From the far side of the Dark Forest, Mapleshade's own anger seethed with bitter promises. The sharp, eerie caws from the Starless Callers, spectral forms that resembled crows, still lingered in the air. Their duty was simple and essential, somehow sacred in the eyes of the Dark Forest. They announce the arrival of new spirits that have been claimed by the Place of No Stars with their haunting cries. The dark sky that never held a single star, usually so silent, becomes alive with the welcoming song of the Starless Callers. All spirits from every corner of the Dark Forest will hear their voices and know.

They still sang even as Mapleshade vowed to never let her vengeance rest. Her loathing was rivaled only by her grief, still an inflamed, open wound that wept fresh blood. Her mind was on the faces of her kits, and despite the venomous potency in her resentment, it quickly melted with the agony of loss. Oh how she missed her kits! She had avenged and freed their spirits but how she wished she could see them! Swear to them that she will never stop seeking the justice they deserved but were denied.

The Dark Forest heard that.

Both mother and daughter were ripe with beautiful, unadulterated hatred. They were perfectly in sync, yet oblivious to their shared fate. They shared the exact same thoughts at the exact same time. While the Dark Forest bore no stars, it was home to the Red Moon, that, once full, its glow would stain the skies like blood.

And tonight was such a night.

Both moons from the living and dead were aligned in mock harmony. While the living moon bore witness to Gatherings at moonhigh, its sinister twin, the Red Moon, simply listened to the forsaken curse StarClan. It heard every uttered whisper and vindictive thought.

Mapleshade and Petalkit were no exception.

Under its influence, it made the poison in their broken hearts bloom with a darkness that nearly devoured them. Their savage thoughts fed and nurtured the Dark Forest that flourished under the Red Moon's intensifying gaze. Both were longing for each other with matching wrath.

In their unified rage, Mapleshade had unknowingly created a powerful link between herself and Petalkit through the Dark Forest. Without meaning to, she had deepened their connection and made Petalkit's dreams much easier to be found and reached.

She had accidentally helped summon her daughter into the Dark Forest—on opposite sides of the Dark Lake.

The Dark Forest knew this. The Red Moon knew this. The Starless Callers knew this.

Mapleshade did not.

And neither did Petalkit.

The Red Moon's glow seared even brighter in response to the kit's arrival. Its illuminating light bathed the stripped, gray tree trunks surrounding her in scarlet. The song the Starless Callers had performed for Mapleshade had extended towards Petalkit, greeting her with a new chorus of ghostly caws. Their wails echoed all around Petalkit like some foreboding omen known only to them and the Dark Forest.

Unaware of being a shared secret, Petalkit was startled into consciousness by their raucous voices. Dizzy and disoriented, the little she-cat was confused to wake in such a strange and unfamiliar place. The Starless Callers' cries had hushed into hollow croaks and grew fainter as the Red Moon began to dim.

It was alarmingly quiet now.

Perhaps Petalkit should have been more disturbed, but curiosity proved to be the stronger force that made her rise to her paws. She had far too many questions to let fear take proper root. Wherever she was, the ground she walked on felt ancient and weirdly forbidden. Like she wasn't supposed to be here. She wasn't wrong in her assessment, but the Dark Forest wasn't going to confirm that for her. This was an age where the Place of No Stars was timelessly youthful and not nearly as populated. After receiving no reception—at least none that could be recognized—Petalkit was quick to wander around this seemingly barren plane. She should have been more afraid, but instead she found comfort in this baffling solitude. It didn't smell good here, but at least no one could hurt or take from her.

Being completely alone, Petalkit was convinced that she created her own dream world and that it all belonged to her. A place she could escape to, far, far away from the Clans where even StarClan couldn't find her. As she explored her new "territory," she encountered the Dark Lake, where it divided the Dark Forest into two halves. The water was pitch black and made the air around her feel heavy and suffocating, like it was trying to suck her in. Just looking at it made Petalkit's fur stand on end but she had to get to the other side. Despite her efforts to carefully navigate around the lake, she slipped and fell.

It was cold and thick like honey. Every movement was laborious, her body tangled in invisible reeds, and every tiny moment claiming to be her last. It felt like eternity. Little did she know, this was because time moved slowly underwater and what passed as heartbeats were actually seasons upon seasons.

Terrified and even more traumatized than her last drowning experience, she finally managed to break through the surface and drag herself onto land.

