Spirit

PROLOGUE

Stone woke up. He was in the middle of the forest, far away from the Claw-Bearers, far away from his home. The moon shone brightly above him. He sensed something behind him, and a paw crushing a leaf proved that. The gray tabby started running, and heard the paws behind him quicken with his pace. He ran faster and faster, until he found it was no use. Whatever cat this was, they were much faster than he anticipated.

He whipped himself around, and a beige and white cat pounced on him. He was pinned by their weight, but he would struggle no more. He kicked them off with his white paws and pinned them against the ground, his claws and teeth bared.

Noticing the slight glows between their fur, Stone snarled, "You Spirit-Wanderers think you're better than us, do you?" He lifted a paw, ready to strike the startled cat. "We'll see how strong you are when you're dead!"

"Stone!" the cat shrieked, and the gray tabby finally recognised who this cat was. It was his sister, Rosemary.

"Rosemary!" Stone let the beige and white she-cat go. "You scared the fleas out of my fur!" He playfully hit her with his paw, his claws retracted. "How dare you!"

"Sorry, I just thought you'd recognise me," Rosemary murmured.

"If you learned that everyone wants to kill when you were a kit, you'd know how I felt," Stone answered. "What do you want?"

The she-cat's yellow eyes suddenly glimmered. "The Spirits told me something," she said hastily. "Ivory's alive!"

The gray tom shook his head. "I know it was a hard loss." He looked her in the eyes. "You saw her; all wet and cold and frozen, there is no way she'd survive that. Not even the strongest cat would."

"But I saw her!" Rosemary pleaded. "Why won't you believe me?"

Stone paused. "You saw her? Are you sure you were awake?"

The beige and white she-cat nodded. "As awake as I could be." She sighed. "I was going to get a drink from the lake, then I saw the silhouette of a cat. It was too familiar, and I could almost see the ginger markings. And her luminous yellow eyes." Her paw touched the tom's shoulder. "It was too close to be another."

"That was probably her Spirit. Be careful, she might start following you around now."

But Rosemary wasn't done with her story. "Then the Spirits appeared in the water. They—they told me Ivory was alive."

Stone turned away.

"Please, Stone! I thought you were the only one who wouldn't think I'm going insane!" the she-cat called.

"You're seeing things," Stone simply answered. "Not unless you find real proof, your kit isn't alive." With that, he left to find his home.