Spicekit awoke to the sound of cats yawning and sharing tongues. She got up and realized her sister had already left the nest to play with the other kits in the nursery.

     " Fox dung! Now I'll have to play the Thunderclan warrior..." , she scowled, then added gloomily, " like I always am..."

     " Hey! Mouse Heart! Over here!", meowed a familiar voice from within the clearing.

     Spicekit looked up and glared at her sister's smug face.

     "Oh look who decided to get up early? Listen, I don't really know why your getting up this early now, but you won't be needing to in a while... based on how mature you are, I think they'll probably postpone your apprentice ceremony.", hissed Spicekit, still glaring coldly at her sister. 

     " Wow... mouse-brained thing to say, Spicekit. You see, Cloverkit is my friend and if your going to test her, you're going to have to go through me!", squeaked Cloverkit's friend, Willowkit. 

     " Well I'd prefer to hang out with better cats so bye, sister, and farewell to your so called 'friend' , Willowkit.", she scowled, flicking her tail once, and padded away.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     When Spicekit got back to the nursery, her desperate glare at the floor turned into a more hopeful look as she heard the words she's been waiting for all day...

     " All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather underneath the clan rock for a clan meeting!", said the voice of her beloved clan leader, Berrystar.

     Almost at once, Honeyfang and Cloverkit pranced in, with opposite expressions. One of anxiety, and one of glee. 

     "Oh come on, Cloverkit, you need to be groomed! Your fur is a disaster and there's mud on your paws!", Honeyfang mewed anxiously.

     "But we don't have time! You heard her we have to go out there not stay in here!", Cloverkit protested grumpily, and her gleeful expression turned to a more annoyed one. 

     Honeyfang's gaze went from Cloverkit and then over to Spicekit, and her eyes widened. 

     " You two look terrible! Oh no... you'll embarrass yourself!", she meowed fretfully and Spicekit thought she heard her mutter, " and me..." , but she ignored it.

     " Let's go we don't have time now mom...", Spicekit mumbled.

     "Alright I suppose we have to now...", Honeyfang muttered irritably and led them outside and into the crowded clearing.

       Spicekit looked up at the completely dark Windclan sky, and sighed.

     "I knew they were wrong, the Elders. Always telling false stories...", Spicekit sniffed, feeling quite pleased with herself for proving the Elders wrong.

     They had told her many stories, of which their 'ancestors of Starclan'  watched over them day and night, but only at night could you see their glistening Silver pelts, which the Elders claimed it to be called 'Silverpelt'. Now, looking up at the plain navy sky, could see now that it was some kind of fairy tale.

    "The lies some cats tell... they should be telling us about the battles they fought, or the achievements they've won! But no! It has to be idiotic stories!", she hissed angrily.

     Spicekit heard paw steps behind her. She whipped around, and stood face to face with her mother, Honeyfang. 

     " What do you think you're doing out of bed this late?", Honeyfang meowed disapprovingly, " Off to your nest now, hurry on.", she sighed.

     Spicekit thought she looked very tired, but decided not to mention it in case Honeyfang lashed out on her, which was very likely to happen, seeing as to Spicekit woke her up with her loud scowling. They reached the nursery almost immediately.

     " Well then,", Honeyfang mewed sleepily, curling up into the cozy nest, " let us rest." , she meowed and then suddenly, they both fell asleep. 

 " Spicekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Spicepaw. Your mentor will be Leopardsplash. I hope that Leopardsplash will pass down all she knows to you.", Berrystar meowed, " Leopardsplash, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Stonepelt and you have shown yourself to be loyal and an excellent hunter. You will be the mentor of Spicepaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to this apprentice.", she mewed promptly. Spicepaw steppes forward and touched noses with her new mentor.

     " I promise I'll be the best mentor I can be.", she mewed softly.

     The leader turned to Cloverpaw, and at the same speed, repeated the ceremony. A stone grey kit looked up at her admiringly. She gazed down at him and was soon snapped into reality.

     "Spicepaw! Cloverpaw! Spicepaw! Cloverpaw!",  the cats meowed loudly and cheerfully. 

     Spicepaw felt hot with embarrassment and ducked her head down. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, that Cloverpaw did the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Spicepaw dropped into her new nest, looking exhausted. The other apprentices stared for a minute, but it didn't bother her. The thing that had actually bothered her was that none of them asked her if she was okay. But then again, what else did she  expect? She was used to this, or at least she liked to think she was, and she decided to ignore it. A few thoughts flooded into her head from earlier that day, and she couldn't get them out of her head... they had unexpectedly started training today, when they were supposed to be exploring their territory, and it didn't go well, according to her.

     "Excuse me? Spicepaw? we need to be training! Not looking of into the distance at Riverclan! You might as well be a Riverclan cat!" ... stupid, mouse-brained sister... " Yeah fish-face! Hmm... fish-face... good nickname for a cat like you!".... her friend too... and when I got back to camp... the cats looked at me like I was one of those monsters they see on the thunderpath... and one of them even asked, " what's your name again? Me and my friends over were looking at you and we didn't think we've ever seen you before..."... stupid STUPID!

     She kept thinking of her day over and over again, making her angrier and angrier until she fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     She woke up in her apprentice nest, which, was indeed, still new to her. She almost panicked though when she noticed that all the other apprentices, were gone. She searched everywhere she could in the den, then gave up and left. It was raining. Hard. She tried pushing through the storm, but it was useless. She was lifted off the ground for a brief second and was then thrown against a rock. She wasn't knocked unconscious though, which was kind of odd considering how hard she had been thrown, but she was definitely sore. Something then tore at her ear, as if they were trying to take it off, which, Spicepaw thought, they probably were. She screeched and yowled for help. The only thing she could still do. 

     "HELP PLEASE! HELP!", she yowled, panic stricken.

     Then... the wind stopped. The pain in her muscles stopped. Everything stopped. She looked around cautiously, as if something would attack her out of nowhere. She was almost scared half to death when a huge, fierce looking tom appeared in front of her, with stars glistening around him.

     "Hello, Spicepaw." , he mewed as if a storm did not just attack her. "I'm glad you turned up. We have a great matter to discuss. Follow me.", he meowed, making a gesture with his tail beckoning her to do what he does. They walked and walked until they got to four trees. That's when his expression changed from a slight smile, to an extremely worried type of look.

     "W-what is it? A-are you from Starclan? Is Starclan real?!?", Spicepaw stuttered, looking rather anxious.

    " Well,yes... but we have greater matters to discuss.", he meowed importantly, ignoring the worry now growing inside her, and her fear glazed eyes. " Remember this, and don't ever, ever, forget...", he stopped and waited until he had her full attention. "Darkness is coming, an unstoppable fate, the wind drowns in silence, and the cats in it fade...", he looked down at her once more before vanishing into darkness, " and stay away from them...", and he disappeared.