-Los Angeles, California. 6:30 am-

It was a very pleasant morning. The sun was shining bright yellow, the trees' beautiful green leaves were blowing in the wind, the birds were chirping a melodic song, and –

"HURRY UP, JADE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

-my mother's scream split the morning air clearly up to my room. I was grabbing my white tennis shoes as I glanced at the clock: 6:34. I shouldn't be awake for another six hours. I groaned tiredly as I slipped on my shoes.

Today was my first day in 8th grade in junior high school and I couldn't be less excited. We had just moved from Pocatello, Idaho, and everything around here was so different. My mother screaming at me wasn't exactly helpful, either. Why can't summer vacation be longer? All I wanted to do was crawl back in bed and sleep 'til three pm, but I knew that wasn't happening.

Tying my shoes hastily, I rushed over to the bathroom to brush my hair. I never like having just plain black hair, so I got some white streaks in it. I'm glad I did, because it looks pretty awesome now. Besides, it matches perfectly with my big, bright emerald eyes, even if my friends thought I looked rather gothic.

Drawing the comb through my hair one last time, I set it down and ran to the stairs. Instead of walking, I jumped down them; I don't know why, but I've always been able to jump quite high and exceptionally far. I don't think it's genetic, because, although my parents aren't fat, they just aren't very athletic. As it was, it only took me two jumps to reach the bottom and land somewhat noisily in front of the table where my mother was sitting near the bottom of the stairs, causing her to cry out.

"Haven't I told you a million times not to do that? And you're going to be late; you should have left five minutes ago!"

Of course, my mother hates it when I jump down the stairs like that. For the past six years that I've gone to school, every morning was exactly the same. And every morning, for the past six years, I have never been late.

"Sorry, Mom; won't happen again," I muttered. I had a rather high-pitched voice, which embarrassed me a bit. It made me sound like a kid, and I hated being treated like one. I was a lot more mature than most of my age group because I didn't fuss over boys and dating or gossip. No, I fussed over my favorite book series, Warriors.

I love Warriors so much, and I became obsessed with the series the first time I read it. It fits with my personality like bread and butter. Sometimes at night, when I look up at the stars, I feel like StarClan is watching me. Of course, they aren't real, as my common sense tells me. But my heart believes that there is something real about it.

Occasionally, when I'm bored, I dream about what it would be like if I was a cat in a clan. I would probably be in RiverClan because I love swimming and fish is my favorite food. I also like the RiverClan cats more than the other Clan cats, though Tawnypelt is one of my top ten favorites. Feathertail and Stormfur are my two favorites, and I also like Silverstream, Mistyfoot, and Willowpaw. Though, even if I became a cat I would probably be a medicine cat, like Willowpaw, because I feel that would be what I would be best at.

I was jolted out of my thoughts when I realized that I might actually be late this time if I didn't leave. I grabbed my book bag, muttered a quick "Bye" and left through the mahogany front door.

Strolling along the path that would get me to school faster, I knew that I was really kind of nervous about going to a new school. But I refused to freak out about it.

After what felt like hours, but was really only twelve minutes, I arrived at the school. It was just a plain brink building; yet, somehow, it did not look very inviting for new students.

I walked up to the door, but about ten feet away from it some ninth graders came up to me. They had that kind of look that obviously said "Do not mess with me or there will be hell to pay." Not a good sign.

"Hey guys, look at the new kid." The one at the front sneered. I guessed he was the leader of their gang, because he looked the surliest of them all.

"Yeah, her hair sure looks unnatural. Bet you're one of those weird people that get sent to institutions," one of the cronies scoffed. He looked rather unintelligent; I was surprised he knew what an institution is. The leader, who had a mop of black hair, saw a book sticking out of my book bag. He smirked.

