Chapter 1: Sandpaw's Dream
In the ThunderClan apprentices den, Sandpaw woke up to Longpaw prodding her, Dustpaw glaring at her and Ravenpaw staring at her. "Could you keep still?!" Dustpaw grumbled.
"Ravenpaw," Tigerclaw called from outside the den. "Get up now! Do you expect the mice to wait for you to sleep to sunhigh?"
Ravenpaw shuddered at his mentor's voice as he stumbled out of the den. Sandpaw shook her head. Ravenpaw had acted afraid of Tigerclaw since he had had him assigned as a mentor two days ago. He cringed whenever Tigerclaw criticized him and he made stupid mistakes in front of him. He hadn't even mastered the hunter's crouch yet!
Sandpaw shook her head. Ravenpaw would just have to toughen up! Whitestorm didn't go easy on her and Redtail did not go easy on Dustpaw. "Do you think Ravenpaw will fall asleep while he's hunting?" she asked Dustpaw and Longpaw.
Dustpaw frowned and turned his back, his fur ruffled. Longpaw meowed, "I don't know, but you were thrashing around like a fish out of water! What happened? Some weird dream? "
Sandpaw nodded. "Yeah. I dreamed that there was this cat I'd never seen before talking to me. He was on fire! He was like a ball of fire with green eyes. And he was standing on the Great Rock at Fourtrees and yowling a victory call. And there was this dead cat at his feet. And this dead cat had teeth growing out of his neck. And this fire cat looked at me and said..." Her voice trailed off.
Dustpaw prompted her. "Yeah, this cat said what?"
Sandpaw stiffened. "I...I don't remember." The cat had said, "Are you sure you love Dustpaw?"
Of course I don't love Dustpaw, thought Sandpaw. I mean, yeah, I love him; he's like a brother to me. Dustpaw was only two weeks younger than her and the rest of both their litters had died of cold and illness the past winter. Sandpaw missed her real brother but was glad to have Dustpaw as a friend. So why did she feel so embarrassed now?
"Sandpaw, Dustpaw," called Redtail, who was Sandpaw's father and Dustpaw's mentor. "We're doing battle training today. Come out of your nests." Sandpaw and Dustpaw got up. Longpaw followed them out. He had an assessment with his mentor, Darkstripe, that day.