The last shadows disappeared as the summer sun raised itself far over the horizon. Fresh dew tipped every leaf, and every blade of grass. Not a single cloud floated in the light blue sky, bringing the promise of warmth and light. This promise was to the lake, and the territories surrounding. The lake itself was glimmering in the fresh light, reflecting its beauty across the land. The moorlands slopped lazily upwards and downwards, making a perfect land for wandering across. The forest had long, leafy branches, making nice, cool shadows, to shelter from the sun. The river looked pristine and gorgeous, and the marsh beside it hardly looked muddy at all. All of the territories looked brilliant for catching prey. However, the sinister pine forest seemed to be hidden from the promise of light, and the tall trees and thick branches created shadows across the lake, and what little gaps of light that shone through, seemed to be drowned out by the overwhelming darkness, creating a terrifying, yet intriguing place for animals to live.

Well, it seemed to have peaked Heather's interest at least.

However, for one little cat, the bright sunny morning was not what she was thinking at this moment. Zoë was this small cats name, and she lived a rather quiet life, and she was used to the regular routine; see humans, sit at the transparent-rock, sleep, see humans, sit at the transparent-rock, sleep, and so on and on. However, something had concerned her. Two of her nemeses, Michael and Luke, had gone out looking for an old legend, the legend of the ghost cat, but had not returned. Thinking back to the legend, Zoë desperately recalled the way it went...

'On the thirteenth year of the two-thousandth centaury, on a random day, the ghost of the wolf will strike at ten, and bring fear to those who witness it....'

Shaking her head, Zoë cleared her thoughts, disregarding the rest of the legend, due to the fact that she couldn't remember the rest of it. Sighing and stretching, Zoë took in her surroundings once again, the four blank walls, the green pelt floor, the door on the far side of the room, slightly ajar, and the door closest to her, which lead to the moorland outside, was always kept wide open. The fresh scents of growing things wafted into the room, but there was a lack of two certain scents, which concerned her.

'They left yesterday, they should be back by now, unless....'

Gulping, Zoë jumped down onto the soft green pelt and wandered over to the door on the far side of the room. Stealing a glance back, Zoë noticed there were two figures stumbling across the moorland, towards the house she was in. Her eyes widening, Zoë shot through the door that was slightly open beside her.

"Heather!" she gasped towards a small, mousy she who was sitting in the middle of the room.

Her head whipped around, her chocolate-brown eyes full of concern. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"No time to explain, just follow me- quick!" she replied and shot back out the door, leaving Heather to follow desperately behind.

Sprinting out of the door to the moorland, she instantly ran towards the two figures, which were now on their sides, possibly unconscious. A cold pit formed at the bottom of her stomach as Zoë dashed up to the two figures, her mind set on thinking that it was just two rogue cats. She was wrong. They were Michael and Luke.

"Heather!" Zoë called back, her friend dashing to her side, staring in horror at the two cats' wounds. "What do we do?"

"Uh.... Oh! Here." she turned around and jumped a few feet away, before returning with a few scraps of cobwebs, and pressing them onto their wounds, helping the flow of blood stop, and to clot. "Ok, good." she sighed, tossing the cobwebs aside.

"How did you know that?" Zoë asked, tilting her head slightly at Heather.

"The humans taught me!" she replied with a smile.

Zoë gave a slight laugh. "Of course, it's the humans that taught you."

There was a slow groan from one of the toms at their paws. "Just rest for now, ok?" Heather smiled, placing her paw on the blonde cats shoulder, prompting him to just rest for now.

"Anyway, I'm glad to see that they're not hurt." Zoë sighed, gazing between the blonde and black toms. "Well, not too badly."

Silence fell between them as they kept watch over the two toms, making sure no predators snuck up on them. A familiar scent suddenly filled Zoë's nose, and before she could think, she was pinned to the ground, a claw at her throat by a muscular blonde tom.

"Hey what are you-" Heather began, but the tom simply pushed off of Zoë and tackled Heather to the ground.

