Silverstar was carried into the office, past a few staring eyes of the parents and child waiting with a hamster in a cage, through a short hallway, and into a kennel. She was put down into a small, cramped space lined with a rubber mat and a water/food bowl in the corner. She sighed, and looked around through the wire mesh of her new home. She was sitting in a cage matrix that lined one wall and looked into another set of cages across from her. They were stacked one wire cage deep and four cages tall.

"Is everyone ok?" she called. Silence ensued, then,

"I don't know..." It sounded like the scared voice of Skypaw.

"Skypaw? Is that you?"

"Yes," the small voice replied. "Bluepaw was taken away by that girl vet."

Another voice interrupted. "Silverstar?"

"Whiteclaw!!" she cried in relief. "You're ok!"

"Yeah...You could say that. I feel horrible."

"It's the rat bites. They get infected easily without burdock. The vets are probably going to treat us as soon as possible. They seem nice."

"I suppose."

"Listen, take a quick look at your cage fastenings, will you? Do they look like you can undo them?"

There was a small rustling, and Skypaw shouted back,

"Yeah, I can undo everything. Want me to get out right now?"

"No, stay where you are. We need to get some medicine first."

"Who's there?" a crafty voice shouted. It sounded squeaky, and not at all pleasant.

"What?" Silverstar called back.

"Who's there?"

And out of the shadows of the next cage from Silverstar, a figure emerged. It was a fox!

"AARGH!!" Silverstar yowled, and she scooted into the far corner of her cage. "Get away!"

"Shut up!" the fox ordered, but Silverstar yowled louder.

"You stay far away from me, you piece of foxdung!"

"That made no sense," the fox retorted. "And be quiet. The humans'll come running, and sedate you. You dont' want that."

Silverstar fell silent, then whispered. "Get away. You horrible, horrible lunatic beast."

"Well, that's not very nice," the fox said, affronted. "I was about to help you. My name's Starp, by the way."

Whiteclaw's voice came from somewhere above Silverstar. "Nice to meet you, Starp. I'm Whiteclaw."

"What are you doing?" Silverstar hissed at her deputy. "He's going to kill us! You know what foxes do to the clans!"

"Yeah, yeah," the fox drawled. "I'm a 'tame' fox. Which means I eat that nasty grey pebbles they put in my bowl every morning, and don't attack cats."

"Sure."

"Really. I haven't hurt anything in years. Well...I did scratch the vet once by accident, but it was an accident."

"How did you get here, Starp?" Whiteclaw asked.

"Funny story," Starp answered, settling down and pushing his muzzle through to Silverstar's cage. He began with an air of one re-telling a war story that glorified one's self.

"It started all on a lovely, frosty morning. My mother had let us out for some play, and I had lured my sisters and brothers away to the nearest Eternal Stone Path."

"The what?"

"The Eternal Stone Path. They're everywhere, with these huge, square foxes that run on them at speeds no fox would ever accomplish on his own, unless they had the ancestor's ancestors take the bravest and best of our kind and make them into these huge, indestructable foxes that are used to cart humans around..."

"Um...ok?" Whiteclaw said, confused.

"Anyway, we had gotten there when our mother came after us and tried to herd us back home, unless the colored foxes would come and hurt us. But, before she could, one got me."

He winced. "It was painful, but a human came out of it's mouth and picked me up, carrying me in the giant fox to here, where he healed me and keeps me as a pet."

"Interesting..." Whiteclaw murmered. Silverstar groaned in frustration, rolling her eyes.

"Look, as interesting as this is, it still leaves one question unanswered: Why does any of this matter? We're getting out of here soon. You're staying here. End of story." She said to the fox.

"Well, I figured you'd say something like that," Starp began, sitting up. "And I thought we could help each other."

"A fox? Help me?" Silverstar scoffed. "Yeah, when the Silverpelt turns green and I eat my own tail."

"You never know," the fox answered solemly. "I've seen stranger things."

"What?"

"GOTCHA!" the fox howled with laughter, shaking the cage so much that the whole complex rattled.

Whiteclaw and Silverstar exchanged looks through the wire mesh. This fox was almost as dotty as a leopard, and only half (if not less) as sane. Starp kept laughing and rolling on the floor of his cage until he noticed that the cats weren't laughing with him.

"Sorry," he said, flipping onto his belly. "Imprisonment does no good to a fox."

"Too true!" Whiteclaw agreed. Silverstar grudgingly nodded.

"I'd go the same way," she muttered. "If I was kept from the forest for that long."

"You don't know the half of it," the fox complained, settling himself down. (He was a very energetic fox.) "I haven't tasted a good bird or rodent in ages."

"Ugh...human food," Skypaw shuddered. Starp looked over at her (she was in the cage two across from him.)

"You guessed it! It's disgusting, and you can hardly move your tongue around it. Try taking a bite of it and saying 'stoof loose tongue' ten times fast. It sounds like 'thoo looth tong.'"

"Er..." she squeaked, backing away. "hahaha..."

He eyed her, and they could hear him muttering under his breath, "Yummmmy...ahhh...fresh cat...delicious...."

Clearly, he was raving mad and desperate to flee. Whiteclaw and Silverstar looked at each other, then back at Starp warily.

"So, Starp, why do you think you could help us?" Silverstar asked conversationally.

"Well, you see, the humans have guards that hang around here at night and they are all around during the day. You'd need some foxy- haha, get it foxy- planning to get us out of here."

"Whoa, hang on...us?"

"Yeah. You see, you let me out of here and I give you a plan to get us out."

"HAha. No way. You give us the plan, then we let you out."

"Nope. My way, or deal's off."

"Fine, then no deal. We'll get out ourselves." And Silverstar turned around, ignoring the fox right next to her.

"Did I mention the dogs?"

"Ok, so we let you out. Then what?" Silverstar asked, swinging around.

"Good one. Like I'd tell you. So, tonight?"

"No, in a few days time. We need some healing."

"Oh. Three days?"

"Seven."

"Four."

"Six."

"Five."

"Deal."

And then a human came and carried Silverstar away. She placed her on a sterile looking table and slid a needle into her forearm.

"Nighty night!" the human said gently, and Silverstar drifted away into blackness.

She awoke in a few hours feeling greatly rested. Her head was slightly fuzzy and her body a little numb, but otherwise ok. She was back in her mesh cage. She could hear Starp muttering in his sleep next to her, and what she heard was not comforting.

"Take....outside...big tree....dump....little one....eat....yummy....feast....hero.......Ancestor's gift."

She shuddered. He was planning to lure them away and eat them. Despicable. Well, she thought. He'll have a shock waiting for him when he tries.

Abby Whitlock Hale Cullen: Me neither, but if the kits are to survive, they must be.

Firestorm: Oh, school is awful. I stil lhave to make up two tests, and I'm NOT looking forward to it.

Crystal: the kittens are fine. Or...i think so....:)

icewind: it's so much easier to call you ice wind than the 'icanhazlolzcatzplz' I'm sorry... :)

Ok, so I'm starting this new thing called 'Silverstar answers." Ask a question directed at Silverstar and see it possibly answered by her in the next chapter. So, to see this question answered, review review review!!

Bye!

-Owly