While the kittens were at camp, the Magic Cats had other things to do. It had come to mind that Delta's powers probably hadn't disappeared, but instead simply switched sources. Now they would have to find out what her new power source was.

Misty thought Ebony's powers might be the key to this secret. He hadn't mentioned his powers at all. And Ebony began avoiding everyone except Shadow, while the other cats began following Shadow around.

All except Delta, who didn't care whether her powers came back or not. Everyone tried to get her to help, they knew her stealth would come in handy for spying on Ebony and Shadow, but Delta refused to do anything that would invade anyone's privacy.

Shadow found Ebony in the alley behind his backyard.

The cold wind blew hard enough to penetrate even Shadow's thick fur.

Ebony sighed. "There's no use hiding. They'll find out anyway"

Shadow blinked at him curiously and narrowed her eyes.

Ebony continued, "Suki is already catching on. She said that my eyes 'look weird'. And Misty seemed shocked that I couldn't 'see' everyone's new collars."

Shadow understood. She nodded, though she knew he couldn't see it. "But why are you hiding it?" she asked.

"I don't want others to treat me differently just because I'm blind." Ebony hissed.

"That's not why they've been trying to find you," said Shadow. "They just want to know what your powers are."

Ebony lifted his head a bit. His ears lowered, but he smiled. He looked embarrassed. "Oh, well, that's a little hard to explain, I could try though."

Just then, Delta ran by. She paused as she noticed Shadow and Ebony. "Have you seen Jade?" She asked urgently.

Ebony and Shadow both shook their heads. "I haven't 'seen' anyone lately." Joked Ebony.

Delta was visibly confused, but Shadow understood the joke.

Delta moved on, ducking under the 'road closed' sign to get out of the alley.

"Back to our conversation." Ebony re-started. "I can track anyone or anything that fits what I'm thinking of, and know how far it is, and how to get there," he explained. "For example: if I was looking for you, and you were at your house, I would know."

"Is that how you knew it would be safer to go around the hill than to go over it when we were going to the calicos' fortress?" Shadow asked,

Ebony nodded. "I don't even have to know what it is I'm looking for. I just have to know what I need. If I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, I just have to think of a description of what it does or how it will help me. That's the part that I consider complicated."

"So Misty was right, then. Your powers probably can help us." Shadow purred, "Everyone's been trying to find out the source of Delta's powers. Maybe you could track down someone or something that could help us find out."

Ebony nodded. "Let's go tell them!"

 They found everyone standing right outside of Suki's house. Suki was showing Delta her flood escape and trying to describe how to swim.

She turned to look in their direction as they approached.

Delta's eyes widened. "I just remembered why I needed to speak with you, Jade!" she exclaimed.

She sounded more calm when she continued, but her tone slowly shifted to panic. "So, it turns out my mom is dead and didn't survive the fall over the edge of the cliff. But she's now haunting my dreams and telling me to run away and do... evil things." she shuddered. "I don't even want to describe them."

Everyone grew concerned, but Ebony quickly lightened the mood.

"On a happier note, Shadow just explained to me why you were all chasing me around and I think I can help."

"Bringing my powers back might just make Nova's ghost more intense in my dreams." Delta warned everyone, actually calling her mother by name instead of 'mom'.

Suki nodded. "But, maybe after we find the source of your powers, we can find someone to help with your ghost problem. Are you sure you're not just imagining it?"

Delta's eyes narrowed challengingly. "I would never just imagine such horrible things. I hadn't even heard of those things before Mother started haunting me."

"We'll have to deal with that later. I don't think we have a solution for hauntings right now." Suki said, "Anyway, Ebony, could you explain how you think you can help?"

Ebony explained everything about his powers the same way that he had to Shadow in the alley. Everyone agreed this was the best plan, except Delta who just had to go along with it anyway because she didn't have a choice.

 They walked to the bus stop and waited for Ebony to lead the way.

Ebony seemed to be listening for something, his whiskers twitched and he started walking. "This way."

