"Misto, did you hear that? … Misto?" Syllabub turned around to look at her adoptive brother and find out why he didn't answer. The tuxedo tom was fast asleep; she had no clue how long he'd been like that, she'd been so busy chattering on about last night. But then, somewhere along the way, she'd heard a murmured conversation nearby. Breaking off whatever she was saying, she'd perked her ears up to listen. She hadn't exactly meant to…to 'eavesdrop,' as her father had warned her against on numerous occasions, but it didn't sound as if the two felines had been trying to keep their conversation secret—and besides, Mistoffelees hadn't warned her against listening, she'd assumed he was listening as well. Now she realized the reason he'd said nothing was that he hadn't been awake to say anything.

The gold-and-black queenkit sighed, feeling somewhat badly now for listening in. At the same time, though, she wanted to know more, so much of what Alonzo and Cassandra had said made little sense to her. And she didn't feel she could ask them directly, because then they'd know she'd eavesdropped and probably scold her.

No, she needed Misto's advice on this one, there was nothing for it, she'd have to wake him. After all, she told herself, he'd probably been asleep this whole time, surely he'd be good and rested by now! "Misto," she hissed, tapping her brother with her paw—then, when that didn't work, shaking him a bit more roughly. "Misto!"

"Mmmphhh…?" muttered the tom sleepily, beginning to stir at last. "Wassamatter? … Sylla? What are you doing, what time is it?"

"Don't be silly," the little queen giggled, "you know I can't tell time!" Some of the Jellicles could read Big Ben—or claimed they could—but Syllabub hadn't learnt that particular skill yet, and didn't know if she wanted to. After all, you could tell the time of day well enough by where the sun was and how hungry you were; she didn't understand the humans' obsession with what they called hours and minutes. "But if I had to guess, I'd say wake-up time!"

"I'd say it's still sleepy time," sighed Misto, cracking a tremendous yawn. "Remember, we were up all night? Have you even slept at all?"

"Well…" Sylla shuffled her paws guiltily, "not exactly what you might call slept, but I've been sitting here while you slept. Sitting is like resting, right? So that sort of counts."

"Mmm…not exactly," Misto groaned. "You need some actual sleep. Look, if I find you a snack, will you eat it and then try to take a nap?"

Syllabub wrinkled up her nose distastefully; that wasn't at all what she had in mind. "Sure, sure, but later, Misto, please? I've got…" In spite of herself, her eyes widened with delight as she saw Mistoffelees reach into his hat and pull something out of it. Eyes twinkling, he held the object out for her inspection. Leaning over to sniff at the whatever-it-was, Sylla found that it was a can of tuna—and already opened, too! Seizing the can out of Misto's outstretched paw, she began eagerly devouring the treat.

After finishing about half the can, though, the striped queenkit looked up at her brother with a pout. "No fair, you distracted me!" Glancing down at the can, she set it aside for the moment. After all, she'd agreed to go to sleep after she finished the snack, and there was still plenty left. "Misto, I can't go to sleep yet, I've got something really important to ask you about."

"Okay, Sylla, all right, what is it then?"

"Don't you go back to sleep either," she ordered.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Mistoffelees assured her, sitting up as straight as possible to avoid even the appearance of falling asleep. "What is it you need to ask me?"

"Okay, well, first off, don't get mad, it wasn't my fault, but I heard Uncle Alonzo and Cassie talking just now." She paused, as if waiting for a scolding despite her own defense.

Misto merely nodded for her to continue, though he did chuckle softly to himself. He expected Sylla was the only Jellicle who could get away with calling Cassandra "Cassie."

"So I heard them talking," Sylla went on, "and I think they were talking about last night and the Ball, but some of what they said was confusing. Specially when they kept talking about catnip and bad dreams and kitnapping…"

Mistoffelees leaned forward, even more on the alert now. At the same time, his ears drooped in disappointment. He'd hoped that, similar to his experience, Sylla hadn't seen frightening visions like some of the other cats—or that at least she'd forgotten. After all, she was so young, and thus far Munkustrap had kept her life a sheltered one. True, she knew of the name Macavity, but only really as a sort of imaginary bogey to dissuade her from wandering off alone. In any case, Misto wouldn't have thought her mind capable yet of conjuring up anything terribly scary—until after last night, at any rate. "Well, it was a bit scary, when Old Deuteronomy disappeared; that's probably what they were talking about. But we got her back," he added quickly, "and everything's all right now."