"I should have known you would attack them!" the tom hissed towards them, quickly flipping and pinning Heather and Zoë under his large paws. "Oh course you would attack them when you saw the chance! Well, I caught you, so now; I'm going to make you pay for hurting them!"

Digging his claws in, the tom seemed ready to kill the she's for allegedly harming his friends. Fear chilling her bones, Zoë closed her eyes and braced herself for the final crushing blow from the enraged tom’s claws. There was a sudden outraged yowl followed by a series of enraged screeching. Opening her eyes and rolling onto her paws, Zoë realised that the tom was attacked by another tom.

Heather and Zoë quickly dashed up to the fighting ball of fur and claws, and drew the two cats aside. The new tom appeared to be significantly smaller than the first one, but his eyes seemed to flash with anger, and he also seemed to be very familiar to Zoë.

"William, what in the world do you think you're doing?!" the shorter tom hissed towards the other, his glare burning right into him.

"Dealing justice!" the tom named 'William' retorted angrily, wriggling desperately to try and escape Heathers tight grasp on his scruff. "Like you would know anything about playing fair, Cameron!"

There was a low grumble from behind, and Zoë instinctively dropped the short tom and turned around, expecting to see a fox or a badger, so she sank her claws into the ground and bared her teeth.

"William, you fool..." the growl came from Michael, his voice weak as he desperately stumbled onto four paws. "They didn't attack us." he spat venom towards the foolish tom, his gaze burning right through him.

Michael then angrily flicked his tail, and turned to help Luke up to his paws, but ended up stumbling to the ground again. Blinking, Zoë watched as Cameron rushed up to the toms, to desperately try to help them both up, but to no avail. William watched the others for a moment, before padding off leaving the problem to them.

"Jeez, what got under his fur?" Heather whispered to Zoë. "Anyway." she spoke a bit louder. "Here." Heather padded up to Cameron. The poor tom was desperately trying to drag his friend to his paws, but his short size made it practically impossible. Grasping Michael's scruff, Heather placed him onto his paws, and the tom instantly began to fall. Luckily, Heather was there, supporting the weakened tom, preventing him from falling back onto the ground for the fourth time.

A soft growl could be heard coming from the blonde tom, his brown eyes cold with anger as he was forced to lean against a cat he hates.

"Michael, it's not far, the homes are just over there." Zoë pointed with her tail over the landscape, towards the houses, indicating that it was not far. It struck her that is was a lot further than previously thought. "Just hang on, mouse-brain." she scolded herself quietly, and glanced around, then suddenly noticed there was a rather large shrub nearby, which looked rather out of place in the mostly-barren landscape, and made her think how she missed it. "Come on, let’s just rest over there."

Steadily walking over, with Zoë and Heather by his side, Michael was soon laying in the shade, his aching muscles finally at ease, even if it were for a short time only. Luke, however, was not as easy to get standing up. He had taken a rather large beating to his head, and seemed to be steadily unconscious, showing no signs of waking any time soon.

'Come on, you fur ball, get up!' Zoë thought desperately, and there was a sudden sound of a cracking twig behind them, where Michael lay.'Crap!'

Jumping around and unsheathing her claws, Zoë looked over in Michael's direction, and saw a dark shape standing over Michael, scarlet blood drawing right up his forelegs, it's light blue eyes shining with pride at the kill. Shock and rage ran right through her body and she felt herself beginning to dash forward, her claws carving deep grooves into the grass, and tears of rage clouding her eyes.

"Wait, stop!" Heather's desperate cries were drowned out by her overwhelming rage. Leaping forward, Zoë felt her claws connect with rough fur and muscle, as she barrelled the cat over, violently tearing fur off its shoulders and flank.

Finally brushing her tears out of her eyes, she noticed she had pinned down a rather large, jet black tom with warm blue eyes. A smile snuck along the cats face, and she noticed, his paws were not drenched with blood, and Michael seemed to be as the others had left him.

The jet black tom gave a short laugh. "Hey, you're pretty strong for a kittypet!" the tom snickered; his voice seemed gentle and smooth. "I was watching you in the trees, and I saw this guy lying in the grass, I just wanted to see how scratched up he was."

