Chapter 7

The streets were dark. Broken glass and plastic laid strewn all over. Most of the human dens here were empty. They were nowhere close to the bright and busy regions of this City, but music found a way to drift even here. Stars glimmered in an inky sky. Their light was tiny next to the full moon's aura. The air was cooler than it had been, and a fresh scent trickled with the breeze.

It occurred to Vinepaw halfway to their destination that this was a terrible idea. She was alone, inexperienced, and following strange cats to a gathering of more strange cats. Of course, by the time she realized it, she stood no chance of finding her way back to the Clan.

Looked like she was diving in head first, sink or swim. Once the initial terror passed, she started to find the idea exciting. It wasn't as though the Clan was missing her too badly. They were probably getting on with their journey without her. Meanwhile, Vinepaw was getting to glimpse a world beyond the Clan and its bubble.

Tripwire led the way with a tortoiseshell named Piper close behind. Vinepaw followed after while Dart trailed along behind them. Their sister, Pixie, hadn't shown up at their usual meeting spot. They'd concluded that she must've gone on ahead.

"That, or she's staying home tonight and watching her human mess around with that pixel machine," Piper had said.

They ducked into a tunnel of dead brambles and crawled their way through. The felines emerged into a forgotten piece of land lined with rust and vines, and Vinepaw felt her fur stand up. She'd never seen anything quite like this.

Life as a kit was small. She'd thought she understood that when she became an apprentice and went out on her first hunting trip. Her world had been confined to the nursery, then to tiny patches of wherever the Clan was settling for the day. Becoming a 'paw meant throwing herself into service of the Clan. It was all kits dreamed of, earning their warrior name.

But the Clan was not all there was. Everything outside it wasn't out to get them. No, the world was bigger than the Clan, and it was home to countless other cats. Cats who lived apart but put their differences aside to enjoy a night of merriment.

There was a group tossing trash into an old tire, celebrating when their aim was true. A white tom was bumbling around with his eyes closed, trying to catch his friends as they fled. A mother rolled a ball across a patch of bare ground, her kits not much younger than Vinepaw, mewling with glee. Prey scent and leftovers drowned her nose. Cats were talking and laughing and sharing tongues.

And there were so many of them!

"Wha'cha think?"

"I… I didn't think it was possible to bring so many cats together. And without any fights or anything…"

Dart chuckled. "Eh, well. We do see some fur fly every now and then, but yeah, it's pretty chill in these parts."

"I'm going to see if I can find Pixie," said Piper as she wandered off.

"Dina! Ayo, wait for me!" Dart called and chased after someone.

"I don't think we'll have any Clan trouble tonight," said Tripwire, "but if you catch a sign of them, come get me."

"I-wh-where… What do I do?" she asked.

Tripwire shrugged. "Have fun."

Vinepaw found herself deserted faster than she could blink. She silently scolded herself for thinking she could cling to Tripwire the whole time. Not only was it unbecoming of a warrior apprentice, but it was also just a bad plan, plain and simple.

She took a moment to compose herself. She was fine, she told herself. No one here wanted to hurt her. No one wanted to yell at her. This was a fun night. Everyone was having a nice time. She hadn't wanted to go back to the Clan, and so she wasn't going to just yet. She was going to enjoy herself.

A short, brown-furred molly was sat before a wooden post in the ground. It was half-rotted and looked ready to fall at any second, but it stood just fine for the time being. A can was perched atop it. The brown she-cat's claws were hooked on a scrap of cloth, and she stared through narrowed eyes at her target.

She flicked her paw and the cloth flew upward. It grazed the can just enough to knock it down. The little crowd surrounding her cheered and she offered up her best "finds" for a week to anyone who could get more than three scores in a row.

She turned suddenly to Vinepaw and parted her jaws to take in her scent. "Well now. Don't think I've seen you around before. You with the out-of-towners?"

"You smell like 'em," remarked a tuxedo tom as he leaned toward her.

"I'm… visiting."

The crowd erupted into a cacophony of chatter:

"Aw, she's so nervous. How sweet!"

"That's not an answer."

"So, yes?"

"Are you with them or not?"

"Don't pressure her; it's rude."

"A bit young to be out on her own."

Vinepaw did her best to ignore their prying stares. "I came here with Tripwire and her littermates. They're looking for Pixie, too, since she didn't come with us."

"She ain't with you guys? That's weird; she usually joins us for Gatherings. Complains the whole time about how "boring" they are, but she shows up nonetheless."

"Her mind's all rotted from staring at the pixel machines. Maybe she forgot how to find us and got lost," said a gray tom with a chuckle.

"One little absence ain't nothing to worry about," said the brown she-cat with a dismissive tail flick. "Anyways, I'm Vein. You gotta name, kitten?

