Mica rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Alala's just an old tale to scare young cats, ok? We don't fall for your stupid pranks anymore, right Maya?"

 Maya however, believed Canopy's story and her eyes were wide with terror. 

 Mica snorted. "Yeah, like you really believe that 'The Queen of the Forest' is back."

 "Who's Alala?" demanded Atena. "The name sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it."

 "She ruled over the forest long ago when mom and dad weren't even born," drawled Mica boringly.

 "Oh, I remember now! She's a fierce white tiger, right?" 

 Suddenly, Canopy started wailing again, Maya comforting her by patting her head.

 "I think that she's telling the truth," Atena said to Mica. "I don't think she's that good at acting."

 "Canopy? What did she look like?" said Mica.

 "Uh- she..." started the nervous cat.

 "I don't think she wants to talk about it now," said Maya wisely. "We should give her food and rest, then maybe she'll talk."

 "But what if Alala really does find us and kills us too?!" stated Mica, his eyes wide in fear.

 Maya rolled her eyes. "Says the cat who thought that Canopy was lying about her being back."

 "Hey! I was just trying to be realistic!" protested Maya's brother.

                                                                                         🐯🐯🐯

 Once Canopy had eaten and fallen asleep, the other bobcats had also fallen asleep, despite their fear that Alala could find them and kill them at any time. Canopy said that she might tell her story tomorrow, but not before she rested.

 But Atena was not tired, and she didn't want to fall asleep. Not yet, anyway. She was too deep in thought, and figured that she could watch over her friends, just in case anything conspicuous happened. 

 She recalled that Alala had slaughtered many animals in the 'Dark Days' and wondered if she was the one who had killed her family. No one in the forest had ever seen anything like her, or that was at least what they claimed. No one except for Gus, who was an ancient horned owl. He had always been curious about her and had told strange prophecies that she could never riddle out. But he had mentioned seeing two-legged creatures quite like herself many moons ago. Gus only lived about three miles away from her current position, on the edge of a cliff. Maybe once her bobcat parents came back, they could all go move to where their horned friend lived. If Alala really was back, then they really needed to be on the move.

 Suddenly, Atena felt really tired, and before she could move, her eyes closed and she fell into a deep slumber...