"Wow! Do you think she's dead?"
"I don't know, Goatpaw. Maybe she's just sleeping."
"I'm telling you she's dead, Frecklepaw. Can we eat another cat?"
"Can't be as tasty as frogs. Lemme poke her just to be sure."
Sharp claws dug into Icepaw's tail, jerking her awake to hiss at the owners of the voices. Identical gray tabby toms stepped back when she moved.
"You aren't dead after all," The tom on her left had a nick in his left ear. "I was wrong."
"Told you so," The right one purred. "You smell of WindClan, kit. Did you get separated from your mother? I remember when Goatpaw and I snuck outta camp once."
"I'm an apprentice," Icepaw retorted. "Or I was. But I guess I'm a rouge now. I don't even remember how I got out of that river."
"You were in the river?" Goatpaw tilted his head. "Then you somehow found your way into ShadowClan territory."
"Must be amnesia," The other tom frowned. "Do you remember your name? I'm Frecklepaw."
"I'm Icepaw. And I should be on my way."
"Hold it!" An unexpected shout made her jump as four cats emerged from the trees, one of them being the pretty ginger apprentice from the Gathering. They must be a patrol.
The more handsome of the two toms had long white fur and eyes a deeper shade of green than the two tabby apprentices. He stepped up to her and asked, "How did you end up here?"
"I don't know," Icepaw admitted with her gaze at her paws. "I was thrown into the river and woke up here. Please don't kill me."
"Kill you?" The second tom was a bigger gray tabby, but his amber eyes were gentle. "We'd never kill a kit. We can take you back home so your Clan won't worry."
"I'm no longer a WindClan cat," Icepaw huffed.
"What do you plan to do?" The ginger apprentice asked. "Kits can't survive alone. Webwillow here can take you back."
"I can survive alone. Besides, WindClan exiled me after my apprenticeship started."
"Have you been an apprentice long?" The white tom asked.
"Half a moon," She confessed, not telling them that most of that time was spent in the medicine cat den.
"Softfur, why don't we take her back to Hollystar?" The last warrior, a light brown she-cat with green eyes requested.
"Good idea, Fawnstep," Softfur purred. "Why don't you two take Blazepaw and the twins and go hunting? Maybe this time they will find actual prey.
"Yes, Softfur," Webwillow nodded at Icepaw. "See you later, um?"
"Icepaw," She found herself staring at Blazepaw. She was watching Icepaw with curiosity before the rest of the patrol left her alone with the silky furred tom.
"No need to look so worried," He nudged her lightly. She kept herself close to him as they padded through the marshy land under her. The trees surrounding her and blocking out the sky should have made her feel suffocated. But she felt oddly safe. It could have been because she was away from Swanpaw and Marshleaf. What was going to happen to her now? Was ShadowClan going to kick her out like WindClan had? Would they kill her?
When they made it to the entrance, an abundance of strange scents spiked her fear.
"It'll be alright," Softfur placed his tail on her shoulder. "I'm right behind you the whole time."
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she crawled through the thorns and entered the ShadowClan camp. Cats were everywhere, all of them turning to see their visitor.
A black she-cat made her way over to them, a white tom and ginger she-cat following her. Icepaw noted the confident way the dark she-cat protruded and realized that it was the ShadowClan leader, Hollystar, herself. Her amber eyes were mysterious as they judged Icepaw.
"Who is this, Softfur?"
"Goatpaw and Frecklepaw found young Icepaw here asleep on the ground. She claims that she was now living as a rouge."
"Look at the state of her!" The white tom's yellow eyes were huge. "There's no way she won't starve to death out there all alone."
"What do you suggest, Hollystar?" The ginger she-cat's blue gaze was soft as she sniffed at Icepaw's wounds. "Her wounds aren't infected but she is way under weight."
"Cherrystem, she'll stay in your den until I figure out what to do with her."
