Cats Always

Chapter 4. Familiar voices.

Being third in command, Cassandra spent majority of her days either on the 'up-top' platform or overseeing the perimeter patrols. Undeniably, she was proud of her position, she was the first Jellicle queen in history to hold a guardian position, enabling her to truly feel like she was protecting her family and friends, without sitting around and feeling useless. It was mid afternoon when Cassandra made her way to Admetus' guardian post. Her mate was positioned by the pipe that was a lead out of the Junkyard into human territory. On that particular afternoon, he was joined by their young daughter Athena, who was quietly playing by herself just inside of the pipe where Admetus could keep an eye on her as well as his duty. Upon seeing his mate, the tom sat up and a wide grin presented itself on his face. 

"Good afternoon, my love!" He chirped whilst standing, taking the Burmese queen into his arms. 

Cassandra responded with a low purr and draped her arms over the grey tom's shoulders, shortly pressing a kiss to his lips. "Hello love." Pulling her into an embrace, Admetus nuzzled his head to his mate's neck and smiled fondly at her warm and welcoming scent. Tilting her head back just a fraction, Cassandra sighed in content, her eyes slipping shut as she felt Admetus' lips begin to tickle her neck. The couple were blissfully unaware that nearby in the pipe their daughter was alone and talking to herself. 

Athena had crawled to the other end of the pipe where there was a heavy wooden palette which blocked the entrance as some sort of barrier to outsiders. "It's closed!" She squeaked as she pushed against the wood with all of her kitten might. For a moment, she went silent again, ears pricking up as if she was listening to something. "I can't push it, it's too heavy." 

Both Cassandra and Admetus' ears perked up at the sound of their young daughter's voice, briefly looking to each other with mirrored expressions of confusion. They broke apart and crouched down to peer inside. "Athena? Sweetheart?" Admetus called in, his voice laced with concern. The princess whipped around and with a gasp, trotted back to the entrance and hugged her father's leg. 

"Papa!" She mewled. 

"Who were you talking to darling?" Cassandra asked, kneeling down to stroke a paw across her daughter's soft ears. 

"There was nobody down there mama, but I could hear someone talking to me, like they were right beside me!" Almost instantly Cassandra's blood ran cold, she and her mate exchanged another look, both again thinking the same thing.

"W-what did their voice sound like?" The anxious mother persisted. 

"I don't know mama! They were hard to understand, their voice echoed like it was far away, but... it was in my head." Upon hearing those words, the Burmese had to fully sit down her legs were feeling so weak. She had hoped for so long that this day would never come but Athena had discovered her ability. 

Admetus himself knelt and gently rubbed his mate's back to offer her some comfort, seeing that she was visibly distressed. "How many times has this happened before?" Athena frowned in thought. 

"Only once before, but it was in a dream." Without hesitation, the mother collected her daughter into a tight hug, she had believed for so long that Athena's powers would lay dormant and part of the reason she had dreaded this day's arrival was because it would be something that would separate Athena from her parents, cats who possessed no such magic. "Have I done something wrong mother?" Croaked the kit, holding onto her mother with balled little paws. 

"No, no darling. Not at all." Cassandra reassured, pressing a small kiss to her daughter's forehead. Admetus could feel the worry radiating off of the queen, and with a soft sigh, he wrapped his arms around his girls and held them close. 

* 

At nightfall, Cassandra slipped out of the den she shared with her mate and daughter and crept silently along the outskirts of  the yard's clearing. Undetectable among the shadows, Cassandra eventually found herself at the entrance of the closet the mystic twins Tantomile and Coricopat resided in. Quietly, she knocked on the door yet the Burmese didn't need to wait for a response, almost instantly Coricopat popped his head out, an underlying look of amusement present on the tom's features. 

"Cassandra, you are here. We wondered when we would be seeing you." He beckoned the third in command inside where Tantomile was waiting, face devoid of emotion, but eyes glowing dimly in the darkness of their abode. Anxiously, Cassandra sat down beside the other queen and Coricopat sat just in front of them. "We must link paws." He whispered. Shortly after the words left his mouth, the twins picked up a paw each belonging to Cassandra and then joined their own, forming a small circle. 

Both of the mystic twin's eyes fluttered shut, and when Tantomile finally spoke, her voice came out like a soft echo. "Tell us what you are here for." Though the twins already knew, they needed the Burmese to confirm it, to strengthen the telepathic link. 

Inhaling a deep breath, Cassandra began to regale to the twins what had happened earlier on that day with her daughter and the voice she had heard. "I knew this day would come... I just want to know that she is safe and this voice... is harmless." The queen's voice was croaky and thick with emotion that tended to never reach the surface, but her daughter was the concern here. For her daughter Cassandra would give her own life. 

Coricopat and Tantomile exchanged concerned glances, as usual they were thinking the same thing. "Unfortunately, our powers do not permit us to hear secondary voices in another's head." The tom explained. 

Tantomile's eyes opened and her gaze directed to the Burmese. "But, to help us form a clearer idea of what might be communicating with Athena, keep a close eye on her, listen carefully to everything she says-"

"Ask her what she is hearing." Finished the tom, his own golden eyes opening, the dim glow now fading in both of the twins eyes.

Cassandra's heart sank, she had come here hoping for a more immediate answer, something that would ease her mind, but now she had more questions, ones she was too apprehensive to ask. "I understand." She hummed lowly before standing and leaving in a rather swift flurry. There were things she needed to think about alone, to clear her mind in the fresh air and come to grips with what her offspring was now facing. Anything could be communicating with the young kit, good or bad, Cassandra was desperate to get to the bottom of it. 

Meanwhile, the kitten that had been the topic of discussion was curled up to her father's chest dreaming deeply, his arm was draped over her as protection whilst he snored softly.

In her dream, it was if she was sitting on the huge tire in the Junkyard clearing, completely alone as her short legs swung back and forth from the edge of the tire. The surrounding atmosphere could only be described as blank, it was neither night nor day but it was dark in a hazy sort of way, it was not hot or cold, just a medium that was off putting. If Athena tried to look anywhere else other than directly ahead, her vision would spot and become a black blur until her eyes found the centre again. She was looking for something, that was the only thing she could think of whilst she was frozen there. It felt like a lifetime had passed before something came to the kit's attention, something in the distance, small, not a cat... an object. A scroll floated steadily towards her, and she could only imagine that the Everlasting Cat was sitting up on their cloud guiding it over with a very long piece of string like a puppet. Finally, it reached Athena and dropped into her small paws, which were definitely not big enough to hold it without a struggle. Unraveling the scroll, the princess gasped as her eyes laid upon what the paper presented: a map! But upon close inspection she had no idea where it lead. 

At that moment something stirred Athena from her slumber, and as her eyes sleepily opened she came to realise that the scroll from her dream was clutched tightly to her chest...