This is the next Chap! Things are speeding up now. I hope you are enjoying my fanfic!

Please review/suggest/comment/critique. It always makes me feel awesome to read them!

The night of the Empty Moon pounced on the Clans quickly. The Empty Moon was the only time the Moon wasn't watching over Moon Valley.

It was the perfect time for an attack.

Firelily paced inside her den. She had a feeling that something would happen tonight, but she couldn't tell anyone. She hated being afraid, but she was. She was scared that if she told someone, they'd somehow discover that she had magic. And she couldn't let anyone know.

She paced restlessly, back and forth, back and forth, her ears pricked, waiting for something. She didn't know what, but something big.

Silver padded into the hunters' den, waving her tail in greeting. "Hi, Firelily! What's up?"

"Nothing," Firelily muttered, and kept pacing.

Silver's tail drooped. "Firelily, what's wrong, and why won't you tell me?" she cried. "You're always so secretive now, and you're so different from when we were kits! I get that you're an adult now and everything, but you're just acting so strange!"

Firelily paused. She realized her sister was really hurt, and wanted to understand. But she couldn't tell anyone. And besides, it was probably safer if Silver didn't know.

"Please just tell me," said Silver softly, pressing her fur against Firelily's side.
Firelily shook her head. "I'm sorry, Silver."

Silver stared at her, grey eyes wide with sorrow and hurt. "Who are you? You're not my sister anymore! My sister would never do this to me!"

She ran from the den. Firelily's heart ached, but she didn't go after her.

Because just then, she felt a jolt in her stomach. And she immediately knew—magic is near.

A cold, slithery voice whispered from behind her, "Young cat, I feel your magic, just as you feel mine."

"Who are you?" Firelily called, looking around. "Where are you?"

There was an icy laugh. "I am Skyblaze, leader of LostClan. And your ancestors banished me from my own home. I want it back."

Firelily stood tall. "Go away. You don't have a place here anymore." She tried to sound braver than she felt.

Again, Skyblaze laughed. "You're afraid, little one. I can smell the fear clinging to you. You're a coward. Come with me, and I can teach you bravery. I can teach you strength."

"I won't come with you." But Firelily's voice shook now. "Just leave me alone."

"Cowardly and selfish!" Skyblaze said. "You'd rather I attacked your Clan? Or one of the other Clans?"

Firelily flinched. She was terrified of this strange cat, but she tried not to show it. "Please. Leave us all alone."

"Don't you want to learn how to control your power?" Skyblaze asked, her voice smooth and soft. "I'll train you. You can be brave, strong, and powerful…don't you want that?"

Firelily hesitated. Part of her did want that. If she was brave and strong, she could protect her Clan, her family, her Valley.

"I can teach you so much," Skyblaze said. "You could be my apprentice. I'd care for you. You would have a place in LostClan."

Firelily's tail twitched. "I—I don't know."

Sweetrose, one of the hunters, yawned as she padded into the den. "Hi, Firelily," she mumbled.

Claws appeared from nowhere and sunk into Sweetrose's back. A ginger paw pressed down on the back of the young hunter's head, forcing her muzzle into the ground to muffle her shriek of pain. Firelily gasped in horror.

"Tell me now," said Skyblaze, slowly fading into view on Sweetrose's back. "Will you join me?"

Firelily couldn't force words out of her mouth, she was so terrified.

"Very well." Skyblaze bit down hard on the back of Sweetrose's neck.

"No!" Firelily cried.

Oakstorm burst into the den and charged Skyblaze, claws outstretched. But Skyblaze just flitted out of the way and vanished.

Teeth bared, Oakstorm turned in a circle as paws flashed into view, clawing at him and slashing through his fur. Blood dripped down from a cut above his eye as he turned desperately to Firelily. "Help!" he meowed.

Firelily let out a hiss, her magic instincts kicking in. She followed the traces of magic she could feel and carved her claws into what seemed like empty air.

A screech of pain and surprise cut through the night, and blood dripped out of nowhere and landed on the mossy floor of the den. Oakstorm followed the blood drips and sprang, but teeth caught him by the scruff, and Skyblaze tossed him aside, becoming visible again.

