CHAPTER TWO

I thought I was done with adventure when I returned to my world after the whole 'forming-the-Clans' incident.

Obviously not.

It began on a pleasantly warm day in early June.

Ryan and I had been married about three weeks previously, on May 23, so now I was Annie Crimsen instead of Annie Eyre. We were hiking in the Fircrest Mountains for some obscure reason. I had been against this trip from the start, but Ryan insisted, so I finally gave in. He had been awfully mysterious about his reasons for this trip, and I was looking forward to finding out why we were out in the mountains in the first place. I have never been enthusiastic about hiking, and Ryan knew that, so his motivations were lost in obscurity for now.

He had originally wanted to camp for a night or two, but I flatly refused. I hate camping. It's so buggy, and cold, and uncomfortable, and dirty, etc, etc, etc.

Well, for being up in high altitude, it was a nice, warm day. It would be hotter back down on the ground, but for now I was fairly satisfied with the temperature. It was around noon, and I was getting hungry for lunch. Ryan insisted we press on instead of stopping to eat, something I grouchily complained about for half an hour before he let us stop.

"Why couldn't we have eaten before?" I grumbled.

He just smiled at me, a sweet but infuriating smile. "You'll see."

I ground my teeth in frustration. It wasn't that I didn't love my new husband, but he was being awfully aggravating right now!

I was just taking my first bite into the bagel I had prepared earlier when I heard a voice shout, "Annie!"

I turned my head to see a smiling, vaguely familiar young woman who looked to be about my age walking over with a grin. I frowned for a moment, trying to remember where I had seen her. She had tan skin, long, dark hair kept back in a ponytail, and brown eyes. And then I remembered, and broke into a grin of my own.

"Sam!" I cried. Samantha Xavier was my friend from grades five through eight, and had been part of my first adventure in the Warriors Clans. She was the first of my class to become a leader, Wolfstar of ShadowClan. I was second, as Gingerstar of ThunderClan, and although in a ferocious battle over territory we had each taken each other's last life, we bore only a little resentment toward each other about that particular incident.

We had been fast frienemies for four years before we went to different high schools. We (or at least I) had tried to keep in touch, but eventually we just drifted apart. I hadn't seen or heard from her in years.

There was a chuckle behind me. I turned and gave Ryan a friendly glare. "You knew about this all along, didn't you?" I demanded as Sam walked up to us.

"Of course," he grinned. I rolled my eyes in exasperation, but I was no longer irritated.

"Why all the secrecy?" I insisted.

Ryan shrugged, smiling. "We wanted it to be a surprise."

Sam walked up and sat down on the rock next to us. "Well, he wanted it to be a surprise," she said.

"Why the mountains, though?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.

"I like hiking," Sam said with a shrug.

"I don't."

She grinned at me impishly. "I know."

I stuck my tongue out at her, but I didn't really mean it.

"So," I said after a brief pause, "how have you been?"

Sam shrugged carelessly. "Fine, for the most part. I'm off to college in August."

"Good for you," I said with approval. "I might sometime soon, too, but I don't really have many long-term plans right now other than marriage."

Sam laughed. "Oh, right, you got married," she said.

I rolled my eyes. "No, really. I assume, since you arranged this with Ryan, that you know him?"

"Sort of," she shrugged. "He just said that he thought it would be good if we got together for an afternoon since he knew that we were old friends." She paused, shooting a glance at the watching Ryan, before lowering her voice and murmuring, "I'm surprised you settled with someone other than Lionblaze, honestly."

I laughed loudly, to her surprise. "Really, Sam? Did you not read Dawn of the Clans?"

"What, that Warriors series? You know that I was never really into that."

"Not even after what happened to us in sixth grade?"

Sam blinked, surprised, and shot a quick look at Ryan. "Does he know about this?" she hissed.

I laughed again. "Of course. Wolfstar, 'he' is Lionblaze."

Her expression was so amusing as it dawned on her that even Ryan, who didn't find much in the human world very amusing, laughed.

We chatted for a while, inquiring about each other's state of health and catching up on the years we had been apart. It was very nice, and I made a mental note to thank Ryan for this later. I wouldn't do it to Sam's face, though—I wouldn't like her to know how much I truly enjoyed this meeting. It was a matter of principle, and while we didn't really hate each other, we sure made it seem like that.

It was nice to act like a child for a while, too, I will admit. Many an inside joke was unearthed in our conversation.

After Ryan, Sam and I finished our lunches, I was outvoted two to one in my efforts to discontinue the hike. Grumbling good-naturedly, I followed after my husband and old friend up the mountain.

After an hour or so, we reached a waterfall in the mountainside. While I was still unhappy about this whole trip, I had begun to enjoy it and even suggested that we hike closer to it. Sam and Ryan agreed, and we made our way up to it.

Upon closer inspection, we found that there was a cave behind the waterfall. While I thought that this sort of thing should be off limits to tourists, there was nothing blocking off the cave entrance. The adventurous Sam immediately, without consulting me or Ryan, ducked under the water behind the waterfall to explore the cave beyond.

I almost called out, "Sam, wait!" but then I realized that doing so would be futile. She was already gone.

I exchanged a glance with Ryan, and we followed her.