Author's notes: This story is a sequel to my story "New Friends, New Enemies", and could be a bit hard to understand if you haven't read that one. The song "Your Eyes" is from the musical RENT and is written by Jonathan Larson.
It was a peaceful summer night, all nature seemed at play. The tender moon was shining bright over the junkyard. A group of cats were sleeping on the ground, entangled in each other they formed a heap of fur, legs and tails, different colours, different sizes. If you would look more closely you could make out seven different cats. First there were three toms, one large black and white, one brown and white with a brown patch over his left eye, and one white, grey and brown one, a bit smaller than the other two. Then there were two slim cats, one female and one male, with black, brown and white stripes, so much alike each other that at first sight you thought they were one. And last there were two young queens, one of them grey and the other one red and black. Seven cats all together, all sleeping safely, watched over by one cat alone.
Admetus stood on guard. Unlike most of the other cats he didn't mind doing that. He enjoyed the peace-full nights, with the silent moon as the only company. The other jellicles thought he was a bit odd, but he didn't mind. Most of the time they didn't pay much attention to him. But with a grandfather like Old Deuteronomy and a brother like Munkustrap, who could be surprised that Admetus always had been standing in the shadows.
Admetus looked down at his friends sleeping in the junkyard. Alonzo, Tumblebrutus and Pouncival had been living there for a long time now, no one really remembered what the junkyard had been like without the three toms there all the time. Coricopat, Tantomile and the new jellicle Pintaci usually lived in an old basement, but on warm nights like this one, they stayed in the junkyard. The newest addition was Electra. She and her sister Jemima had suddenly found themselves homeless when a child in their pet-family became allergic to animals. Jemima had found a new home with Victoria's family, but Electra preferred to stay in the junkyard, mostly because of Tumblebrutus living there.
Admetus turned around and gazed out over the area outside the junkyard. It was resting in a soft grey light, created by the moon. Suddenly a movement caught his attention. Someone was hiding behind that old trashcan. Admetus quickly climbed down from the pile of junk where he had been standing.
"Who's there?" he demanded to know.
"Please, don't hurt me", a soft voice said and a head peered out from behind the trashcan.
"I won't hurt you as long as you come out from behind there", Admetus said.
The other cat did as he said, and Admetus was stunned when he found himself facing the most beautiful queen he had ever seen. Her well-groomed fur was red and black patched, except for a white stripe running down her chest. But the most amazing was her eyes. They were big and grey, and when she looked at Admetus they reflected the moonlight and made him all dizzy.
*Jellicle cats have moonlit eyes*, he thought absently. Then he shook his head, trying to collect his thoughts.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here", he asked, trying not to sound rude.
"My name is Meluseth", the beautiful female answered, "and I'm here because I don't really have anywhere else to go."
"Why not?" Admetus asked softly.
"I…", Meluseth started, but stopped when she heard that someone was coming. "I really don't want to talk to anyone else", she said quickly.
Admetus looked at her and tried to make up his mind about what was the best thing to do. But when his brown eyes met her grey, he was defeated.
"My shift is over now", he whispered. "Meet me in the alley around the corner."
Meluseth smiled at him, nodded and slunk off. But she didn't go far, she stayed in the shadows where she could still see and hear the tom and whoever was coming. She studied her chosen one. He wasn't that bad, his fur was brown, with stripes of white and grey here and there, and his brown eyes where deep and sensitive. He was really kind of cute, Meluseth thought, but woah! He was definitely not as handsome as the tom who now joined him. He was gorgeous! A large silver tabby, tall and muscular. Meluseth held her breath as the two toms started talking.
"In time for once, Munku?"
"Ha ha, very funny", the grey tabby said.
Munku, Munku… Meluseth tried to remember what Macavity had told her about the jellicles. Munku… of course! The tabby must be Munkustrap, the leader.
"Are you heading home now?" Munkustrap continued.
"No, I think I'll take a walk", the brown cat replied. "The moon is wonderful tonight."
"You and you moon", Munkustrap laughed affectionately. "But be careful. You never know what Bastetika and her sister are up to."
"Isn't it strange that Electra and Pintaci can't remember the name of
the sister?" his friend said thoughtfully.