Stepping off of the tom, Zoë's gaze swept over the tom. "Who are you? Why have I never seen you ever seen you before? Do you belong to the humans too?"

"I'm Crow, and I don't like living with the twolegs. That life just doesn't quite suit my fancy. Out here, there are no restrictions, no boundaries, no one to rely on, and no one to boss you around." the tom answered happily.

"A rogue!" she hissed in surprise, sinking her claws into the grass.

"A loner to be specific." Crow smiled. "But I'm not like others though. I don't see the point in harming other cats."

There was a soft cough from behind them, and Michael slowly lifted his head up to face them. Blinking, his eyes remained glazed with weariness for a moment before opening wide. "Where's Luke?!" his head swivelled around like an owls as he desperately tried to spot his best friend, and his fear only grew from there. "Luke?!"

Zoë opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted. "Zoë!" the sharp hiss came from Heather, not too far away, with the still. "I can't carry him myself; you do know that, mouse-brain!"

Zoë felt her flesh flush hot as she ran up towards her friend. As soon as she arrived, she realised the loner was still by her side.

"What, did you think I'd leave you to carry this heavy kittypet by yourselves?" he chuckled, and Zoë realised that Luke was barely conscious, and glaring right at Crow. "I'm not taking back what I said."

"You're lucky I'm hurt, otherwise your throat would be torn out by now!" the tom hissed wearily back, desperately trying to get to his paws, but when he fell, he knocked himself unconscious once more.

"It seems his skull is as heavy as his body weight!" Crow laughed, sauntering over to the unconscious tom, and grasping his scruff in his strong jaw.

"Need any help?" Heather asked, but the loner shook his head slightly, easily carrying the unconscious kittypet within his jaws. They swiftly made it over to the tree where Michael was laying, and laid him down next to him in the shade.

Crow's eyes wandered over to the lake, where a small tom happened to be. "It's been a pleasure to get to know you all, but I have to go now. I swear I'll come see you again soon." Crow turned and told the small group, before giving a childish grin, and swiftly dashing off to the lake, and eventually, out of view.

"Are you alright?" Zoë turned and asked Michael, and the tom lifted his head up to face her, but remained silent for a moment. "Hello? Anyone home?" she tapped his forehead with her tail, but he still remained unresponsive.

"I'm fine." he snapped suddenly, taking everyone off guard by his hostility.

"Are you sure?" Heather cut in, her gaze confused by his sudden anger.

Michael gazed over to her; his eyes seemed to hold unbearable sadness, before desperately trying to stand up, but falling over. Hopping up and trotting over, Zoë inspected the wounded tom’s legs. They had been violently clawed around the leg joints and shoulders, and it looked like he would never be able to run or walk properly for a while. Though Heather had done her best to patch it up with cobwebs and marigold, they still seemed to bleed through them, and had seemed to have just made it worse by attempting to stand.

"What were you even attacked by?" Zoë asked, gazing across Luke's and Michael's wounds with concern, beginning to piece together what it might have been, but Michael stayed silent. "Do you even remember?" Michael remained unresponsive once again, staring at the grass, and pulled his legs closer to himself, fear clouding his eyes. "Sorry...." Zoë apologised, seeing that she had brought back bad memories.

"I.... I think I was attacked by....." Michael paused, his eyes clouding over with sudden weariness, he lifted his head up slightly, before his eyes opened wide with terror, then his head suddenly thudded onto the grass. Looking in the direction that he had looked before fainting, she saw Crow standing, confusion in his eyes.

"Did I do something wrong?" Crow asked with a slightly muffled tone, wandering over, and Zoë suddenly noticed something in-between his jaws. A mouse, a big, fat juicy mouse. Suddenly, Zoë remembered how hungry she was, since she ate last night, and had nothing so far that day. "Anyway, I was out hunting, and I thought I'd bring you guys something."

"Thanks!" Zoë rasped hungrily, standing up, and stretching her legs.

