Chapter Two

"Cathan! You'd better start washing the car. Hurry up!"

I let out a sigh, pausing as I scrubbed the windows inside. I had already washed the bathroom, restarted the computer, organized my parents' room, and probably more things that I can't think of at the moment…I gave the window a final scrub and put down the washcloth, pausing again in front of a certain picture.

My parents had made me work so much ever since our cat left us. Our cat, named Rusty, used to live here – but he ran away. He had just been a kitten, and a wonderful cat. Thanks to him, my parents had gone evil on me! I'm serious; they don't wait a second for me to sit down and enjoy myself – they're always having me doing some sort of chore.

If I ever see Rusty again…I don't know what I'll do. He was the reason my parents had gone nuts – they missed him so much. Our new housecat, named Hershey, was not exactly the type of cat that Rusty had been. She spent all her time outside, hanging out with other cats most likely.

I walked outside, the summer sun blazing down on me. There was a good thing and a bad thing about summer – the fact that there was no school to deal with doing every chore in the house, but that I sunburn very easily.

I dipped the sponges into the bucket and began to wash the stupid red Jetta.

By the way, my name is Cathan Slone. Then, I was thirteen – I had recently turned thirteen in July. I had long, straight, black hair that practically went down to my waist.

"Cathan!"

It was my mom, coming out of the house. She was sort of…stout, I'll say, and she had these bags under her eyes like I had seen her wear for the past three years since Rusty left us.

"Do the laundry after this," she snapped. "And hurry up. John wants you to wash the TV screen – he says it's getting too dusty."

She left inside the house.

I stood there, feeling lost and abandoned. Dad was a real tool – he just spent all day in front of the TV, watching whatever. And Mom probably would have said Dad instead of John a few years ago. It's amazing what losing a cat can do to people!

So I entered the house and dusted off the TV for Dad. He hardly looked at me and didn't say thank you as I walked away.

Later that night, as I stared out the window next to my bed, I could just see a dark brown cat pad into our yard and through the kitty door. Hershey, I thought, rolling my eyes, stupid cat. I could also see a band of about four cats – one, a gray cat with long hair, as well as a slightly orange cat, and another with long white hair, and finally a large ginger kitty with fur like the sun.

What was so familiar about that last kitty? What?

As I watched them, the four of them crept silently through the houses, sniffing intently, as though looking for something. As they crept closer, I could see that they were incredibly thin – not house cats, I realized. These cats had to live in the forest!

Someone should do something about them, I thought, falling back onto my bed. Cats can't just be running free in the forest.

I fell asleep quickly after that, and had a strange dream. I was standing right in the middle of four enormous trees – in front of me was a blue-gray cat. I could tell that it was a girl because it was small.

"Kitty," I said aloud, reaching forward to touch her. But the cat stayed just out of my reach.

And then…the cat spoke. I leapt back in surprise.

"ThunderClan awaits you, Glacierpaw," she whispered. "Don't be afraid. Accept your destiny."

Glacierpaw? ThunderClan? What the…

My eyes snapped open suddenly. I was staring intently on my bedroom ceiling. Hold on, I wasn't staring intently like that – that was just the way my eyes were. What the heck? I could never see this well!

My covers had slid just above my nose and was very hot and uncomfortable. I tried to move the covers away from me, but I couldn't do it. Like my arms wouldn't move that way.

What is going on? I thought, beginning to panic. I flipped over and rolled onto my feet. That was better. I walked forward with all four feet touching the blanket – wait a minute – four feet!

I leapt back in shock and amazement and stared down at my hands. Paws. They were covered in silver fur, and were flecked with white stripes. I leapt down from the bed and ran to the mirror. From the looks of my fluffy fur, I was quite young, probably about six months. My fur was silver with unusual white stripes on the back, making me look very cool. My tail was longer than usual and had a white tip.

I would have said I was cute if I weren't so freaked. I mean, I was a cat! A kitten! What has happened to me? I had to be dreaming. I had to –

Dream. The dream. What was it that cat had said? ThunderClan awaits you…Glacierpaw? What was Glacierpaw and ThunderClan? Don't be afraid. Accept your destiny…Was this my destiny, to become a cat?

My parents would know what had happened to me. Wouldn't they?

I pushed the door open with my head. Everything was enormous to me. It all looked as though it had grown about five feet – but the truth was I had shrunk.

So I padded quickly into the living room, where my dad was already up – watching the TV and drinking a Mike's, what else. I pushed against his leg and put my paws on the couch.

"Dad! Dad! Help! I'm trapped as a cat!" I cried.

What I really said was, "Meow! Mewww, meow, meow!"

"Arrrghh!" exclaimed my dad, his Mike's flying. "A cat! A cat!"