They walked over to the fence they had passed to get to Nova's fortress. The broken fence had since been repaired.

"We'll have to find a different way around." Suki hissed.

But Ebony was already turning to head along the fence. "There's an entrance just up ahead." He explained.

"How do you know?" Misty asked.

Shadow gave her a stern look and then gestured to Ebony's collar. "His powers."

They continued walking until they got to a big open gate.

Suki looked up at the sign. "Wildlife park." she read aloud. "I wonder how none of the visiting humans have ever noticed the fortress."

"The path wasn't connected to the fortress. I bet the humans never left the path and thus, never discovered the fortress." Shadow said.

"Wait you can read human?" Misty asked, "Since when?"

Suki nodded. "And I can understand human speech. It just comes naturally to me. I've been living with humans since I was first born. I'm guessing with being raised near humans I picked up on what they were saying and learned to translate it."

 "What we're looking for is in here." Ebony said, putting a paw on the other side of the fence. "Let's keep going."

"That could've been so useful when we were looking for the fortress." Jade complained as they continued walking.

"If you're thinking of your plan of reading the return addresses on the envelopes; Do you really think the fortress even has an address, given that it's located inside a wildlife park? And even if it did, they probably wouldn't even put the fortress as the return address since they wouldn't want to reveal their location anyway." Suki argued.

Delta quickly interrupted, "What return address?"

"The humans were sent letters from someone about how they were keeping track of how many Magic Cats had been found when they got our magic collars." Jade explained,

"That's just the collar production company. The humans working there had been told by the scientist who experimented on the original Magic Cats that they should make collars for the cats even after he was dead." Delta laughed. "My mom- Nova had been sending them letters, written in human language, whenever I needed a new collar. And our family has been doing that for generations."

"My humans must've known that, too. But either they never talked about it around me or I never learned whatever the human word for 'collar production company' is, and didn't understand them when they talked about it." Suki noted. "Otherwise I would've known."

They entered a forested part of the park, Shadow noticed that Ebony seemed to be guided by his powers. The other cats tripped over hidden tree roots and other things littered across the ground, but Ebony dodged them with ease.

They soon came to a river with a strange glow to it.

"Why is it glowing?" Misty asked rhetorically.

They all walked up to it and looked into it.

Immediately Shadow noticed something off about her reflection, its eyes were the wrong colours, one light blue and one dark hazel.

"This water is very reflective." Jade pointed out.

"My stripes look less triangular than usual." Suki added. "And my eyes are... yellow."

"My eyeliner markings are gone!" Misty cried,

Everyone turned to face her.

 "The black marks around my eyes. They look like human make-up." Misty clarified.

"They don't look like they're missing to me." Suki pointed out. Looking at Misty's real face rather than her reflection's. "Maybe the water reflects differently from reality."

Jade quickly looked down at her paws, checking both her real ones and her reflection's. "I still have my extra toes." she sighed with relief.

"You have extra toes?" Misty asked,

"One on each paw. Runs in my family, at least, my mom had it. I never met her parents, so I can't say for sure."

"Delta, you're being oddly silent." Suki noticed,

Delta was staring transfixed at her reflection with wide eyes.

"Who is that?" she asked with a quiet, fearful voice.

Everyone (except Ebony) came to look at her reflection. It was white with ginger striped patches where her black patches were, and heterochromia; one yellow eye and one blue eye.

"I look so different."

 Suddenly, they heard a rustling sound from the trees. Ebony's head shot up. "Whatever we're looking for... has found us."

A large cream-coloured tabby jumped down from a tree right next to Delta. She looked down into the water with a nostalgic expression. "I haven't seen that fur pattern in years."

"Who are you?" Delta asked, jumping back in surprise.

"Irony." The cat said. A little too seriously for it to be taken as a joke.

Suki laughed. "Well that's ironic."

The stranger rolled her eyes, "I know, I know, my name is hilarious." She smiled anyway, "At least it's not Despondent."

