Crescentpaw didn't know how she got through that week of on-and off torment, because the twoleg forgot their white tablets every other day or so. Most of the time all she felt was burning, searing affliction on her claw-tips. Like they were still being wrenched out anytime she moved.

But she also felt the touch of the other cat's fur as they crouched beside her, comforted her, and gave her water or kittypet food. They did the same for Tinypaw. And once the elderly she-cat even caught them a mouse from the basement.

On the the fifth day of laying on the carpet writhing in a throbbing heap of exhausted turmoil, Crescentpaw had nearly lost hope. However, on the sixth morning without her claws, she jolted upright. She took in her surroundings once again, and this time her paws stung a lot less.

She pressed them firmly to the ground, feeling the hard floor beneath the cushioned carpets. Her missing claw-tips ached a little but the blinding agony no longer engulfed her. Her vision was sharper after she had eaten a full meal of kittypet food the previous night, despite its bitter taste and greasy residue. She felt well-rested.

"Tinypaw!" Crescentpaw bounded lightly over to her sister. "How do your paws feel now?"

She was surprised to take in the fact that they had lain in the middle of the den-floor for almost an entire quarter-moon. Cheetah and her grand-cat often climbed atop the stairway rails or down the cement steps to the basement. They jumped atop windowsills and ran across the Twoleg's tables. They even hid between and underneath furniture, dodging objects around the den walls as they traversed.

But we couldn't do that with our paws hurting so badly, and our foreclaws missing. Does this mean we can never climb again?

"They're actually a lot better now. Yesterday after the twoleg forgot our herb-rock I thought they were infected," Tinypaw admitted. "But now it only stings if I strike them firmly against the ground." She demonstrated by whacking a tiny black paw against the carpet and twitching uncomfortably. However, Tinypaw looked back at her with focused eyes that weren't crinkled with the edge of a painful glint; like they had been night before.

"Then we've got to get out of here today. Now, even! As soon as the twoleg gets up we'll wait for her to open the door." Crescentpaw had the impulse to knead her paws into the carpet excitedly. She felt a frown cross her muzzle as she remembered that she couldn't do that anymore.

"Okay," Tinypaw agreed, but her kin was now feeling a spasm of grief. The tabby-and-white apprentice fought to expel her negativity. Whatever the clan thinks, worry about it later! She told herself firmly. We aren't staying here. We have to get back outside, at least. And out of this Twolegplace.

Caracal and Cheetah were dozing on the stairwell that led upstairs. Crescentpaw meowed for them, and they both leapt down in unison after a quick stretch.

"Ohmygoodness look they're finally walking around! Does this mean you guys feel better? Better enough to tell me more about the Clans?" Cheetah squeaked, sounding ecstatic as she waved her blotchy tail.

"Well, sort of." Crescentpaw chucked nervously. "Our paws are feeling a lot better, but we want to talk about escaping this place. Our clan needs us very badly."

Neither cat looked surprised, but Cheetah still flattened her large ears against her skull. Now that the time had actually come she seemed to want to objectify more than ever. The now-closed curtain enveloped them all in near-darkness again. And even if some of the cats weren't actively acknowledging it, they all yearned to feel the sun.

"But you guys are the coolest cats I've met! And... and..." For once, Cheetah was speechless. Crescentpaw shifted her paws guiltily at the fact that she was leaving her newfound friend.

Oddly enough, though; none yearned to see and feel the light again more than Caracal did. And so she was the first of the two to nod maturely down at them.

"We will help you escape. But you can't hurt my human in the process, so we'll have to figure out a different way." The seasoned she-cat lifted her tail and stepped closer. There was a grin on her greying muzzle.

"Me and Cheetah were talking about your Clans, and I think they sound neat. We understand why you'd want to get back to them," she shot her grand-kit a stern look for complaining before swiftly perking her ears at Crescentpaw and Tinypaw.

The kittypet's words then softened, and she slightly tilted her head with sympathy. "Our... Twoleg, as you call them, should be awake to feed herself soon. But since you woke up earlier than usual today, we have to wait until then." Caracal sat down with eyes patiently half-slitted.

Tinypaw was craning her head to look up at the much larger adult cat, while Crescentpaw's gaze was nearly level with hers.

"Fine." Her kin mewed and impatiently paced around while Crescentpaw sat to give herself a thorough grooming. The echo of an ache in her paw-pads radiated through her toes as she moved them, cleaning her underbelly and then her chest-fur. Tinypaw began doing the same until her fur was sleek and shiny.

