Stolen (Book 1 of the Outcast Quartet)

Chapter 4 (Jadekit)

“Yellowkit, what’s going on?” I asked as I crouched beside my blind sister, her nose was high in the air and her ears twitched back in forth as her sharper senses caught things I couldn’t yet hear or scent.

            “A new scent…” Yellowkit whispered and I dragged her farther under our makeshift den, my heart beat starting to pick up. It had been two nights since our mother had mysteriously got up and disappeared, she had told us to stay right here and wait for her return. “They’re cats, but mother’s not with them.”

            I stared suspiciously past one of the wide golden bush leaves, my eyes searching for any signs of approaching cats. I could see distant movement and glimpsed the pelt of a ginger cat. I pulled back under the bush and curled my tail protectively around Yellowkit.

            “She’s getting closer…” Yellowkit murmured. “It seems like she’s searching for something…”
            “Think she’s looking for us?” I asked maybe mother had sent her out to find us.

            “Hello Jadekit, Yellowkit!” the she-cat called. “I was informed that you two are here, so can you please come out?”

            “She’s not lying,” Yellowkit whispered, her blind eyes looking straight where the she-cat was standing. “We can trust her.”
            “We’re here,” Jadekit growled gruffly, refusing to leave the comfort of the bushes.

            “Oh, I’m glad you two aren’t hurt!” the she-cat purred and she hurried over to us. “You’re mother told me I could find you here.”

            Yellowkit slipped past me, ignoring my protests and padded right up to the she-cat. “You’re not lying,” Yellowkit meowed in that emotionless way of hers. “But you’re hiding something.”

            “What are you hiding?” I growled as I padded up to stand in front of the she-cat while pulling Yellowkit behind me.

            “You’re being taken to Talia’s Adoption Center, we won’t harm you and we’ll look out for you until someone adopts you,” the she-cat explained.

            “Wait… adopt?” Jadekit gasped. “You mean like… being taken into a different family and… what about mother?”
            “You’re mother left you in our care, for unknown reasons,” the she-cat explained.

            “She means it…” Yellowkit whispered. “Mother left us.”

            A low hiss escaped from me and I quickly back tracked to the bush, my teeth grabbing hold of Yellowkit’s scruff and dragged her back with me. I nudged her under the bush and followed, pushing us back to the very base of the bush. “You aren’t going to take us with you!” I snarled. “We’ll wait for mother to return!”

            “Brother, she means best for us,” Yellowkit mumbled. “Besides I’m hungry and cold so it would be better to go with her.”

            “It’s hard to say no to you…” I sighed reluctantly. “Fine we’ll come with you, just tell us your name first!”

            “Alright,” the she-cat purred. “I’m Cindertree, the adviser of Talia’s Adoption Center.”

            “The adoption center has an adviser?” I meowed dubiously as I crawled out from under the bush, ignoring the twigs that were wrapped around my fur. The tip of my tail was on Yellowkit’s shoulder, guiding her out from underneath.

            “That adoption center has practically its own Clan,” Cindertree explained as she calmly plucked the twigs out from my pelt. “It has a leader, adviser, warriors, apprentices, queens and their own kits. We also have plenty of kits waiting for adoption, but once they turn six moons they won’t be up for adoption and will train as an apprentice for the adoption center.”
            “Sounds complicated…” I mumbled darkly, I was less than enthusiastic to enter my new life in the adoption center.