One year later...

Alonzo came into the room silently as all the others watched him for the news he was about to deliver. The tension in the room was so thick one could almost taste it. Everyone was there. Munkustrap, Bombalurina, Jennyanydots, Sillabub, Mistoffelees, Demeter, Tumblebrutus, Cassandra, and all the rest of the cats. They had been waiting for the news for most of the day. The decision was to be made today on their fate.  Will they be accepted...or will they be forced to fight for their lives?  This decision affected every one of them...and they knew it.

As cat-humans, the only real family they had was each other.  They never really found out where they had come from nor why they were different..but it was obvious to the rest of the human race. The Jellicles werent human. At least, they werent completely human. They were also cats with many of the attributes cats have such as seeing in near darkness, quick reflexes, fur on their bodies, tails, and their hands were partial claws as well. They didnt have whiskers as regular cats do, but then they werent completely cats, were they? Being a whole different race of their own, they've had to make due with their life and the troubles they have had... and will have to face.

Alonzo looked upon his fellow jellicles and the human who had found them as he delivered the news that the council had laid down. "It's another stalemate." He could hear the groans among the group. Some of them commented on how humans can't seem to make up their minds while others stated how they thought they should just be left alone. They weren't harming anyone.

Munkustrap stood up and raised his arms to silence everyone. "This isn't the end of anything." He then turned and looked at Alonzo. "Did you learn of the reason for the stalemate?"

Alonzo shook his head. "All I know is that there is some sort of group deeply protesting our existence. They think we are a danger to them. I still don't know who they are!" Papers went flying as he slashed at the nearby desktop in frustration. He began to pace as Munkustrap spoke up again.

"And we are sure that it's not Macavity causing the trouble?" He looked over towards Bombalurina and Demeter. The smaller queen stiffened a little, but said nothing, letting her sister speak.

"Yes. We're sure. Macavity told us so. Although we wouldn't normally take his word for anything, this whole business would be against his interest....seeing as he's one of us whether he likes it or not. He would betray us...but not his own self." Bombalurina glanced at her smaller sister. Everyone knew about how Macavity had taken a liking to Demeter. He did everything he could to get her, but she refused him...and he didn't like it.

"If it's not him, then who could want us removed?" Munkustraps voice interrupted Bombalurina's thoughts and she looked up to see him pacing. Alonzo had stopped his own pacing and had finally sat down next to Demeter and Cassandra.

An old, but deep and strong voice spoke.  "When one does not find the obvious answer, look for the subtle one." Everyone turned to look at Old Deuteronomy. Over the past two years since their existance, they've looked to him for advice and words of wisdom. Yet even he couldn't explain the reason for the Jellicles to be there or even why they were called Jellicles.

Cassandra spoke up. "What is subtle about humans not liking those who are different from them?" She felt eyes turn towards her, but didn't look away from Deuteronomy. "Do they feel threatened by us? It's not like any of us are planning to take over the world." She then caught herself. "Well, with one exception." She didn't mention his name. They all knew who she was talking about.

In the room of the abandoned building, Lloyd sat just to the side of the group and mulled over his own thoughts of the past year. After the ship had spotted their bonfire, Lloyd made sure the Jellicle's waited in the caves until he was able to talk to the captain of the ship. He esplained the unusual circumstances and requested that he and his companions have as little contact with the crew or passengers as possible. He then took the captain to the caves and showed the Jellicles to him. After seeing the Jellicle's and being reassured of thier not being dangerous, the captain agreed. Only he and his first mate knew about the Jellicles on the voyage home.

As they travelled, the captain and first mate were bombarded with questions about the sea and ships and such by Growltiger, Ghengis, Gilbert, Grumbuskin, Griddlebone, and Tumblebrutus. It was no surprise when later in the year, they all took up positions on ships. Growltiger became captain of his own ship with Grumbuskin as his first mate, while Ghengis became captain of his own ship as well with Gilbert as his first mage. Griddlebone and Tumblebrutus occasionally visited them. It was also a sad occasion when the Jellicles heard that there had been a heated arguement that turned into a fight. Ghengis just barely escaped Growltiger's rage. But Growltiger hadn't come out of it so easily either. His left ear was mauled and tattered. Growltiger took to wearing a patch over one eye, though they weren't sure why. Neither Growltiger, nor Ghengis has told anyone just what it was that created the rift between them. They had gotten along fine while on the island.

Lloyd's eyes traveled over the crowd and came to rest on Bustopher Jones. That tom was pretty lucky in his opinion. Once the group had arrived in London, they all had found a place to stay. The Jellicle's tried to stay out of sight as much as they could until Lloyd could get things straightened out and find a lawyer in order to make sure the Jellicle's rights were protected. He knew human nature well. He knew they wouldn't take to the Jellicle's so easily. The only problem was, Bustopher Jones was so big that it was hard to hide him. Fortunately, they had run into an eccentric older gentleman named Thom Faber on their way to the abandoned building they were hiding out in. The gentleman took one look at Bustopher Jones and cracked a huge smile. He liked the way Bustopher looked as though he were all dressed up and ready for evening cocktails. He had invited Bustopher to his mansion and ever since, the two hit it off as the best of friends.

