Chapter One

Acornkit’s first moon of life was quite uneventful. By the time he was two moons old and weaned, he gazed down at Weedstep’s one-moon-old kits and could hardly believe that he was once that size.

Fastkit, the big tom, always trailed after him, his gray pelt spiked with excitement.

His, small, little, and tiny siblings- you should guess their names- always were glued to their mother.

“WindClan is the best Clan, right, Fastsnarl?” Acornkit would ask the gray tom, though he used Fastkit’s made-up warrior name.

“Right, Acornstar!”

It was all like that until Morningkit arrived. Oakleaf moved into the nursery, expecting Webbedpelt’s kits, and then her and two other kits were born. One was dead at birth, and the other, Morningkit’s little sister Cloudkit, suffered from greencough and died.

Morningkit stole Fastkit from Acornkit, though he was older than both of them. Soon, he was three moons, Fastkit two moons, and Morningkit one moon. But, she was the popular one!

She’d lift her perfect nose into the air and stomp around, showing off the dark gray pelt she got from her “awesome” father.

Acornkit hated Morningkit. Okay, he envied her. However, he wasn’t going to let a she-kit like her get in the way. He didn’t care if she lost two siblings. She probably didn’t even remember.

“Morningkit, you’re going down,” he muttered under his breath, then angrily stomped toward her.

She was gossiping with the apprentices, as usual. Cherrypaw was leaning down to tell Morningkit something when Acornkit came.

“Go away,” he ordered Cherrypaw in his high-pitched, squeaky voice- which he disliked strongly.

Cherrypaw blinked. “Why should I?” she challenged.

“Because,” answered Acornkit, “I want you to. Now bye!”

The she-apprentice rolled her eyes and left. Morningkit spun around and glared at him. She opened her little perfect pink mouth, about to hotly say something, but then gaped. “You’re.... you’re really tall,” she stammered nervously.

“That’s right,” Acornkit replied, shoving his muzzle in her face. “And I don’t like how you stole my place in the nursery.”

“Uh, what?” Morningkit glanced the other way and shuffled her paws. “I didn’t steal anything. Please... pl... go.”

“Yes, you did!” Acornkit turned on her, snarling softly. “I don’t care about what you’ve lost or what you’ve gained, but I want you out of my territory, you hear?”

Morningkit hesitated, then slowly got up and steadily met his gaze. “Alright, Acornkit. But someday you will realize your mistake.”

“Whatever, just leave.” Acornkit said with an angry flick of his tail.