Wild Cats: Dark Shadows

This the cover of the book

This is the first book in the series.

The **main** protagonists in this book are Midnightpaw, Frostpaw, Willowpaw, and Misty.

## Chapters

### Prologue

Vinestar, a maroon tom-cat, walks around and then catches the scent of a mouse and hunts it he then eats it. Badgerclaw, a dark gray cat, walks throgh a bush waiting Vinestar to notice his presence because Badgerclaw needed to deliver an important message for him and when Vinestar notices Badgerclaw, Badgerclaw asks Vinestar to deliver the prophecy to Shadowstar. Vinestar is nervous and worried about delivering the prophecy, but he agrees to do it. The two cats sit down and talk for a little bit, but eventually, Badgerclaw disappears into the mist of his own world. Vinestar feels dizzy with excitement and nervousness as he heads towards Shadowstar so he can deliver the prophecy. He feels his hackles rising in fear and begins to worry about the prophecy and the heat of the sun thinking he won't make it in time. Vinestar then makes it to Shadowstar's dream and tells Shadowstar "**𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕾𝖍𝖆𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖘 𝖂𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖀𝖓𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖍 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖔𝖘 𝕺𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕮𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖘, 𝕭𝖚𝖙 𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝕮𝖆𝖙𝖘 𝖂𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝕽𝖎𝖘𝖊 𝕿𝖔 𝕱𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘.**" Vinestar then fades away when he told the prophecy, then it goes towards Chapter 1.

### Chapter 1

Midnightkit wakes up to the sounds of a nursery and hears Twilightpaw shout, "Get the moss-ball!" He races out of the nursery to play his favorite game, but almost crashes into his friend Willowkit. He sees his father, Shadowstar, staring at Willowkit in awe and runs over to greet his dad. Shadowstar ignores Midnightkit so Midnightkit races back to his game. He hears Mintkit say, "I think I saw two kits and a mother outside!” Mintkit mews, and the queen Marshsplash meows for them to come inside. Midnightkit is confused why someone would ask to be murdered in the Clan, but decides not to question anything. A few minutes later, a skinny queen and two weak kits stumble in camp with Ashfall and Snowstorm at their sides. The queen tells the kits (who are named Silentkit and Dawnkit) to follow her, and they follow her reluctantly.

Midnightkit, a young tom cat, is excited to become an apprentice in the next moon. He remembers the time when Oceantail asked for the LightningClan cats to murder her and snickers at the memory. The Clan is still wondering why Dapplestar cast out Oceantail, but she doesn't reveal anything. He goes to check on Mintkit and hears Rustfur say Mintkit had visions from SpiritClan, but he doesn't believe it. He checks on his mother, Nightwing, who caught a stomach ache and overhears Shadowstar ask Willowkit to come to his den. Midnightkit spies on Willowkit and learns Willowkit and seven other cats are part of a prophecy. Willowkit thinks Midnightkit looks scary and Shadowstar tells Midnightkit that he might be in the prophecy. Midnightkit asks if he will ever be a warrior and Shadowstar tells Willowkit and Midnightkit both have powers and they will become warriors. Shadowstar says Willowkit has a power to leap high and Midnightkit has one to enter shadows.

Midnightkit is named an apprentice by his father, Shadowstar. Midnightpaw and his brother, Mintpaw, attend a clan meeting where they receive their apprentice names. The Clan chants loudly, making Midnightpaw proud of himself. Midnightpaw and his mentor Tigerstripe explore the territory and go to the Flowing Stones.

Midnightpaw sniffs the air and catches the scent of a mouse and asks Tigerstripe if he can hunt for his first catch. Tigerstripe says yes and then Midnightpaw crouches low, wiggles his hindquarters, and pounces on a mouse. Midnightpaw suddenly wonders why it's dark. He catches a mouse and hears Tigerstripe approaching. Midnightpaw then enters the shadow of the mouse. Midnightpaw is scared and anxious after killing a mouse. Tigerstripe starts to worry about his eye problems after he saw a black mouse (Midnightpaw) kill another mouse. Tigerstripe leaves to check on Leafberry, Midnightpaw's still in the shadows and lets out a sigh of relief until he realizes Tigerstripe is leaving him. Midnightpaw almost was about to cry.

