"Keep up, Spottedflight!"

The tortishell warrior stuck her tongue out. "Me?" she asked with mock surprise. "Meringue's the one who's lagging!" Blue merely laughed, flashing Spottedflight a wide grin before facing her alluring gray eyes forward again.

Racing along the thunderpath, Spottedflight felt better than she had in ages. These cats understood her. They liked her. They knew how to have fun and how to live. Running with these cats was running like Spottedflight had never run before. A monster whizzed past, ruffling her fur. The stench was overwhelming for a moment, but then she soared through it and the cool air of the night dawned upon her once more.

"Tyskie, you great oaf!" the she-cat exclaimed as she slammed into a massive golden-brown tom with amber eyes a shade darker than her own. "Why'd you stop?"

He purred in amusement, his eyes twinkling. "I smell a WindClan patrol," he explained. Spottedflight felt the blood drain from her face. They had been on the WindClan side of the border. If they scented her...if they told SkyClan...She gulped.

"Let's beat it," she said quickly.

"Come on, Flight," Leer meowed. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Spottedflight opened her mouth, ready with a retort about having her Clan to worry about, but she quickly closed it again. The Horseplace cats hated to hear about the Clans. She tried to pretend she wasn't part of SkyClan when she was with them. "I just think that toying with a WindClan dusk patrol isn't living up to our potential," she invented calmly, though she noted that her voice sounded a smidge higher than normal.

Leer's deep green eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Oh?" he asked.

She nodded. The other cats began to watch her with mild interest. "What do you think we should do?" Spear asked in his deep, quiet voice. For a moment, Spottedflight had half a mind to slash him across the face, but she repressed the feeling.

"Well," Spottedflight meowed, trying to buy time. These cats hated the Clans. She wanted to please them, but she didn't know how. The dark beast in her belly rose and corrupted her brain. "Maybe we could plan a raid?"

"A raid?" Leer asked. Spear fixed his icy blue eyes on her. She suppressed a shiver, turning away from his gaze and looking to Blue.

"You guys always talk about plans to get the Clans to move," she pointed out. "SkyClan has just made it worse for you."

"We don't have enough cats yet," Blue responded calmly.

"But you have me," the tortishell warrior meowed. "An insider. It was just an idea, though."

Blue nodded. "Not now," she meowed. "Though I admire your spirit, I don't want to get into anything serious for a while. At least, not until we've got a concrete reason to. It's more fun just running wild and free, anyway." The group murmured their support, Spottedflight joining in so she wouldn't look like a mousebrain. "Let's get out of here, those cats are getting closer."

Following Blue, Spottedflight crossed the thunderpath so that they were out of the way of the patrol. She was about to sit down when a heap of golden-brown fur crashed into her, knocking her into the soft grasses.

"What was that for?" she snapped, her voice more harsh than she had anticipated.

"Getting you back for earlier," Tyskie mewed with a grin, undeterred. Spottedflight gave him a reluctant smile, getting to her paws and ramming her shoulder playfully into his. He pretended to fall over in pain and acted out an elaborate death, Spottedflight howling with laughter through the whole thing.

"It's getting light," Pika noted after a long while, grooming her yellow-and-black fur. Spottedflight sighed, watching Tyskie as he got to his paws.

"I don't want to go back," she said quietly. Tyskie gave her a sweet smile of understanding. He padded up to her and she leaned into his side. She was happy here. She liked not having responsibilities. It was easy to run with the group and not think about her life back with SkyClan.

"We all love you, Flight," Tyskie meowed earnestly. "And we understand why you have to go back to them every morning, no matter what Leer and Spear say," he added quietly into her ear. Spottedflight gave a weak chuckle. "See you tonight," Tyskie told her. She nodded.

"See you tonight."

Spottedflight watched as the six cats tore across the thunderpath and slipped under the fence, heading for the barn where they lived. When they were all out of sight, she allowed herself another sigh before she turned and padded over the hill towards the home she detested so much.

Lionfang woke with a start. He lifted his dark golden head, glancing around the half-finished den. He could have sworn that he had heard a rustling of moss, but all the cats around him were sleeping calmly, their flanks rising and falling slowly. Looking up at the sky, the tom figured it would be useless to try and get back to sleep. As quietly as he could, he rose to his paws and padded out of the den.

The weak morning light was beginning to penetrate its way across the deep blue sky. Rays of pinks and yellows brightened the horizon. Lionfang smiled slightly. It looked as though the day promised to be positively lovely.

Tearing his leafy green gaze away from the rising sun, the tom decided he would do a little hunting before the cats began to wake. He trotted towards the new camp entrance, noting that the dawn patrol had already left.

Weaving through the grasses, Lionfang decided he would hunt near the border. He tended to prefer hunting in the small forest that covered part of the hill, but he knew the view of the lake would be spectacular. Following his nose, he caught the distinct scent of rabbit wafting up from the row of trees and hedges along the thunderpath. He set off at a quick pace, hoping to catch it before it wandered across the path.

The moment the rabbit came into sight, however, the warrior was distracted by a new smell. All along the SkyClan side of the thunderpath he could smell loners, cats he'd never met before. His prey forgotten, Lionfang began to investigate. He moved slowly through the grasses and flowers, breathing deeply. Below the scent of wildflowers, he could make out the scents of six cats he had never met before. With those, however, there was one he knew very well.

Spottedflight.