Slashpaw shivered and opened his eyes. The barn was silent, except for a few quiet cow snorts and the sound of cattle shifting. Ice was gone, and Doom was still asleep.

Judging by the streams of light that were coming in from chinks in the barn walls, it was very early morning. With a yawn, Slashpaw got to his paws and stretched, leaping lightly out of the box of hay. He slowly padded toward the barn door. The apprentice poked his head out into the frigid air and gasped in shock.

Something white – it looked like pieces of cloud – was floating down from the sky! One landed on his nose: It was cold, and after a moment it melted, leaving a small puddle of water on his snout. Slashpaw shook his head, scattering the drops of water. He looked across the field, registering that a dusting of the white stuff was coating the ground. Confused, he pulled his head back into the barn and ran back to where Doom was sleeping. After jumping into the hay, he prodded his father with a forepaw.

"Doom," he said. "Doom, wake up!"

The older cat growled softly and opened his eyes. "Slashpaw? What's wrong? Where's Ice?"

"I don't know," Slashpaw said. "But there's something strange outside. Come and see!"

With a grunt, Doom pulled himself to his paws and followed his excited son to the door. "Look!" Slashpaw said. Doom stuck his head out the gap.

With a sigh, Doom pulled his head back inside the barn. "It's snow," he said bitterly.

"What's snow?"

"It only falls in the winter – er, the season you call leafbare. And I've seen far too much of it in my lifetime," he added bitterly.

Slashpaw's ear swivelled to the left. Something was scurrying through the straw nearby. Almost without thinking, Slashpaw began to stalk it. He scented the mouse over the tang of cow droppings and the sweet smell of hay.

There it was: The rodent was nibbling on a seed only a few tail-lengths away. He crouched down on his haunches, ready to spring. Nearby, a cow shifted and snorted, startling the mouse. It scampered away across the straw. With a short hiss, Slashpaw launched himself after it, claws outstretched. Yowling in triumph, he pinned it to the floor and killed it.

"Well done, Slashpaw," Doom said as the young cat returned with the scrap of fur in his jaws. Slashpaw paused to bask in his father's praise before the two quickly devoured the mouse.

"Now what, Slashpaw?" Doom asked after a while.

"What do you mean?" asked the gray apprentice.

"We can't live in the forest," Doom said. "Fang and Vorix and the others might let us be if we're friends with Ice, but they made it sound as if there were many, many wolves that live there. I'm not willing to bet that they would be so willing to let us go."

Slashpaw's heart sank. He had come to the same conclusion, but it still was disappointing to hear that they could not live among pine trees.

"So where are we going to live?" asked Slashpaw.

Doom gave a great sigh. "I don't know, Slashpaw. I don't know." The father and son sat in silence for a long while, both busy with their own thoughts.

The sun had risen over the horizon when Doom finally stood up. "Well," he said, "sitting around here won't do us much good. Let's go explore the farm. Maybe we can find Ice or some other cat and see if they know of a place we can live." Slashpaw got to his paws and followed the other cat out of the warm barn.

The cold wind bit into his pelt. It had grown thicker as the moons had grown colder, but it was no match for the fierce leafbare air. The two trotted along, then clambered over the fence that encircled the barn they had slept in. They passed a Twoleg den, and then a building that smelled of rabbits. Doom showed signs of wanting to get inside and hunt the rabbits, but Slashpaw reminded him of Ice's words. Reluctantly, Doom lead on.

The cold from the snow on the ground sank into Slashpaw's paws, making him feel awkward and clumsy. The pair skirted another fenced-off area.

"What's that smell?" asked Slashpaw.

Doom scented the air. "Horses," he replied.

"What are horses?"

"They're a bit similar to cows," Doom said. "They've got the same huge hooves, but they're a bit slimmer and more graceful. Their tails are made entirely of long hair, and they've got long hair growing off of their necks, too. Twolegs ride on their backs sometimes."

Slashpaw tried to picture this strange-sounding creature in his head, but couldn't.

Up ahead, there was a wooden building. It was a bit smaller than the barns where the horses and cows lived. Doom scented the air.

"There's a cat in there," he said. "And animals called goats." Slashpaw decided not to ask what a goat was.

As the two toms approached, the cat Doom had scented slipped out of the barn, yawning and stretching. He didn't notice them until they were only a few rabbit hops away, and then he spun around, claws out, fur fluffed up. He was a scrawny, dark gray tabby tom with thick black stripes, and he was very lanky, with long legs and a whippy tail.

"YOU!" The tom was staring at Doom, teeth bared. "I told you to stay away from here!"

"Excuse me?" asked Doom, who seemed a bit taken aback.

"You heard me!" the tabby growled. "You caused enough trouble the last time you were here!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Doom soothingly after exchanging glances with Slashpaw. "I assure you we have never met."

"But..." the other tom looked confused. His fur was starting to lie flat again. "...but you're Blood, aren't you...?"

