The camp was flooded.
Every cat was panicked, sloshing around the clearing, trying to preserve and rebuild. It was about time for the Gathering patrol to leave to Tristones, but with the flooded camp, it left Cedarstar unstable about what the Clan was to do. Stormblaze was yowling orders across the camp, unable to leave the stricken WaterClan leader's side as he crouched there, trembling.
Skykit hid near Cedarstar, in a bush with water-soaked leaves. She stared blankly at the terrified leader, and kept hearing him mutter, "How? How did this happen?"
Stormblaze tried to keep the cats calm. He tried keeping his voice calm and level, to help the WaterClan leader take back control. But in his eyes, Skykit saw a raging storm of horror, panic, and fear.
The gray and black haired deputy shook out his fur, leaving pearly silver droplets of water strewn across his pelt like shards of marble dew. "WaterClan! Please remain calm!" Stormblaze yowled, "get your kits and elders to higher ground! Warriors, guard the side wall! It's crumbling under the river!" A blaze of fierce anger surged through his amber eyes.
Skykit looked out from her spot high over the raging water, and glimpsed the dark pelt of her mother, Nightflower, as she herded Thornkit, Larkkit, and Minnowkit through the deepening water and slowly to the other side of the clearing, where a crowd of elders, queens, and warriors yowled in fear as they tried to save their Clanmates.
Then she shifted her gaze to the opposite side of the reed bed, where warriors were trying to throw bundles of cat tail over the gushing tear in the camp wall. Dark water flowed smoothly out of the jagged opening, spilling into the camp like a shark gliding through the ocean in search of prey.
Skykit looked back over at Nightflower. She had reached land safely with the three kits, and didn't even stop to look back as they disappeared into the crowd of Waterclan cats. An all-too-familiar boiling sense of hatred pulsed in her claws, and she felt something tug in the pit of her stomach.
Suddenly the river surged up violently, and one of the warriors was swept up as easily as a leaf. The whole Clan yowled in horror, and the warriors by the wall all reared up, lunging within safe distance at the fallen warrior.
Skykit watched with no expression as the tip of the warrior's tail disappeared under the tongue of a wave, swallowing up the beginnings of an agonized wail. All the cats howled in anguish. Stormblaze jumped up, his blazing amber eyes wild with disbelief, and dragged Cedarstar over the ridge, through the shallow part of the flood, and into the clusters of cats.
"Warriors!" He yowled, his authoritative voice ripping through the chaos. "Come up to safety now! It isn't safe down there!" He whirled around to face the Clan, who had fallen dead silent. "Gather all your kits and head straight to Tristones! Now! Before the river takes us all!"
Skykit stayed where she was. Her round eyes were now hard as steel, and she could feel the tugging sensation in her gut lessen with the waves of the river. All the cats left the camp with quiet rustles, their soft cries of despair echoing off into the full-moon.
It was a crisp early morning. Skykit awoke feeling happy and fresh with the new day, last night's disheartening events forgotten.
For now.
"Larkkit! Want to go outside?" She mewed, her pale gray spotted coat bristling excitedly.
Before her littermate could even respond, Nightflower shot Skykit a steely glare. "Stay away from my kit!" She growled, drawing Larkkit close with her tail.
Skykit stood there in disbelief as Nightflower turned away, without a word, look, or even the slightest feeling of warmth a mother should have.
"B-but, I'm your kit too, right?" Skykit whispered, unable to muster up her courage to mew. All the memories from last night rushed back into her mind, making her legs weak and her stomach feel sick.
When the dawn patrols began to be sent out, Nightflower awoke with a yawn and nudged the kits nestled snugly beneath her belly. "Rise and shine, my kits!" She purred.
Thornkit stretched luxuriously and squinted into the bright sunlight. "I'm going outside!" He mewed, without a second glance.
"Me too!" Minnowkit mewed, trotting off after him. Nightflower purred and licked the last kit's head. "Off you go, Larkkit. Tell your brother and sister to be safe and stay inside the camp,"
"Yes, Nightflower!" Larkkit squealed, dashing out into the clearing.
Skykit watched them go, feeling a sickening squeeze in her chest. She took a deep breath and pushed all the despair down, letting her feelings refill with unrestrained anger.
"I'm your kit too!" She hissed at Nightflower, "why do treat my littermates like actual kits and you only treat me like a half-Clan cat! I was born, fully and completely, from you and my father. I don't understand why you treat me like this!" Her voice rose to a yowl that made Dapplefur growl in annoyance.
Nightflower didn't seem to notice. For once her slitted turquoise eyes were fixed on Skykit, and Skykit alone.
Her snarl was low and menacing. "You're no kit of mine. You're just a tiny mousetail, trying to chase the stronger, better cats you know you'll never be. Stay away from my kits, and leave them to become the great warriors they have the power and skill to be. You can't even catch a mouse. You're completely useless and just another mouth to feed. You're a burden for the Clan, and a burden for me!"
Skykit couldn't take it. She felt like she was choking on seaweed and bile. A whimper escaped her throat and a fat, wet tear slipped down her face. Nightflower looked at her one last time, her gaze filled with contempt and scornful pity.
With all the pain, rage, and torment she felt was crushing her soul into tiny bits, Skykit ran out into the water spray air and let out a piercing yowl of overwhelming desolation.
Why am I so small, so useless, and such a burden? Why can't I just be a normal kit with a family that loves me?
Then, just as that last despairing thought escaped her mind, the river before her exploded.
Skykit screamed and ran just as a torrent of water crashed down where she was standing a heartbeat ago. Cedarstar ran out of his den yowling just as the reed wall collapsed under the crushing weight of the dark waves. "Stormblaze! The river is flooding!"
The rushing water cascaded over the steep wall and crashed over the once-dry mossy ground. Skykit dashed up the steep cliffside, flinching whenever the tongue of a wave licked the tip of her tail, and leapt into the safety of a thick bush growing on a small cleft near Cedarstar's den.
Despite the shock of the flood and the nagging thoughts that it was all just some terrible coincidence, Skykit couldn't help but wonder with stricken fear; Is this my fault?
You wanted to sate that rage, didn't you?
Skykit started as the voice hissed out, jagged as the choppy waters.
We saw how Nightflower treated you… We are only doing you a good deed…
Skykit shivered as a chill ran up her spine. She turned toward the flooded clearing and watched as chaos broke out within the Clan.
Night was falling fast and she could glimpse the full moon peeking out from behind a dark cloud. The WaterClan cats were starting to lose control, and Cedarstar seemed to be breaking down.
Skykit watched, her icy blue eyes harder than steel, and deep in her heart she vowed:
I will never, ever, cry again
The full moon glared down on the cats, casting an icy chill on the Gathering clearing. Skykit hid at the edge of the ring, behind a thick tree, watching as cats filed in, carrying their foul Clan scents. Everytime she glimpsed a mother nuzzling her grown-up kit apprentice, or saw Nightflower stroke Thornkit, Minnowkit, or Larkkit lovingly with her tail, she received heart-wrenching jabs at her soul that tried to break her steel wall of guarded pain.
Tears pricked at her eyes but the wave of anger that followed overwhelmed them. Skykit lashed her tail against her face and swept the salty perspiration away. She took a deep, shuddery breath.
Don't cry, don't cry.