Seeing the look Jade gave her she added "that's a fancy word for hopeless."

"Whose fur pattern were you referring to that you hadn't seen in a while?" Delta asked,

"Yours. Well, your reflection's. But I haven't seen yours in a while either."

Delta tilted her head, "Did you know my mother?" She seemed to cringe at the word.

"No, but I knew your family, once. Or- I thought I did." Irony replied.

"You thought you did?" Jade asked with a mix of confusion and shock.

Irony nodded. "I have a lot to fill you in on. But firstly, I have a few questions and a warning."

She flicked her tail towards the river. "Warning first; don't touch that water, my human spilled a potion in it that removes your powers."

"How did you know we had powers?" Misty asked.

"I'll get to that. But first I want to ask you questions. And don't bother lying, I'll know."

"How will you know?"

"I suppose I'll have to answer your questions before I ask mine." Irony sighed. "My human was a scientist, he experimented on me which resulted in him giving me powers. However, none of my powers appeared visually or had any source, so he thought all he did was change my eye colour."

"This story sounds both familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time." Suki observed.

"So Lorelei did tell her kittens the story after all." Irony said, mostly to herself. "Lorelei was your ancestor." She added to Suki.

"My powers were: being able to tell when others know they're lying, and... Being unable to get older. I only discovered the second one in later life." She seemed sad to mention her second power.

 "So, if someone repeated misinformation to you, thinking it was the truth, you wouldn't be able to tell it was a lie?" Suki asked,

"Yes, unless it was obviously fake." Irony agreed.

She continued, "My human, in thinking that he had failed, took in my closest friends to experiment on. But, before I continue, could I ask you one of my questions?"

Everyone nodded.

"What are your names?"

Suki was the first to reply, "I'm Suki, that's Shadow, Ebony, Misty, Jade, and Delta." She said, pointing her paw at each of them in turn.

 Irony nodded and continued her story. "My friends were the first Magic Cats, Ennay: Misty's ancestor. Ruby: Delta's ancestor. Aurella: Jade's ancestor. Niona: Ebony's ancestor. Lorelei: Suki's ancestor. And Travesty-"

"Shadow's ancestor!" Jade interrupted, though it seemed as if Irony wasn't going to continue anyway.

"My mate." Irony said simply.

Shadow did her usual attempt at a shrug, not seeming to care that her distant ancestor was standing right next to her.

"Ruby's powers made her prideful, she felt powerful. Yet she also hated them, she felt outshone by me, because her powers required gems to work and mine didn't. She also hated her power source because it didn't match her name, so she somehow found a way to switch her power source to rubies."

This time it was Suki's turn to interrupt, she seemed angry at herself for it. "What was Ruby's original power source?"

"Quartz." Replied Irony.

"Where can we find quartz?" Suki interrupted again,

"There's probably some buried under the remains of my human's old lab. Are you going to let me continue my story?"

Suki nodded respectfully.

"After Ruby ran off, we went on with our lives as if nothing had happened. Travesty and I had kittens, and one of them inherited my inability to age, making her permanently newborn. So I went to my human for help. He noticed that my other kittens were older and realized the situation, so he started working on a solution immediately. But when he had made it, he spilled it in the river. It started glowing so I put my kitten in the river for a moment. Not fully underwater, and I pulled her right back out again. Then I waited, and after a week we realized it had worked." Irony finished. "That's how I know that the river will take away your powers if you touch it."

 "Why didn't you get in the water too so that you could get older?" Jade asked,

"Do you think at the time I had wanted to give up potential immortality? I can't die of natural causes!" Irony laughed, "Of course, that would only mean I would have a more painful death if it ever came to that. But I'm now so good at surviving in the wild that I don't think I will ever die if I continue to avoid touching the river."

"Why are our reflections in the river different from the way we actually look?" Delta asked in a quiet voice, almost a whisper.

"The river reflects how you would look if you didn't have powers." Said Irony,

"Why do I look so different when everyone else is only missing a few markings and their eye colours?" Delta asked.

