Tearpaw was kneeling down with her head next to the others.

"Then Tearpaw, Snarlpaw, and Tornpaw will head to ShadowClan, because I think that's where the three of you were from. Leappaw and I will go to ThunderClan… and Honorpaw, Timepaw, and Preypaw go to their home in WindClan. Tell them to meet in ThunderClan territory to battle RiverClan. This is it! We're escaping," Firepaw was saying breathlessly. They all felt energized and motivated.

Firepaw nodded and they all said a quick goodbye. Then the three groups cautiously slipped out of the den, and sprinted away in three different directions. Tearpaw's group was silent the whole way, except for once when Snarlpaw warned they were crossing through ThunderClan territory. Firepaw would no doubt have already made it there.

When they finally crossed the border, Tearpaw and the others took a deep breath, inhaling their home scent.

"There they are!" came a familiar voice.

Snarlpaw turned at once to fight, but Tearpaw grabbed him by the scruff and threw him away from Longstar and their "mentors." He obeyed, but only hesitantly, and they all ran in the direction of the camp.

"There! Turn! Turn!" Tornpaw shouted, louder than ever before. The three of them skidded to a halt and ran to the camp. The guards started and their fur rose fiercely high. The kits ignored them and slipped into their home.

Snarlpaw raised his head in an amazingly loud yowl. As though he'd set off a bomb, dozens of warriors, queens, and apprentices leaped from their dens. Tearpaw took a moment to look around at her family before turning her head to the nursery. There, standing in the doorway was a slick gray tortoiseshell she-cat with piercing green eyes. Tearpaw recognized her right off.

"Mommy!" she squeaked, rushing to her mother's side.

"My kit! My kit!" Her mother was squealing, licking Tearpaw fiercely. For once, she was Tearkit again.

Suddenly her mother stopped licking her as Longstar ripped her away. Tearpaw gave a mighty yowl for such a young kit, and threw herself at the hated master. She scratched and clawed the way that her mentor, hopefully dead, she thought, had taught her, but seemed to be getting nowhere. She was flung carelessly to the side.

"Take once more step and I slit your mother's throat!" Longstar announced fearsomely. Tearpaw stopped mid-spin and stood completely rigid, staring at Longstar in absolute hatred.

Longstar gave a nasty smile. She dropped Tearpaw's mother. "There you are Lilydawn. Just calm down," she said in a too-calm voice, slightly hysteric.

Her mother's beautiful tortoiseshell fur was becoming a light crimson as blood began to slide down from the claw marks on her throat. Tearpaw restrained herself from leaping onto Longstar's hideous, snarling face.

Longstar slapped Snarlpaw, who was standing off to her side, nearly seven fox-lengths away. A light gray queen who Tearpaw thought was familiar ran to her brother and dragged him lightly into the safety of the nursery.

Quicker than lightning, eight or so warriors surrounded Longstar. She laughed. Just as quick, she pounced on the closest warrior and stuck her claws in his throat. Off to the side, Lilydawn screamed. Longstar turned and slapped Tearpaw's mother across the face, leaving blood streaks behind. Lilydawn stopped screaming and changed to whimpering.

Tearpaw turned to the warrior. He had a kind face, the same light brown that Tearpaw was, and forest green eyes that matched her brothers. He seemed to be trying to speak, but no sound was coming out.

She stared at him, thinking about the strange feeling bubbling up inside her. Emotions that she didn't have a word for.

"F-aaa-thhh-er," he said weakly. Tearpaw's eyes widened, and she lowered her head in sorrow. Her mother was injured, and here was her father in front of her, suffering, preparing for his spirit to travel. Tearpaw didn't know where, but the word StarClan came into her head. She liked the sound of it and decided that's where her father was going. StarClan.

She curled up next to him and closed her eyes, listening to her father's heartbeat. She wiggled up close and the steady booming. She whimpered quietly and her father twitched. She closed her eyes, and then opened them again. She wasn't locked in a nightmare. Everything was still here. Boom boom. Boom boom. She pressed her head closer to his chest.

"Falconfeather!" Tearpaw's mother cried behind her. Tearpaw closed her eyes again and swallowed hard. Falconfeather. Father. Boom. Boom boom.

Silence.

Tearpaw opened her eyes. Longstar was looking down at her, curled up next to her father, with a look of satisfaction on her face. Tearpaw snarled at her. Another bout of laughter erupted from her enemy.

Her ruthless master took her by the scruff and swung her around cruelly, letting her go at a point where she hit a tree. Tearpaw grunted and struggled to breathe. A paw, firm on her chest, held her to the ground. "I always knew you were trouble. You were the finest kit I ever saw. A fighter, like your brother. But what did that matter, if you weren't on my side? What does it matter now? I have seven more just like you, and they won't be as difficult to pin down.

Tearpaw saw teeth reaching down towards her throat. She was going the same way as her father. She closed her eyes. This was it.

A loud grunt burst from her captor, and the weight on her chest was removed. Tearpaw opened her eyes.

An angry looking she-cat who didn't look familiar was tussling with Longstar. Firepaw was with her, Leappaw at his side. Tearpaw felt a smirk on her lips and jumped into the battle with them.

Claws found her side and ears, but she hardly felt them. She heard Firepaw yowl in pain. She heard Leappaw give one of his rare growls, and they gave her a reason to fight.

Just as Leappaw thought they were winning, ShadowClan and a ThunderClan patrol against one unbelievably good RiverClan squad, about twelve more warriors on Longstar's side burst through the tunnel. Tearpaw groaned. She knew what was coming next.

They battled for minutes longer. It was beginning to look as though they were actually going to lose. Tearpaw wondered where the last patrol was. She was still thinking about it when she found Snarlpaw at her side. It felt good to be fighting with him.

"You better?" Tearpaw asked her brother.

"Yes. Lilydawn and Frostdrop took care of me," he reassured her. Then he rolled away from a sharp claw. Tearpaw jumped over the tom they were battling and joined him again.

"We're starting to lose," Snarlpaw commented. Confused, Tearpaw looked around. He was right. What might have been a hundred cats had joined Falconfeather's body. She took a claw to the nose that would teach her to remember to stay focused.

A loud yowl began to echo in Tearpaw's ears. Her ears twitched. Finally, the help she'd been expecting had come.

"WindClan! Attack!" A tom, obviously WindClan's leader, announced. Dozens of new warriors joined the battle. Two WindClan warriors, looking slightly surprised to see Tearpaw and Snarlpaw fighting, joined them. When they had finished their opponent, they turned to help Honorpaw and Timepaw, who were battling a ragged RiverClan apprentice. He looked about a moon older than the group. Tearpaw taunted the ugly she-cat while the others brought down claws and teeth. Tearpaw felt a gnawing pain in her chest that they were bringing down a kit. That could have been them. They left the young cat calling for her mother, completely fine. That made her feel better.

Then the most beautiful sound that Tearpaw thought she'd ever heard in her life rang out.

"RiverClan! Retreat!"

And with a last hating look, Longstar and her warriors turned and ran back to their camp with the puddle in it.