A TERRIFIC TAIL - CHAPTER FOUR

*Ottie's POV*

Finally! It was Friday night, school was over! No more waking up at six o'clock in the morning, well except for when I have swim meets. I flopped in my bed, ready to sleep in...

--=+=--

*Choose. Choose six people you want to bring...*

I rubbed my eyes, appearing in front of a row of pictures, some people I knew, some I didn't.

*Choose six...*

"To bring where?" I wondered aloud. No answer. I better do what they say.

I looked at all the pictures in front of me. I stopped at Leah's picture. I tapped the button under it. The button glowed green.

I continued, and stopped when I saw Noah and Luke's faces, right next to each other. I tapped the button underneath both of them.

After a couple of pictures, I stared at Morgan's smiling face. I needed a kind person on this trip to wherever we're going. I pressed the button. That was four.

*Two more left,* the voice whispered.

I ran all the way down to the end, looking at the pictures. I pushed the buttons underneath Isabelle and Ally's pictures, I needed the best friends to be with me.

*That's six!* The voice bellowed. *Go into the light...*

Go into the light? That did not sound good. But in a daze, I walked into the blinding lights...

--=+=--

My eyelids flew open, blurry. I blinked a couple more times, and looked around. A forest, leaves, grass. I looked down at my paws.

Wait. *Paws?*

My eyes darted to my chest. Instead of a flannel shirt, I saw light brown tabby fur. Whiskers waved in front of my eyes.

I was a cat. *A cat.*

I gasped. I looked around. "Help!" A voice called. It sounded so familiar!

"Don't worry! I'm coming!" I blurted out. I ran toward the owner of the voice, to see a dark brown tabby tom under a branch. "What are you doing?"

The tom's green eyes glared at me. "Oh I don't know, just chilling under a branch. Help me!"

I-I recognized that voice. "Noah?" I pulled the branch off of him, and by his yowl, I could tell I scratched him.

"Argh! Dang, that hurts! Ottie?" He replied back. "We're cats."

I purred. *Nightleaf, now he's Nightleaf! And I'm Otterfrost!* "I know." I looked down at his thigh. It was cut. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ott," he grumbled. He stood up, but then he hissed in pain.

"Okay," I said, not convinced. "There must be others. Let's go."

Noah nodded. He followed me through the forest.

"Hey! You two!" A cat yowled. We both flinched and turned over to a dappled tortoiseshell she-cat and a golden-brown tom. They padded over to us.

We stared at each other for a moment, then the golden-brown tom purred, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. "It's us! Luke and Leah!" *Or Lionfoot and Leafwhisker,* I thought to myself.

Noah grinned. "Great! It's Ottie and me! It's the swim group!"

I laughed. "I think it's more than that." I walked over to a grassy clearing, with trees hovering over it. They followed. "You guys can stay here. Noah, try not to get hurt more."

The dark brown tabby tom smiled. "No promises."

I left the little clearing, and went off into the forest. There must be people from school. As I walked, I heard voices. I darted under a bush.

"Izzy, we're cats!" A voice mewed. A peaked out to see a white she-cat with amber eyes talking to pale gray cat with mismatched eyes.

"I know, Ally." The pale gray cat replied. "I wonder if anyone else is here."

I burst out of the bush. *Ambershine... Ivybird!* "Ally! Isabelle! It's me, Ottie!"

Ally's amber eyes widened. "Ottie? Where are we?"

"In a forest," I replied. "That's five people I found!"

"*Five?*" Isabelle echoed. "Who are the others?"

I shook my head and waved my tail, as if I was waving away the thought. "Just my swim friends; Noah, Leah, and Luke. You won't know them."

*There should be six,* I reminded myself, remembering the voice's words; *Choose six people you want to bring...*

"Morgan!" I exclaimed. Ally and Isabelle jumped. "Where's Morgan? She was my sixth person!"

Ally sighed. "We can find her tomorrow." I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off. "Let's go meet the others. She'll be fine."

Isabelle, Ally and I went back to the grassy clearing.

--=+=--

After Isabelle and Ally greeted each other, I cleared my throat to get attention.

"We are cats," I announced. "In warriors, we go by different names."

Luke's ears pricked. "What are they, then?"

"You are Lionfoot," I mewed. "Noah is Nightleaf, Leah's name is Leafwhisker, Ally and Isabelle are Ambershine and Ivybird. I am Otterfrost."

"We are going to go by our real names, right?" Leah whispered.

I nodded. "For now. There is another girl from school, Morgan." Ally and Isabelle nodded. "But, I can't find her. But she is Meadowsky."

"Morgan will be fine," Noah assured me, putting his tail on my shoulder.

But what if she isn't? I thought. *What will happen to Morgan?...*