"Hey look, we got a bookworm on our hands," he said, still smirking. He reached for the book and I realized which one it was. 'My Warriors book!' I thought. If they ever saw that I would be the laughing stock of the school! Suddenly an icy chill swept over me, and I felt a pulsing in my arm. I did the only thing I could think of and…

I punched him. Right in the face. He flew back a few feet, hit the concrete, and moaned slightly. I glanced at the others and saw shock registered on every face. I guess I was the first person to every stand up to him. But I was shocked too.

Luckily, none of the teachers saw me, and I didn't think the other students were going to tell anytime soon. What a great way to start school.

The gang leader staggered up, and, with one last glare filled with contempt, walked away, his 'friends' following him.

'Foxdung to them,' I thought with aversion. 'Obviously they are the harassers of the school. Great, now I'm saying foxdung.' I was starting to get uncomfortable with all the other teenagers staring at me, so I quickly went inside the building. As I shut the door behind me, I thought I could see four faint, glowing shapes in the forms of cats watching me intently.

'Wait, what?' But when I blinked, they had disappeared. I frowned; why is it that you always blink when you think you see something? Then it just disappears and you don't know if you really saw it or not. Well, it was probably a figment of my imagination. I knew I shouldn't have had that coffee last night. However, a part of me was sure that what I saw was real.

I shook my head and headed to the school office, ignoring the other students and faculty staring at me, either because of my hair, the fact that I was new, or if they saw what happened outside.

To the schools credit, the office was easy to find. But on the other hand, the old secretary wasn't very friendly.

She looked up when I approached, but did not smile. "Err… Hello," I began. "You see, I just moved here from Idaho an-"

She cut me off. "Oh, you must be Ms. Riverstone." I felt a bit affronted as she continued, "I am Mrs. Chetty. We have your schedule right here." She had a sort of no nonsense attitude, but she didn't seem too strict. She handed me an envelope and went back to her work. Seeing as that was all she seemed to be going to say, I left.

Outside the office, I opened the envelope. Inside were a schedule and a map of the school. My first class was Geometry, in room 203. Since the bell would ring in about two minutes, I headed there.

-Los Angeles, California. 9:30 pm—

I flopped down onto my bed, dropping my book bag at my feet, exhausted. School had been awful! The teachers were spiteful, the students were rude, and the food tasted like cardboard dipped in water! How can the school district keep this running? No one had talked to me all day, except one student, and all he did was stutter maybe two words and then faint. What a wimp! And then, when I had gotten home my mother made me go with her on a two hour walk with some neighbors. They were all either old, boring, or both. After that, my mother said one of the neighbors, who lived a half hour away, had invited us over for dinner. The man who had invited us was old, boring and ugly, not to mention a dreadful cook as well! Then, when we finally left three hours later, the old man said that we could come back for dinner tomorrow, and my mother agreed. Why she did, I do not know. But when I could finally see the house, I was more excited than a kid locked in Disneyworld overnight.

"My life is ruined," I muttered to myself. I looked up at the ceiling, where I had a poster with the RiverClan symbol hung up and sighed. Now, more than ever, I wished that I was a RiverClan cat.

I picked up a Warriors book lying nearby; it was Twilight. It was one of my favorite books, as Leafpool and Crowfeather had fallen in love.

I looked up at the night sky, where stars were speckled like paint flicked at a midnight blue canvas. One caught my eye; it was giving off a bluish tint and I wondered, 'Is that Bluestar, glowing up in Silverpelt?' As if the star was responding, it twinkled a bit.

"Man, what I wouldn't give to become a cat," I whispered. I, of course, knew that it was impossible, but that didn't stop me from dreaming.

Suddenly I felt quite drowsy, so I curled up on top of my sheets. Within 15 minutes I was out like a light.

-Forest of StarClan. 11:55 pm—

I stirred a few hours later, but I didn't realize that I was no longer in my bed.

'Aah,' I thought, 'it's so comfortable… Wait; I'm not in my bed. This is hard ground!' Yet it didn't feel hot or cold, it felt blank.