"Is it ok if I got some?" Heather asked politely, wandering up to Zoë's side.

"Well, there's plenty more where that came from!" came a new voice from behind Crow. The tom wandered round, and it turned out to be Cameron.

"I wondered where you ran off to!" Zoë purred happily, relieved to see her friend again.

"Yup. This little guy got that mouse all by himself." Crow chuckled. "I hardly noticed it just sitting there, oblivious to reality itself." he laughed, his tail brushing over Cameron's shoulders, and the little tom had his chest puffed out with pride. "You might turn out to be a half-decent hunter after all!" Crow chuckled, and Cameron simply rolled his eyes, before walking over to Michael and Luke.

"Hey, Michael, you doing ok?" Cameron smiled towards his half-conscious friend. "There's some food over here, if you want something."

Michael shrugged, before pushing himself onto and upright position, flinching slightly from the pain. Smiling, and tearing off a bit of mouse and bringing it to Michael, Cameron padded slowly over to the sleeping form of Luke lying on the ground.

"Is he ok?" Crow asked, raising an eyebrow of concern towards the tom.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Cameron smiled, stepping away from Luke, and over to the mouse. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Us? I guess. Don't you want some?" Zoë asked the friendly tom.

"Nah, I had some mouse while hunting. You guys go ahead and eat up." he replied with a smile.

Smiling back, Zoë and Heather took a small bite out of the flesh, the delicious taste filling her mouth. Swiftly swallowing it, she took another bite, and there was a huff of amusement from Heather beside her.

"Leave some for me, will ya'!" she yelped playfully, hitting Zoë's ear with her tail. Suddenly, Zoë realised she had eaten most of the mouse on her own, leaving heather to have practically nothing. Her face flushing hot, Zoë brushed her tail across her face, but Heather rolled her eyes before giving a soft smile. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

Stepping away, Zoë wandered towards the aggravated blonde tom, which was now sitting up, and glancing to the black tom beside him, who was beginning to stir.

"I'm glad to see you're ok." Zoë meowed softly, approaching the tom.

"Like I would care what you had to say." the tom shot back, turning to his friend, refusing to make eye contact.

Zoë remained silent, and wandered over to Cameron. "Hey, why did you leave earlier anyway?"

"What are you talking about?" Cameron asked. "I wasn't near here up until now."

"But, we saw you, unless....." she trailed off, glancing around. Worry and fear entered her tone as the final piece fitted into place in her head. "We have to get home."

"What?" Heather shot over, her gaze confused and bewildered.

"We have to go home, NOW!" she repeated louder, feeling the adrenaline from fear pump through her.

"But what about-" Michael began, but was cut off when Crow lunged forward, picked up Luke and made a mad dash towards the houses. It was obvious he had figured it out as well. "What are you doing?!" Michael howled with rage, charging after the rogue.

"Heather, Cameron, let’s go, FAST!" she yelled, feeling something circle around them, and without waiting for them to reply, Zoë quickly shot off after Crow.

She was suddenly even more afraid as a thought entered her mind.'What happens if that thing catches up to them? You're going to abandon your friends because of your own cowardice...'

It was there, she knew it. The thing that hurt Michael and Luke, and could possibly harm her other friends. Sure, she wasn't friends with those two, but she won’t let this thing get away with attacking them, and hold the threat of further attacks. Fear blistering through her, she closed her eyes tight, and violently dug her claws into the earth and forced herself to turn around, blood pounding in her ears. She knew it was right in front of her, but she kept her eyes closed anyway.

"I won’t let you hurt my friends!" she cried, leaping at her foe, feeling her claws connect with fur. When she finally opened her eyes, she realised she was on the shoulder of a gigantic, jet black panther, with a single white paw. "Oh dear." she whimpered as the beast easily tossed her aside, and placed its paw on her chest, trapping her underneath.

"Zoë!" she heard her other two friends cry out, and she noticed Cameron and Heather rushing towards her.