Only she wasn't in the Dark Forest anymore.

She was back in the living world crawling out of a modest little pond. Her claws had turned obsidian black, gleaming like wet, polished stone and she did not recognize where she was. Everything looked and felt different—wrong.

At that moment, a ThunderClan patrol was approaching and Petalkit quickly hid in fright. She didn't stay long to see what the commotion was, but before she turned away, she caught sight of what looked like three warriors crowding around a motionless shape on the ground. The distracted Clan cats didn't even notice her slipping away, far too distraught at their horrific discovery. Among them was a young Tigerclaw frozen in shock at the sight of his slain mentor. The newly made dark tabby warrior was devastated, fiercely rejecting any attempted consolation from his Clan mates Whitestorm and Bluefur.

But his story remained unknown to Petalkit.

The little she-cat was racing away to frantically find anything recognizable.

Her frenzied search was in vain.

Everywhere she looked was met with disappointment after disappointment and growing distress. Even the place where Petalkit had buried her mother had completely changed. Different landscape, different plants, different scents, and her mother was gone! As if she never existed.

Panic gripping her, she fled back into her dreams to reach the Dark Forest, desperate to escape this harrowing experience. Overwhelmed and shaking with terror, Petalkit feared sleep would never come—until fatigue won.

Kraaw-Kraaah!

Petalkit was relieved to at least hear something familiar. But that small mercy was short-lived the moment she opened her eyes.

Her dream world had also changed.

The Red Moon looked fainter, paler and its ominous glow was absent. The tall, gloomy trees looming over her drained of all color and its twisting branches lost in a dull fog. It was darker now, the light dim and sickly, accompanied only by the creepy glow of fungi. The forest's rotten stench had grown stronger and even more rancid, stinging both her nose and tongue with its sour taste. Even the swirling mist around her paws wasn't the same!

The Starless Callers had played their part, their departing crooning fading as they abandoned the terrified little she-cat.

Everything moved on without her.

Greatly disturbed, Petalkit began to scout her newly transformed "territory" as she anxiously made her way back to the Dark Lake in hopes she could return to the world she knew. But the shadowed waters had only grown more massive and menacing. Petalkit didn't dare try going in a second time, fearful of drowning again and never coming back. Whatever was on the other side was beyond her reach, separated by the expanse of that vile lake.

Wherever—whenever she was. She was stuck.

Alone.

She stared down at her wobbling paws where her new, raven-black claws dug into the damp, rotten earth. She blinked as she slid them in and out in disbelief. Were these really hers? At least they were pretty and shiny…

Then, Petalkit sensed an intruder.

To her surprise, her fear was snuffed out but a sudden flash of hot, white anger.

Who was it!? Oakstar? Frecklewish? Ravenwing? Or was it her mouse-hearted father?

It didn't matter who or what they were, she didn't care. What was there left to care about? What else could be scarier than drowning? She was ready to fight and got to higher ground. It was her turn to hurt someone!

And this is how Thistleclaw discovers Petalkit.

And how did she greet him? With all glistening black claws out and launching herself at him.

"Get out of my territory!"

To say Thistleclaw was shocked would be an understatement. He had just died by the claws of a RiverClan patrol, became a new Dark Forest resident, and was immediately attacked—by a kit! A kit! And the angriest kit he had ever seen at that.

The furious little kit had dropped down onto his neck, right at the fresh scar that marked his throat and split his fur. Where she hoped would be painful. But even with all her killing intent and might, her tiny teeth couldn't break through the skin. This did not go unnoticed by Thistleclaw. He was impressed she was sharp enough to even think about aiming. Shaking her off with ease and batting her body away, he was amused to see her immediately trying to scramble back up to her paws. Some struggle, slipping and shaking, but the small kit stood tall in defiance with her sides heaving. She was spewing threatening words he was pretty sure no kit should know.

Intrigued now and wanting to test her resolve, Thistleclaw swiped at her in hopes to provoke another attack. She did. Again, she got back up despite her small body trying to convince her otherwise. Thistleclaw respected that. She was no ordinary kit, and Thistleclaw realized he was staring at an opportunity that the stars would never grant him in life. A blank slate. The perfect apprentice to shape without limitation and free from the Clan's scrutiny. Free of the warrior code.

Thistleclaw asks for her name, but she snaps at him with all hackles raised saying she doesn't want to tell him. That gave Thistleclaw a chuckle. He thrust his face close to hers with a challenging glare just to see if she would flinch.