Meluseth frowned. Metus, who could that be? Oh, all these stupid
nicknames, Macavity hadn't said anything about those. Hmm, let's see…
M… Mungojerrie, Mistoffelees, Munkustrap. None of them could be called
Metus. Besides, she had already met Munkustrap. She went through all
the males Macavity had talked about, Plato, Quaxo, Skimbleshanks,
Tumblebrutus, Admetus, Pounci… wait a minute, Admetus! Why didn't she
see that straight away? Admetus, according to Macavity, a bit odd, a
loner, and, the most important thing of all, he was Munkustrap's
brother. Meluseth congratulated herself, the brother of the jellicle
leader, nice work! She laughed and started walking towards the alley.
Admetus was already there. When he heard her coming and turned around,
she gave him her most charming smile, which almost paralysed the poor
tom.
"Uh… oh… I mean… hi!" he stuttered as his face took a red tone.
Meluseth smiled sweetly, but inside she shook with laughter. This was
going to be so easy.
Bastetika was waiting impatiently for her younger sister to come back.
She paced around the room, now and them gleaming angrily at Macavity
who was sitting in a corner. He irritated her, no matter what he did,
he always irritated her. She wished she could get rid of him, but she
needed him. He knew almost everything about the jellicles, and she knew
nothing. But if this new plan worked, maybe she wouldn't have any more
use for him. She smiled when she thought about that. But where was
Meluseth? She heard a door being opened. Finally!
"How did it go?" she asked, the second her sister entered the room.
"Like taking candy from a baby", Meluseth answered indolently and sat
down on a cushion.
"So, who is the chosen one?" Macavity asked, trying not to sound too
curious.
"The leader's brother", Meluseth said. "Admetus, I think his name was."
"And he fell for it? All of it?" her sister asked.
"All of it", Meluseth confirmed. "He's all mine now."
"Stop that! It's not morning yet", Pintaci mumbled when she felt
someone nuzzling her.
"Come on, Pin! I want you to play with me", Pouncival said and began
licking her ears.
Pintaci opened one eye and looked at the brown, grey and white cat
standing in front of her.
"Pounce, are you never tired?" she asked and giggled as his tongue
tickled the tip of her ear.
Pouncival cocked his head to one side and thought about this for a
moment.
"No!" he said happily and did a perfect back flip to prove this.
Pintaci couldn't help laughing at the young tom. She realised that he
wasn't going to let her go back to sleep, so she sat up and gave him a
big hug. Pouncival looked very surprised.
"Why did you do that?" he wondered confused.
Pintaci shrugged and smiled.
"'Cause you're so cute. And 'cause you're my friend."
Pouncival looked at her.
"Girls!" he muttered, but then he smiled devishly and pounced on her,
and the game was on. Pintaci got ready to pounce back, but in the last
second, Pouncival moved, so she landed on Alonzo instead. She held her
breath, waiting for his reaction. She was a bit afraid of the large
black and white tom who could be very moody. But now he just opened one
eye and looked at the grey cat sitting on top of him.
"Pin, it's way to early for that", he said sleepily, put his arm around
her waist and pulled her down so she came to lay between him and
Coricopat. "Go back to sleep. You too, Pounce!"
Pounce shrugged and lay down beside Alonzo and fell asleep almost
immediately.
Admetus carefully stepped over the sleeping felines to reach the cat he
was looking for. He gently nuzzled her shoulder, and Tantomile
immediately opened her blue eyes.
"Admetus", she said. "What can I do for you?"
"Never try to surprise a psychic cat, huh?" Admetus smiled.
Tantomile returned the smile and rose to her feet, careful not to wake
Coricopat and Electra.
"So… This is not just a social visit, is it?"
Admetus blushed slightly and shook his head.
*It never is* Tantomile thought, almost with a sigh. "What can I help
you with?", she asked as the two cats walked away from their sleeping
friends.
"Uhm, well you see…" Admetus started a bit hesitatingly, but then he
took a deep breath and told her what had happened the night before.
"Tant, I think I'm in love", he finished and blushed again.
"Metus, that's great!" Tantomile exclaimed, happy for her friend. "But
why are you telling me this?"
"Am I doing the right thing?" Admetus wondered. "She's not a jellicle."
"So, maybe she can become one" Tantomile said and shrugged her
shoulders. Then she looked expectantly at him. "When do I get to meet
her?"
"She's very shy", the brown tom said. "Since her family kicked her out,
she doesn't really trust anyone." He smiled shyly. "I'm seeing her
again tonight."
"Let me know how things went, ok?" Tantomile said.
Admetus nodded and rested his head against her shoulder for a moment.