Unfortunately, that was one of the only good reactions to the Jellicle's for awhile. Once Lloyd had secured a lawyer willing to take on the task of protecting the Jellicle's rights (and Mr. Faber was willing to secretly finance it since he didn't want to see anything happen to his good pal, Bustopher), Lloyd and Nathan Lansing, the lawyer, went to work at slowly introducing the Jellicles into society. There was a near riot the first day the Jellicles came out of hiding. Ever since, there had been many cases of arbitrary violence towards the Jellicle's. Though they had found that some of the humans were genuinely sympatheic towards the Jellicles, there were just too many who didn't like them, forcing the Jellicles to stay in hiding. Even many of those in authority or supposedly "protective" positions didn't care for the Jellicles and they looked the other way of one happened to be in trouble. Apparently, there was a faction or group of people who were bound and determined to see that the Jellicles were destroyed. They spread the word that they didn't think that the Jellicles were natural to the earth. Or they think that the Jellicles were too dangerous to the human race. They have claws and fangs. They can see and hear better than humans. And they are more agile than most humans. Then there were the scientists who asked for some samples, or on an occasional brazen request to donate one of the Jellicles to their labs for research!

Lloyd moved his mind on to more pleasant times the Jellicles had had over the year. They celebrated their first Jellicle Ball since leaving the Island. He now understood a little more about it. The Jellicles apparently gather once a year on a night with a full moon. It was essentially like an instinct to them to do this because they didn't quite know what they were doing when they began their chant. Lloyd felt honored to have been able to watch what he considered to be a very spiritual moment in their lives. Old Deuteronomy, which is what the Jellicle's had taken to calling him on occasion, looked through the crowd of Jellicles after they had raised their paws to him like they did that first night they came out of the caves. But this time he had reached out and chosen the hand of a tom names Peter. Everyone had gathered around Peter and Deuteronomy took him over to a large tractor tire. The tribe was meeting in an old abandoned lot with tons of rubbish and junk in it. The lot was owned by Mr. Faber so they weren't scared of being discovered there. To Lloyd's and everyone else's surprise, they rose up in the sky surrounded by a bank of fog. then the sky seemed to open up and Peter was able to enter what Lloyd could only translate later as the Heaviside Layer. He could only surmise that this was their "heaven". When he talked about it later with Deuteronomy, all Deut could say was that it was as though something from deep inside him encouraged him to do as he had done. He believed that it was what they called the "Everlasting Cat", who takes the chosen feline to the Heaviside Layer. The next day a small kittenhuman they had never seen before showed up. It had all the same markings that Peter did. Lloyd and Deut determined that, like the supposed story of cats having nine lives, this was one way of the Jellicle's to enter a whole new life. So they named the tom Peter. They guessed his age to be about two or three years old in human years.

Other Jellicles went out of the yard occasionally. Skimbleshanks was able to actually secure a night job at the train station. The stationmaster was sympathetic to the Jellicle's and gave Skimble a job in keeping the station clean and secure. Macavity on the other hand... well, he left the Jellicle's almost as soon as he could. He kept himself hidden very well, however, but had gotten involved with one of the mobs. Though he never joined any of them, he worked with them half the time, and began to grow his own outfit. Cockalorum, Porpentine, and Cus Cus willingly followed him. The tribe is occasionally updated on his dealings by Mungojerrie, though just why he knows this, they decided not to ask. Bombalurina seemed to know a little more than some of the others as well, but it was guessed that she did so in order to be protective of Demeter. Before leaving, Macavity had threatened that one day she would be his, and this made the poor queen quite nervouse and jumpy ever since.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had become effecient in theivery and such. Though the Jellicles hated to break the law, there had been a time or two in which the skills of the two thiefs were needed in order to retrieve food when they couldn't get word to Bustopher Jones and Tom Faber. The two had grown to be best friends and it is yet to be seen if they become more than that or just stay best friends. For now they are just a couple of rogues.

Speaking of rogues, Electra tended to be a little rebellious on occasion, and one time set the whole tribe on edge looking for her as she had left the protection of the junkyard to see what she deemed "more interesting things". Lloyd found her near a park talking to a young boy named Damion Conner. Luckily, Lloyd knew the boy. He was a neighbor. The boy's parents didn't like the Jellicle's, but Damion did. Lloyd swore him to secrecy and promised to one day show where the Jellicle's were if he proved he could keep his promise. He then took Electra away and back to the Junkyard.

Lloyd's mind snapped back to the present as Cockalorum entered the room. The toms eyes roamed around the room watching everyone. "I have a message from Macavity." His eyes rested on Deuteronomy. "He has found out who is behind the protesting. He knows who wants the Jellicles dead."

Chapter 8