&& secret, secret.

Chapter Three

"What?!"

The two sisters' eyes were wide to the point where you couldn't tell what their eye colors were, and they had their ears pressed hard against their heads. Apple's tail was fluffed out to three times its size, and Lily was sinking her claws into the damp ground. But Sunstar still hadn't moved: His shoulders were still squared, and he still had the same determined look on his face. Woodfern was apprantly scatterbrained, though. He had wandered off a few fox-lengths, and was presently batting around a pile of leaves.

"J-Join RiverClan?" Lily stammered. She was usually a calm cat, but she though this situation called specifically for surprise.

"Duh, Lily," Woodfern called absently from a few paces away.

"So what do you say?" Sunstar prodded.

"But I don't even know what RiverClan is!" Lily exclaimed. She had finally found her voice. Her mind worked furiously so that you could see the gears turning.

"Oh, you can learn about it all later." Woodfern was standing at Lily's right suddenly. "Are you interested in learning more about the forest?" he asked.

Lily was baffled by the brown tom's serious tone. Hadn't he been light and care-free a moment ago?

But she answered him anyway. "Yes..." Lily trailed off hesitantly.

"Well, we Clan cats know every pawstep in this entire forest! We've walked these territories for seasons upon seasons, and we have discovered all there is to discover here."

But then his serious moment was gone, and Woodfern was bouncing on his paws like yesterday, giddy like a hyperactive kitten. "So...? Will you join?"

Lily stared at him. What a confusing cat. "...Okay."

"Lily?!"

She turned to face Apple, whose face wore an expression of hurt of anger.

"I-I want to learn more," Lily tried to explain, "about everything. We never knew our parents well; Mother left short after our birth, Father never showed his face. Did you ever wonder about that, Apple? Maybe they were part of these Clans! Maybe they had to go back...Maybe they--"

Lily jolted to a stop as she felt small, sharp claws rake across her shoulder. She stumbled to the side a bit, surprised by the sudden blow, and stared with panicked eyes at her sister. Apple had her paw raised in the air, ready for another blow. Lily noticed tufts of her own fur poked out between her claws.

"A-Apple?" Lily rasped, her voice hushed by shock.

Her sister stared back with surprising anger flashing in her blue eyes.

"Leave!" Apple cried. "If you want to leave so badly, leave! Go look for our parents! Go look for those unfaithful parents that abandoned us in kithood! But ask yourself this!" The smaller she-cat leaned in close, so that her breath tickled Lily's ear. "If they never showed their faces, doesn't that mean they never even cared for us in the first place?" she growled in a low voice.

"Enough!"

Lily jumped back from her sister. The scratches on her shoulder stung with the movement. Apple and Sunstar were glaring daggers at each other on either side of her.

"If Lily wishes to leave, then you should be able to let her go, Apple," Sunstar growled, his eyes dark.

"And I am allowing her to," Apple hissed. The ginger fur along her spine prickled.

"Then we will take our leave."

And Sunstar turned promptly on his paw, padding away. Woodfern glanced at Lily, grinned, and bowed his head at her.

"She-cats first, you know?" he meowed cheekily.

Lily nodded at him, and smiled weakly, despite the circumstances.

But as she trotted away, Lily couldn't resist the urge to cast one last glance at her sister over her shoulder.

Apple sat with her tail tucked neatly over her paws, glaring after Lily with her lip curled slightly. The fur on the back of her neck was still raised, and her tail still bushed, but she seemed to have calmed down a bit. The realization that her sister was leaving was slowly dawning on her. Past the anger in her sky-blue eyes, Lily could see hurt and confusion shining dully.