The beast lifted its head up to face it's new foes, and let out an aggravated hiss, before letting Zoë go and dashing off into the shadows, disappearing just as quickly as it arrived.

Gasping for breath, she could hardly process what had just transpired. Her eyes wide, she stumbled to her paws, desperately trying not to fall back down.

"Are you O.K?!" Heather gasped, seeing her friend still shivering from shock and fear.

"I... I'm fine." she replied, her shaking voice was still not stabilizing. She cleared her throat, attempting to make her voice stutter less. "Now, we need to get back to the house, and check if Luke and Michael are O.K, and not me. I'm fine."

"Are you sure you're O.K?" Cameron asked, his eyes filled with concern.

"As I said before, I'm fine." she repeated, walking back to the direction of the house. "We'd best go, before that thing comes back."

Heather glanced to Cameron, before following them back down the hills, towards their home.

By the time they returned, it was around dusk, with the sun casting a beautiful orange and lavender colour across the sky.

As soon as they were by the door to the house, the humans let out a shocked yowl, before dashing towards them, and picking them up harshly, squeezing the life out of them.

"You.... can put me down.... now...." Cameron gasped through the grasp of the human, violently struggling against its powerful arms.

Zoë let out a soft chuckle, having been spared the torture, and wandered up to the humans, and rubbed her head against its leg. The human let out a high-pitched squeak, before dropping Cameron, and bending down.

"Maybe next time!" Zoë grinned as she dashed out of the human’s way. "C'mon Cammy!"

They both quickly bolted out of the back door and went a few feet to the side of it, concealing them behind it. Silence filled the gap between the two cats as they gazed up into the ever-darkening sky.

"Today was sure interesting!" Cameron attempted to start small talk.

Zoë blinked at the tom for a moment, before turning away, facing Michael and Luke's house.

"What's up?" the small tom asked, stepping closer to her side, his eyes were showing only concern for her friends. "Is it about the thing that chased you?" Zoë remained silent, almost as if she couldn't hear Cameron at all. "It's ok; you can tell me about everything. I won’t tell anyone. You can trust me."

Zoë let out a soft sigh, and turned her brown gaze over her friend. How can I tell him about that thing and how... familiar it looked... I swear I've seen that thing somewhere before.....but where?

Zoë turned away again, her head filled with all sorts of theories that would explain her knowledge of the gigantic feline. She looked up towards the sky and her jaw dropped open, her worries vanishing in an instant. The sky was an absolutely gorgeous shade of orange, with the odd clouds being a deep red, making it look like the clouds were alight with fire.

"Wow..." Cameron breathed beside her, but his gaze was fixed on Zoë`s pelt, which under the light of the blazing sky, made her look like her pelt was ablaze as well. His eyes trailed back to the sunset, after mesmerizing at the gorgeous she-cat beside her. "I have a feeling that this sunset is nothing like the other ones." He purred softly, before turning back to the sky and let out a loud yawn. "I'm gonna catch myself some sleep. It'll be my second successful catch today!" he smiled, before reluctantly turning away and walking back into the house.

As the sky turned from blazing orange to lilac, to deep blue, the first stars began to show, like eyes, Zoë felt them stare down on her softly, their warm gaze melting all fears and securing a sense of safety. A cold wind blew across the lake towards the row of homes, and all the animals in the grass dashed quickly into their burrows to escape the cold gales. The wind quickly became harsher, lashing relentlessly at anything in its path. Despite this, Zoë was determined to stay outside for a few more minutes and watch all the stars come out, since it was the full moon. Movement at the shore suddenly caught her attention, as she spotted a large group of animals hopping across a fallen tree which led to an island.

Standing up, Zoë felt her paws itching with curiosity. She took a casual step forward, but was almost tossed off her paws by a particularly harsh gale.

'Jeez, fine, I won’t check it out, if you don't want me to see that bad...' she thought bitterly as she turned around and walked into the house, leaving the cold air behind her and entering the warmth.