"Are you afraid of me?"

"No!"

"Then why can I smell your fear scent?"

"Er…" Petalkit shifted uneasily on her aching paws before glaring back. "Because!" She spat with renewed fury despite the tremble in her voice.

"I… I'll be scared later! I'm too angry now!"

Thistleclaw couldn't help but break into a laugh. She meant it!

"You'll be scared later?" He echoed with another bark of laughter. "And who has earned your wrath, little lion?"

Petalkit told him her story in a flurry of raw emotions. She told him about her family's exile and her Clan's treachery. How Oakstar, the ThunderClan leader as she claimed, had cast them out in the middle of a terrible storm, and the betrayal from cats she considered family. Her near-death experience in the flood, watching her brothers drown as she was carried off by a separate current. Thistleclaw learned the names of the traitors she despised, but he did not recognize them. He never heard of a Frecklewish being the daughter of the leader or the Clan's medicine cat Ravenwing. According to this kit, these named cats witnessed the disaster, saw Petalkit struggling in the water, and did nothing. Just watched with cold indifference from cats she thought loved her. That the medicine cat of all cats, had withdrawn his paw from the kit's reaching paw pleading for help.

Petalkit barely gave Thistleclaw the time to process what he was hearing. She then spoke of her father, and she had done so with such resentment that he could feel the sting of her hate. There was true disgust and loathing in her voice, hissing how he never came out to look for her or her brothers or mother. Instead, she had seen him attacking her mother when Petalkit was searching for her. Appledusk was his name? Thistleclaw swore he had heard that name before, but he let her continue her outrageous tale. Now this kit was telling him how she found her mother's body "sleeping forever" and had tried to bury her. The frustration in her eyes told him that she had not been satisfied with her attempt.

Thistleclaw was never a cat to care about his Clan history, and although unfamiliar with it, he did recognize Oakstar's name as Tigerclaw's kin. This puzzled him. The ThunderClan leader was Sunstar and he doubted that changed within the same day as his death. He couldn't fully tell if Petalkit was either delusional or lying.

Then early memories of his own nursery life resurfaced. He remembered the elders often trying to scare kits into obedience with Mapleshade's legend. How she, once a ThunderClan warrior, had taken a RivercCan mate, Appledusk and bore his half-Clan kits. However, when discovered, Oakstar had Mapleshade and her kits exiled from ThunderClan, which ultimately led to the drowning of her kits when trying to cross the river. Driven mad by grief, Mapleshade murdered the cats she blamed for her kits deaths, one of the victims being her mate, Appledusk. He knew there were three murders, but he had never heard names beyond Appledusk and Oakstar.

He had recalled Mapleshade herself, expressing deep resentment and a constant thirst for revenge, determined to make her mate's entire bloodline pay. Not that he cared to listen, but Mapleshade's open declarations of her eternal grudges were not easy to miss.

Thistleclaw gave the kit a skeptical look. She was eyeing him with her own distrust, ears flat.

"Who was your mother?" He demanded "What was her name?"

Petalkit tipped her head at his confrontation. "Mapleshade."

Thistleclaw stiffened with disbelief. She said it so naturally like she thought the question itself was silly to her.

"Tell the truth kit." Thistleclaw growled.

"I am!" Petalkit's fur fluffed out indignantly. "Mapleshade is my mama!"

Thistleclaw's eyes narrowed with growing suspicion, but his fur itched with an anticipation he didn't dare believe was real.

"You're lying…" He hissed.

"No I'm not!" Petalkit's tiny squeak was belligerent. Offended even. "You don't even know mama!"

Thistleclaw blinked. Actually. He did know Mapleshade very well. She had been training him in the Dark Forest for the past couple of moons in hopes she could sharpen him into becoming ThunderClan deputy—until he was killed. As a new resident, he had no doubt that the formidable she-cat had been informed of his arrival by the Starless Callers. He wondered if Mapleshade would come for him or simply expected him to make his way towards her. Either way, he had to make the most of the time he had to confirm the impossible.

"Your brothers," he started coolly. "What did you say their names were?"

"Patchkit and Larchkit! Why? You think I'm lying about them too?"

"Calm yourself, you flea-brained badger!"

"You calm down!"

Thistleclaw blinked, whiskers twitching. He surprised himself with an incredulous chuckle. Despite the dangerous flash in his eyes, his words did not bite as hard as he usually would.

