My name is Mosspaw, and I live in HareClan.
I'm a gray she-cat with darker swirls and purple eyes.
I have a nice family, and a great friend named Yewpaw. We like to hunt and train together a lot.
Life was perfect in my peaceful Clan, until one day...
The hot air filled with yowls and cries, which woke me. I quickly woke up, and scrambled forward to the den entrance. My eyes immediately locked onto the corpse of Goldenthorn, the deputy. Well, former deputy now.
Volestar was sobbing tearlessly. It seemed like it was so hot that his tears just burned up. The Clan crowded around him to comfort him. I didn't move.
Yewpaw came up to my side, tears staining his fur. Goldenthorn was his mentor, upset I think. "TreeClan killed Goldenthorn, I think. They found him near the border." He murmured.
"Oh," I mewed. "That sucks. You mad?"
"No, being mad is dumb." He sighed, obviously just depressed. "I miss him." He sniffled loudly.
"Yeah. I'm sorry." I mewed, quiet. I hoped he didn't start to cry, because that would be awkward.
Volestar had climbed to High Hill at some time and yowled out for the Clan. He had stopped crying too. "I… I need to assign a new deputy." He loudly sniffled.
"Owlstorm will be the deputy."
My ears flew up. Owlstorm? He wasn't an outstanding cat at all. What a weird choice. Anyone else would have been better. I hope Volestar knew what he was doing by choosing some random cat.
Meanwhile, Aspentail bounced around her former mentor, excited mewls escaping her. How could she be so happy when someone died? Why didn't she cry or something? I hoped Goldenthorn didn't get offended by her. StarClan didn't need to send tornados at us any time soon.
"I'm also declaring war on TreeClan, to get revenge for Goldenthorn." He meowed.
A huge gasp escaped me. What? Lots of talking started in the Clan, some excited and some fearful.
I felt like something was wrong. I just felt it. My blood was icy, even in the hot greenleaf. I didn't like anything about this.
Yewpaw tensed up too and glanced at me. He had stopped crying at the announcement. Meanwhile, Volestar and Owlstorm went into the leader's den to talk.
"We should listen to them. I think something's up." I whispered to Yewpaw. He nodded quietly, not saying a word. We sneaked away.
"... and now that Goldenthorn's out of the way, we can initiate our plan." Volestar's voice came into earshot. I ducked into some shadows in Volestar's den to hide. What plan?
"Yes." Owlstorm mewed, his voice an evil hiss. Was he evil?
I gave Yewpaw a worried glance. He also looked worried. What could this plan be? I wanted to assume the best but I still had that weird feeling that something was up. I didn't like it that much. It was like being hungry, or getting a sunburn. It was just there, and annoying. I needed to figure this out quick before I'm annoyed to death.
"When should I announce it?" Volestar asked after a moment. They still didn't see me. My pelt blended in perfectly with the darkness. I just had to hope they wouldn't see my striking violet eyes.
"Now." Owlstorm kept hissing like a snake. I don't really like snakes.
"Okay. Let's go."
They exited the den without noticing us. I had to hold my breath, I thought I would be caught! I whipped around to face Yewpaw. "I think Volestar killed Goldenthorn!" I whisper-shouted to him.
Yewpaw started to shake and shiver at the thought. He started to weep, "He didn't deserve this," He whined. Ugh. This isn't the time to cry, we're trying to solve a mystery!
I frowned. "Come on, we got to tell the Clan."
Another meeting had started when we got out. We scrambled under High Hill without being noticed.
"I've come to the realization that TreeClan may not fear us. They think we're weak and we don't scare them. I want to make them think otherwise, I want them to tremble in their fur when we go to battle." Volestar said.
I knew something weird was going on. He wasn't ever this violent-sounding. Volestar was as aggressive as an ant. Not a fire ant, but the black ones. He was very thin and frail looking. He wasn't ever known for his battle skill.
