Now that she knew that two of the black cats had been her friends since she was a kitten, Misty set out to find whether she knew the third black cat too. She decided to start by interrogating Jade.

She found Jade in her usual alley, between Ebony's house and his neighbors', who owned a dog. It was filled with little bits of things that humans had lost, rolls of tape Jade had snatched, and contraptions that Jade had made herself.

Jade was working on her newest invention, a flinger that only requires one user. She used tape, bits of pipe, and a plastic board that had come off of one of the humans' tiny picnic tables. The tape had claw marks, showing how Jade had used it.

"Hey, Misty, would you be willing to help me with this weight?" Jade asked through her teeth as Misty approached. She was pulling a string over a pipe that was hanging loosely from Ebony's roof.

"I don't know how I could help, you seem to have a handle on it by yourself."

Jade jumped off of the roof, still holding the string in her mouth. It was tied to a bag full of something heavy, now dangling from the pipe.

Jade stepped on to the lower end of the flinger and let go of the string. The bag fell perfectly onto the other end, knocking her off balance into the nearby pile of blankets she slept in. "Perfect landing!" She said proudly. "Now, what were you wanting to talk to me about?"

"Did you go to the party this morning?" Misty asked, distractedly examining the flinger.

Jade shook her head. "What party?"

"Come with me."

She took Jade to Suki's house so that Suki could explain the legend and all about the party.

 "And your eyes are precisely jade green." Suki finished.

Jade looked amazed. "And we have to defeat the calico cats?" She asked again.

Suki nodded.

Misty didn't want to fight evil calico cats. That sounded like a lot of work, and besides, she didn't know how to fight. However Jade seemed excited for this very reason, she did want to fight evil calico cats.

"But, how do we defeat the calicos?" Misty asked "Do we have to... I dunno, kill them?" Her ears flicked flat for a moment.

"Nobody's sure." Suki replied, blatantly. "There's one more legend, some say it's a prophecy. It probably doesn't apply to us though. It might be our descendants."

"Well, what is it?" Jade asked enthusiastically.

"You see, throughout history, the Magic Cats have never had kittens with another Magic Cat. It has always been a non-magical cat. So, to get straight to the point; according to the legend, when a Magic Cat has kittens with another Magic Cat their kittens will be more powerful than any other cat in the world, even the calicos who sought power." Suki explained, "Oh did I mention earlier that the calico cats wanted to be the most powerful? That's why they turned evil."

 "Ohhh." Jade squeaked. "I thought they were just evil because they thought it was fun or something."

After a short explanation of motivations from Suki, Misty and Jade headed out in their separate directions.

 Heather, Misty's human, woke up, 9:00 the next morning as usual. In fact, nothing was out of the ordinary, Misty was napping at the end of her bed, her mom was in the kitchen making breakfast, her dad was nowhere to be seen. Nothing unusual, that is, until she checked their old-fashioned mailbox.

The flag was up. Just a flier or two, she assumed. She opened the mailbox, expecting some sort of newspaper mentioning Christmas-in-July, and found an envelope addressed to her. She opened it inside, and read aloud to her mom.

Heather,

We've seen the pictures you sent of your cat, and are pleased to tell you that your request has been accepted. Your cat's eyes are close enough to diamond blue that we have decided to send you this Magic Cat's diamond collar.

This is a trial period. If your cat is indeed a Magic Cat you will be allowed to keep the collar, and we will be one step closer to finding all the Magic Cats. If not, we request that you send the collar back with the return address.

Put the collar on your cat's neck and if you see any of the following signs report back and you may keep the collar:

Your cat's pupils widen (necessary)

Your cat starts acting unusual (optional)

You see an iridescent flash of colour in your cat's eyes and/or fur (necessary)

Hope you, your family, and your cat, are well.

The letter wasn't signed.
"I don't think the first necessary thing is possible." Heather laughed. "Smokey's pupils are super wide already." Smokey was the name the humans had given Misty.

Heather's mom shook out the envelope and a sparkly blue-grey collar studded with diamonds fell out.

The collar gleamed like a prism in the sunlight, as though it magically acted as one itself. Heather thought she could see a faint, shimmering rainbow on it.

"Well, you can try it on Smokey. I have to go to work." Said the adult human, getting out of her chair and stretching.

Heather got up too. She headed to the living room.

 Misty got up from her nap as her human came in. She jumped off of the bed, onto the carpeted floor.

Her human took off her regular collar. Another party? This time she didn't get the fake gemstone collar from the party. The human gave her a collar like Suki's magic amethyst one, it seemed to radiate magical energy exactly like the walls the other day. Suddenly the world came into view, she could see clearly just like she had before.

 As the human put the collar on Misty, her pupils widened as the letter had described. A rainbow like the one from the collar flashed diagonally across her eyes before her pupils narrowed to a normal size. Abnormal size for Misty but normal for any other cat.

She left the room to go write back.

 Misty, as usual, tried to see what was on the other side of the kitchen door as her human went through it.

This time, however, Misty managed to see it. Even though she heard the door close, she couldn't see it at all. concerned, Misty tried to see the door again.