"Did you just talk back to me?"

"Do I need to do it again?"

He should have hit her. He should have been furious. But Thistleclaw just grinned. He liked this kit's feisty fire! What a savage little, foolish thing! He took a closer look at this tiny, tenacious ball of fuzz, and noticed a familiar glint of claws shimmering like a beetle's shell.

"Unsheath your claws." He commanded.

"Are you going to let me scratch you?"

"No you mouse-brain!" Thistleclaw snapped, tempted to claw her. "Show me your claws!"

"You're the mouse-brain!"

And the small kit attacked. Thistleclaw got to briefly see—feel the prickle of tiny, glimmering thorn-sharp claws swiping his cheek before he cuffed her with barely sheathed claws. He sent her rolling into the mulchy grass with a whimper. When Thistleclaw approached however, she quickly suppressed it, trying to rub away the burn of tears in her eyes before they fell. Thistleclaw held her gaze, noting the glassy sheen in them that had sharpened with stubborn determination. There was a light trickle of bright scarlet crawling down her temple. This kit was alive and not a spirit. Yet… how did she possess the claws of the dead? Only Dark Forest spirits wield such claws with their blood dark as night and slick as oil.

Thistleclaw held her gaze, studying her golden eyes, still ringed with white and ordinary, while his were pitch-black pools of darkness, pupils smoldering like embers still clinging to charred blackened wood.

"How did you get those?" Thistleclaw gestured to her unsheathed, obsidian claws with his nose.

"What do you mean?"

"Your claws, you dense furball!"

"I fell into the lake stupid!" Petalkit spat back. "And your eyes are weird!"

Thistleclaw's fur bristled, patience quickly growing thin, but he did not strike. Because now things were absurdly starting to make sense.

"Tell me more," He said, suddenly calmer, something calculating in his amber eyes as he sat down.

"Show me where you fell." It wasn't a request.

"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my mama!"

"Fine, then you are a liar."

"I AM NOT!" Petalkit screeched with an agitated stomp. "But fine! I'll prove it!"

The little scrap of fur huffed, clumsily turned around, and stormed off. Thistleclaw followed, amused to see the kit stumble and trip on the rotten earth, but pushing forward out of spite. He could see her energy draining from her stubby legs, paws sluggish from exhaustion and puffing with exertion. Regardless, she kept persisting, trudging through the fog and stepping on dead ferns.

She led him to the very lake he had suspected. The Dark Lake. Thistleclaw knew of these haunted waters. Mapleshade had cautioned him about the curses born from the Dark Lake before, when she first started training him.

The fearsome Dark Forest she-cat had told him that the water will sap the life out of any cats who fell into its clutches. Many spirits have drowned in it, never to be seen again. Forever claimed by the Dark Forest feasting upon the unfortunate soul it has captured. But what if the cat didn't drown?

Looking at the little she-cat again, Thistleclaw dared to think of the inconceivable.

Could it be that the reason those cats were never seen again wasn't because they were consumed, but because they were carried off into a new time? It should be impossible. Yet Petalkit never showed any signs of deception.

Thistleclaw looked at the kit again. Through her weariness, her stance was resolute with hostile triumph. She really was telling the truth, wasn't she?

Petalkit was Mapleshade's only surviving kit.

"How did you get here…" Thistleclaw murmured, astonished.

The kit looked tired, dropping heavily onto her haunches, shuffling backwards to widen the distance between herself and the lake's edge.

"I went to sleep and dreamed." Petalkit explained, looking annoyed and batting idly at the dry leaves around her paws. "I don't want to be awake anymore" She muttered miserably, a whine stuck in her throat, but swallowed down. "Everything is so different now! I hate it!" Her voice grew more hushed, eyes darting around as if worried she'd be discovered.

"I'm hiding from StarClan." Petalkit admitted.

"StarClan?" Thistleclaw balked, coal-black eyes growing round.

Petalkit gave a nod with a sharp sniff. "It's all their fault!" She suddenly wailed, her voice scratchy. "They made everything go bad! They took Larchkit, Patchkit, and Mapleshade away from me because of their dumb code! They let Oakstar throw us out!" She viciously tore out a clump of scrubby grass and flung it hard. "It's stupid and not fair!"

Thistleclaw's ears perked up with interest.

"Do you hate the warrior code?" He purred with delight, amber eyes shining. Thistleclaw couldn't believe his luck.