"You forced my paw," she hissed in fury, and let out a loud yowl. "LostClan cats, ATTACK!"

Suddenly the air was thick with the smell and feel of magic. It was everywhere. Firelily heard her Clanmates yowling in pain. Skyblaze sprang onto her, and they rolled on the ground, Skyblaze on top, raking her claws through Firelily's fur.

Firelily yowled and kicked her hind claws into Skyblaze's stomach. But Skyblaze held on, and dove in for the kill.

A dark-colored blur bowled her off of Firelily, and Firelily fled. Frightened, she ducked into the tunnel between the guards' and hunters' dens to hide, her chest heaving, blood dripping from her belly. This had to stop. These cats were too powerful, too strong. They'd destroy the whole Clan. She couldn't let this happen!

But she was so scared. Too scared to move.

Until she heard a high-pitched scream of pain and terror, a scream she knew was her sister's.

"Silver!" she yowled, and raced out of her hiding place, claws unsheathed. Silver was battling with a dark cat, who had torn off a piece of her ear and now held it in his jaws. She was pummeling him with her foreclaws frantically.

"Get off her!" Firelily flew at the dark cat, pushing him off Silver and sinking her teeth into his side. She clawed at him ferociously, hissing and spitting. He knocked her away with a smack of his forepaws, but as he tried to scratch her face, she caught his forepaw in her mouth and bit down. He let out a hiss of pain. She yanked on his foreleg, pulling it until she heard a pop. He yowled, wrenching his foreleg away.

"Firelily!" Silver cried. She sounded terrified.

Firelily suddenly realized there were cats on all sides of her. She lashed out with her hind paws, catching someone in the chin, and slashed a nearby cat's nose. They were all around her, but she just kept spinning and clawing and biting, but finally, they overwhelmed her. A large, heavy paw was pressed down on her chest. A cat sneered at her.

"Stop!"

Ambermoon stood in the entrance to the hunters' den, her fur covered in blood.
"What do you want?" she meowed, out of breath but calm.

"We want our home back," Skyblaze snarled. "Your ancestors drove us out. We weren't given a fair chance."

"This isn't your home anymore," said Ambermoon. "That was seasons ago."

Skyblaze shook her head, her fangs bared in a grin. "You don't get it, do you? It is I, Skyblaze, the leader of LostClan. Skyblaze, who fought in the Great Battle all the seasons ago. I was younger then. But here I am still." She grinned wider. "You can't kill magic cats, Ambermoon. We have all been waiting for a chance to come home."

"But why now?" Tallriver padded forward. "Why not wait longer?"

"Magic is returning to this Valley. Magic is being born into you again." Skyblaze waved her tail at Firelily. "She is magic. And she is here. The Moon has not yet cast her out."

"The Moon doesn't cast the magic cats out of our Clans," said Ambermoon. "We do." Her eyes were hard. "Firelily, you are banished from this Clan forevermore."

"W-what?" Firelily could hardly breath.

"Take her if you want her," said Ambermoon to Skyblaze. "But leave here. When the Moon returns, she will not be happy to see you."

Skyblaze looked uncertain. "Fine," she spat at last. "But we will return. Duskfall, grab the Clan cat."

Duskfall, the cat who'd been fighting Silver, gripped Firelily by the scruff and began dragging her across the dusty ground after his leader.

"Let me go!" Firelily cried. "Silver! Dawnmist! Please! Onelight! Someone!"

But the cats all just stared at her with blank eyes.

"Please!" she yowled, thrashing around in Duskfall's grip. "Tallriver? Help me! I'm not evil! I don't want to go with these cats!"

Tallriver bowed his head.

"Shut up," Duskfall growled through her fur, biting her scruff a little tighter. She whimpered, feeling like a helpless kit. "Duskfall, let me go, please! I don't want to go with LostClan!"

"Too bad," he muttered.

She stared down at her paws. Duskfall's dark gray tabby fur was still caught between her claws, along with his blood. Of course he wouldn't want to help her. And he was limping and grunting in pain with each step.

Firelily went limp. It was hopeless. She closed her eyes and let Duskfall drag her away.