More time in a medicine cat den? Icepaw would have complained, but she felt herself tire out just on the way there. The other cats were still watching her, curiosity and pity on their faces. She felt her ears warm up as she felt them watch her follow Cherrystem. She felt a bit better as the lofty scent of herbs filled her nose. Cherrystem's den smelled sweeter than Marshleaf's had.
A sleek white she-cat with amber eyes was sorting herbs while humming. She looked up to greet her. "Hello. Can I help you?"
"I'm taking care of Icepaw here until she's better. Icepaw, this is my apprentice, Fallensnow."
"Hi Fallensnow," Icepaw felt no resentment from the medicine cat apprentice and felt a bit of relief.
Being in ShadowClan's medicine cat den for a quarter moon had improved Icepaw's mood intensely. She had tried not to care for any of them, but the cats she met so far had been friendly. Goatpaw, Blazepaw, and Frecklepaw hunted for her and had permission to eat in the medicine cat den by Cherrystem as long as they didn't mess up her den. Tangleflower, the white tom who had been with Hollystar on the day she arrived, and the leader herself occasionally visited her to see how her progress was doing. She was still thin, but her appetite had returned and she was eating a lot more. She felt bad about eating their fresh-kill, but no cat had been concerned about it.
"It's Greenleaf," Blazepaw had reminded her. "We've gotten enough to share. There's a lot of frogs."
So when Cherrystem released her one evening, she met with Hollystar in her den. The ShadowClan leader had been intimidating when Icepaw first saw her. She was much more nicer than she had thought.
"Have you been adjusting well?" The black she-cat asked. "I know you must have been through a lot."
"I'm feeling better than I have in days."
"Good. Now for why you are here," Hollystar's face grew serious. "I know you don't want to go back to WindClan, but I'm not going to pressure you to tell me why."
"Thank you," Icepaw sighed. "So why did you want to see me."
"For a request," Hollystar replied. "How would you like to join ShadowClan as one of our apprentices?"
"Really?"
"If you'd want to, of course. It'd be much easier than living on your own. You'd have friends here."
"Yes!" Icepaw bounced on her paws for a moment before remembering that she was before a leader. "I mean, please make me a ShadowClan cat."
"Good. Now please rest in your new den and get some sleep. I'll announce your new mentor in the morning," She placed her nose on Icepaw's forehead before stepping back.
Icepaw's pawsteps were light as she padded over to her new den, the ShadowClan warriors sharing tongues and gossiping throughout the camp. Softfur, Webwillow, and Fawnstep gave her a nod as their apprentices raced up to her.
"What did Hollystar want?" Frecklepaw asked. "Are you in trouble?"
"You don't seem upset," Goatpaw observed.
"Nothing like that," Icepaw beamed. "From this moment on, I'm a ShadowClan cat."
"Wow!" Blazepaw purred. "That's great. More cats for us."
"And one less WindClan warrior," Goatpaw pushed her towards the den. Inside were two other apprentices, a small gray she-cat and a black tom with a white-tipped tail and the palest blue eyes she had ever seen.
The gray she-cat gave Icepaw a look of disgust, "Well now, it's our newest kit. You might have been accepted by Hollystar, but keep on your side of the den. Silentpaw and I don't want to smell your gross WindClan scent!"
"That lovely apprentice is Tinypaw," Goatpaw rolled his eyes at the she-cat. "And the poor tom stuck with her is Silentpaw."
"He doesn't speak," Frecklepaw chimed in.
"Why not?" Icepaw tilted her head, making Tinypaw snarl.
"None of your business, Windpaw!" The she-cat's golden eyes were burning.
"You can have the nest next to mine," Blazepaw stepped between them to block Icepaw from the other apprentice. "Just ignore Tinypaw. She'll see your potential eventually. She takes time to warm up to you, you'll see."
"Thanks, Blazepaw," Icepaw gave Tinypaw a glare back, reminding her of Swanpaw all too well. But she had friends now. The thing with Swanpaw was in the past and she wouldn't bump into her again any time soon.