Firestar watched his oldest friend in the forest as he tried to keep busy after finishing camp a few quarter-moons ago. Next to him, Briarlight and Bumblestripe peered intently into the star-flecked water, eyes fixed upon their father. Blossomfall was nowhere to be found. With a sigh, Firestar trotted off, intent on hunting, and Bumblestripe and Briarlight stared at the water again, but this time it focused on… their sister?

Blossomfall finished hunting a mouse, pleased to see that her skills hadn't been unhoned in the three moons since she'd been taken. She'd made a decision, and told the rest of the Clan cats too.

She was going to escape.

She'd been preparing for the time that she'd been there, hunting and talking and plotting the times and ways to do it. Now, she was ready. She swiftly traced her tongue around her jaws, swallowing the last morsels of her meal, then climbed onto a sturdy branch of a small tree, then across to the fence. Never before in her entire life had she been more thankful for the tree-training that Firestar started and Bramblestar continued. She leaped down from the large fencing unit, then bolted for the trees. Across from her, she could see the silhouettes of cats doing the same as her. "Hey." An orange outline crashed into her.

"Hi, Sparkpelt." She picked herself up, then kept running. But a light turned on in a Twoleg house, and the air was filled with yowlings as Twolegs chased after them.

"Split up!" pierced the air, and Sparkpelt and Blossomfall separated. Some Twolegs pulled out squares of a material known only to them, and tapped it. The area lit up, then they tapped another. All of the cats were being captured now, apart from her. A triad of twolegs sprinted towards her, until an orange shape crossed her path again. She had to run, go, but could she leave a Clanmate behind? Sparkpelt was picked up, and she had no choice but to run. "I'll come back for you!"

The first place that Blossomfall ran to was the ThunderClan camp. But the hollow held no sign of life, just the bitter but faint taste of a Twoleg poison. She felt her heart sink. Alright. The gathering island, then the other Clan camps, then the Moonpool. Then I'll live as a loner. With that said, she padded off to the gathering island.

The trees blurred to Graystripe's eyes as he sprinted through the forest to get to camp. He'd brought a large catch, and he wanted to show the kits the taste of pheasant – they'd been on a fish diet, and they were starting to complain. He got to the log and balanced across it, although the pheasant got a soaking after he dropped it. He'd have to dry out the feathers before using them in nesting.

Blossomfall came to her destination, which had a thick bramble screen woven around it and a feather floating in the water. She smiled. Someone lives here! She wobbled across the tree-bridge, then came to a halt.

"Who goes there?"

"It's me, Blossomfall?"

"Blossomfall?

"Yes!"

"Weren't you taken?"

"We staged an escape tonight, but the Twolegs could find us so easily! They were able to capture the others. I don't know how, but maybe that piece of Twoleg material had something to do with it."

She was let into the thriving camp, where her father was plucking feathers off a wet pheasant. "We need it for bedding." He explained to clamouring kits that swarmed him. "Do you really want to eat feathers?"

They shook their heads and retreated a few paces, working on the pheasant with thorn-sharp claws. He looked up. "Blossomfall? Is that you?" He rushed forwards. "Millie! Blossomfall's here!" This prompted a rush of cats, all asking where she'd been, how she got here, where the others were. She answered them – she'd been taken by Twolegs, she escaped, the others didn't escape.

"Someone's returned! Our lost aren't dead!" The murmur spread.

The pheasant was devoured over celebrations tinged with regret that they couldn't save the others.