Sandpaw's eyes flickered opened. She looked around. She was in the medicine cat's den, with Stonepaw sleeping next to her, a deep gash in his right shoulder. He moaned. "S-S-Stonepaw?" Sandpaw's voice was scarcely more than a whisper. She tried to stand, but she was shaking too badly. The ginger apprentice collapsed.

"What?" Stonepaw muttered.

"Are you alright?"

"Do I look alright?" Stonepaw raised his head to glare at his sister.

"Er-never mind. Where's Foxriver?"

"Snowbird gave her some herbs and sent her back to the warriors' den."

"What?!"

How did she fight off those warriors alone? They were both bigger than her! Sandpaw thought.

"It's not that complicated! After Adderpaw tried to choke you to death, and Lightningtail gave me this wound, the patrol decided they were not interested in 'petty fighting'. So they left. Now will you leave me alone? I need to sleep."

"Okay. Sorry."

Stonepaw put his head back down onto the moss, and his quick, shallow breathing told her that he was asleep. She sighed. 'Let's patrol the FlameClan border,' He says. 'It'll be fun!' She thought. Ugh!

Sandpaw hadn't realized how tired she was until she closed her eyes for a moment. She went to sleep.

When Sandpaw awoke, Stonepaw was gone. Now where is he? She thought. She scrambled to her paws uneasily, and padded out to the clearing to find her brother.

"Hey, Sandpaw!" Redpaw called from where he was talking to Flamepaw. He gestured with his tail for her to come over. She quickly looked around for her brother, then went over and sat with the two toms.

"What happened yesterday?" Redpaw asked in bewilderment. "Who tried to kill you on the border? I mean, who was on patrol for the Clan of kittypets, and who were you fighting?"

"Well," Sandpaw began. "The patrol was Wolfheart, Redflash, Lightningtail, and Adderpaw."

"Who did you fight?" Flamepaw pushed.

"Adderpaw. But he didn't even unsheath his claws!"

"And he won?" Redpaw let out a purr of amusement.

"Shut up," Sandpaw said, batting at his ear playfully.

"Hey, hey! I just cleaned myself!"

They were all purring now, joking around.

"I think Adderpaw fell into a badger's den when he was a kit, and let's just say, it really screwed up his head," Redpaw meowed.

"Yeah!" Flamepaw agreed. "And then a hawk carried him away and dropped him in the river!"

"Ha ha! You're turn, Sandpaw!" Redpaw said.

"Me?" She asked, batting her eyelashes and putting one paw forward. "Well," Sandpaw said dramatically. "I think his mother, Leopardfoot, really screwed him up."

"How?" Flamepaw asked.

"You really want to know?"

The toms nodded. She lowered her head and flattened her ears. "She's not really a cat. Not at all."

"What is she?" Redpaw asked.

"Not she; it."

"Whoa, boy!" Flamepaw yelped. "Please continue, Sandfeather."

Both cats looked at him like he was crazy.

"Sandfeather?" Redpaw repeated. "Where did that come from?"

Flamepaw's ears felt hot with embarrassment. He lowered his head. "I don't know. I just made it up. It's not easy to make things up on the spot, you know."

Sandpaw laughed, than crouched. "Don't you want to know what she is?"

Flamepaw's head shot back up to look at Sandpaw. "Of course!"

"Definitely," Redpaw agreed.

There was a mischievous gleam in her eye. "First of all, it's IT, not SHE. Second," She raised her head, pretending to be a stuck up leader or something. "She's a Twoleg kit play toy that was wound up and never stopped going."

"Over the fence and into the forest," Redpaw agreed.

"FlameClan was so amazed by their discovery that they decided to keep her around and make her one of them. But of course, stupid old Sharpclaw actually thought she was a cat, and, well, now we have Bloodpaw and Adderpaw; half clumsy old badger, and half Twoleg…thing."

Redpaw let out an amused meow, sitting closer to Sandpaw on her left, Flamepaw moving over on her right. Redpaw draped his tail over her shoulders. "I have a fun game," He said, his amber eyes glittering.

His eyes remind me a lot of Adderpaw…Sandpaw thought.

"What?" Flamepaw asked.

"Let's go down to the ocean and see who can swim the farthest."

"Um…I don't think that's such a good idea," Sandpaw said.

"Why not?" Flamepaw spoke up.

"Well, yesterday Stonepaw and I were competing to see who could reach the top of the tree first, and I almost fell. Actually, I did fall, but Stonepaw saved me. Anyway, after that we went to the FlameClan border and got attacked there. So I guess you could say that I've had some pretty bad luck with games and stuff. So why don't we go-er-find Stonepaw. I couldn't find him when I woke up."

