I watched as Flick narrowed his eyes at the unfamiliar voice. I peered behind him to see a large, black tom with two other cats behind him. One looked to be a blue-grey she-cat and the other a dark grey tabby tom.

"Why hello, Flick." The black tom addressed him.

Flick turned around to face the cats. "Cliff." He nodded to the center black tom.

"Thought we'd never see you again, brother." Cliff said to Flick.

Wait, brother? Did Flick used to live with these cats? Then why did it seem he wasn't happy to see them? Something must have happened between Flick and these cats.

"Who's your new companion?" The blue-grey she-cat walked around to examine me.

"Nettle, this is Lavenderpaw." Flick told her.

I looked over Nettle just as she did me and stepped back. The she-cat was missing an eye and had a large scar along her back. Her eyes were a frosty color.

"What a strange name . . ." Nettle said with interest.

"That's because I'm a clan cat." I raised my head. Did these cats even know what a clan was?

Flick shot me a look at those words, but I couldn't take them back. The black tom, Cliff, flicked his tail; but it was the dark grey tabby tom who responded.

"Why would you bring a clan cat onto our territory?" He hissed and narrowed his eyes at Flick.

The dark grey tabby tom had a long scar on his side and his fur was sleek. His eyes were like deadly yellow daggers.

"No, River, this is a good thing. My brother seems to have captured a clan cat and brought her back to be our prisoner." Cliff said with a cruel grin. "Aster will be pleased to hear of this."

I heard a slight growl emerge from Flick. "Yes, she is my prisoner. She was wandering too far from her clan and I tricked her into earning my trust. Then I lured her here, back to the group."

I looked at him, shock and betrayal in my eyes. Why was Flick handing me over? Then my gaze hardened. I was right not to trust him, I should know better than to trust strange cats.

Cliff looked from Flick to me and then nodded. "Perfect. River, Nettle, and I will escort the two of you back to camp."

River and Nettle positioned themselves behind us while Cliff lead the way into the darkened alley. I kept my head down, not wanting to even look at Flick.

After walking a while, I looked up. I started to see eyes watching us from the shadows and sometimes a cat would pass us, coming from the direction we were heading. I got a bad feeling about this place, and it wasn't just about the fact that these cats seemed to hate clan cats.

Soon enough, I began to see more and more cats. They watched us from broken windows and behind what looked like tall, silver tree stumps with an awful smell radiating off of them. There were two cats fighting over a piece of what I thought was freshkill but it didn't smell very fresh. I shook my head and kept going. Something bad must have happened to these cats; who would wasn't to live like this?

We came to a stop and Cliff stepped forward. "Aster, Flick has returned."

At those words, a brown and black she-cat emerged from the shadows. She had a scarred ear and a scar just under her eye. Her long legs also had a scar or two, and she had a nick in her tail. Her eyes were a dark green color.

"Flick?" She called, asking for conformation. "My son has returned home?"

Flick sighed. "Yes, it's me, Aster." He answered.

Aster smiled and nodded to the sandy tom. "I knew you hadn't left for good. This is where you belong."

"He even brought us a clan cat to keep prisoner." Cliff added.

Aster then sent a deadly look towards me. "A clan cat?" She asked and smiled at Flick. "Just what I'd expect from the future leader of the group."

Flick nodded. "I couldn't find what I was searching for, and I realized that leaving home was a mistake. So, to make up for my leaving, I brought this clan cat. I knew this would please you."

Aster nodded. "As it does." She grinned cruelly at me. First a kittypet, now a clan cat. What an exciting day!" She said and nodded to Cliff. "Bring her to the prisoner's den. Flick and I have some catching up to do."

Cliff nodded and lead me away from Aster and Flick. I looked down, turning things over in my head. So, Flick was apparently the son of the leader of a rogue group in twolegplace. Why hadn't he said anything? Why had I begin to trust him during the fox attack? I should have just escaped with Bella and let him die at the fox's paws. Then I would be closer to finding Shadeclan and returning to them.

Cats kept glaring at me as Cliff and I passed. Apparently they had overheard the news that a clan cat had been brought into their camp. I narrowed my eyes at them; they were all just half-starved cats covered in scars who . . . well, that's just about all I knew about them. I did get a strange feeling from them, though.

Cliff shoved me into a small abandoned twoleg den. The windows seemed to have pieces missing and the den seemed smaller on the inside. From the outside, it looked like there might be multiple dens in one but there was only one. Four walls of the den, and no way out but the entrance.