"What?" came my mom's voice. "What's going – oh, Hershey, you've brought a friend, have you?"

Hershey? I thought, looking around wildly for the dark brown cat. But I didn't see her anywhere.

"Get it away!" screamed Dad.

"Oh, but John, it's just a sweet little kitty – and still a kitten at that! We should let it stay. Give it a home here."

"Can't trust cats, they might run away," grumbled Dad.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous; this kitty won't be like Rusty," cooed Mom, reaching forward to pick me up.

And that was exactly the time when Hershey decided to show up.

The dark brown cat barreled into me, sending my rolling across the floor. Instinctively, my claws unsheathed, slicing into Hershey's flank. She yowled and let go of my neck, giving me time to run. I hurried out the door, and by the sounds of the quick footsteps behind me, I knew she was following me.

I tore into the sunlight, blinking. Right. I knew this yard. It all smelled like me. I raced into the yard beyond, scrambling up the fence. Hershey let out a yowl and pounced at my tail, just scraping the white tip. I screeched, and leapt away.

My paws hit dirt and gravel and I scrambled up again, facing Hershey on the fence. The dark brown cat was staring at me, lashing her tail in both fear and triumph – I realized that she had never gone into the forest behind me before, and was pleased that she had chased me away from her territory. I let out a hiss and unsheathed my claws, padding nervously into the forest.

I couldn't go home, I thought as I walked faster. My parents both thought I was a cat. What would they do when they realized I wasn't there? And I didn't want to stay in the yard – not when there were fierce cats protecting their territory.

Stupid.

I stopped suddenly. What if the cats in here were even tougher than the cats in the neighborhood? I had to get out of here. I turned to leave, and then –

"Rowrr!"

A ferocious yowl! Claws in my back!

I leapt backwards, hissing and spitting. At first I thought it was Hershey again – but no, this dark brown cat was a guy, because of his size and smell. His lips were drawn back in a snarl, and he kept his claws unsheathed.

There were three cats in all – the dark brown cat, and a smaller brown girl cat, as well as a golden-brown tabby kitty, a boy.

"Why are you on our territory?" snarled the first cat.

I leapt away in fear when I realized I could only speak to cats.

"I…I…" I stammered.

"Dustpet, wait," said the golden-brown cat, "this is just a kit. By the smell of it, I don't think it belongs to Twolegs."
"Maybe not, Brackenfur," replied Dustpelt, "but we still have to be careful."

"We should take her to Firestar," mused the small girl cat. "See what he thinks about this."

"Mousefur – good idea," agreed Dustpelt. He walked behind me and nudged me forward. "Follow Mousefur and Brackenfur," he instructed. "And don't think about running either."

I was trembling too much to think about speaking or running away. Silently, I followed them quickly, sprinting through the trees. I can't keep up! I wanted to exclaim, but I didn't want to appear weak to these cats, so I said nothing.

At last, we slipped in through a hole in the bushes and I found myself in a clearing that contained at least thirty cats. As a gazed around, amazed, I hardly noticed Dustpelt speaking.

"Hurry up, she-cat," he growled. Oh, she-cat! That was what girl kitties were called. I guess I didn't have to call them that anymore. But what about boys? "Our leader is waiting."

What was his leader's name again? I wondered as we padded forward. Cats turned and stared at me as we passed, and they muttered to one another. The leader's den was a small cave beneath a larger rock. We entered, my tail twitching nervously.

An amazing cat with a flame-colored pelt sat in front of us, his paws drawn under his chest. It had to have been the cat that I had seen the night before, when I was human! That sounded weird. But why did this cat seem so familiar to me?

"We found this one in the woods, Firestar," said Dustpelt, dipping his head. I guessed it was a gesture of respect. "We thought we'd take her to you."

"A loner or a kittypet?" asked Firestar.

"We couldn't tell," replied Brackenfur. "She has a very strange scent."

And that was when I blurted out a name that I hoped I would never say again.

"Rusty!"

The large boy cat turned to face me, his eyes widening in alarm. Rusty! I thought, my claws digging into the earth. What had I said I would do to him if I ever saw him again? Firestar stared at me for a few seconds before mewing, "She's a kittypet. She must have heard my old name from the cats in the Twolegplace yard."

I thought I could see an expression of amusement on Dustpelt, but he didn't compliment on it. "Then what do we do?"

"Wait a minute!" I burst out, "I don't know any of the cats in the yard back there." I decided not to tell them that I had once been a human – I could go no place else, and these cats seemed friendly enough.

Firestar narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at me. "Then you are a loner? How do you know my name?"

"Yes, I, I am a loner," I mumbled, not answering his second question. "I have no place else to go. All the cats seemed to be so evil toward me…"

"We could take her to Barley's farm, Firestar," suggested Mousefur. "Leave her with him and Ravenpaw."

