It wasn’t a great den. Rain seeped through the branches and into the ground until we were shivering and soaked. And there were always Twolegs around, often with dogs, who sniffed loudly at the entrance to our den.
Violet was terrified of both the Twolegs and the dogs, and I was terrified that Bone would find out we were living together. I convinced her that she should stay inside the den all the time. It was safer, and I could hunt for both of us. I think she was relieved. She could still go out at night, when the park was empty, and stretch her legs in the moonlight.
Bone caught me a few times with an extra mouse in my teeth.
When he snarled at me, I would give him both mice and tell him they were an offering for Scourge. He liked that, although he must have known I was lying, just as I knew that those mice would disappear into his own mouth the moment I walked away.
Once I ran into my brothers as they patrolled the dump where Scourge made his den. At first I nearly didn’t recognize them. Their eyes were now cold and hard. And around their necks were collars studded with teeth. I stopped and stared at them as they strutted up to me.
“Jumper?” I meowed. “Hoot?”
“Those aren’t our names anymore,” Hoot sneered. “I am Snake.”
“And I am Ice,” hissed Jumper. “And don’t even think about hunting here.”
I hurried away. I’d had my ears battered enough by Scourge’s guards. In fact, my ribs were aching and my back leg was bleeding from a beating I had received the morning I met Fuzz. Bone and one of his guards had decided to demonstrate fighting skills on me for a pair of terrified kits.
When I got away, I limped onto a small Thunderpath, looking for prey that lived on the edge of the forest. A Twoleg monster came out of nowhere. I shot up the nearest tree and over a fence so fast that I tumbled off and landed with a thud in the grass.
“Mrrrow!” a voice exclaimed. “That was some jump!”
My whole body tensed to run, but I was too winded to scramble back up. I lay there as the strange cat padded closer. I could tell from his scent that he wasn’t BloodClan. He smelled of milk and Twolegs.
There was the bright blue collar around his neck, with a small silver bell that jingled as he moved. He was plumper than BloodClan cats, and his long gray fur was feathery and well-groomed. He looked at me as if the moon had fallen into his yard.
“My name is Fuzz!” He jumped back into a play-crouch. “What’s yours?”
“Er—Barley,” I meowed.
“Hello, Erbarley!” Fuzz meowed.
“No, just Barley,” I meowed.
“All right, Justbarley,” Fuzz meowed.
I began to get the idea that this wasn’t the brightest cat I’d ever met.
“You should let my Twolegs take a look at that leg.”
“Oh, no!” I couldn’t think of anything more alarming.
“Don’t worry,” Fuzz purred. “They do this all the time.
It’s their job.” He let out a yowl loud enough to wake a sleeping badger on the far side of the forest. The door to the Twoleg nest swung open, and a tree-tall Twoleg male stepped out into the garden.
I must have blacked out. When I awoke, I was nestled in something soft, surrounded by warmth. I opened my eyes slowly.
Fuzz’s face was a mouse-length from my own, peering at me with his giant green eyes.
“You’re awake!” he meowed, sounding delighted and amazed.
“Have some milk!”
I twisted around to sniff at my leg. It was wrapped in a soft white web of stuff and felt much better. I tried to stand and realized I could put my weight on it with only a little pain.
Suddenly I remembered Violet. I glanced up at the window. The sky outside was dark.
“How long have I been here?” I asked Fuzz.
“All day,” Fuzz meowed cheerfully.
“I have to get back to my sister,” I meowed, scrambling to my feet. “She’ll be so worried.”
“Well, eat something before you go,” Fuzz urged me. I swiped my tongue around the saucer, licking up the scraps of tuna that were left.
The flavor was dazzling. Fuzz led me through a flap in the door. Then I was back out in the yard, scrambling over the fence and hurrying back to the park.
The moon was high in the sky when I reached our den.
“Violet?” I called, crawling into the darkness below the branches.
“Violet?”
Bone’s scent hit my nose just before he spoke from the shadows.
“Your sister is not here.”
I froze, all my muscles turning to stone. “W-where is she?” I stam-mered.
“She came looking for you.” The black-and-white cat stood and stretched his long, muscular legs. His eyes gleamed in the fragments of moonlight. “What an interesting setup you have here, Barley. You and your sister, living in this den. Isn’t that against the rules?”
“I’m just taking care of her,” I meowed. “We’re no threat to Scourge.”
“That is for Scourge to decide,” Bone hissed. “Come.” He stalked out of the bush, brushing past the thorns as if he didn’t feel them. I hurried after him, my heart sinking as we approached the trash heap where Scourge held court.
The small black cat was perched atop a mound of discarded Twoleg things. The teeth on his collar and claws glinted like the freezing chips of ice that were his eyes. Cats were gathered all around the mound, waiting for something to happen. Below Scourge, in a cleared circle of dirt, my sister was sitting with her shoulders hunched. Her eyes were huge and terrified.
“Violet,” I cried, springing forward, but Bone whirled around and slammed his paw into my head so I was knocked aside, my vision spinning. I crouched for a moment, shaking my head.
“This is what we do with cats who break the rules,” Scourge hissed in his eerily high-pitched voice. He flicked his tail at the shadows to his left. My brothers emerged into the moonlight, their teeth bared in furious snarls.
“No!” I yowled. “Leave her alone! Fight me, if you must! She’s done no harm!”
“It’s true,” Scourge snarled. “You are the one who broke the rules.
You are the one who must be punished.” He swiped his tongue over his paw, making us all wait for a long, horrible moment. Then he looked down at me with a sinister twitch of his whiskers. “And what better punishment could there be than for you to watch your sister die right in front of you.”
“No!” I wailed, but before I could move, Bone leaped on me and pinned me down. I could only struggle futilely, my claws scrabbling at the ground, as Snake and Ice stalked up to Violet. There was a flash of claws and a shriek of pain from Violet. And then my poor little sister was lying on the ground, blood spilling out of her, her paws twitching feebly. I stared in horror as Snake and Ice licked the blood off their paws and slunk back into the shadows. Scourge nodded, looking pleased, and then he melted away into the darkness, with all his followers disappearing behind him. Bone lifted his paws and looked down at me with disgust in his eyes.
“Don’t ever try to fight BloodClan again,” he snarled. “We always win.”
Then he too vanished into the darkness.
I crawled over to Violet, my breathing coming in ragged gasps.
She was so still, so small. I nosed her face gently and suddenly her eyes opened.
“Barley.” She coughed. “Help me.”
She was alive! I frantically tried to stop the blood spilling out of the long slice in her stomach, but I didn’t know anything about healing another cat.
Then I remembered Fuzz and the Twoleg. It was risky, but it was the only thing I could think of to do.
I closed my mouth gently around the scruff of Violet’s neck and dragged her out of the dump. She kept letting out little yips of pain, but she didn’t struggle. I dragged her all the way down the small Thunderpath to the gate in the Twoleg fence where Fuzz lived. And then I laid her down on the path and started yowling with all my heart.