"Oh, come on, Sandpaw," Redpaw purred. "No FlameClan flea-brain will hurt you as long as we're around."

"Yeah!" Flamepaw yelped.

"But-but apprentices aren't supposed to leave the camp without at least one warrior with them."

Redpaw nodded. "I thought you'd say that. That's why we go through the dirt tunnel."

Flamepaw nodded his agreement. The two toms stood up and began to walk away. Redpaw turned around and asked over his shoulder, "Are you sure you're not coming?"

Sandpaw looked around and sighed. She stood up and ran after them, through the dirt tunnel and into the forest, toward the ocean.

"Ha ha! I told you I couldn't be beaten!" Redpaw boasted as Flamepaw scrambled onto the sand, coughing and sputtering.

"Watch and learn, kittypet," Sandpaw said as she bounded into the waves. The ginger apprentice paddled through the salty water, enjoying the feeling of the cool waves soaking her fur as she swam.

Not too much farther…She thought. Redpaw had made it all the way out to some Twoleg thing, and Flamepaw had cut it short by about a fox-length after a wave swept over his head. Sandpaw glanced over her shoulder and saw the other apprentices watching from the shore.

Almost…there…

Lightning split through the sky and thunder roared over head. Sandpaw saw Flamepaw and Redpaw crouch, clearly taken by surprise by the loud rumbling. The ginger she-cat refused to turn back. The sky was covered by thick black clouds now, and there was more thunder and lightning. Now the rain was starting to fall. Sandpaw approached the Twoleg thing and swam past it, keeping a steady pace through the waves for about two or three fox-lengths. Then she turned around.

I did it! She thought. I beat Redpaw! I won! Sandpaw glanced up at the sky as more lightning flashed.

Now all I have to do is make it back.

She let herself go limp, only bothering to paddle when there was a break in the waves. The water carried her back to shore as quickly as she had gone out, only sweeping over Sandpaw's head once or twice. She stumbled as she emerged, shaking water droplets from her fur.

"Let's go!" She cried, not waiting for a response. Redpaw and Flamepaw were hard on her paws. They ran into the trees and hid under a bramble thicket. They paused, looking at each other, and then burst out laughing.

"That was so much fun!" Flamepaw said.

"Yeah," Sandpaw agreed. "And guess what, Redpaw? I beat you! I beat you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Redpaw flicked his ginger tail dismissively. He glanced at Sandpaw, crouched, and pounced on her. They bowled over each other, purring and laughing, until finally Redpaw pinned her to the ground.

"Ha!" He said. "Pinned ya!"

"At least you're able to beat her at something," Flamepaw mewed.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Redpaw backed off of Sandpaw and stalked toward Flamepaw. The two toms wrestled, playfully batting at each other's ears and grabbing at their tails. Sandpaw purred as she watched them play. They were older than her, so they were much better fighters, and they had trained together most of the time. She enjoyed hanging out with them; they were kind of like her brothers except, not. She liked that.

"Excuse me, mouse-brains, but we should really get back to camp before they realize that we're gone," Sandpaw spoke up, interrupting their play-fight.

"Good point," Redpaw agreed.

"Race you there!" Flamepaw yowled, pushing past the others and running through the trees, followed by Redpaw and Sandpaw. He plowed into camp, through the dirt tunnel, Sandpaw close behind and Redpaw only a tail-length behind her. They were all panting for breath when they returned to camp.

"That was fun," Redpaw gasped.

"Yeah," Sandpaw agreed. "We should do it again."

Flamepaw nodded. Sandpaw spotted Stonepaw making his way towards the medicine cat's den.

"Got to go," She meowed, swiftly padding through the clearing to catch up to her brother.

"Stonepaw!" She called. "Stonepaw, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess," He replied. "My shoulder still aches, though. I won't be able to make it to the gathering tonight."

"Oh. But that's okay, right? I mean, they'll be other gatherings."

"Yeah, I guess."

Stonepaw pushed past his sister and disappeared into Snowbird's den.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here for a Clan meeting!" Harestar yowled. The cats began to crowd beneath Highledge.

"As you know, the gathering is tonight," OceanClan's leader began. "I am now choosing who will go. Redcloud and Snowbird, obviously, Foxriver, Sandpaw, Mountainbreeze, Redpaw, Windflight, Snowstorm, Tigerlily, Flamepaw, Pantherheart, and Dragonheart. Be ready to go by sunset, and make sure you're also ready for battle, just in case FlameClan decides to attack, although I do not think StarClan would allow it. That is all." Harestar dipped his head to his Clan and scrambled down from Highledge to talk to Redcloud beside the fresh-kill pile.