Chapter 2
It was two moons after the meeting at the oak. Fat, mouth-watering prey was now just a memory. Leaf-bare had broken out a moon ago, and tonight was the first real blizzard. Twilight struggled against the high snow and biting wind toward her den, with one bony mouse. She had found nothing else, and she was famished.
She finally pushed herself inside her den, cold and numb. She finished her mouse in two bites, which did hardly anything to soothe her stomach.
Twilight miserably huddled in the leaves and tried to sleep. However, her hunger pains and discomfort prevented that.
Suddenly, a loud, "Psst!" made her look up. Outside her den, two blue dots like eyes appeared in the deep snow. Sky?
Twilight pushed herself confusedly to her paws and reluctantly scrambled out into the wind. Stumbling in the snow, she saw that it was in fact Sky, her blue-gray fur ruffled against the wind.
"I've something for you," she mewed, and proudly stepped aside. Twilight's jaw dropped.
Six plump rabbits lay in the snow, no blood about them, all freshly killed.
"I've already had three, I thought you should have the rest. You look half-starved." She modestly licked her chest. "I just kind of stumbled on a rabbit warren."
"What abou…" Twilight couldn't continue because she had her mouth full. She had barely given a thought to the BloodClan law before she had given into temptation.
Twilight had already eaten two before she was able to control herself. Fear seized her immediately. What if someone had seen Sky share prey?
"Sky, go away! If somebody sees us, we – "
Twilight was cut off as Sky interrupted, "I had to help. You might have starved. No offense, but you look horrible."
Twilight had to smile as she dragged the two remaining rabbits to her stash and gave the third to Sky as a thank-you. As Twilight had been eating, the blizzard had worsened, and Sky had to get home before she was snowed out.
Twilight almost offered for Sky to stay at her den, but that would worsen their plight if they were found out. Sky grabbed her rabbit, murmured a quick good-bye, and raced into the snowy night.
Twilight slid into her den and slipped right into her first well-fed sleep in a moon. She gave herself away to dreams as she left consciousness.
Neither Sky nor Twilight saw two cats speed off toward Titan's alley, trouble and greed brewing in their minds.
Twilight was awakened by something sharp slashing her side. She opened her eyes, and BloodClan scent hit her nose.
"Get up!" a black-and-white she-cat hissed. With a shudder, Twilight recognized her as Whip, second-in-command to Titan.
"What did I do?" Twilight whimpered as she stood, though with a sickening feeling she knew what she had done.
"You know what you did, and we know what you did," Whip snarled. "We're taking you to Titan."
Twilight quickly realized that Whip was not alone. Shred, a black tabby tom, and Stab, a black she-cat, were there as well.
Before Twilight could act on her own, Whip sank her teeth into her scruff and dragged her out of her den into the snowy night. Shred and Stab had wolfed down Twilight's two rabbits.
"Destroy her den," Whip growled.
Shred and Stab each gave a nod, and when Twilight let out a cry of protest, Whip struck her. Shred and Stab dragged out the bedding, ripped it apart, and then clawed the inside and out of the trunk.
When the two were done, it looked as if a badger had rampaged inside it, and Twilight had to close her eyes to prevent her from sobbing out loud.
"Follow us," Whip commanded.
Twilight had no choice but to follow the BloodClan cat. Stab and Shred flanked her, and she had to fight herself not to strike the cats who had destroyed her home as she struggled through the deep snow.
They traveled out of the park, across a Thunderpath, and went around two blocks, until they came to the alley where Titan held court. By then they had a procession following them, in which Twilight recognized Dog, Cinder, and Tulip, some of Titan's supporters.
She also recognized Silver, Rust, Trash, Petunia, Cody, and one of her friends named Russet. They all bore frightened and helpless faces, while the three other cats wore looks of supreme earnest.
The cats passed through the heaps of trash on either side of the alley where Arrow, Scratch, and Adder were guarding the gate. They drew aside and nodded to Whip, and then smirked mockingly at Twilight.
Twilight tried to meet their gaze evenly, but failed and looked down in fear. The guards spat at her, then turned back to their post. Twilight happened to look back in time to see Adder spring on Silver, which sent the cats scattering, yowling. The guards let Cinder and Tulip through, but blocked Dog.
