorum, rolling her eyes. "Are we going to the Junkyard now?"
"Hmm, I suppose. I rather thought Deuteronomy would be here to see this. Oh well, what we want is rather unimportant sometimes. ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women’—and cats—‘merely actors.’ " Gus sighed.
"Hello, Jellylorum! I take it the show went well, Gus?"
The two turned around, only slightly surprised to see the fluffy mostly-gray cat behind them. Deuteronomy smiled gently.
"Well, Gus, care to tell the other Jellicles about it?" purred the Jellicle Leader. Gus laughed.
"Quite ready, my friend," he said. "Lead on." Deuteronomy took off at a lope, quickly followed by Gus in Jellylorum, the latter struggling to keep up with her father’s longer strides.
When Deuteronomy entered the Junkyard, he sensed immediately that something was wrong. His yellow stare cast about his beloved Junkyard, searching for something out of the ordinary. All of the kittens were crowded around another kitten, which Deuteronomy easily recognized, by her reddish coloring, as Bombalurina. Jennyanydots was nowhere in view. He frowned and walked over to the group.
Spotting the Jellicle Leader, they all began to crowd around him, hugging his legs, sitting on his paws. With a half-hearted snarl he shoved them off, turning to the nearest kitten. It was Munkustrap, the silver tabby.
"Munkustrap, what’s going on?" he demanded. The silver tabby kitten blinked back a tear from his eye.
"Well, we were all talking with Cassie when Bombi ran into the Junkyard and told us her sister Demeter was missing. Jennyanydots told us to stay here and went off t’look for you," he explained. Deuteronomy frowned, then remembered Gus and Jellylorum.
"Gus, you watch the kittens for now. Jellylorum, you come with me," the Jellicle Leader decided swiftly. Without question, the Theatre Cat gathered the kittens to him, nodding to his daughter to follow Deuteronomy, who was already trotting swiftly out of the Junkyard.
"Why…pant…are we…wheeze…here?" complained Jellylorum, a few minutes later, already out of breath from running. "Are we looking for Jennyanydots?"
"No, another cat, named Maryaridi," answered Deuteronomy, slowing his pace to give the half-grown feline a break. "He’s bent on destruction and such, so he might have taken Demeter."
"Where do you…pant…find Maryaridi?" queried Jellylorum.
"I don’t know," admitted Deuteronomy. "But I have a hunch a friend of mine will know."
Jellylorum was silent as they hurried on. When it came to cats that captured innocent kittens, there was no telling what this ‘Maryaridi’ might have done to poor Demeter. Jellylorum closed her mouth and smacked her paws down resolutely.
At the end of the story, Demeter stood for a moment in silence, running over what she had been told in her mind. She finally shook her head and spoke.
"You can’t stay here. You have to rescue your friend and get out."
"Bu’ wot abou’ yew?" asked Mungojerrie.
"I’ll stay here," replied Demeter.
"Oh, no y’won’t," growled Mungojerrie. "If w’leave, y’leave wi’ us."
Demeter looked torn for a moment, but she finally nodded. "I suppose. If we leave, we leave togeth—,"
The voice that echoed about the room was empty and hollow. "Leave?"
The three kittens were rooted to the floor with fear at the sight they saw next.