~Chapter One~

The wind was blowing and Fox wined to her sister,"I just groomed my fur to make it perfect, Milk. I wish mom was here," her eyes clouded as she thought of her mother who had died saving them,"I just can't stop thinking about her." She paced over to her sister who was chasing ants. Then she said,"Let's go," she hesitated when Milk looked up, and gave her a questioning look,"t-to the lake, I'm hungry." Milk smiled at her and nodded to say,Yeah I'm hungry too, but is it safe? "Yes it's safe mouse-brain,"said Fox as she cuffed her sister's ear. But before Milk could do anything the black and white kit ran towards the lake.

"Wow," whispered Milk as she followed her sister to the lake,"this is amazing." She started running around in circles, only to discover that Fox had vanished. Then Fox jumped out of the reeds as another young cat jumped out towards Milk. The young cat, a tom, hadn't seen them and shrieked when he saw them. Two older cats came out of the bushes when they heard him shriek, a white she-cat and a black and white tom, they looked questionably at Fox and her sister.

"Icestorm, rouges," yelped the little tom.

"Birchpaw, calm down," said the she-cat who must have been Icestorm,"they're kits." Kit, thought Fox, I'm no kit, I'm six moons old, Fox's orange tail-tip brushed Milk's side to comfort her.

"You're to young to be out here alone," said the black tom who seemed annoyed,"who are you and where did you come from?" He had a harsh tone that scared the sisters even more.

"I-I'm Fox and t-this is M-Milk," stammered Fox,"our mother is d-dead. Wait a-are you clan cats?"

"The only way they would know about the clans is if the were from Shadowclan," hissed the black tom.

"Blackheart, they're abandoned kits," hissed Icestorm."Who was your mother," asked Icestorm in a soft tone,"how did she die?"

Fox was the first to speak up," Her name was Spottedspirit," then she paused,"a cat tried to steal us but she fought them and died in the process."

Blackheart and Icestorm exchanged glances and started muttering, Fox only caught a few words,"Spottedspirit...exile...they're harmless." Birchpaw padded up to Fox and said,"Warrior stuff, she never did anything," he shook his head at them.

Sandstorm looked over to Fox and Milk and said,"You can come back to camp with us if you want." Milk cast Fox a weary look, but then they took off after the other cats.

Birchpaw waited for Fox to catch up,"So you think you're up for this," he joked.

"Why is it hard? Wow does it work?" Fox had so many questions to ask.

"Well, i'm an apprentice, a cat who has a-"

"I know what that is," interrupted Fox.

"Okay fine," said Birchpaw,"me and the other apprentices have to hunt for the queens and elders."

"The what?"

"You know, the elders are the old, retired cats, and the queens are in the nursery with kits."

The five cats walked through some reeds and came across a clearing full of cats. A she-cat and a tom skipped over to Birchpaw.

"Birchpaw, who are your friends?"asked the She-cat.

"You know those stories about Spottedspirit we used to hear?"asked Birchpaw.

"Yes."

"These are her kits, Fox and Milk."

"Hi! My name is Mintpaw and this is Kinkpaw,"said the she-cat. Fox noticed that she had minty green eyes. The tom seemed to have a kink in his tail, too.

"Fox, Milk, could you come here?"yelled Icestorm from a den across the clearing.

Fox and Milk walked over to her slowly. Fox noticed a lot of the cats staring at them and muttering. They saw that Icestorm and Blackheart had been joined by another cat.

"Fox, Milk, this is Shimmerstar, our leader,"said Icestorm.

"H-hello, Shimmerstar,"stuttered Fox.

"Hello,"whispered Milk. She had never been the friendliest cat, she was very shy.

"Well, since your mother is dead and we had decided to give her another chance, you may stay if you want,"said Shimmerstar.

"Really?"asked Fox.

"Yes, you heard me correctly,"answered Shimmerstar.

"What do you think, Milk?"asked

"I don't know, Fox, I like living alone with you."

"Milk, this is our one chance to be protected from them, you saw how Birchpaw reacted, so what if it had been another Clan!"

"Fine, I'll stay, but only if you do."