The Jellicle Chronicles - Year Six

Shadow Moon

“It is coming again…” 

      Coricopat looked up from a scroll he was preparing. The writing on the scroll did not match any known language on this planet. To find the writing, an astronaut would have to travel thousands of light years to the Great Magellan Cloud, and find a single planet there. Placing the stylus down, the Warlock went over to where Tantomile knelt on the bare floor of their lair. Both her palms and her knees touched the soil of the Land upon which they lived. 

      “My All? What is coming?” 

      “Dark Night. The Shadow Moon. Our reawakening…” 

      His eyes widening, Coricopat smoothed out the dirt in front of his Mate. The sandy soil now raked clean, he knelt on the patch, and reached forward to touch her paws. When his paws came into contact, he groaned in unison with her. 

      “Prometheus…”

      Two ears perked up and swiveled. In his lair, Nightchaser sat in front of the scrying crystal, his paws bare fractions of an inch from its surface. What he had heard seemed like someone whispered just at the threshold of his hearing. His ears strained, but he got the feeling that it was not an audible sound he had heard. With authority, his paws slapped down on the holder of the sphere, and the crystal immediately showed an amazing sight… 

      Imagine being out in space, close enough to Earth, but far enough away that you could tell where the sun and moon were in relationship. Now, go one step further - you can see from your position the nearly full moon as its orbit brings it in around to the far side of the Earth. With your position, you rise above the Earth and you see the shadow cast by the living marble into space behind it. Your sight makes the calculation… 

      The image changed, and Nightchaser felt the hairs along his spine rise. The Full Moon lit his lair as if appearing through the lens of a powerful telescope. Slowly, the moon took on a reddish tinge along the equatorial edge of the globe. As if diseased, the reddish arc begins to sweep across the shining map of the moon. Mountains, craters, and vast deserts of moondust - all being swept over by the shadow of its parent. A darker arc bites into the reddish shadow. As Nightchaser watched, the moon slowly, but eventually, disappeared into the dark shadow of the Earth. 

      “A total eclipse of the Moon…” Nightchaser now knew what that whisper was. “By the Blessed Cat! Prometheus.”

      Cassandra twitched as Nuada and Maahes tussled on the floor. As the rolling fight came toward Leona, she hissed and jumped into a box set in the lair’s “wall.” Silvana looked up, concern etching its way across her pretty face. 

      “Cass, what’s up? You’re looking as if someone’s got a hold of your tail.” 

      “Yo! Guys! Let’s cool it for a moment!” 

      Tugger eased Silvana up off his chest and studied everyone. Cassandra seemed nervous, and Leona was agitated. But, Silvana was fine, and so was Nuada. Maahes was distracted enough to let Nuada always get the advantage of him. The twins stopped the moment Tugger sat up. 

      “Okay, Cassie. Give!” 

      “Something is about to happen…”

      In the standing Closet, the total number of occupants may have diminished, but the main room was the same. Over on the far side away from the opening, three adults nestled snugly together for both warmth and companionship. The Silver Tabby male was always in the center. Pressed against his back with her head nestled against his head, neck and shoulder, the Scarlet Queen’s sinuous body rubbed gently against him in her sleep. With her paws encased in small padded gloves, a Black and Gold Queen rested on his arm, with one paw pressed against his heart. During the day, it was not uncommon for these three to cuddle together - a Family orientation known as a triad.