Plodding along, Twilight kept her head down in fear. They walked a time, and then entered into the main area of the court, as Twilight suddenly heard sounds of many cats. When she looked up, her heart nearly stopped in jolting horror.
Sky was in the center of the BloodClan cats, her fur matted with blood. BloodClan was laughing at her, jeering at her, throwing trash at her. Sky cowered on the concrete, helpless.
"Sky!" Twilight yowled, running toward her friend. Whip signaled to a gray tom named Fang and he cuffed her on her head, swinging her around and leaving her dazed. Sky cried out in fear.
When Twilight regained her bearings, she saw a dark gray tom with icy blue eyes leap onto a Twoleg couch at the head of the court, his collar of teeth clattering like claws on a Thunderpath.
Titan, Twilight thought, shuddering and crouching lower. With a look to Whip, Titan gave a wordless yowl that silenced all his cats and sent them away from the crouching Sky. Twilight didn't care what happened to herself; she darted forward to her friend. No cat moved.
"It is to my understanding that you two have shared food together," Titan meowed. His voice was shrill, but extraordinarily menacing.
Sky was the first to speak, "Twilight was starving! I had to-"
"Silence, peasant!" Titan snarled. Sky was instantly silent.
"It seems this information that was brought to me is true. Cinder, Tulip, come forward." The two cats, who had been standing beside Whip, padded forward earnestly.
"For a long time now you have desired to join BloodClan. This report has confirmed your loyalty, but you require different names."
Titan raised his head and growled, "Tulip, you shall be called Pierce! Cinder, you shall be called Shroud! Your former selves are dead to you now."
So these were the cats that told Whip about me and Sky! Twilight thought bitterly. All for passage into this rotten Clan!
Titan turned his attention back to his captives, and a malevolent smile played across his mouth. "The penalty for breaking my law is death."
A cheer arose from BloodClan, shouting, "Titan! Titan!"
"No!" Sky shouted over the fray. "Twilight doesn't deserved to be killed. I am guilty, I shared the prey. Kill me, but spare her!"
Twilight stared at Sky in alarm. What was she doing? Titan's smile flickered, and he cocked his head. Whip leapt up beside him and whispered something to him. He nodded, and let out another yowl.
"You, she-cat, are indeed the one who broke the law. I have chosen the cat that will carry out your sentence. She will gain fighter status in BloodClan when it is complete."
Silence instantly surrounded the cats, and one blue-gray she-cat stepped out from the fray, her eyes cold and expressionless.
Sky shrank back from her, a mixture of grief and disbelief in her eyes. Twilight recognized the cat immediately. It was Sky's sister, Moon.
"Moon?" Sky whimpered, creeping backward.
"That is not my name," Moon whispered coldly. "I am Steele."
"How could you do this to your own sister?" Sky asked, each word dragged from her mouth.
"I am of BloodClan. We kill those who disobey us." With no further words, Steele gave a savage snarl and leaped on her sister, claws out. No move did Sky make; she was frozen in pain.
Twilight was horror-stricken; though she stood less than a foot from them, she couldn't move, couldn't even cry out to her friend.
Sky's eyes met Twilight's for the last time. Then Steele sank her teeth into Sky's neck and gave a sharp twist, and Sky sank to the ground, lifeless, the light in her eyes gone.
Twilight found herself grow dizzy with fury, and her paralysis broke. She lashed out to the cat nearest to her, which happened to be Strike. She had shredded an ear before two cats sprang forward and held her down.
"Take her away," Titan commanded. The two dragged Twilight out of the alley and the gate, and threw her onto a sidewalk. Twilight struggled to stand, but flopped down again.
She was frightened when Steele came out after her, but also enraged. She tried to swipe at this traitorous cat who had killed her friend, but was too drained to stand.
Then came a great shock; Steele's blue eyes. They held the tiniest shred of sorrow. She leaned down and whispered into Twilight's ear, "Leave this place."
Steele turned and vanished back into the alley as the black she-cat fell into unconsciousness.