I blinked open my eyes, still a little sleepy. I was surrounded by leafy green trees and in front of me were four cats. One had bluish gray fur, one was black and white with a long tail, one had a black pelt, and the last one had a crooked jaw. I felt my own jaw drop open; I knew who these cats were, though I had only known them through books.

'Bluestar, Tallstar, Nightstar and Crookedstar,' I thought, astonished. Ok, I must have been under a lot of stress to be having a dream like this. Then again, this seemed just like in the visions the main characters had when they met with StarClan. But then the black and white cat, Tallstar, began to speak.

"Welcome, young Twoleg. StarClan has summoned you here, to tell you about your destiny," he meowed. I was surprised that I understood everything he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked; even though this was a dream, I felt that I needed to say that. Bluestar moved her gaze from the trees behind me to fix me with a strong look.

"We mean that you have been chosen to save the forest from an unknown darkness," she said quietly, yet with force.

'This can't be real!' I thought. Then Crookedstar stepped forward.

"Oh no, Jade. This is very much real," he answered, as if he could hear my every thought; which he probably could, considering where I was. And then all four cats spoke in a strange voice:

"Only a jade can calm the storm."

"What?" I exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

But suddenly I felt excruciating pain. I fell to my knees, mouth open in a soundless cry. I felt two spots on my head and one spot below my back burning like fire, and it felt like I was changing, morphing into something else.

After what seemed like ages, the pain stopped, and my world went black.

-The Forest—

I felt soft ground below me and realized that it had just been a dream. I was at home, in bed, and I would be going to school in an hour or so. Darn. It had seemed so real though, and their profound, strong words still rang through my head.

"Only a jade can calm the storm."

Wow. That makes no sense at all! I assumed that the 'jade' part had something to do with me, but what did 'calm the storm' signify? But seeing as there was no way it was real, I would think about it later. Confused as I was, though, a part of me still wished that it had been more than a dream.

My eyes were still closed, so I opened them and let the light flood in, squinting slightly. I was in a field, and-

'What? Where did my bed go? Beds don't disappear randomly! How did I get here? Was I kidnapped and dumped in the woods? Why on earth would someone do that anyway?' I decided to observe the area around me, hoping to find out where I was.

The ground around me was patched with a few rain puddles, and I could see a river a bit away. This area looked kind of like… RiverClan territory. Odd. It was… beautiful. I guess never leaving the cities got to me eventually, and now I finally got to saw the great outdoors in person. It was gorgeous.

I wanted to explore it! But, I was filthy, so I started washing and licked my paws.

'Wait… paws?'

I was lying by a puddle, so I looked into it. Shock would have been an understatement. There was a cat in the reflection! It had midnight black fur, bright leafy green eyes, and a white patch on its forehead. I put a hand to my face; the cat put a paw to its muzzle. Realization struck me like a bolt of lightning.

'That cat….. is me.'

Obviously, I couldn't believe it. How did I become a cat? This had to be a dream; these things just don't happen in real life. But deep down, I somehow knew that this was real, which meant that I needed to find some way to turn back into a human.

But did I really want that? Why should I go back to being a human anyway?

I jumped as the bushes behind me rustled and whirled around; a bird took off into the air. I felt my fur relax before I realized it had spiked. Calm down, I told myself, slightly annoyed that I had been startled so easily. But I mean, come on, it could have been a badger or something dangerous like that.

I moved over to the river in hopes of getting a better view. Glancing up and down the river, I could see the sparkle of sunlight on water in one direction, and I thought a road in the other.

'This must be the new territory around the lake.' I shook my head. 'Wait, wait, how can this be the lake territory when the lake territory doesn't exist? … Then again, people shouldn't randomly turn into cats either, however awesome it is.'

I padded down the edge of the river anyway; however, before I had gotten very far, another rustling in the bushes made me jump a little. I felt my new pointed ears twitch, thought it was another bird, but was proved wrong when cats jumped out in front of me.

Half of them took threatening stances and the leader hissed at me.

"Who are you?"