"Thanks Tant", he said and left the junkyard.
"What was that about?" Coricopat asked and walked over to his sister.
"Eavesdropping again, are we?" Tantomile smiled.
"No…", Coricopat muttered, but his right ear began to twitch nervously.
"Anyway, you weren't talking loud enough."
Tantomile began to laugh.
"I love you, Cori", she said fondly.
"Yeah, yeah, I love you too", her brother said impatiently, "but what
did Admetus want?"
"If he wanted you to know, I'm sure he would have told you", Tantomile
said and began grooming herself.
Coricopat looked very disappointed.
"Tant! I'm your twin brother! You're supposed to tell me everything",
he complained.
"Worry about you own problems instead", his sister suggested. "Like
when are you going to tell Pintaci how you feel about her?"
Coricopat gleamed at her.
"I will tell her", he muttered. "I'm just waiting for the right
moment."
"Oh really?" Tantomile said sarcastically. "And this "right moment",
will that take place before or after you both die of old age?"
Coricopat hissed at her and went to talk to Tumblebrutus instead.
"Toms!" Tantomile sighed and rolled her eyes.
Meluseth looked around in the park. She knew she was late, but it was
after all a lady's right to be late. She spotted Admetus sitting under
a large tree. He looked very misplaced, his paws playing restlessly
with a
flower, his eyes searching for something. Against her will she smiled.
He was really very cute. She walked toward him and saw how his face
brightened when he saw her coming. He almost tripped over his own feet
in his eager to get up.
"Meluseth! For you…" he said and gave her the flower, but frowned when
he noticed that it wasn't' very pretty anymore. The stem was broken,
and most of the petals had disappeared. "Oh, sorry", he said unhappily.
He
looked into her big grey eyes, and his heart began beating faster. He
had been thinking of her eyes the whole day, he couldn't' get them out
of his mind. And now when he saw them again, they were even more
beautiful than he remembered. But she probably thought he was a
complete fool now.
Meluseth smiled and accepted the flower.
"It's ok Admetus", she assured him. "It's lovely."
Admetus smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach his brown eyes.
Meluseth found that she really wanted him to be happy, so without
really thinking, she leaned forward and gave him a light kiss. Admetus'
expression showed a mixture of shock, surprise, but most of all
happiness. Meluseth forced a smile, but she was almost panicking.
Oh my God! No, no, no, no, no! Why did I do that? I mustn't complicate
things! This is not good, this is not good at all! I can't fall in love
with him, I cant! That's not why I'm here, I just need to get
information about the jellicles. I promised myself, no emotions! This
isn't good!
But when Admetus put his arms around her and kissed her, she forgot
everything else.
"So, did you find out anything useful?" Bastetika impatiently asked her
younger sister.
"Bastie, you have to be a bit more patient", Meluseth explained. "I
have to go slowly with Admetus." She giggled, something that made
Bastetika raise her eyebrows. Meluseth never giggled! "Can you believe
he actually sang to me?"
Bastetika just sighed and left the room. Meluseth shrugged and turned
to Macavity.
"Tell me about him" , she asked curiously.
Macavity smiled, well, at least as close to a smile that Macavity could
perform.
"Metus was my best friend when I was a jellicle", he said. In fact he
was my only friend, he added for himself. He looked attentively at
Meluseth. "You really like him, don't you?"
The beautiful female nodded seriously.
"He's a great guy, Mel", Macavity continued, using a form of her name
he had never dared to use before. "Please don't hurt him more than
necessary."
"I sang to her", Admetus confessed to Tantomile. "A song about her
eyes."
"You did?" Tantomile sighed longingly. "Oh Metus, that's so romantic!"
Coricopat, who was still a bit disappointed by the fact that his sister
was keeping secrets from him, was watching the two cats.
"A penny for your thoughts", Pintaci said. The grey cat sat down beside
him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"They're not worth that much", he replied and smiled at her.
"I'm sure they're worth a lot more", Pintaci assured him and scratched
her ear.
Coricopat looked at Tantomile and Admetus and remembered what he and
his sister had been arguing about earlier.
"Pin, could I talk to you about something?" he said.
"Sure Cori", Pintaci answered, but then she noticed Demeter over by the
old car. "But could it wait, I promised Dem to help her with
something." Before Coricopat had time to say anything, she had already
left.
"Yeah, it can wait", he sighed, laid down and started to feel really
sorry for him self.