Warriors: Shooting Star Book #1 A Star Is Born (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 3

The surprising truth of Goosetail's betrayal made Wolfkit wobble on his legs. He didn't realize he had appeared from his hiding spot. The gasping of the she-cat made Wolfkit look to see both her and his father look at him. The small kit lowered his ears and head. Goosetail's face was full of shock and fury. The sandy tom looked back to the she-cat, then to Wolfkit. The warrior got to his paws and stormed to stand over his son

"Wolfkit," the sandy tom's voice was calm, but Wolfkit could hear the anger building up, "what are you doing here, why are you not in the nursery?"

"I... I..." Wolfkit was at a loss for words. How was he supposed to react this horrible breaking of the warrior code? His own father was seeing a cat from a different Clan. What about Hazelnose?

"Go back to the nursery, Wolfkit," Goosetail ordered, "and this, stays between us, we don't want to upset Hazelnose do we?"

Wolfkit couldn't believe his ears. This cat clearly didn't care for his mate. Or even his own son. Adderstar would be furious and Hazelnose would be broken. She lost three kits! To find out she was losing a mate would have torn her apart.

When Goosetail turned and headed back to the she-cat, Wolfkit began heading back to camp. His tail was dragging and he felt like he was going to purge where he stood. He'd probably have to ask Halfmoon for herbs to make himself feel better.

When he got back to camp, the Clan was searching everywhere. Twitchwhisker was setting up a search patrol and Adderstar was ordering something to some warriors. Wolfkit lowered his ears, knowing full well he was going to be in deep trouble with his Clan. Sparrowpaw let out a yowl and the Clan to look at Wolfkit. Hazelnose bolted over to the silver tom and looked him over before licking him until he was soaking wet.

"Where on Earth have you been?" Hazelnose fretted.

"I... I was..." Wolfkit was too distracted about Goosetail to come up with an excuse about where he was. "I... Was... I went in to the forest..." 

"The forest?" Hazelnose bristled.

"If that was your idea of a great hiding area, then you are gravelly mistaken!" Wolfkit looked up toward Glaregaze. His amber eyes blazing.

"Go to the nursery, Wolfkit," Hazelnose demanded, "we will discuss this later!"

Wolfkit walked to the nursery, his tail dragging and ears flat on his head. Meadowkit and Poundkit were close to Lambpelt as Wolfkit entered the den. He ignored the questions and wrapped himself up in a ball. Closing his eyes, Wolfkit could still see Goosetail and that she-cat touch noses and press close to one another.

The smell of something awful woke Wolfkit. He looked around to find himself in the forest. Fire blazed all around him. He ran hastily around to look for Hazelnose, but she was no where to be found. He wailed for her to find him, but there were no other cat to help. The silver kit began to prey for StarClan's help.

As he prayed for a miracle, Wolfkit noticed the fire wasn't like how Hazelnose had described it. It wasn't just red, yellow, orange flames, he saw some of it was... Silver? A silver fire? Wolfkit looked around at the silver fire, then looked up to see Silverpelt was shining brighter than the ember lights.

Stars then began to fall toward him then spun around him. They shined as they began forming in to cats. One was a dark grey she-cat with amber eyes, her messy pelt covered in stars. The other was a grey-blue she-cat with blue eyes. One was a golden she-cat with green eyes. The last one was a ginger tabby tom with green eyes.

"Wh-Where am I?" Wolfkit trembled, his ears low and eyes full fear.

"Do not fear young one," the golden she-cat meowed, "we've come to talk to you about your prophecy."

"But I don't want a prophecy!" Wolfkit sobbed, the stress was beginning to eat at the young tom. First he never got to meet his brother and sister, Foxkit died, Goosetail was being disloyal to his Clan and mate, and now StarClan wanted him to follow some lousy prophecy! "I'm just a kit and, look at me! My father is disloyal and my brother and sisters are dead! What's so special about me? I could die too!"

"That won't happen," the grey-blue she-cat spoke softly, "you're the only cat we can trust with this prophecy, you're the wisest and the bravest kit in the lake, you know the difference between right and wrong, we want you and only you. There is no other cat."

"What if I refuse?" Wolfkit pressed. "What if I don't want to be leader?"

"As you grow up you'll realize that that won't be the best choice, other cars will come and they will not be the ones for the job of being leader." the dark grey she-cat spoke.

"But.... But I...." Wolfkit stammered. His whole head was spinning. There had to be a much better choice of leader. That's when stars blasted down and formed a much smaller cat. Her fur was tan and she had a white tipped tail, her eyes were blazing blue. "Foxkit!" Wolfkit's eyes grew wide.

"Leave him alone!" Wolfkit's sister ordered. "He's just a kit, we should wait until he's an apprentice or a warrior! He doesn't understand much yet!" the silver fire died down and the cats looked at one another.

"Foxkit-" the ginger tom spoke.

"Shut up!" the kit squeaked. "Next time any of you bring Wolfkit here you tell me! I'm more deserving to aee him than any of you! Come on Wolfkit, let's go do what kits are supposed to do, play!"  she ran off and Wolfkit quickly followed after, not wanting to hear what the older cats had to say. He wanted to be a kit for five more moons before thinking about a prophecy that could change his life. He also wanted to be with his sister again. It was lonely in the nursery with out her and Meadowkit and Poundkit mostly only played with each other.

Though, even as they played, Wolfkit couldn't get the silver fire out of his head. Foxkit wouldn't say anything about it. In fact, she seemed to want to avoid it completely. Her eyes were full of sorrow each time Wolfkit brought it up. The only thing going through his head about it though, was that it was a dark omen of the future. Whether it be about Wolfkit, or Goosetail.