Turtle Tail took a step back, her neck fur fluffing at his challenging tone. “Okay, I won’t,” she retorted. “I was visiting Bumble in the Twolegplace.”
“What?” Even though Gray Wing had been suspicious, he had never imagined that. “Are you completely flea-brained?”
“I don’t know what you’re so angry about. It was fine! I went right into a Twoleg den.” Turtle Tail’s annoyance faded and she began to bubble over with pride in her achievement. “I was really scared, but Bumble was so nice, and she showed me everything. The Twolegs have soft rocks with colored pelts in there. They’re so comfortable!”
Gray Wing struggled to find words to express how shocked he was. “You have to stay away from the Twolegplace,” he told her. “It’s dangerous!”
Turtle Tail flicked her tail dismissively. “Stop fussing. Bumble looked after me. You should come and visit too!”
Gray Wing felt as if his whole life was coming apart. His brothers and his friends had left the group to live in the trees, and now Turtle Tail seemed to have forgotten that she was a wild cat. “You’re being ridiculous!” he snapped.
“And you know so much about it, I suppose?” Turtle Tail’s neck fur bristled up again as she glared at him.
“Whatever.” Gray Wing was suddenly tired of arguing. “Do what you want.”
Leaving Turtle Tail to find her own way home, he stalked off into the woods. Instantly he felt swallowed up in the dense green world, the air heavy with lush growth. He found a familiar trail and headed along it, steering clear of strange cat scents.
Without warning two cat shapes dropped from the trees on either side of him and landed in the undergrowth. Gray Wing braced himself for an attack, then in the next heartbeat recognized Jagged Peak and Clear Sky.
“Surprise!” Jagged Peak yowled triumphantly.
Gray Wing let out a welcoming mrrow and touched noses with each of them. “You scared my tail off!” he mewed.
“We’ve been hunting in the trees,” Jagged Peak boasted. “It’s awesome!”
“Why don’t you join us?” Clear Sky suggested.
Gray Wing glanced up at the nearest tree. It looks awfully tall! “Okay,” he agreed, not wanting his brothers to know that he was scared, and looking forward to spending some time with them again.
He scrambled up the trunk after Clear Sky and Jagged Peak, and balanced on the lowest branch. Digging his claws in nervously, he glanced around, trying to enjoy the different scents and the rustling of leaves around him.
Clear Sky took off in pursuit of a squirrel leaping from branch to branch. Jagged Peak followed, and Gray Wing clambered after them, envying their confidence and speed.
The squirrel leaped from the end of one springy branch into a nearby tree. Gray Wing paused, assuming they’d lost it, but Clear Sky didn’t stop. He jumped after it, almost flying as he hurtled into the next tree, right on the squirrel’s tail. Gray Wing was even more surprised when Jagged Peak followed him.
“I have to do this,” he muttered, struggling to keep his balance as he edged his way along the branch. Bunching his muscles, he pushed off, reaching out his forepaws to grab the nearest branch of the other tree.
Gray Wing’s claws scraped along the bark and he let out a screech as he felt himself falling. At the last moment he managed to get a grip, but he was left swinging helplessly, with nowhere to rest his hind paws. Fighting off dizziness, he managed to shift bit by bit along the branch until it grew wider near the trunk. He pulled himself up and sat shaking, wondering how he was going to get down again.
His pounding heart had quieted by the time that Clear Sky and Jagged Peak came back. Clear Sky was carrying the squirrel in his jaws.
“That was a great chase!” Jagged Peak exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. “Are you okay, Gray Wing?”
“Er… I think I’m stuck here,” Gray Wing confessed.
“That’s okay. I’ll help you down,” Jagged Peak mewed confidently. “You go tailfirst. Put your paws there… and there.”
Gray Wing heaved a sigh of relief when he once again stood with all four paws firmly on the ground. “You’re really good at this,” he told Jagged Peak admiringly.
Jagged Peak ducked his head in embarrassment. “Clear Sky has been giving me a few tips.”
Clear Sky leaped down the last few tail-lengths. “It helps to practice new techniques for hunting among the trees,” he explained with a modest look.
“Good luck with that!” Gray Wing meowed fervently. “Give me rabbits on the ground any day!”
Gray Wing followed his brothers along forest trails until they reached a sheltered hollow with a shallow pool at the center and deep banks of fern and bramble all around.
“Welcome to our new home!” Clear Sky announced.
Quick Water and Falling Feather poked their heads out from the fern. “Hello, Gray Wing,” Falling Feather mewed as they emerged into the open. “It’s great to see you.”
“I’m glad you came to visit,” Quick Water told him. “We’re settling in well, we’ve made nests of twigs and lined them with moss, and we’ve already scared off a couple of nosy cats. No way am I letting them use my nest!”
“They looked okay,” Falling Feather put in. “If they’re really interested in us, we might invite them to move in.” Looking faintly embarrassed, she added, “They might become our friends.”
Hmm… what has made Falling Feather so keen to have more cats join them? Gray Wing wondered, though he said nothing out loud. “I’m glad it all turned out so well for you,” he told Clear Sky.
“Yes,” Clear Sky mewed with a satisfied look around him. “I really feel this is the place where I was meant to be. Are you happy on the moor?” he added.
“Yes.” Gray Wing dipped his head. “I am.”
Gray Wing headed back through the trees, pleased to have seen his brothers and their new home. His thoughts full of them, he wasn’t paying as much attention as usual to his surroundings. When a cat leaped out of the bushes ahead of him, he halted, so startled that he almost fell over his own paws, brushing against a jagged tree stump.
Gray Wing found himself confronted by a silver tabby she-cat, her green eyes narrowed in a glare.
“I’ve seen you before,” the cat hissed. “You’re one of those newcomers making trouble. We were here first, so stop stealing our prey!”
Gray Wing didn’t feel like fighting. “There’s enough prey for every cat,” he replied mildly instead. “My name’s Gray Wing. What’s yours?”
The she-cat didn’t answer his question. “Just so you know,” she meowed grudgingly, “there’s a wasps’ nest in that stump you nearly fell over.”
Looking more closely, Gray Wing spotted a swollen gray lump in the tree beside him, and two or three tiny black-and-yellow creatures hovering over it. He could hear a muted buzzing.
“What are they?” he asked.
The she-cat rolled her eyes. “Wasps! Don’t you know anything? They sting if you disturb them. Stick your paw in there if you don’t believe me.”
Gray Wing backed off a pace or two from the stump. “Thanks,” he mewed. “That’s really useful to know.”
“I’m not doing it to help you,” the she-cat growled. “I just don’t want your screeching to scare off all the prey.” Whirling around, she spat out, “Leave us in peace!” before scampering off into the undergrowth.
As Gray Wing emerged from the trees and raced across the moor, he found the silver-furred she-cat stuck obstinately in his mind.
As he climbed the final slope toward the hollow, Gray Wing felt a twinge of guilt about his earlier quarrel with Turtle Tail. Maybe she won’t want to go to the Twolegplace if I show her how great it is here.