Prologue

Tangledrose gently carried the second kit over to its mother. The she-cat purred, "Two healthy she-kits. You two should be proud." He nodded his head to the pale ginger cats in the den, one a tom and another a she-cat. Tangledrose glanced at the kits once more and barely suppressed another shudder as his gaze rested on the first-born. No cat had been born like that in moons. Generations!

The reddish-brown tom nodded his head briefly to the new parents then ducked out of the nursery, shaking his head slightly. The kit had white fur! What did that mean!

"You look troubled."

The joking rasp shocked the medicine cat. When he glanced in the direction it had come from, all he saw was Redstar, one of WonderClan's former leaders. He spat, "What does it matter to you!"

"Everything in this Clan matters to me. You don't see BrightClan smiting eight of my lives and taking away my leader name."

Tangledrose just growled at the murderous she-cat and continued towards his nest. Then, hesitating a moment, he turned around and stopped just in front of the gnarled oak. Tangledrose unsheathed one claw, tapping it on the Treestone, the boulder nestled at the base of the tree, and waited for Greenstar to emerge. It didn't take long for the green-eyed she-cat to do so.

"What do you want?" she muttered, obviously having been asleep.

"You know Losthaze and Droppedpetal had their kits just a while ago, right?"

"Yes. Get to the point," the leader snapped.

"Well, one of their kits… has all-white fur…"

"What?"

"One of their-"

"I know what you said!" Greenstar growled, raising a single paw threateningly. "I just don't understand it. It's been forever since a white-furred cat has been born. And, no, Droppedpetal doesn't count."

Tangledrose nodded his head and said, "I guess I'll leave you, then. Just thought I should let you know." He turned around and went back to his nest, but was once again interrupted by Redstar.

"I heard what you said."

Tangledrose continued on, ignoring the madder-than-most she-cat, but her next comment stopped him in his tracks.

"Kill it. Get it out of the way. A white cat will cause nothing but trouble."

Once again Tangledrose tried to ignore her, but the blunt sentences got him thinking. Not for long, though. Killing kits was forbidden even in mad WonderClan.

But what trouble would it cause later?