"Faster!" Knottedstar yowls.

I swipe the tree trunk again, eyes narrowed and claws unsheathed. A barrage of small wooden shards is severed from the tree, many of them hitting my pelt like hail.

"Again!"

I swipe it again indignantly. I haven't even made a dent in the trunk, but more splinters of bark fly off before my small claws, giving me a sense of accomplishment. I breathe out, turning around. "Was that better?"

Knottedstar nods. "Your reaction time is getting a lot better. Now, we need to work on that temper of yours."

"I don't have a temper!" I snap.

Knottedstar looks down at me and says quietly, "Yes, yes, which is why you just snapped at me."

I open my mouth and then shut it. I hiss a little under my breath, eyes darting away to stare at the tree. My ears lower to my head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Knottedstar."

"It's not me you should be saying sorry to, anyways." Knottedstar says quietly. Her eyes flick away, subtly gazing at my brother before returning her focus to me.

My hackles stand straight up. "I... but he..."

"We'll return to this later. You're dismissed for the day." Knottedstar walks away to a group of warriors who had been watching us with dubious expressions for a while. I breathe a long sigh of relief. I'm still in no mood to apologize to my brother, especially because I haven't done anything.

We've just drifted apart, and anyone without fluff in their brain can tell he was the first to break away. I watch him talking to Sunpaw and Jadekit and I feel something welling up deep within me, something like sadness but bitterer, harder on the tongue... envy.

"There you are." Novakit purrs, bounding over to me. My head snaps around to see three cats running my way by his side, including Crowkit and the solemn Goldkit, as well as Nettlekit, who still looks like he hasn't been groomed since Shadowstar died.

Warmth shoots up my spine and I feel a purr escape me as Novakit's head finds my own, his fur brushing my whiskers and then my cheeks. "Nice to see you, gold eyes."

"Nice to see you too, intergalactic hairball." I say happily.

"Thank StarClan you're done. We thought that would never be over," complains Nettlekit.

Goldenkit and Crowkit exchange looks but say nothing. Goldenkit is now Goldendapple, a warrior of DarkClan, and she and Crowsong are both very shy and very quiet. They're a stark contrast to the loud, strong deputy and leader who are only silent by each other's sides, when they need not speak.

I swoon over the image for a second before Nettlekit feels the need to open his mouth again. "Between Knottedstar's special training and you mooning over your brother, it's a wonder you have any time to spend with us at all."

"I don't moon over him! He's my brother! That's gross!" I snap, pouncing on Nettlekit in indignation.

"Yeah, Nettlekit!" Crowkit says, suddenly bold. She jumps on top of him and me, consequently, and within seconds there's a huge pile of kits where Nettlekit used to be. We writhe around, trying to get on top of each other and gasping for air, but I'm stuck by my tail and Nettlekit is stuck by his everything.

Nettlekit screeches for mercy: "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" and miraculously, someone finds it in their heart to let him up. The DarkClan cats sit facing each other, all of us unsure of what to do next, and Novakit nudges me forwards.

"What? What do you want?" I ask, still breathing heavily from the kit pile.

"You have to show us your warrior skills." whispers Goldenkit, gesturing for me to demonstrate.

I light up like a firefly immediately, nodding to them to follow as I dash to a nearby tree. I unsheathe my claws and jump back, then slash forwards in the way Knottedstar showed me, placing more power into my swipe and slicing straight down.

Bark flies everywhere once again, and I light up, tail flicking happily.

Warriors watch from a distance, all of them enjoying a quick midday break. I recognize Snowpelt and my mother, Scarletsky, who watch approvingly.

One by one, I guide my clanmate's claws into the tree bark, treating it as if it were a spiteful enemy. They all exchange bright purrs and exclaim loudly as they get it, feeling the power of each strike even though we're only slicing bark.

I look at Novakit, and he looks back, and we nod.

He turns grimly to the other three cats, who notice his sudden change in disposition and stop practicing. "I have bad news." he says. "The clan has been corrupted by evil badgers who have taken all of our clanmates' forms and the only way to get them back is to send the badgers back to where they came from."
All of us fall silent, waiting for the order. We understand perfectly what has to be done.

Crowkit's eyes are alight with silent excitement. Goldenkit nods. Thistlekit unsheathes his thorn-sharp claws. I nudge Novakit. "Whatever it takes, my love." I say dramatically.