Darkness welcomed her, with a faint glow from the door on the other side of the room, but it was eerily quiet as well. Zoë welcomed the silence and warmth as she padded over to the corner of the room, where a small box sat with a small pillow inside it. Though it wasn't the prettiest of all beds, it was rather comfortable, and that's all that mattered to Zoë as she coiled into her bed. The door beside her gently opened and light leaked through. A human walked in as quietly as possible, and made sure Zoë was in her bed. Smiling, the human stood up and walked over to the far side of the room, where the open door sat, wide open to the moorland, allowing the occasional gust to enter the cosy home. The human got a firm hold of the door and slid it shut, and walked back across the room and closed the door over slightly.

Zoë gave a soft smile before closing her eyes, allowing herself to delve into soothing darkness.

Zoë felt herself in a forest, her pelt studded with stars. The large trees around her seemed welcoming, and the undergrowth looked strangely familiar, like she had lived here before. She began to pad slowly, looking at every bud on the trees, every blade of grass, recognising it all, like she had seen it all before. Before long, she was at a deep groove in the ground, a camp. Her eyes scanned across the cliff, and she padded up to it, and peered down. Dens build from branches and moss lay around the clearing, with a roof of honeysuckle bush lying over the den walls. In the centre, there was a tom sitting, his pelt like flames, and his emerald-green eyes stared into the near-distance.

She bundled up her muscles and leapt down to the clearing below, her paws landing gently on the soft soil. The toms head whipped around instantly to face directly at her.

"Go away. You're not welcome here, scourge!" the tom snarled at her.

"What? What are you talking about?" Zoë asked in confusion at the tom's hostility.

The tom hopped up and stormed up to her, his eyes staring just past her.

"Get out, scourge!" he repeated, anger rising in his tone.

"Oh, you spoil sport...." a cold hiss ruffled Zoë's fur, and she turned around to see a shadowy figure standing right behind her. The figure had the loose resemblance to a cat, but barely older than twelve months. The cat’s eyes were like chips of ice, and his jet black fur matched the void in his pupils, except for a single white paw. Hung around its neck was a deep purple collar, and was studded with blood-stained teeth from all sorts of animals, but mainly cats' teeth. His eyes gazed down over Zoë, with slight friendly warmth, but all it did was drain all heat from her, and replace it with the cold chill of fear. "I come bearing a message, for the kittypet!" he spat the final word out as if it were bile, his eyes narrowing at the flaming tom behind her.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of me!" the flame-pelted tom defended Zoë, standing slightly in front of her.

"Fine. Have it your way." the black tom suddenly surrounded the flaming tom with a thick, black fog; making him inaudible and unviewable, leaving her alone with the evil tom. "Now, let's getting back to business."

"Well, what do you w-want?" Zoë tried to keep her voice steady, but it ended up cracking with fear.

"Why do you show fear? Fear is a sign of weakness" he spat, his eyes darkening with malice. "And if you do not stop showing weakness, I will have to beat it out of you, like your friends."

Zoë felt her paws turn to stone and she froze with fear. 'So this was the thing that attacked Michael and Luke....'

"Yes, they were rather weak, and so they had to be punished a lot more severely." a grin grew across his face. "It seems one will not be able to run for a while."

Rage built up inside of Zoë, and she violently lunged forwards, but the tom jumped back slightly, unfazed by her outburst. She violently swiped at his neck, but he neatly sidestepped, and sank his long claws down her shoulder, cutting three deep gouges out. Blood bubbled out and Zoë let out a yowl of anger and pain, and violently slammed into the tom, taking him by surprise. She violently sank her teeth right through his paw, the tom reeled back, and clawed down her face, narrowly avoiding her eye. She violently clawed one of his hind legs, and rammed him over, smashing him to the ground, and put a paw to his throat.

"You're not too bad for a kittypet...." the cat gasped his breathing hoarse and laboured.

"Of course I'd win. Its my dream." Zoë answered calmly, her ruffled fur lying flat again.

"Who says this is a dream." he hissed. "You'll see that when you wake up."

"But you said you wanted to tell me something. What was it?"

