Missing

Chapter 1

Sunstar went into her den after the dawn patrol. It had been a warm greenleaf morning but, not unpleasant. She was surprised to see that her deputy Greyfur was there with a piece of fresh kill. Greyfur immediately rose to meet her. Sunstar asked him "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be ordering patrolls.?" "No" he replied. "Those are already done" "Then what are you doing here?" Sunstar asked. Greyfur took a breath to answer when they heard Skypaw meow a greeting. Sunstar murmured, "hold on Greyfur" Then meowed louder "come in Skypaw" The small apprentice padded in with a vole. "I noticed you hadn't eaten today" She mumbled around the vole. She spit it to the ground "Here" a look of worry melted into her face "did i interrupt something?" She asked, her voice starting to quaver. "No" Sunstar replied gently, and Skypaw's expression got happier. "But take some fresh kill to the elders and i'll meet you in the training hollow." Skypaw gave a little bounce and ran off. "Whatever it is Greyfur it will have to wait." "But this-" "I said wait. Now, i must go."

Sunstar slowly crawled through the undergrowth making sure she was upwind to see if Skypaw would scent her. She saw Skypaw sitting in the middle of the sand relaxed. Suddenly she tensed scenting the air. "Come out Sunstar I can smell you!" "very good" Sunstar slinked out of the bush. Skypaw held her head high at the praise. "Now" Sunstar instructed, "Attack me" "Just like that? Skypaw asked. Sunstar suddenly jumped on Skypaw in her moment's hesitation and pinned her down. "Hey!" Skypaw yowled. "I thought i was attacking you!" "Do you think the enemy is going to wait for you to attack?" Sunstar purred with amusement. She got up to shake the sand out of her fur when something barreled into her. She looked up to see Skypaw on top of her and purred even louder. "That's better!"

After training Sunstar sent Skypaw hunting and headed back to camp. When she got back she saw Rainfur hurrying towards her. She stopped and began to ask what was wrong when Rainfur blurted. "My kit is missing!" "Have you searched the camp?" Sunstar asked. "Of course i have!" Rainfur snapped. Then they heard a small squeak coming from the apprentices' den. Rainfurs kit stumbled out followed by Treepaw nudging it. Rainfur bounded over and licked it vigorously then brought it back to the nursery.

Sunstar had just settled into her nest when she realized that Skypaw still wasn't back from hunting. She went out into the camp and asked around if anyone had seen Skypaw. When no one had, she decided to go to Greyfur. "Greyfur, Skypaw isn't back from hunting yet. She should be back by now. I'm going to lead a search party to go find her." SHe then saw running paw bounding over and sat down. "Sunstar i was wondering if i could be on the patrol, she is my sister after all." Runningpaw begged. "Okay i will take Runningpaw, Greyfur, Duskfall and Flowerpaw." "Lets start near sky tree." Grey fur suggested. "There are squirrels there all the time." So the group headed through the bramble tunnel and off to sky tree. When they got there they found nothing. "Lets head up to the ridge" Sunstar said. So the group went there next but to no avail.

By dawn they had searched the entire territory and there was no sign of Skypaw besides a few old scent trails. Skypaw was gone!