I glared at Cliff when he shoved me and he turned around to exit the den. I slowly followed him to the mouth of the den, planning to sneak out behind him. The black tom flicked his tail though, and two large cats emerged to stand at the entrance. One raised her claws to wound me but luckily, I was able to dodge out of the way. I then padded farther into the den.

I sighed. "Why me? Why did this all have to happen to me? Why couldn't I have just fought off that twoleg and stayed in Shadeclan? Then I could have avoided all this mess." I crouched down. "I'm a terrible apprentice to my clan."

"That is not true." I heard a familiar voice answer.

I looked up in surprise and relief to see Bella making her way over to me. She smiled and I ran over to meet her halfway.

"Bella!" I exclaimed and nuzzled her. Then I stepped back and looked up at her. "Flick and I tried following your scent after the fox attack but some strange cats captured us. You'll never believe this, but Flick is actually the son of the leader here. He wasted no time turning me over to them as a prisoner." I said, my eyes narrowing at that last part.

Bella tilted her head, confused. "Flick did what?" She asked. She didn't seem angry, just confused.

I nodded. "He said he tricked me into gaining his trust. He told the leader that he brought me here to make up for leaving this place." I shook my head. "I can't believed I actually thought I could trust him.

Bella sighed. "Sometimes cats are more complicated than they seem." She said.

I nodded and Bella lead me to the back of the den. When we got there, my eyes widened in surprise at what I saw.

There were three, skinny cats laying on the cold ground in a corner of the den. They seemed to all be in terrible shape. One was missing an ear, and another their tail. All three looked to be starved and had scars covering their flanks.

"What happened to them?" I asked.

"Apparently, we aren't the first prisoner's here. They don't seem to care very much for taking care of them." The cream and white she-cat answered me.

I shook my head as we passed them. What a terrible thing to do. Why would anyone do that to their own kind?

Bella took me to the farthest corner of the den and I saw a white tom huddled in the corner. We approached him, and when the tom turned towards us I saw with surprise that he was blind.

"Winter, this is my friend Lavenderpaw I told you about. Lavenderpaw, this is Winter. He has been here the longest." Bella introduced us.

I looked him over to see he was even skinnier than the others. I could see his ribs jutting out from under his skin and his fur was missing in some places. Still, he didn't look all that old. Maybe old enough to be a senior warrior but not an elder.

I dipped my head to him. "It's nice to meet you." I said.

Winter nodded. "I can sense the hope radiating off of you. Well, you'd better hold on tightly to that if you don't want to lose your mind."

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?" I asked.

Winter sighed. "Cats who are taken in here, the prisoners, they don't ever get out. If they do, they are scarred for life; and I don't just mean physically."

My eyes widened.

"Aster is a special cat, at least she likes to think she is. She enjoys seeing cats suffer for her own happiness. Aster does something different everyday, she likes to change it up. That cat will starve the prisoners but that's not even the worst part. Each day, she chooses a random prisoner and one of her cats and they fight to the death. Whoever survives, gets the choice of either staying or leaving." Winter said.

"Wait, her cats get the choice too? Do they not all want to stay with her?" I asked.

Winter shook his head. "Aster tricks cats into joining her group. Once they join though, they can't ever leave. Not unless they win a fight. Aster may be cruel, but she plays fair enough to let the victor choose for themself."

I sat down. "It that what happened with Flick?" I asked the white tom.

Winter shook his head. "Only Aster and Flick know what happened. One night he just left, and never came back until now. Aster wants Flick to be the next leader, so that could have something to do with it."

I sighed; so Flick was still just as much of a mystery as always. Would I ever figure that cat out? Or would he forever keep secrets from me?

I shook my head; that didn't matter now. Flick betrayed me, I probably won't even see him again after Bella and I left; if Bella and I left.

I looked to Bella. "Will we ever get out of here? Will I ever see Shadeclan again?" I asked her.

Bella smiled and rested her tail on me. "Didn't I already promise I would help you return to your clan? I don't plan on breaking that promise anytime soon. You aren't like any cat I've ever met, the same with Flick. I'm sure we'll get out of here."

I nodded and leaned against her. Even if we did escape this place, what would it cost us?

Thank you so much for all your support!

What do you think of Flick now? Any predictions as to what lead to Flick leaving?

What do you think of the other characters, like Aster, Cliff, and Winter?

What do you think the cost will be if Lavenderpaw and Bella end up escaping?

Hope you are enjoying so far!

Until Saturday!

//Word count: 1907//