"Not a kitten… I'm Vi-"

Her mind flashed to her previous conversation with Tripwire about cats naming themselves as they pleased. She was a Clan cat through and through, and she wanted nothing more than a warrior name chosen by its leader, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to pretend for just a little while. The last thing she needed right now was to dwell on the Clan and all the struggles within it.

Would Snowstripe approve?

"Vine."

"Vine?"

"Vine and Vein. Well, you gotta adopt her now; it's too cute a combo not to."

Vein rolled her eyes. She gestured to the golden she-cat and said, "Maisy. Tuxedo tom-cat's Archie, That scrawny scrap o' gray over there's Razor."

The silver she-cat with pretty blue eyes crept forward and introduced herself as Kiki. The mangled molly with black fur and copper eyes grunted and said to call her Switchblade. A curious blue-gray tom about Vinepaw's age told her his name was Virgil.

Vinepaw eased herself into conversation with them and found that these City cats were simpler to talk to than warriors or other apprentices. There were no ranks to separate them. There was no haughtiness about her lack of experience. She could simply talk, and it felt strange. She had no frame of reference, but an inkling that she was finally able to have normal conversations again for the first time in a while.

Vinepaw, Vein, and Virgil drifted from one activity to the next. She played a few of their games along the way. This empty lot of land wasn't huge, but it certainly started to feel like it was from the amount of entertainment the strangers managed to cram in. Vinepaw even won a bug catching game; the prize was the juiciest chicken leg she'd ever tasted. Her stomach full to bursting, she gave it to Virgil to finish. Even as the night wore on it seemed frozen in its beginning. Cats were still trickling in through the thorn tunnel at moonhigh. In fact, that was when some of the more peculiar faces appeared…

Vinepaw had thought Whiteroad a liar for those stories of hairless cats until she saw Moth and Beetle duck beneath the brambles and bicker on their way inside. Their skin was pale pink with blotches of a grayish black. Their ears looked too big for their skulls.

Dart, Dina, and Vein's brothers, Banshee and Wyvern ran to greet a slender tom with fine curly hair and missing toes. They started chattering immediately about the Hunt. Vinepaw knew it was rude to stare. She couldn't wrench her eyes away though, not until more cats came to join the Gathering.

A tabby with odd, mottled stripes slithered in and turned back to glare at the she-cat coming in after. Emerged a cream and white feline with thick fur and splashes of dark brown all about. She was wearing red bows with little golden bells on them, her twisted whiskers giving her an unhinged look most unfitting for the high society treatment her humans gave her. She also walked with a gait like she was hunting, a notable crouch with swift movements.

And even more still filed in one by one. Vinepaw's head was abuzz, like there were bees in her brain. To just fit this many cats in one spot was an impressive feat. To have them all come together with not a hint of trouble in the air? She could hardly believe it was happening. Her ears tingled from all the voices. Her nose didn't have enough room for all these new scents, to the point she felt like she was choking.

She didn't realize that anyone was leading her anywhere until she looked up to see Tripwire. They sat right up against the dry tangle of weeds and chain link. Vinepaw leaned on her shoulder until her senses could adjust.

"Are you ill?"

"No. I'm okay now." She watched Tripwire watch the thorn tunnel. "Is Pixie still not here?"

"Doesn't look like she's coming tonight. Her human probably forgot to let her out." An ear pivoted toward a group huddled around a skeletal elder with snow-white fur and cloudy eyes. "Ah. Frostflare made it."

"Frostflare?" It didn't sound like a human word to Vinepaw. It sounded like…

"You can go to them if you like. She tells a lot of wild stories. I think she's gone batty from old age, but-"

Vinepaw was already halfway there. Maybe it was nothing. In fact, it probably was. Her mind was alight with curiosity though, and oh how she'd missed that feeling. She didn't even register that it was rude to leave an older cat in the middle of their sentence until she'd gotten to the outer circle of the crowd.

And when it did hit her, her ears started ringing. This was why she should've been the one to die in the jaws of that dog. Thunderkit never would have done anything so disrespectful. And respect was everything to a Clan cat.

"I-" she blurted out when Tripwire appeared behind her, "I didn't mean-I just… I'm sorry. That was-"

"Shush or you'll miss it."

Vinepaw licked her pelt and tried to settle her nerves. Rubyheart and Steelclaw and Lizardtail weren't here. No one was berating her for the mistake. Tripwire didn't even seem to care. She could apologize later, when she could get her head on straight and organize her thoughts into something coherent. She channeled her energy into listening and let the rest of the world melt away for now.

She could be Vinepaw later. Tonight, she was just Vine.