A/N: I LIVE! And I just wanted to say that I've finished reading the first four books in the New Prophecy series, and they're amazing! Birchkit was so cute:)

Anyway…

Chapter 8

It had begun to rain when the patrol returned, and Demonpaw shook water from his fur as Tornadopelt and Dewtail trotted past. He glanced over his shoulder when they went out into the wetness, then bounded inside the apprentice den.

He found Stormpaw and Fogpaw curled as far away from the den entrance as they could get.

"Did you find anything?" Fogpaw asked as he shook himself again.

"Nope." Demonpaw hesitated, then went ahead. "Well, I saw that Shineclan apprentice again."

"Get to say anything this time?" asked Stormpaw, his teeth bared in a grin.

Demonpaw sat next to him. "No – Jaggedheart was ready to claw them to pieces, though."

"I think you two have something in common," Fogpaw mewed, her eyes glittering.

"What?"

"You're both paranoid."

"You're mouse-brained."

His tail flicked her shoulder good-naturedly as Angelpaw shot inside.

"It's raining harder now," she mewed angrily, trying to paw the water out of her ears.

"What's everyone doing?" Fogpaw asked. "We haven't been out since it started."

"Not much." Angelpaw lay next to her on the dark, fuzzy moss bed. "Tornadopelt and Dewtail have gone out hunting, but that's it."

Stormpaw hissed at the idea of more water. "I wouldn't fancy hunting in weather like this."

Demonpaw cuffed him playfully on the ear. ""When we're warriors, it's what we have to do sometimes."

"Not me," Stormpaw insisted grumpily.

"Stormpaw!" Jaggedheart called from their den entrance. "Come out here, Feralclaw wants you to clean the elders' den."

The apprentice's tail thrashed over the moss as he stood up.

"That's a kit's job," he muttered, ignoring the mrrows of laughter from the others.

"Today, Stormpaw," Jaggedheart called again.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," he sighed.

Demonpaw heard him growl something indistinct about the rain once more as he left.

Fogpaw rolled over, stretching out lazily on the moss.

"We might go on a patrol to the Thunderpath tomorrow," she mewed, still pawing the water out of her ears.

Angelpaw shivered. "Do we have to?" she meowed. "I don't even want to think about going there. Those monsters have killed cats before!"

Demonpaw's reaction was the exact opposite of his sister's. His ears perked and his eyes flickered with the prospect of danger.

"Who told you about that?" he asked, his whiskers twitching with anticipation.

Fogpaw shrugged, cocking her head to one side.

"I think it was… Feralclaw and Bladeclaw? I'm not sue, I passed to of the mentors earlier and heard them mention it."

Demonpaw crouched, his muscles coiling in excitement.

"I always wanted to go out there," he mewed, "ever since we were kits."

He curled his tail around his paws to keep himself from leaping into the air, snuggled against Angelpaw's warm fur, and fell asleep to the soft drumming of the rain on their bramble den.