"HareClan, to truly inspire fear in our enemy, we will be renamed as ScareClan, for how scared TreeClan will be as we raid their territory. I will be named Vilestar. This is all for Goldenthorn, we can only avenge him if we scare our enemy. Also, we will call TreeClan FleeClan because they'll run from our fangs!"
I gasped. Was he possessed by the Dark Forest?! He was talking like a crazy cat! It seemed like Clawstar had his brain in control. I gasped even louder. A tyrant had my leader prisoner!
"Owlstorm, you will be known as Scowlstorm from now on for your fear-inspiring glare. If you want your name changed to something scary, step up now."
What was happening to my Clan? Had evil taken it over? I couldn't believe it. I swayed on my paws, dizzy. The thought of Clawstar controlling my Clan through Vol- I mean, Vilestar… It made me dizzy. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to throw up. I looked at Yewpaw but he was sobbing.
"Yewpaw! Crying isn't scary! Would Goldenthorn want you to cry when you're trying to avenge him?" Vilestar howled when he noticed.
Yewpaw cried harder. I frowned. Something bad was going on here.
"Yewpaw, stop crying." I told him. The entirety of ScareClan was staring at us. Embarrassment burned my pelt. He eventually did, reducing to sniffles.
Mintgaze was the first cat to approach Vilestar. Vilestar named him Glintgaze, and he was proud. When he spun around, his eyes flashed dangerously. I felt resentment stir in my chest. I couldn't believe this evilness invading my Clan.
Stonetail became Bonetail. He lashed his tail excitedly when his name was announced.
Deerstrike became Fearstrike. She let out a loud hiss and grinned widely.
"I need to do something." I muttered to myself. My pelt was starting to burn with anger. This was ridiculous. What was Vilestar turning my Clan into?
Aspentail came up too, shivering. She looked scared. She was just excited earlier, why was she now so scared? She wasn't a kitten, was she? Vilestar narrowed his eyes in thought.
"You… don't work." Vilestar slanted his eyes. "So you don't fit. Aspentail, you are exiled from ScareClan. You don't belong here."
"This goes for everyone! If your name can't be scary, you can't be here!"
I thought for a minute then gasped loudly. My name didn't turn to anything scary! Mosspaw… Jawspaw? No, that was stupid.
I heard sobbing and saw Yewpaw crying again.
"What?"
"My name can't turn scary either." He weeped.
"Oh yeah. Mine can't either."
Then I got to thinking. Maybe that meant something. If Vilestar was under Dark Forest control then… maybe I was under StarClan control! Because my name wasn't evil and stuff.
That meant Yewpaw and Aspentail… were also StarClan cats!
Wildpaw was also exiled but he couldn't be from StarClan, he was a bully. He bullied me for my fur color. What a jerk.
"Yewpaw, I think we're in a prophecy!" I told the tom, who was still sniveling.
Vilestar interrupted. "We're attacking FleeClan in five minutes so get ready!" He must have forgot about me and Yewpaw because we weren't exiled yet.
"We need to warn TreeClan!" I dragged him out quickly. We met with Aspentail, who moped outside. She did look like a kitten, who just got rejected from a game of moss-ball. Moss-ball would be much funner than this.
"Aspentail, come with us to warn TreeClan about ScareClan's attack!" I yowled at her.
"You're going to tell our enemy?" She hissed and leaped to her feet. "I'm telling Vilestar!" I knew I shouldn't have trusted a child. Of course she was a snitch.
She ran inside the camp and up to Vilrstar. "Mosspaw and Yewpaw are going to warn FleeClan!" She shouted.
"Oh. Thanks for telling us." Vilestar blinked. "Scowlstorm, kill her, she's supposed to be exiled."
Good riddance, I thought. What a fox-heart, ratting us out like that.
"Get Mosspaw and Yewpaw!" I heard Vilestar shout. My heart jolted with fear.
"Let's get out of here!" I told Yewpaw and we ran.
We could hear thundering paws behind us and quickly catching up. Fear pounded in my ears and me and Yewpaw rounded the corner to find…