"Well, of course it is," she beamed, "because you brought her back, just like I knew you would! But that still doesn't explain what they meant…they talked about seeing really scary things that weren't real." She frowned questioningly at Misto.

"What…" He gulped. "What do you remember about it all? Think back. After Skimble's song…what happened?"

"Hmm…" Sylla pursed her lips, concentrating. "Well, at the end of his song…I don't know how he did it, but Skimble flew up into the air and disappeared!" She glanced sidelong at Misto. "Was that supposed to happen? Was it some sort of a funny trick you helped him with?" Misto shook his head, wishing it had been merely a trick of his gone wrong. "Then," Sylla continued, "it must have been…" She lowered her voice. "Macavity." She glanced around nervously, as if saying the name would conjure him out of thin air. "Then, after that, the lights went out. That was scary. Then…" She scratched her head. "It's all a bit confusing. I know something made us fall asleep for a bit and then we all woke up and Granny was gone, but…you know, I was never really worried like the others, because I knew she'd be back."

"So," Misto asked, beginning to feel relieved, "you don't remember anything else scary? Except the lights going out?"

"Yes," she nodded her head vigorously, "I didn't like the lights going out, it was spooky. But it didn't last long and then Granny was back and everything was good again."

"I'm glad you didn't have to be scared for long. But, Sylla…how did you know Old Deuteronomy would be back?"

"Because I saw you bring her back, of course," Syllabub giggled as if Misto had just asked the most ridiculous question possible.

"But," frowned Misto, "I didn't bring her back until after we all woke up. D'you mean you just hoped I could bring her back?"

"No," Sylla shook her head emphatically, "I knew. It is kind of funny, though, isn't it? I saw you bring her back two times. I guess no one else remembered the first time, because they were all worried you couldn't do it. But I knew you could because I remembered that you already had once before." Her eyes widened. "Do you think…while everyone else was having bad dreams, I had a good one?"

Misto stared at the younger queen, rather amazed that she'd managed to work it out so quickly. For that was the only explanation he could think of, too—that somehow, with Syllabub (and, who knew, perhaps with some of the others as well), Macavity's plan of paralyzing the Jellicles with terrifying hallucinations had backfired on itself. Somehow—perhaps because she was still so young—instead of seeing visions of terror and darkness, Syllabub had seen a vision of hope and had clung onto it. Apparently she didn't even remember the henchcats and their intimidation tactics.

"Yes, Sylla," he answered at last, "I think that's exactly what happened."

"I'm so glad," she beamed. But then, recalling something else, her smile faded. "But…it sounds like most everyone else had a terrible time of it and saw much scarier things than I did. That's what I heard Uncle Lonz and Cassie talking about; they had really bad dreams, and so did Cori and Tanto." Her lower lip trembled. "Maybe my daddy saw scary things too. It doesn't seem fair that I'm the only one who knew Granny would be back and everyone else had to be scared."

"I don't think you were the only one," Misto soothed. "Remember, Victoria and Plato believed she could come back, too, even if they didn't see it happen like you did. Plato was so sure it would work that he practically threw my hat at me." He chuckled. "You all believed in me, even when I wasn't sure I believed in myself. Sylla, you saw a ray of hope even in a scary time, and you helped spread that hope to the others."

"I did?" Syllabub's eyes sparkled. "I didn't know I was a…a…" She tried to think up a name for it. "A Hope-Spreader! Is that anything like a magician?"

"I'd say it is," the tuxedo tom nodded. "The best kind."

"Then," Sylla continued, "I want to use my magic to help everybody. You know, some of the others are probably still scared and upset about the dreams they saw last night. Alonzo and Cassandra were saying that they need to talk to everyone about it, make sure they're all right and not too scared anymore. But they might not know about my Hope-Spreading powers! I should help them. They'll need my help, don't you think?"

"I'm sure they will, Sylla. I'm sure they will."