You have to unsheathe your claws! Ivypool thought anxiously This isn’t a ThunderClan training exercise.

Ratscar crouched and leaped for Blossomfall; she dived underneath him, but at the last moment he twisted in the air and landed on her haunches, sinking his teeth into the base of her tail. Blossomfall yowled in pain and shock. The Shadow Clan warrior had pinned her down again, and this time Blossomfall couldn’t free herself. She struck out blindly at Ratscar’s head and shoulders, but Ivypool could tell that her blows were growing weaker.

Ivypool couldn’t watch her Clanmate being torn to pieces by the bigger, more experienced ShadowClan cat. She darted forward, thrusting her shoulders against Ratscar and rolling him off Blossomfall, raking his ears with her claws as she did so. Ratscar turned on her with a disbelieving snarl as Blossomfall stumbled to her paws.

“Stop!” Brokenstar’s voice rang out across the clearing before Ratscar could strike another blow.

All three cats froze as the black cat paced across the open ground to join them. Dismissing Ratscar with a flick of his ears, he loomed over Ivypool and fixed her with a baleful amber gaze. “Just what do you think you were doing?” His voice was low, but the menace in it made Ivypool tremble from ears to paws. “What gives you the right to interfere?”

Striving not to show how frightened she was, Ivypool lifted her head and returned glare for glare. “We’re loyal to one another, right?” A gush of genuine anger began to drive out her fear. “Should we stand by like cowards and let one another be defeated in battle?”

Brokenstar narrowed his eyes; every hair on his pelt was proclaiming his distrust of her. “You saved your Clanmate,” he pointed out.

“Here, they are all my Clanmates,” Ivypool retorted. StarClan, let him believe me! “I don’t see why an apprentice should be lost on her first visit.”

Brokenstar stood still for a moment more, his gaze boring into her, then let out a snort and stepped aside. Ivypool was left facing Blossomfall.

“You didn’t have to do that,” the tortoiseshell warrior hissed, smoothing her ripped fur. “I could have beaten Ratscar in the end.”

And hedgehogs can fly, Ivypool thought. Turning away, she spotted a brown tom in the group of Dark Forest cats and recognized him by his one black ear.

“Antpelt!” she exclaimed, bounding over to him. “I didn’t see you there. It’s great that you’re okay.”

The WindClan warrior’s wounds had healed, leaving long scars that sliced across his back and throat, but he looked strong and free from pain. He gave Ivypool a puzzled look. “This is my home now,” he meowed.

For a heartbeat Ivypool didn’t understand him; then she felt as though she had fallen into an icy stream. “You—you died?” she gasped.

Antpelt shrugged. “You can see it that way if you want.”

“Did you choose to come here?” Ivypool asked, trying to keep the shock out of her voice. I liked Antpelt! He doesn’t belong with these evil cats.