"DarkClan, attack!" Novakit yells, and we're off through the clan, attacking tails and bushes, twigs and leaves. Warriors gasp in shock and amusement as we show off our battle skills. One by one, they file out, remarking on how strong we are, how smart we are, how much they'd love to take us on patrol with skills like that.

Then we're alone again, but we're not really alone anymore. The clan is closer than ever and we have talent, skill, and pride to spare. We clean up everyone's nest in the bush and rim each one with feathers, then we climb to the top of the bush and try to make it so all five of us can balance at once, then we practice our amazing reflexes by playing mossball.

It's far past sunset when Scarletsky bends down to tell us all that the sun is sleeping and so must we, but I find myself cold tucked against her side. I sleep on the outside, as usual, because it's really stuffy on the inside now that all of the kits just have one queen, but there are other reasons I don't want to be here.

My claws twitch. I need to be practicing.

No one will miss me for just a few seconds, will they?

Seeing no one else is awake, I leave the den and tumble out into the camp. My tree still waits, still scarred from today's encounter with my claws.

I'm about to get started on practice when I hear whispering.

"We better not get caught."

"No one will be looking for two kits in the tunnels! It'll be our secret!"
"Why do you want to go down there anyways?"

"You can hear the symphony if you can hear souls. It's a special place. You know, for both of us."

I turn around. "You won't be hearing anything but scolding from one of your elders after this one!"

"She shouldn't be up this late. Why is she up this late?" hisses Jadekit, recoiling.

"Rushkit, please let us through..." Sparrowkit pleads quietly.

"Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. I'm doing this." Jadekit says, sauntering right up to me so she's in my face. "Why are you out here, fish-brain?"

"Jadekit." My brother begs.

I stand still, hackles raised, unmoving.

"You must be really desperate to be 'special' if you think that sitting out here clawing at a tree will help you." she continues.
"Jadekit."

"You... you want to own your brother! You're jealous of him being loved by anyone else because Novakit and you have a horrible relationship!" She screeches at me, panic in her eyes.
"I don't have to sneak out to prove mine!" I yell back, my voice high and shrill.

"Jadekit, why do you hate her so much?" Sparrowkit asks. "You keep asking about her but you won't tell me why..."

She's whining now, a high pitched sound as she steps backwards from me. "She's a monster, she's going to kill me again, she's going to kill us all-"

"Again?" Sparrowkit reels.

"Again." I confirm.

He looks at Jade closely. The green eyes, the black fur, the snappy voice and the familiar long fur, and I can tell he's angling his ears forward to 'hear' her.

"Shadowstar, is that-"

Jade's eyes widen. "I... what? No! What are you talking about?"
"You sound like her."

"I have no idea what you're saying." she whines.

There are footsteps on the horizon. I hear commotion in the warrior's den. "What in StarClan..." It's Snowpelt. Just another warrior coming to check on us. Fear rises in my throat and my eyes dart around, looking for an escape.

"What's going on?"

Jadekit looks into our eyes and then whispers, "Demon kits. Both of you. You- you have no idea what you're capable of. How dangerous you are. You ruined this. You ruined everything!"

I look at Sparrowkit, terrified. "She's a reincarnation?"

Sparrowkit backs away from me too. "I knew I knew her from somewhere, but I assumed we were meant for each other, but she's- and she remembered everything, this can't be-"
He stutters many things I don't know or recognize, but I can feel the golden eyed monster within me staring out at Jadekit and both of us are locked in the same emotion, pure and irrational fear.

I stare at an abomination, and she stares at a monster, and then she's gone, running out into the forest at a speed no kit could handle.

Snowpelt is accompanied by three other warriors. I recognize Carbonfrost, my father, looking stern and disappointed.
"What's going on?" asks someone quietly.

"Go after that kit!" yells another.

"She's heading for the tunnels! Get Cinderblaze!"

Scarletsky approaches us, wrapping us both close with her tail. I feel relief as the other side of me slips back under without another thought. "My kits, my poor, poor kits. We heard screaming, but we came out to see this... I hoped a day like this would never come..."

"What do you mean?" Sparrowkit asks, anxiously. "What's going on?"

"That was no ordinary cat. We were foolish not to realize it sooner."
"Why was she here? Why did Shadowstar kill herself? How did she get back?" I ask, a stream of questions flooding from me with no end in sight.

Knottedstar walks by and yells to the whole camp. "Get up, everyone! We have an emergency: the tunnels are breaking."