I don't own Warriors.
Secret burrowed into the ground, twitching uncomfortably as the dried leaves dug into her side. And to think she was so anxious to leave for this.
Secret's frustration tore her apart. If she would have stayed longer she might have learned to shape-shift, like Ranger could. But she had to be a complete idiot and demand her freedom.
Filing back through her memories, Secret tried to figure out what Ranger had said about it; concentration, a clear mental picture, never to try it, what-so-ever.
Well, rules were meant to be broken, weren't they?
A mouse, Secret decided. She knew what one looked like, and she could avoid the annoying raindrops that were practically maiming her. With a image of a brown mouse in her mind, Secret began to change.
Her ears shrunk first, until they weren't visible among her cat body. She could pick out specific sound from above now, but she barely had time to think before her tail thinned into a mouse's, her head grew smaller, and her body became that of a mouse.
And to think Ranger had said it was hard. A little painful, maybe, but too simple for words.
Being a mouse was totally, completely fantastic. Landmarks that Secret hadn't noticed before marked her make shift home and leave from plants protected her tiny body from the rain. It was easy as catching a sleeping mouse.
Or at least, it was until some moronic cat pounced on her.
Secret whirled, hissing, but her mouth wouldn't make the noise. I'm going to be lunch, Secret thought frantically. This is cannibalism. Or is it? I am a mouse right now.
Secret began to change into the first thing she thought of, a tiger. She knew their bodies well, orange, with bold black streaks.
The cat yowled and flew back in surprise, watching the mouse grow a tiger's body, then head, and, finally, tail.
Secret looked at the cat cautiously, analyzing if he could be of a threat. It looked young, probably a Clan's apprentice. He was black, and smelled like Sparkpaw had, so it only made sense that he was ThunderClan.
"Hello," Secret said.
"StarClan help me," the cat muttered, and it fell to the forest floor.
Secret laughed, imagining the cat's horror. He had seen a mouse change into a tiger, if that wasn't considered weird, nothing could be.
Slowly, Secret began to shift back into her regular form, but froze. If she could turn into other animals, she could look like a different cat, couldn't she?
A picture of a silver-gray tabby cat formed in her mind. She could make herself look however she wanted…
After several long minutes of work, Secret appeared as a small short-haired gray tabby. With a frown, her fur grew longer, so it fell silkily down her body. She allowed her eyes to turn from gray to red, like she'd seen wolves have, except she could still see.
The black cat was beginning to stir, raising his head in confusion. "Where's the tiger?" he mumbled drowsily. "Who are you?"
"Tiger?" Secret said curiously. "I didn't see any tiger."
"I saw it," the cat insisted. "I was about to kill a mouse and it turned into a tiger…"
"Yeah, and I'm about to turn into a goldfish," Secret said sarcastically. "And that tree over there will become a lake, and that leaf will turn into a horse."
The tom stood, shaking his head. "I must have taken a bad fall."
Secret rolled her eyes. If only he knew. "Really? I never would have guessed that by the way you expected me to believe that a mouse turned into a tiger."
He nodded. "I'm Shadowpaw, by the way, who are you?"
Secret froze. She hadn't thought of a false name. Think, think…Oh, heck with it. "Secret."
"That's a cool name."
"I gave it to myself."
"Lucky." Shadowpaw stared off into the distance. "Sometimes I wish I could have picked my own name. You know, not that there's anything wrong with Shadowpaw, but it just seems so…incomplete."
"I know. I was called Quiet by almost everyone—well, except my mentor; he called me Calico—because I didn't talk."
"But you aren't calico."
"Yeah—" Secret realized she wasn't calico anymore. She was a silver tabby. "My mother named me that, I think, but it didn't reflect me."
Shadowpaw nodded. "Half the time I don't think our names, me and my siblings, that is, don't have fitting names. I mean, my youngest sister, Silentpaw, is one of the most talkative cats I know."
Secret nodded slowly. "You're lucky to have siblings. Mine all died a long time ago."
"Sometimes it doesn't feel like it," Shadowpaw muttered. "Darkpaw has to know what everyone's doing. Silentpaw…well, she's sweet, but she feels like she can do anything sometimes. Tanglepaw gets away with everything, and well, Sparkpaw's Tanglepaw's best friend."
Secret's ears perked. Sparkpaw was here? Well, that was interesting.
"Shadowpaw! What are you—?"
Secret stiffened as a cat slipped from the cover of leaves.
"Brackenfur," Shadowpaw mewed.
"What are you doing?" the cat hissed. "Are you insane? You were supposed to be back at camp ages ago! And you're talking to a rogue!"
"I took a bad fall," Shadowpaw replied. "I slipped, and when I woke up Secret was here."
Secret nodded. "He was pretty delusional at first. He thought that a mouse he caught had turned into a tiger!" She laughed. "I figured that I should stay."
"Right," Brackenfur said, looking at his apprentice oddly. "You should come back to camp then, Secret."
"No, that's alright," Secret murmured. "I can take care of myself."
"You trespassed on ThunderClan territory," Brackenfur pointed out. "I have to take you back to camp.
If you spend longer than two hours in your unnatural form you will stay that way, a voice whispered in Secret's mind.
Her mind raced. If she thought correctly, she had about two minutes to get out of here.
Time's up, the voice whispered. Remember what Ranger said about used your mind powers.
The voice was right. She couldn't use her powers here, not on these two. And now she was also stuck as a small silver tabby for her long, long life.
Damn.
Aww, poor Secret. She's going to see Sparkpaw, but he won't know who she is. Review!