Just as she tried, the door came back into view.

Amazed, Misty tried again. Focusing on ignoring the door.

It worked, she could see into the kitchen, the floors had tiles, the counters were topped with dark green and the cupboards were painted white. Everything was clearer than Misty had ever seen it.

Amused with her powers, Misty tried something new. She tried to focus on the cookie jar.

It was as if she was looking through her human's digital camera as it was being zoomed in. Her vision zoomed towards the cookie jar and she could see it as clearly as though she were right there in front of it.

Bored of investigating the house, Misty decided to test the limits of her new found powers. She tried to see where Suki was, as she wondered what Suki did when nobody was looking.

It worked as expected, she discovered that Suki was less of a rule-follower than Misty had thought. Suki was levitating a cookie out of the honeypot-shaped cookie jar, which had its lid off.

After hours of experimenting, Misty looked at the sun, almost setting already?

She headed outside for her walk.

 Jade, meanwhile, was explaining the second legend to Shadow and Ebony.

Ebony looked excited, while Shadow kept her usual straight face, frequently glancing at Ebony. Shadow and Ebony were sitting in a field behind the bus stop which was right across the street from Ebony's house. They were sitting across from Jade, who was sitting with her back to the glass wall.

As Jade finished, she glanced over past Shadow and Ebony, there was a hill there in a fenced-off area, and something, barely visible, behind the hill. She wished she knew what was behind the hill.

Ebony was wearing a new collar, a satisfied look on his face. The collar had emeralds in it, and looked like it was made from some sort of magical leather.

Shadow was wearing an identical collar but with sapphires in it.

 Misty padded towards them, wearing her new magical collar. She noticed Ebony and Shadow and an excited grin spread across her muzzle. "You have new collars too!" She exclaimed, with a slight questioning tone to her voice.

"Yes." Ebony responded, "Wait, you do too?"

Misty rolled her eyes at this question as Shadow whispered something in Ebony's ear. She assumed that Ebony was just making a joke and acting as if her shiny new collar wasn't easily visible in the sunset lighting.

Jade looked disappointed. "Why do you all have new collars?" She whined.

Misty sat down in their triangle, turning it into a lopsided rectangle.

"The new collars are just like Suki's magic amethyst one. The leather is specially made to enhance the magic from the gems. Suki told me just a moment ago 'cause I was curious." She explained to Jade, directly quoting Suki and pretending she knew what 'enhance' meant.

This only disappointed Jade more. "Why don't I have one?" She complained, "I'm a Magic Cat too!"

"You'll get one eventually." Ebony tried to console her.

This cheered Jade up a little. As the conversation continued she lost focus.

Misty was now staring into space, her eyes focusing on something far away.

"How long has that brick house been there?" She asked, nodding in the direction of the hill behind Ebony.

"What house?" Ebony and Jade asked in unison. Ebony's fur bushed out, he stood up, turning around. "How far away is it?"

Shadow leant to whisper in Ebony's ear again, and this time Misty heard what she said. "I've learned not to question Misty."

Misty didn't find it weird at all that nobody could see the house. It was behind the hill after all.

Misty explained about her new powers and the house behind the hill; going into unnecessary detail as she described her powers and all she had seen so far. When she was finished, the sun had set completely.

 "Oh no, if the sun has set, that means I'm late for my nap again!" Misty groaned.

"Why is that a problem?" Asked Jade.

Misty sighed dramatically. "My humans lock the cat-flap after sunset, so I'll have to stay in the yard all night. And there's no litter box, AND, it ruins my schedule."

Shadow's long fur was standing on end, making her look like a black pomeranian dog. The reason for her stress came a few moments later. A human came down the street towards them with a flashlight, calling something.

"And there's my human." Shadow sighed.

"What's it saying?" Jade asked.

"That's its name for me." Shadow replied.

Shadow leapt into the air as high as she could, demonstrating her new powers. She flew, straight up until she was level with the bus stop roof, landed on it, and began meowing to her human. "I can take care of myself." She called, "I can fly now."

Her human wasn't convinced, as it couldn't understand Shadow. She stretched her arms towards Shadow. Reluctantly, Shadow flew into them, and flicked her tail in farewell.

Misty headed home too.

 Only Ebony and Jade were left. "Don't you have to go home too?" Asked Jade.

Ebony shook his head. "We're on the same street as my house." He said, nodding in the direction of his house, which was on the corner across from them. "And they always leave my cat-flap unlocked."

"If they're sending the collars by mail, how will they ever find me?" Jade sounded close to tears. "I'm an alley cat!"

Ebony flicked his tail in thought, going silent. "You could get yourself a human." He suggested after a moment.

Jade was now radiating a strong, frustrated energy. "I like living in an alley. I make my own rules, and I don't even have a bedtime!" She complained. "And house-cat food sounds disgusting."

Then, Jade had an idea. She could go to the building Misty had described to her, pry one of the jades out of the walls, and take it to a human.

She ran into her alley and took a shortcut to Misty's house.