But Firestar shook his head. "No," he said. "This one has to be about six moons old." Moons? I thought. He must mean months. "Maybe…"

"You're not serious," said Dustpelt. "A loner in ThunderClan? Our Clan will be known for accepting cats from the outside forest."

"We could use the cats," he said.

It was then when a long-haired gray boy cat entered the den. He leapt back in alarm at the sight of me and padded over to Firestar.

"She's from out of the Clan," he murmured. "A loner with no place to go."

"This has to be the one!" hissed the gray cat. "This has to be the cat StarCla –"

"Graystripe!" Firestar cuffed him on the ear. He purred warmly and faced me. "All right, she-cat. Your fate has been decided."

He sounded like a judge, telling me that I would spend the rest of my life in prison.

"You will be an apprentice of ThunderClan, and train with the other apprentices," he announced, and my heart leapt with joy.

I would be an apprentice of ThunderClan, whatever that meant.

"I'll announce your arrival to the Clan now," added Firestar. He padded out of the den, with Graystripe, Dustpelt, Mousefur, Brackenfur, and I following him.

I could just see Firestar leapt upon the Highrock. "Let all cats old enoguh to catch their own prey join me beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" he yowled.

Instantly, all the cats in the camp crowded around their leader. He saw me waiting anxiously at the foot of his den, and he flicked his tail at me. I guessed it meant I was supposed to come to him, and he didn't laugh or complain about when I complied.

"This young she-cat was found wandering in the forest," he began. Some cats glanced at each other nervously, wondering what their leader was about to say. "She is apparently a loner, and has no other place to go." He paused. "I have decided to accept her into ThunderClan."

Silence. Dead silence.

Then an old she-cat yowled out from her den with other older cats. "Firestar, you were a kittypet and look at you now! I think you're making the right decision, bringing this cat in."

"Thank you, Speckletail," said Firestar, his whiskers twitching with both embarrassment and pleasure. "Now, you…" He faced me. "You need a name."

He paused, studying me closely. Then he leaned forward and whispered, "Your pelt is like ice on a mountain." Firestar raised his voice to the Clan. "From this day forward, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice will be known as Glacierpaw, in honor of her ice-like pelt."

The cats gave their yowls of approval in loud, pleased voices. Glacierpaw, I thought. There's something familiar about that as well.

"Glacierpaw! Glacierpaw!" chanted the cats.

Firestar waited for silence. "Since Glacierpaw does not have a mentor," he said, "her mentor will be Brambleclaw."

A dark brown tabby bowed his head proudly.

"Brambleclaw, I hope I was an excellent mentor to you – share all I taught you to this young apprentice."

"Of course," he replied, and walked forward to touch noses with me. I shook with pleasure and excitement as I returned the gesture to my new mentor.

As Firestar leapt down from the Highrock in signal that the meeting was over, he turned and faced me. "Before you meet the other apprentices, Glacierpaw," he mewed, "I must first ask you something."

My heart lurched horribly as I padded after Firestar and into his den, wondering if he was going to ask me how I knew his old name. But he just faced me and said,

"So, Glacierpaw, the newest apprentice, have you heard or seen anything…odd? I mean, the Clan can't keep secrets from each other, you know." He paused. "So…do you know anything?"

I stared into his bright green eyes. Of course, Firestar, I thought, I was once a human. Does that count?

But I couldn't tell him that. He might kick me out. He might…I don't know, kill be because of it. How was I supposed to know how Clan leaders behaved?

But all I said was, "I'm sorry, Firestar, I don't know anything."

He bowed his head. I could see disappointment in his eyes. "All right, well…"

"But I have a question for you, Firestar," I added. "Um…well, last night, when I was wandering the…" I thought rapidly about what to say next. Houses? Neighborhood? "Twolegplace, I saw you, Graystripe, and two other cats looking for something."

"You saw us?" He sounded impressed. "Well. Yes, we were looking for one of our warriors." Firestar let out a sigh. "Rainwhisker was taken by Twolegs. We were hoping that he might be in one of the houses, but we saw nothing of him."

"Oh…" I paused. "Okay. Erm, what exactly is a Twoleg?"

Firestar twitched his whiskers in surprise. "A Twoleg is…erm…the tall animals with, well, two legs. They have strange, separated paws."

"Oh!" I almost laughed in amusement, but cats can't exactly laugh. He meant a human. "All right, Firestar. Thank you."

He nodded. "You'd better get to know your denmates, Glacierpaw," he said. "Off you go."

"Of course, Firestar," I replied, determined to impress him with politeness. I padded off into the clearing.

Sigh…sorry for not getting this up sooner. My cat just erupted in his litter box and it was…well…too stinky to type. So, er, anyway, review!