"That is a mystery I've been wondering about since Ruby first got her powers. I'm afraid we'll never know." Irony admitted.

There was a short silence in which nobody seemed to know what to say before Delta spoke again.

"Do you know anything about... ghosts? ... Haunting dreams?"

"Yes, unfortunately I outlive all my enemies and they take advantage of that. The trick is to remember that it's your dream and you can change it if you like. Imagine something to annoy the ghosts until they stop visiting your dreams. For example; a monster which eats them as soon as you spot them." Irony responded.

"Thanks, I'll try that."

 "If we're done talking can we start finding some quartz for Delta so that we can go home? I'm missing my nap and it's cold." Misty yawned.

"Yes," Irony nodded, "I'll lead you to my human's lab."

She walked off, not waiting for the other cats, Ebony quickly caught up to her.

They followed the river until they reached a fence.

"I see why this forest has remained untouched by the humans for so many years." Irony noted. "They've marked it as something special." she quickly leapt over the fence.

Jade hesitated, "I'm too small to jump over the fence."

"How old are you?" Irony asked.

"Eleven months. I doubt I'm going to get any taller."

"You're big enough to be an adult, you're not kitten sized anymore. In case you haven't noticed, you're almost the exact same size as Misty. Although that makes you both too big for me to carry."

"You're really big though, couldn't you carry me?" Jade whined.

"It would put too much strain on your body, that could severely injure you. Even possibly kill you. Your scruff isn't meant to support your weight anymore."

"But I'm whining!" Jade widened her eyes, trying to use her adorable face to get what she wanted.

"That trick doesn't work on me." Irony warned,

While they were talking, Ebony had been digging, he had now made a safe tunnel under the fence, big enough for all of them to pass through. He flicked his tail impatiently.

Suki jumped over the fence, landing between Irony and Ebony. Ebony gestured to the hole, somehow meeting Shadow's gaze.

"I don't like tunnels." Shadow stated bluntly as she leapt over the fence.

Jade reluctantly followed Misty through the tunnel to the other side, as Irony continued leading them to the quartz.

 Irony led them to a large building, Shadow recognized it. "That's the place where the humans took my kittens. Is this the right place?"

"I never thought they would replace it." Irony said sadly, "I thought they would keep it as a historical site."

"It was a museum at one point." Suki pointed out. But she dropped her optimistic tone as she continued. "I guess it wasn't important enough once we all got our collars."

Irony dug under the building desperately, "Maybe there will still be some gems underneath. Or some remnant of my old home."

Her claws caught on something hard and white. "Yes, I found some." She pulled the quartz out of the hole and gave it to Delta.

As Delta took the quartz, her eyes unfocussed. She seemed to be staring at something far away, like Misty did when she was using her powers. Could two cats have the same powers? Jade wondered.

 Ebony heard a splash and turned his head, the others followed his gaze. Irony had dived into the river.

"Why did you give up your immorality?" Jade asked,

"You mean immortality." Suki corrected.

"I've lost my home, my family, and everything I remember from my youth. I should live for several more years, I'm still physically young. But I've lost everything worth living for." Irony responded as she stepped out of the river, shaking the cold water out of her fur before it could freeze. Making sure that no drop of water landed on any of the other Magic Cats "What's the point in keeping my powers if I've lost everything else?"

"You have us now." Jade said, "You can find some new humans and live with them for the rest of your life. Or you could stay with me and Delta in our alley."

Irony's expression softened. "You don't have anyone else? Your parents don't live with you?"

Jade shook her head, "my mom died, and we never knew our dads. And of course you know that Delta's mom died."

"You two seem like you could use a parental figure in your lives. And I could use having someone around. I'll come back to your home with you."

Delta gasped, "I saw the humans inside the building, they were panicking. The building was on fire!"

She led them to the front of the kitten camp.

Misty used her powers to see inside. "I don't see any fire."

"Perhaps you saw the future," Irony commented.

"We need to warn someone!" Jade shouted.