Whatever Doom had expected, it was not this. "Blood?" he asked, eyes wide. "Did you say Blood?"

"Er, yes," said the tom. "Yes, I did. You look just like him, you know."

Slashpaw's father turned to face him, his fur sticking up. "Slashpaw, we have to go."

"What? But I thought –"

"We have to leave," Doom repeated. "We're going back to the Twolegplace." The black loner immediately began walking east, toward the hill upon which sat the dirt Thunderpath. Slashpaw followed with out a word. Doom seemed really freaked out, and it was a bit disconcerting for Slashpaw.

They were almost to the top of the hill when they heard a shout behind them.

"Hey!"

Slashpaw turned to see a familiar cat racing up the hill behind them.

"Ice!" exclaimed Slashpaw. The she-cat raced up the hill after them.

Doom stopped his ascent rather hesitantly. He still seemed very tense. "Ice," he said, "I would like to thank you for your hospitality, and for saving my life and my son's from the wolves. But we really haven't the time to chat right now. We're in a hurry."

"That won't be a problem," said Ice cheerfully, "because I'm coming with you."

Slashpaw awoke first the following morning. He yawned and sat up to begin grooming himself. The trio had crawled under a leafy bush in a Twoleg garden when they had arrived, exhausted, at the Twolegplace late last night. Slashpaw looked at Ice, who, even after many, many objections by Doom and Slashpaw, had insisted on traveling with them. Her breathing was slow and steady: She was fast asleep.

The young gray cat pushed through the leaves of the bush and into the chilly air. Yesterday, the sun had come out of the clouds around midday, melting away most of the snow. But it had snowed again during the night, covering everything with a thin layer of white. Slashpaw padded across the snow, scenting the air. Maybe he could catch breakfast before the other two awoke.

On the other end of the Twoleg garden, Slashpaw heard a rustling noise in a bush. He moved closer to investigate, and discorvered an injured robin struggling among the leaves. Its wing was bent at an odd angle, broken. The bird was unable to fly, and Slashpaw caught it easily. The apprentice quickly dispatched the robin, putting it out of its pain.

After scraping a mound of snow and earth over his catch, Slashpaw scaled the fence and dropped down into the next garden. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a squirrel dart up a nearby tree. Slashpaw raced over and shot up the trunk, digging his claws into the bark. The tree was young and therefore small, so Slashpaw had no trouble locating the squirrel among its branches. He climbed up farther and cornered the squirrel. It was on the end of a branch with nowhere to run. The apprentice carefully inched across the branch. When he was very close, the squirrel, panicking, tried to leap off the branch onto the ground below. Slashpaw was quick enough to hook it on his claws and drag it toward him, killing it swiftly. He grasped the hairy prey in his mouth and carefully climbed down the tree. Halfway down, the fluffy fur tickled his nose, making him sneeze and causing him to nearly drop his prize.

He returned to the garden where Doom and Ice were and trotted back to their bush after collecting his robin. Ice was awake and grooming herself when he pushed his head through the leafy barrier that separated their nests from the outside.

"I've got prey," he said after setting down his catches.

"I see that," said Ice.

Doom stirred at the sound of their voices. He blinked his ruby-colored eyes. "Is it morning already?" he growled. Slashpaw felt heartened. He had been a bit worried about his father since the encounter with the cat at the goat barn, but right now he seemed like the same old Doom.

The three of them split the prey and, after finishing it, crawled out from under the bush.

"Come on," said Doom, suddenly looking tense. He started toward the fence that separated the garden from the rest of the Twolegplace.

"Where are we going?" asked Ice. Doom didn't answer her. The dark tom clawed his way up the fence, followed gracefully by Ice. Slashpaw was the last to haul himself onto the top. Doom scanned the Thunderpaths, Twoleg dens, gardens, and fences that surrounded them. After a moment, he slid down onto the pavement. Ice and Slashpaw followed. After checking for monsters that Doom called cars, the trio dashed across the Thunderpath and onto the car-free stretch of pavement that ran along both sides of the Thunderpath. The last time Slashpaw and Doom were here, Doom had explained to Slashpaw that these were called "sidewalks", on which Twolegs traveled. Doom walked on, and Slashpaw followed. He had no idea where they were headed, so he just followed his father obediently. The three cats turned and climbed fences and crossed Thunderpaths and turned and climbed some more.

"Hey!"

Doom paused and looked across the Thunderpath. On the other side was a fat black kittypet, laying on top of a fence.

"Slash?" called the kittypet. "Is that you?"

"Come on," muttered Doom, waving his tail at the younger cats. After glancing in both directions, Doom rushed across the hard black pavement, Slashpaw hard on his heels. They walked up to the kittypet's fence.

"Hello, Whiskers," said Doom to the kittypet.

"Who's this?" Slashpaw asked quietly.

"Whiskers, this is my son Slashpaw and our friend Ice," said Doom. "Slashpaw, I'd like you to meet my father."