"You have to go to the others and believe the stars...." the tom said slowly, with a grin, then faded away, leaving her in utter darkness, alone.

Zoë woke with a start, pain riving from her shoulder and round her eye, surprising her greatly. She pushed herself to her paws and hopped over the side of her box, her shoulder barely able to support her weight. Her belly twisting with fear, Zoë limped through the door leading to a room where the humans usually stayed, and spotted her friends on the far side of the room, on the windowsill. Luckily, there were no humans to spot her injuries, but as soon as she set paw on the multi-coloured mat, Cameron's head whipped around, his eyes wide with concern and fear.

"What happened?!" he gasped, dashing over to her and looking at her wounds.

Zoë racked her brain for a good excuse. "I guess that the uh... the ..... um... the panther hurt me after all. I guess."

Cameron nodded gently, and went up to get her other friends. Before long, her friends, Heather and Lauren were down beside her, staring fearfully at her wounds.

"Guys, I'm fine. really." she reassured her friends, but they kept giving her uncertain glances. "Besides we shouldn't worry about my wounds, Luke and Michael got much worse ones."

"Speaking of those two." Lauren began, flicking her tail towards the door which leads into Zoë's room. "I think we should pay them a visit."

Zoë was suddenly taken back to what the tom had told her. 'Go to the others....' she recalled from her dream. '.... and believe in the stars...

"I'll go check!" Zoë blurted out, with all of her friends whipping around to look at her, their eyes as round as moons.

"You can't, you're hurt!" Cameron replied, voicing her other friends’ thoughts for them.

"I'm going. There is no debate." she replied calmly, and Cameron gave a soft sigh, obviously seeing that he wasn't getting through to her.

"I'll go with you then." Cameron concluded, glancing to the other two she cats, who nodded respectively.

"It's best to go check on them with one of their friends." Lauren said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"So it's settled. Zoë and Cameron will go check on Michael and Luke." Heather finished with a smile. "Now, be careful you." Heather flicked her tail gently across her shoulder, making her twitch slightly in pain.

"Coming?" Zoë asked, turning towards the door, glancing back, and waited for her companion to follow her.

Once he had hoped to her side, they continued through the door to her bedroom, and out to the moorlands. They padded along the springy heather which was still wet from the morning dew. Zoë shivered as she felt a presence lurking in her shadow and the cold memories of the evil tom stung in her mind.

"What's up?" Cameron asked, looking over to her.

"N.... Nothing..." Zoë said reluctantly. I can't tell him about the dream.

"So, what happened last night, did you have a nightmare or something?" Cameron asked curiously, and Zoë's ears dropped with frustration. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No.... It wasn't you." she seemed distracted as she saw a shape sitting in the shadows nearby, ice eyes staring right at her. Ok, this is getting ridiculous....

Cameron followed her gaze but nothing was there. "What was there?" he asked, turning back to her, but she had already picked up the pace, leaving him slightly behind. "Wait up!"

With the quickened pace, they soon arrived at Michael and Luke's garden. The house was much like Zoë's and Cameron's, if only small aesthetic changes.

"Michael! Luke!" Cameron called out, and the door creaked open, showing two sets of eyes.

"You can come out." Zoë reassured them. The glances seemed uncertain, but the door opened up a bit more and the two toms slid out. "We came to check on you." she added as they walked out. Zoë felt her heart thud as she looked at Michael, since even more cuts and claw-marks had somehow made their way onto his legs and flank. "What happened to you?" she asked softly, bounding over to Michael.

"I just had a dream and- wait." he paused, soaking in Zoë's clawed face and shoulder. "What happened to you?!"

"I had a dream as well...." she replied warily. “Did a black tom attack you and...."

"... The spots he clawed stayed on me when we woke." Luke and Michael finished in sync for her their eyes widening.

"So let me get this straight." Cameron began. "You three all dreamt about being attacked-"

"Brutally" Luke interrupted. "... Go on..."

Cameron rolled his eyes then continued. "You all dreamt of being attacked by the same cat and the cuts you received in the dream carried to real life, right?" he asked puzzled.