Midnightpaw then falls asleep then wakes up in his cat form and realizes he's late for his patrol. He races to the Warriors Den to make Tigerstripe and Shadowstar weren't gone. Stormclaw thought that DarkClan was invading because he was startled. Midnightpaw calms Stormclaw and drops a mouse on the fresh-kill pile. Midnightpaw checks on the kits making sure they aren't awake and asks Mintpaw about his training. Midnightpaw then fakes being sleepy and decides not to tell him about his powers.

Midnightpaw dreams about a dark forest, hearing a strange noise and feels his fur ripped off. He thinks he saw a cat and wakes up and then hides from the kits. He then walks slowly in a bush's shadow and disappears. Tigerstripe asks Midnightpaw to clean No-fur's ticks and replace his bedding, Midnightpaw gets annoyed but then Tigerstripe said Midnightpaw won't go on the noon patrol if he doesn't do it. Midnightpaw agrees to do it reluctantly, and he arrives at the other's den to clean the bedding. Midnightpaw and No-fur smell each other's stinky odors and argue, but eventually Midnightpaw settles on the task of replacing the wet moss with a drier moss. The wet moss is dragged out of camp outside by Midnightpaw's claw. Midnightpaw hears whispers from Clan about Moonpaw's "death" as an apprentice. Spottedtail blames it on him. Midnightpaw feels guilty for the camp flooding. He misses him. Midnightpaw is sad and lonely when he encounters a fox on the training grounds. He attacks it and slashes its muzzle and underbelly. The fox runs away, leaving Midnightpaw a bit better but tired. He collects moss from a tree and returns to Camp.

Midnightpaw returns tired and dreary. The clan is shocked by his bloodstained claws. He didn't kill anything, it was the fox that ran to SwirlClan though. Midnightpaw meets Mintpaw in the apprentice den, Mintpaw asks how he beat a fox and reveals he has powers. Mintpaw is surprised and tries to talk about him maybe getting a power. Midnightpaw goes to sleep. Midnightpaw wakes up and realizes Mintpaw is not there. He decides to eat a mouse from the fresh-kill pile but Tigerstripe tells him to give it to No-fur and Midnightpaw puts it in front of No-fur's paws. Midnightpaw and Ashfall join Tigerstripe's patrol to check if the fox is still there. Ashfall reveals how he became a warrior by training hard and being an excellent kitten, but Tigerstripe is not impressed. Tigerstripe tells Midnightpaw that Ashfall trekked through the forest and to climb the Great Oak, but as an apprentice Ashfall fell off several times due to being naughty and meowing. They laugh at each other's antics. Midnightpaw and Tigerstripe search for a fox, only to encounter a huge black and white creature that turns out to be a Badger. The Badger growls and attacks Midnightpaw, who is shocked to learn that badgers can kill cats like him. Tigerstripe fights and the Badger is wounded, but then a Spirit badger-cat like creature appears and then disappears along with the badger..

Midnightpaw starts feeling watched after the patrol. He eats a mouse alone and thinks about the badger-like cat. He walks into the apprentice den and dreams of a white cat with golden eyes. He wakes up to find himself on patrol with Foxclaw, Ashfall, Rustfur, Mintpaw and Flowerpaw. They patrol the DarkClan boundary but are stopped by a black she-cat and her apprentice. They fight and Midnightpaw engages a fight with Blackpaw fighting the patrol off. Flowerpaw expresses a desire to return to patrolling. The patrol continues to mark the border without encountering any more DarkClan cats. Rustfur believes they have finished marking the border. Midnightpaw is concerned about the messiness of the scent post markings and hopes DarkClan won't accuse them of crossing the border.