It was a cold night on the night of the gathering. There were barely any clouds, showing that the Stars were at peace and watching faithfully.

Fernstalk padded along with the other warriors as she went to the Telling Stones, huge boulders put close to each other. The leaders would go in their boulders, and the deputies and medicine cat and possibly their apprentice would stand next to their leaders boulder, but not on it.

Fernstalk and all the other warriors would sit, curl up, or stand on the border of the forest, or for FieldClan and NectarClan, field. Warrior Apprentices would sit by their mentors.

Fernstalk sat down in the shadiest spot of the clearing and on KestrelClan's side. She looked around, not wanting to gossip with the other warriors. But she saw a she-cat that looked at her straight in the eyes. Fernstalk backed away, not liking the stare. It was horrifying. 

The she-cat was a light brown tabby with a scar on her chest. What was her name again?

Carp... carp something.

She looked back to her leader when she heard the gathering start. Her leader was the first, having the most territory at this moment.

"Hello, Bush's Beetle," Hail's fall nodded to the other leaders. "I shall start." 

She turned to face Fernstalk. "A good warrior of our's sister had kits today. Three healthy kits." 

KestrelClan cheered, not showing a slight disappointment that the kits weren't theirs. Unless they were.

Fernstalk didn't cheer. She just sat there, shuffling her paws and occasionally looking at the brown she-cat. 

The leader of FieldClan stepped forward.

"We have a new elder, Willowsprout, and one of our warriors has been bumped up to being a queen and is expecting kits," meowed the brown she-cat, her green eyes glowing in the darkness of the shadows.

A golden brown Tom shoved the previous speaker out of the way, a smirk written all over his face. Fernstalk couldn't help but flinch and at the same time be very angry and want to push the leader off of the Telling Stones.

The brown Tom licked his paws gracefully, and then opened his mouth to speak. And then out of nowhere, he slipped. Fernstalk knew that it was his deputy. 

Nobody liked the Wasp's foot, or should I say, Waspfoot. He was rude, greedy, and filled with darkness.

"Well NectarClan is wonderful, thanks for asking," he scowled. "We are expecting more kits. There are many apprentices, comparing to all of you."

Some cats cheered, others didn't. It mainly depended on which Clan you were from.

Fernstalk looked around. All of the NectarClan warriors and apprentices were cheering. Half of KestrelClan was cheering. FieldClan and SparrowClan didn't cheer at all. 

Why are we so torn apart?

Why can't we just be like one happy family?

We are all related in some way...

As Fernstalk thought to herself, Bush's Beetle started talking. He meowed about prey, and he accused FieldClan of theft. 

Fernstalk looked up when she saw the place darken. The moon was there, and there were no clouds. But it was getting darker. Darker and darker.

Darker and darker

Darker and darker.

Until it was pitch black.

She was back where she had seen Budstalk.

But he wasn't here, at least, not yet.

She saw a black apprentice from NectarClan fighting a tall skinny Tom. He wasn't at the gathering, so that might be why he was fighting. 

"You're getting stronger, Darkpaw," scowled the tall skinny Tom.

Fernstalk shivered. 

Darkpaw was the apprentice's name.

"No time for 'thank you's and 'you're welcome's," Darkpaw chuckled. "I need to get ready for the kits."

The tall skinny Tom raised his head. "And when they come, what will you do?"

Fernstalk must have gasped when she heard the reply. "Kill them."

Darkpaw spun around, his tail swooshing on the ground. "Who is that, Watercreek?"

So the tall Tom's name is Watercreek, huh? 

Watercreek narrowed his eyes. "Somebody else want to train with us?" 

Darkpaw lunged for Fernstalk, but she dodged. She saw a flash of gray fur and knew that Watercreek was coming. He bit her, but left the rest for Darkpaw to deal with.

"Darkpaw, this is going to be your first battle. What do you do?" Watercreek laughed.

Darkpaw's facial expression changed. It was a smile to a grin showing all his bloody fangs. From zero to one hundred. The black Tom grabbed Fernstalk's neck is his jaws, and he bit down hard. The gray she-cat yelped, and jumped up, shaking her fur and the black Tom on top. 

Fernstalk, she told herself, it's okay. He's too little. Don't worry. Just worry about getting him off and getting out alive.

Am I even alive?

Where is Lilacwishes? 

I need my mother!

I need her now!

And with that, she woke up. She was bleeding on the neck, tiny bite marks everywhere. The gray she-cat looked up and saw the leader pinning her down. 

"You were struggling. You would have gotten an infection if you kept rolling around in the dirt like that."

Fernstalk apologized, and got up. "Hey, Hail's fall?" 

The white leader turned around, her fur smoothing back down. "What?"

"Do you know where Darkpaw, the NectarClan apprentice is?"

Hailfall squinted, and then shrugged. 

Fernstalk bit down on her tongue very carefully, and followed her clan back home to the camp.

Fernstalk sighed and curled up. Her moss was old, but there was no more nice moss. 

She thought about what Darkpaw had said. "Kill them."

It echoed in her ears and heart. Kits? Were it those kits that Waspfoot was meowing about? Probably.

She needed to go to sleep. The gray cat was tired. She curled up into a ball and fell fast asleep, her dreams filled with pain, hunger, and nothingness. 

It was dark. Fernstalk opened her eyes. Her stomach felt empty enough to take some fresh-kill. She padded out, leaping over all of the sleeping warriors. 

She saw a glowing she-cat who Fernstalk recognized as Lilacwishes.

"Lilacwishes!" She purred, breaking into a run. 

Lilacwishes looked stern.

"Sh. We need to leave," Lilacwishes whispered.

Fernstalk blinked unknowingly. She grabbed a vole and followed Lilacwishes out of the forest.

When Fernstalk saw the water, she froze. "Are we leaving the island?"

Lilacwishes curled her lip and snarled.

"Don't you always leave the island just to go to the gathering?"

Fernstalk nodded slowly. "That's true."

Lilacwishes continued walking. "Are you coming or not?"

Fernstalk jogged over to the water. She crawled on top of the fallen tree trunk after Lilacwishes who had bounded over it.

"Wait for me!" Fernstalk meowed.

The starry warrior stopped and sat down.

The gray she-cat jumped down from the tree.

The starry warrior got up and started walking again.

"Where are we going?" meowed Fernstalk breathlessly.

Lilacwishes didn't take any notice of her gray daughter's big blue eyes.

Fernstalk's eyes watered a little, since her eyes were dry.

She looked down at her paws.

"I guess you don't love me anymore..." Fernstalk cried.

Lilacwishes shook her head and quickened her pace.

Fernstalk ran ahead and in front of her mother. "Where are we going?"

Lilacwishes sighed. "To a place where you haven't ever been."

Fernstalk put her head to the side and let her mother pass. She followed.

"Is it safe?" Fernstalk meowed timidly.

Lilacwishes looked at her daughter sadly. "We cannot see what will happen there. But we know that it is okay for now."

Fernstalk's gray fur flowed in the wind. She watched her mother's gray fur stay put while the wind pushed on.

She shook her head, filled with wonder. The gray fur wasn't flowing.

I wonder why...

Lilacwishes stopped. Fernstalk bumped into her.

"We are here."