"I guess that's a simple way of putting it." Zoë admitted. "Except you missed the part where I kicked his muzzle into next week!" she chuckled, remembering having the cat lying underneath her paw.

"What?!" Michael and Luke gasped simultaneously. "How?!"

Zoë felt her flesh flush hot. She beat him because she cared for Michael so passionately that she wouldn't let anything harm him. "I guess he just made me angry, is all." she lied, keeping her voice in a nonchalant manor as she raised her paw and gazed at her claws.

There were a sudden outburst of voices and the group gazed up to a tall hill nearby where a rabbit bounded over, and was quickly followed by a full grown, deep grey tom, his paws thudding after the rabbit, in their direction. Cameron's eyes lit up and he dashed nimbly in front of the rabbit, blocking its exit, and the cat swiftly dispatched it.

The tom raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think kittypets could catch rabbits. Then again..." he sneered insultingly. "...I guess you and your pals must be spoon fed by twolegs so much that you catch stuff like this to let it rot- if you're not fat enough that you can catch one, that is."

Zoë felt her claws slip out and sink into the grass. "What did you say?" she hissed dangerously calm.

"What, deaf as well as fat?" he sneered again.

That was all it took to get the Zoë up and dashing towards the tom. He simply ducked into the short grass slightly, waiting for her to get close enough. Suddenly, she lunged forward, and before she could allow the tom to think, was on top of him, her claws raking down his hind legs.

With an angry screech, the tom shot out from underneath her, and spun around and began slashing at her flank. She neatly jumped back, just like the tom from her dream had done, and avoided his thorn-sharp claws. When the tom violently sprung forward, she neatly side-stepped and pinned the tom down underneath her paw. She suddenly felt a presence inside her paws, and she realised that the tom from her dream had guided her paws.

"You were saying?" Zoë hissed, slightly out of breath, the tom muttering insults underneath her paws.

There was a sharp call from over the hill. "Rockfrost! What's taking so long?!" a cinnamon tabby bounded over the top of the hill and paused when she saw Zoë standing on top of him. "Really."

"Don't just stand there, Swiftwing! Help me!" the tom howled angrily from underneath her paws.

The tabby padded over to the hot-headed tom, entertainment flaring in her eyes. "Really, Rockfrost? You seriously got beaten by a kittypet?"

Gently stepping off him, Zoë couldn't help but chuckle as the tom stood up with a small shed of heather lying on his head. He let out a huff of anger, picked up the rabbit and stormed off. "Thanks, kittypet." she smiled towards Zoë. "He needed a good beating. He was starting to think he was better than everyone, just because he was given his warrior name not too long ago." the she dipped her head, and Zoë returned the sign of respect, before she turned around and walked off in the direction that Rockfrost had walked.

Smiling, Zoë turned around and faced her friends. Their jaws were hanging open.

"What?" Zoë asked, confused by their faces.

"How did...." Michael began, but his breath faded from shock. "How did you do that?!"

Zoë gave a nervous laugh. "Do what?" she gave a crooked grin.

"How did you learn to fight like that?" Cameron asked padding up to her, and padding around her, looking at her muscles.

"I guess I just did." Zoë looked down guiltily, and shifted her paws below her.

"Anyway" Cameron began. "I think we should probably head home now."

"Before any more trouble comes." Luke agreed with a curt nod.

After brief farewells, Zoë and Cameron stared heading back home, with Cameron on Zoë's left. She suddenly felt a presence on her right, and a soft pelt press into her, bringing the cold sting of fear.

"This is only the beginning...." the soft purr of the black tom hummed in her ear, creating a sense of security within the bitter fear.

'... and I hope it doesn't end soon, Scourge....' she replied in her thoughts, a crooked grin running along her face.

Author's Note

Yeah, the reason Michael in this gets cuts around his leg joins is because Michael, my friend in real life, fell down a hill and frigged up his knees and can't do P.E..... lucky.... he said he was crying, but I can't really imagine him crying though..... he's too cool.....