Disclaimer: I only own my characters. Anything else belongs to Erin Hunter.
Chapter 2The gray cat stepped carefully, hoping not to alert her adversary of her presence. Her gold-colored opponent knew she was near, but his back was turned to her. A twig snapped. The gray cat sprang just as the golden one turned. She landed right on him. He raised a paw to push her off just as-
"All right, you two. That's enough."
Twilightkit looked back at her mother. "But Mom!" she protested.
"This was going to be an epic battle!" mewed Sunkit as he pushed his sister off.
Wolfheart had to suppress a purr of laughter as she approached her kits. "Epic or not, it's time for bed."
Sunkit stamped one of his little paws. "You said we could stay up until Dad got back!" Twilightkit gave her mother one of her most pathetic looks.
Wolfheart sighed as she looked up towards the slowly darkening sky. "Fine," she said finally. "You can stay up for a little bit longer. But when the first star comes out, it's off to bed, whether your father is back or not." She watched with a small smile as her kits bounced off, presumably to annoy one of the other Clan members.
"Wild little things, aren't they?" Wolfheart turned to see her own mother, Skysong, approaching. The silvery white she-cat sat down next to her daughter, her tail elegantly curled around her paws.
"How did you ever stand us?" Wolfheart asked with a wry smile.
"Oh, you three were challenging. Still, would you really have them any other way?" Skysong purred as she licked her daughter between her ears.
"I suppose not. I just wish those two would slow down once in a while," Wolfheart replied, nodding at Sunkit and Twilightkit, who were currently annoying Winterstorm.
"And what about little Windkit?" Skysong asked.
Wolfheart glanced at her mother. "The polar opposite of those two. Always polite and well behaved, willing to help whenever she can. But, at the same time, she's a bit…odd."
Skysong laughed. "I suppose oddness runs in the family, eh, wolf-speaker."
Wolfheart considered nipping Skysong on the ear for that one, but kept her composure. "What I mean is that one second, she's perfectly fine, and the next she's in a trance. Whenever that happens, she tries to leave the camp, and she always heads in the same direction, towards the mountains." Wolfheart paused. "I just don't know what to do about her. It worries me so much when the trance happens, and yet I can't help but feel that it is happening for a reason. What could it be, mother?"
Skysong gently pressed herself against her daughter's side. "I do not know, dear one. Only time will tell."
--
"Come on!" begged the little silver-striped kit. "Please tell me a story, Aunt Ivypaw!"
The brown apprentice chuckled to herself. Though she was not biologically related to Wolfheart's kits, not to mention any of the other Clan cats, the kits had still taken to calling her 'Aunt.' "Alright, Windkit. What kind of story do you want?"
Windkit's crystalline blue eyes shone in the darkness of the den. "One about Toffee!" she mewed excitedly.
"Again?! How many stories about her must you hear?"
The kit purred in amusement. "Always one more! Did you guys ever get into any mischief?"
Ivypaw smiled. Though she would never admit it, she did enjoy sharing stories about her old friend. "To be honest, that guinea pig got me trouble more often than us getting into trouble together. And what usually got me into the most trouble was her nose. She could smell things even I couldn't! There was a Two-leg that lived not far from Toffee's home. The Twoleg grew all sorts of food plants in what is called a garden. One day, Toffee claimed to me that she was hungry and the carrots in the Twoleg's garden were ready to be picked. And, of course, she asked me to get her one. I was very young and foolish back then, and I hurried to do as she asked. Just as I started to pull the carrot out of the ground, the door to the Twoleg's nest flew open and the Twoleg hurried out with a broom! Then she…"
A low whistling sound filled the den. Ivypaw paid no mind to it and continued on in her story. But the noise suddenly captured all of Windkit's attention. Wind. The word floated through her mind and then flew away. Windkit's paws began to itch with the urge to move. She got up and walked out of the den, not heeding Ivypaw's worried meows. She walked outside into the reddish light of the setting sun.
Windkit turned towards the camp entrance. Sitting there was a wispy form, as though surrounded by mist. Slowly it solidified itself into the form of a red longhaired tom. His golden eyes bore into Windkit's blue ones. He beckoned to her with his tail. Windkit took a step towards him. Another. And another.
"Windkit!" Her name was nearly screeched into her ear. Windkit snapped her head around to see her mother staring down at her, fury in her eyes, and something else. "What do you think you're doing?"
The whistling died away as the kit answered. "Who is that by the camp entrance?" she asked innocently.
Wolfheart looked up, confused. "There's no one there."
"What-?" Windkit looked back. Just as her mother said, the entrance was empty. The red tom had disappeared. "But, I was certain…someone was there…"
"Stop playing games, Windkit," Wolfheart scolded lightly. "There was no cat there. There isn't even a scent in the air," she added, inhaling deeply as though to prove to her daughter that no stranger had recently visited the camp. Still, her eyes betrayed that she was worried.
Windkit didn't notice this. She was still studying the entrance tunnel. Where had the mysterious cat gone? Why hadn't there been a scent?
Suddenly, some bushes shook outside the camp entrance. Had the mysterious cat returned?