Casey felt a paw jab her in her side. She lifted her head and saw Honey sprawled out. She saw her other siblings, Rage, Flame, Crystal, Snow, and Fang as well as her father, Claw. They were sleeping soundly. Casey was about to go back to sleep when she remembered her mother, Moonfur, was coming to visit them. It was the day of a full moon. She slowly and carefully got out of the basket they were sleeping in. She yawned and stretched, in an attempt to get the sleepiness out of her limbs. She walked over to the water bowl, lapped up a few mouthfuls, looked in the water bowl, and started cleaning her long fur. She heard soft pawsteps behind her and turned to see a ginger tom padding over.

"Morning Rage," she purred. Rage came up and stuck her ear in his mouth. It doesn't hurt; he just gets the tip of her ear wet. He does that when she gets angry, sad, or he does it as if to say 'Hello'. He walked over to water bowl and drank his fill. Casey left Rage sitting at the water bowl and went through the cat flap. The sun was very bright. It shone on her dappled fur, making it shine. She waited under the rose bush. After a while, there was a scratching sound on the fence. There was a soft thud as a cat landed in the garden on her side of the fence. More claws scraped the fence and more cats landed in the garden. Five cats sat beside the fence, apparently waiting. "Good morning, Mittens, Khya, Lacy, Tigger, and Cloud," Casey purred, trotting out from under the rose bush.

"We heard your mother was coming to visit you. Is she here yet," Khya meowed, waving her fluffy tail to show a 'Hello' sign.

"No, not yet. I'm not sure when she's going to come. I know she's coming today, but I don't know when."

"Casey, you're not supposed to be outside unless your mother is here," came an agitated, but calm voice from inside the house.

"I have to go… See you later," Casey called over her shoulder as she raced across the garden to the cat flap. She pushed through the cat flap and saw the whole family, except for her mother, sitting in the kitchen.

"You know better than that."

"I know, I'm sorry father," she hung her head and stared at her paws.

"Just don't go out there again without asking first." Claw padded over and licked Casey's forehead. She purred, rubbing up against his leg and padded over to join her siblings.

"Daddy's cat," Honey teased.

"I am not."

"Are too!"

"Am not!" She bowled over Honey. They became tussling balls of fur. Rage and Flame jumped in. Rage grabbed Casey's neck fur and pulled her away. Flame did the same for Honey.

"Honey, stop teasing Casey! Stay in the house while I'm gone. I'm going to get your mother." He padded over to the cat flap and slipped through.

It was sunhigh when their father finally came through the cat flap. A white cat came in behind him.

"Mother," they squeaked, racing towards the cat.

"Hello, my kits," she purred.

"Tell us about our ancestors again, please!"

"Alright. Your ancestors used to live in the forest. There were six clans, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan, WindClan, SkyClan, and StarClan."

"Wow!"

"My mother's, mother's, mother was from ThunderClan."

"Really? Are the clans still in the forest?"

"No."

"What happened to them?"

"No cat knows. They may have died off, moved somewhere, or they became rogues, loners, or kitty-pets."

"What's a kitty-pet?"

"That's what the clans called us. Rusty, a kitty-pet, joined ThunderClan. He became the leader and is now known as Firestar. He was the savior of all the clans. SkyClan used to live where twolegplace is now, but the twolegs brought their monsters and tore their part of the forest down. They had to leave, they brought their whole clan to the gathering one night. They asked to share the lands of the other clans, but the leaders refused. SkyClan had to leave the forest and find a new home. The leader of SkyClan turned his back on StarClan, because they allowed the other clans to drive them out. StarClan are the warriors of the clans. You can see them at night; they are the stars shining in the sky."

"Whoa! Did SkyClan ever find a new home?"

"No, they didn't. The clan scattered, becoming rogues, loners, and kitty-pets. The leader of SkyClan, Cloudstar, came to Firestar in a dream and told him he had to rebuild Skyclan. Firestar and his mate, Sandstorm, rebuilt SkyClan. No cat knows if SkyClan still lives."

"Wow," the kits meowed, eyes widening with amazement.

"I want to be leader of MoonClan," Casey meowed, fluffing out her fur to make her look bigger.

"In time, my dear, in time. But right now, I want to show you a little bit of the forest."

"We're going to the forest?! Wow," they squeaked, racing around as if they couldn't contain their excitement and energy.

"Alright, settle down! I want a single file line behind your mother. When we get into the forest I want all of you to stay within our line of sight. Who knows what dangerous creatures lurks around in there. A fox could snatch you up without thinking twice," Claw meowed. The kits went through the cat flap one at a time behind their mother. They padded single file through the garden, over the fence, and into the forest.

"Sometimes I can smell the scent markers," Moonfur meowed, sniffing the air. She stiffened, her eyes widening.

"Mother, what's wrong," Casey meowed, confused. The wind blew through the trees, making every bush rustle. A blur of ginger fur raced out of the bushes and grabbed Moonfur by the neck. There was a snap and her body went limp. "Mother," Casey wailed.

"Get back to the house, now," Claw yowled, raking his claws along its flank. Casey and her siblings raced towards the house. They scrambled over the fence and crammed through the cat flap. She ran to the humans. The female human picked her up. Casey was shaking uncontrollably. The human tried to calm her down, but that day left a scar in her heart.

Casey never went outside of the house for a moon. When her siblings went outside in the garden, she would watch from the window. Rage never went outside, only so that Casey never felt alone. When she did go out in the garden, he would wait outside by the door.

Casey woke up to find the house dark and quiet. She jumped off of the couch and padded into the kitchen. She lapped at the glittering water in the bowl. She looked into the bowl and saw the reflection of a large white circle surrounded by white specks. Casey jumped up to the window and saw what the water was reflecting. It was a full moon surrounded by billions of stars. She jumped down from the window and pushed through the cat flap. She scrambled up the fence and sat there staring at the stars and the moon. She was amazed at how beautiful the sky looked.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A ginger tom jumped up beside her. She nodded, too amazed to speak.

"I wish we had never went into the forest," she whispered. He licked her ear.

"We can't change the past, Casey. We can only shape the future."

"Rage, you're making no sense at all," she meowed, stifling a mrrow of laughter. "I'm sleeping out here tonight," she meowed, pointing with her tail to the rose bush.

"It's kind of cold tonight. Are you sure you want to sleep out here?"

"Yes, I'm sure," she replied. She licked his cheek fur. Rage dipped his head, jumped down from the fence, and pushed through the cat flap.

Casey glanced up at the stars one last time before jumping back into her garden, and curled up under the rose bush.