"You two should eat before we go. And you as well, Cheetah. If they're planning to travel to their River-clan without stopping; and I assume they are, by how they've described their need to get back-then they'll need a bellyfull of food." Caracal sounded wise as she consoled them, and Cheetah obediently went over to the food bowl first.

Young Crescentpaw inwardly cringed at having to eat the Twoleg food again. But it was either that or walk on the hard cement stairs down to the basement, just to try hunting a mouse with no claws. Yeah right. I'd just make a fool of myself if I tried. Plus my paws are still sore. Feeling so useless and trapped was beginning to get to her, so she avoided it by asking;

"Caracal, how did you get your name? Isn't a Caracal one of the unspotted smaller predator cats?" Crescentpaw tried to make her mew sound unoffensive, because she was just genuinely curious to know. Her father hadn't spoken much about the old Clan legends, but she recalled him telling her the stories when he visited them in the nursery. Their explanations had branched into topics of other wildcats like Pumas, Caracals, Bobcats and Ocelots. Crescentpaw had wanted to know all of the different kinds.

"Yes it is." The broad-shouldered spotted cat raised her eyebrows with interest. "It's funny, really. Our breed of housecat all have spotted pelts, but we still use unspotted wildcat names. It's a tradition passed down by our kin's mothers." She sounded delighted to share information about her family.

"The problem is we couldn't all be named Leopard or Jaguar." She twitched her whiskers. "So I got stuck with Caracal, and then Cheetah's mother I named Lynx." An awkward silence followed after, filled only with the crunch of  Cheetah eating the kittypet food. The young golden she-cat seemed to inhale a bit of dust from the bowl. She licked her jaws distastefully and then sneezed it out.

"May I ask what happened to Cheetah's mother?" Tinypaw whispered, lifting a sleek black eyebrow with suspicion. Crescentpaw could tell that she was once again suspecting the Twoleg.

"My human didn't do anything to her if that's what you're wondering," Caracal whipped her head towards Tinypaw with a defensive growl, then sighed.

"Anyways I don't think now is the time to discuss that." The old she-cat's voice lowered. Cheetah finished and padded loftily towards them, her belly full and swaying.

"Gosh, it was dusty. But at least I ate the layer of dust off the top for you guys. Whew!" She gustily sighed. "We are way past a food change." While Cheetah was complaining Crescentpaw took the cue from Caracal's eyes that there was no more to be said on the matter.

Tinypaw scooted closer to her sister, about to open her jaws and whisper into her ear when Caracal caught sight of it and mewed, "your turn to eat, Tinypaw."

Tinypaw loped off. Cheetah took the opportunity to ask more about Starclan, because she hadn't gotten much chat about it before their long days of on-and-off agony. Crescentpaw tried to be patient as she explained but she was exploding to get out of there. Even though her missing claws tingled with pain they also tingled with unreleased energy.

Even after she ate her portion of kittypet food, it was much of the same. And yet it wasn't that long before the old woman woke up. It had just felt like it.

"Quiet! Don't make a sound... remember, we don't want her to fill the bowl yet." Caracal instructed while the apprentices fled to the bottom side of a dusty entertainment center. They squeezed underneath it, staying still as the Twoleg began to traverse the house. Cheetah hid close to her grand-cat, ready to distract the Twoleg when the time came.

As she passed through the room the lady stopped to turn on the light and search for the cats. After moving the curtain aside to gaze upon the windowsill, and then peering high up on the shelves with a craned hunch-backed neck, she gave up looking and shuffled into the kitchen.

"She should go outside to water the plants soon. Get ready," Caracal hissed urgently. Both apprentices faced towards the glass-paneled door several tail-lengths across from their hiding place. The faint light that the crystallized window let in was illuminating a shaft of rainbow onto the carpet.

When the old twoleg finally began walking back through the kitchen doorway, Crescentpaw tensed like she was waiting to pounce on prey. She was astonished when just like the kittypets had predicted, the old Twoleg turned towards the doorway to put on some hefty boots. She tied the strings on them and then swung open the door. A hot blast of air swept inside and across the floor toward the cats.

That shaft of sunlight was more than worth the heat and humidity that it brought.

Caracal yowled. Cheetah meowed with a trill, her voice vibrating and screeching. The twoleg of course responded, delighted to see her cats. She turned around quicker than the apprentices thought possible and went to greet her pets.

The cats couldn't comprehend Twoleg speech but she was saying; "My, my! Are you tired of that old dry food? Would you like some nice wet food out of the cabinet? Do you like your new little kitty friends that I got just for you? Where are they hiding now?"

As the Twoleg rambled on and leaned down to pet her spotted kittypets, Crescentpaw and Tinypaw darted out of the open doorway and into the light.

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Tinypaw