"Yes! I want it gone forever and ever!" She shrieked, quivering with emotions far too big for her small body to handle. "StarClan and ThunderClan too! I want to hurt them!"

Thistleclaw felt victorious. This was too perfect! It was like the stars themselves were aligning just for him. Thistleclaw could see the hunger in her eyes craving for violence. This kit may not have realized it, but what she was truly thirsting for was bloodshed. And Thistleclaw was more than happy to nurture this little seed of carnage.

"I can teach you how." he offered smoothly.

Petalkit's head shot up, golden eyes big and glossy with tears held captive "Really?" She was staring up at him in awe.

Thistleclaw nodded. "I can train you to destroy them." He tested, watching the kit's reaction carefully. "Make you so powerful that even StarClan will fear you."

Petalkit brightened up, as if she suddenly decided she didn't hate him anymore. "You can make me big and scary?" She looked hopeful. "Scarier than a warrior?"

"The most terrifying cat the forest has ever seen." Thistleclaw assured, almost encouraging. "I can help you get your revenge—you do want to avenge your mother and brothers don't you?" He added with a coaxing tone. "ThunderClan did betray you after all."

"More than anything!" Petalkit squealed eagerly. "I want them all to pay! Every one of them!" She sprang to her paws with a new burst of energy. "Will you really teach me?" she pleaded. "Make them all scared of me? Make me terri…terri—"

"Terrifying?" Thistleclaw finished for her steadily. "I can."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"How do you know those names?"

Mapleshade's commanding words were laced with a threatening growl. The imposing she-cat had whipped around to seize Thistleclaw's gaze with her flaming, golden eyes.

Thistleclaw shrugged at her demand, trying to look as nonchalant as he possibly could.

"It's what I overheard. Those bee-brained ThunderClan elders are always rambling." he replied with a tilt of his head, as though ignorant. "Are those names significant?"

Mapleshade's blazing eyes kept Thistleclaw pinned in place as she loomed over him. The large she-cat's stare was dangerously intense and searching with suspicion. Only the twitch of his tail betrayed his unease.

"Those names belonged to my kits." Mapleshade growled low in her throat, but there was a hint of wistfulness in her voice. For a moment, her eyes grew distant with something old and long buried.

"No one has spoken of them since…"

"Since?" Thistleclaw prompted.

"Nevermind!" Mapleshade flashed her teeth in a snarl. "That is my business, Thistleclaw," she hissed hotly. "And you would do well to stay out of it."

Thistleclaw dipped his head apologetically. "Of course, Mapleshade." He mewed with practiced humility. "I meant nothing by it."

"Make sure it stays nothing." Mapleshade warned with measured menace. "Or I'll give you something to worry about." She promised with a voice of cold fire, slowly turning around to pad away.

"And remember, Thistleclaw," She called over her shoulder, before vanishing into the shadows and thick fog.

"I always keep my promises."

Thistleclaw kept his head bowed, watching her depart with a barely hidden smirk. Mapleshade has just confirmed everything to him. Now there was no doubt!

He had Mapleshade's kit and the legendary she-cat was clueless!

And Thistleclaw intended on keeping it that way. He would make a point of having the kit believe her mother's spirit had faded long ago, forever lost to her. Mapleshade's daughter was his now, and he would convince Petalkit that he was all she had left.

The kit hardly required any persuasion to agree to meet him every night in her dreams for training, starting tomorrow. Mapleshade's kit was overflowing with raw potential, and her complete rejection of the warrior code pleased him to no end. She was the opportunity he was denied in life, where too many eyes watched him and prevented everything he was trying to achieve with Tigerpaw. Bluefur's vigilance had enraged him the most, always disrupting how he wanted to train his apprentice!

But now? Nothing could stop him.

Petalkit had an undeniable appetite for battle and showed no interest in becoming an honorable warrior. She wanted to be feared. She wanted those who wronged her to suffer. She had been explicitly expressing her violent wishes, and Thistleclaw kept urging her towards something even darker.

She wanted to kill.

The Dark Forest tom was confident he could shape her into the perfect warrior—no, killer. His perfect killer. A killer loyal to him and knowing nothing else. Petalkit won't even recognize her own mother. She will be transformed into exactly what she wished to be—The most terrifying cat the forest has ever seen.

Thistleclaw's lips peeled back into a vicious grin of triumph.

I keep my promises, too Mapleshade.

And she has your eyes.