A/N: So I had nothing in my head for AGES AND AGES until yesterday, when I finally got into the mood to write. Being an author is harder than I thought.

I'm REALLY sorry for the wait, guys. Thanks for the reviews.

Chapter 4

A few days after the adder incident, Foxkit and Falconkit tussled in front of the nursery. They were nearly ready to become apprentices, and already they were practicing fighting.

They stopped when a very young apprentice walked up to them. She was a pretty golden tortoiseshell with sparkling green eyes.

"Hi, I'm Sunpaw," she chirped. "I'm the medicine cat apprentice. Who are you?"

Foxkit and Falconkit, eager for a new friend, hastily said their names.

"Good to meet you!" she said. "Hey, a couple moons ago, Iceshadow got a really cool prophecy. So far nothing's happened, but keep an eye out."

The two kits nodded.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Stormstone for a Clan meeting."

"Can we catch prey?" muttered Falconkit to Foxkit.

"Dunno. But let's watch from here."

"Bye," hissed Sunpaw, and trotted off for the meeting.

The meeting was boring, about who would attend the Gathering.

That night, Foxkit watched the cats, Rainstar at the lead, troop off for the Gathering. He wondered where they went to gather. He walked over and sat at the camp entrance. He stared out into the forest and longed to explore it, not be cooped up in the camp all day. He sighed.

All of a sudden, he saw a pair of amber eyes gleam from the shadows. He turned quickly towards the eyes, his heart thumping. Something stepped from the murky darkness.

It was probably the most ugly thing Foxkit had ever seen. Its nose and mouth tapered forward in a long snout. Its fur was a flaming red and its amber eyes glinted hungrily like chips of golden ice.

Then it spoke, and Foxkit could understand.

He had not known of any animals other than prey, but he had gathered that they all spoke their own language. The cat language was unique to only cats, the ravens spoke their own language too, and the rabbits spoke to each other in only the way a rabbit can. As far as Foxkit knew, he should not be able to understand this creature.

"Little cat," hissed the creature in a very strange accent. "No mother to protect it. What an easy meal." And it started creeping forward.

"P-p-please don't eat me," stuttered Foxkit without thinking, stumbling backwards.

The creature stopped dead and pricked its ears, bewildered. It cocked its head and studied Foxkit.

"Did cat just speak?" it mused to itself. "Did prey just speak to predator, the fox?"

At that moment Patchcloud rushed up.

"Foxkit!" she cried. Foxkit lost sight of the strange creature as Patchcloud curled her body around him protectively. Foxkit heard her claws unsheathe and hiss ferociously at the red creature. It gave a low growl. Patchcloud snarled and whipped out her paw to try and slash at the thing. Foxkit caught a glimpse of the creature turning and fleeing into the brush. Foxkit felt Patchcloud's bristling fur relax and her claws unsheathe before she whirled on him and started grooming him fiercely. "It's all right," she murmured. "It's all right now."

"I'm fine, Mother," muttered Foxkit. "But… but it talked to me, Mother."

Patchcloud stopped licking. "What?" she meowed. "It spoke to you?"

Foxkit nodded his little ginger head.

Patchcloud looked troubled, but shook it off. "You've just been imagining, Foxkit," she said while herding him back to the nursery. "It must have been an awful shock seeing a fox, young as you are."

But as Foxkit sat in the warm, dry nursery, eating pre-chewed vole, he knew for quite certain that he had heard the fox (that's what Patchcloud had called it) really speak to him.

"What happened?"

Foxkit looked up into the face of Falconkit. Relieved that it was his best friend and not anyone else, he told him in an undertone what had happened.

When he was through, Falconkit said, "Wow," and looked thoughtful.

"You do believe me, right?" whispered Foxkit desperately.

"Of course, mouse-brain! Even though it's never happened before. It's very strange. And you spoke to it, and it understood you?"

Foxkit was about to nod when Eaglekit popped from the shadows.

"I couldn't help overhearing," he growled, quite smugly.

I'll bet you could've, thought Foxkit.

Eaglekit sneered into his face. "Having dreams, little brother?"

"I'm not you're little brother!" hissed Foxkit through clenched teeth. "We're the same age, mouse-brain!"

"Go away, Eaglekit," meowed Falconkit scornfully. Eaglekit ignored him.

"Speaking to creatures, Foxkit? You're pretty weird for a kit. We might only want nice, normal kits in my den. We'll have to throw you out and sleep in the rain! Maybe even you'll get kicked out of the Clan because you're so bizarre!"

Foxkit growled, sinking his claws into the moss. That was the last straw! He was about to leap at Eaglekit, but Falconkit was faster.

"Shut up!" he snarled, pushing his muzzle close to Eaglekit's face. "Foxkit is as nice and normal as you are spiteful!" He raised his voice to a high pitch as if imitating Eaglekit. "'We only want normal kits in my den!' Just get a life, Eaglekit, and stop taunting others just because they're gifted! You're probably just jealous!"

Startled, Eaglekit took a step back. He stammered, "Am- am not! He's- he's just w…" but Falconkit gave him a look so icy that he fell silent and scurried off.

Falconkit gave a satisfied snort and sat down among the moss. Foxkit came up and rubbed his head in thanks against his friend's shoulder.

"Thanks for that."

"He needed someone to take care of him once and for all."

"Do you really think I'm gifted?"

"Of course. You're my best friend."