The book we are writing

[Barktail]

This is a book me and Fernstorm are writing. The title is

Tribe Cats

The Beginning

[Barktail]

Prologue

Two girls, aging about 12 and 11, stared at a computer screen in an empty room lined with beds. They lived in 0975 Hammington Street Orphanage in Hammington town in England.
“Do you think this is it?” The taller girl murmured to the other, obviously her sister, for they both had fair skin, long hair, and green eyes. They were also built along the same lines, tall, thin, with long legs and fingers.
“I think so Mel.” The younger girl whispered uncertainly, with a look around to make sure that no one saw them when they were supposed to be in the dining hall.
“Rachel, your being to fearful again” Melanie scolded quietly
“Well, I’m sorry your highness, but that’s what happens when your doing something your not supposed to!” She whispered hotly, her temper surfacing.
“Hey!” Melanie said angrily before lowering her voice and continuing, “Let’s just finish this and go to bed, agreed?”
“Fine.” Rachel replied. Rachel put green paper into the printer that was next to the computer and then looked at her sister. The other girl pressed the print button on the monitor and they waited until it was done printing before speaking again.
“Do you think it’ll work, like Ashley said?” Rachel asked her sister. They were speaking about their best friend, who had been adopted by an American couple a couple of weeks earlier. Before she had left she had whispered to them,
“Go online when you can sneak on the computer, search cat spells and click on the first option. Print it and read it before going to bed before the others. You’ll be surprised by the results.” before her new parents had hustled her out the door and down into their fancy mini van. Now, both girls quickly read the sheet of paper together in unison. It read;

Come on out to where
Your roots grow deep
To where your sibling hunt and sleep
Come on out to where the cats train
And battle and lain
Come on out to where you become yourself
Come on out
You lay dormant, fey.

They shared a glance uneasily after reading it, unsure about what it meant. Then they both got into their pajamas, Melanie’s were brown with books on them, Rachel’s pink with gray stripes.
“’Night” Rachel said
“G’ night” Melanie replied. Both sisters drifted off into an uneasy sleep. Slowly, about an hour later, the rest of the children drifted into the room and fell asleep one by one. Downstairs the grandfather clock struck midnight, and as the last ring was still echoing up the stairs, the sisters began to change.

[Barktail]

Chapter 1

What time is it? Melanie asked herself drowsily as she opened her eyes. She could tell it was early, for everyone was asleep. Her sister was burrowed underneath the covers as usual and, as usual, she got up with the sun. She yawned and stretched beneath the covers. She made the mistake of looking down and what she saw was not the usual long, elegant hands, but two furry tortoiseshell paws. She screamed, but it came out a shrill yowl. What in the name of god happened!? She wondered to herself in horror. She stretched her neck around enough to see that the rest of her was also a feline. She jumped off of her bed and jumped onto her sisters. Maybe she is human Melanie thought hopefully, but inside she knew from some instinct that her sister too was a cat. She prodded the sleeping hulk gently and only then realized that it was smaller than on the other days. When Rachel sat up and saw what she thought was a stray cat, she smiled. She then tried to pet it but looked down at her paws when her arms where too shorts. What she saw was pale gray tabby paws. She yowled fiercely and loudly, and the yowl woke up some of the light sleepers. “Oh, wow!” a small boy said in wonder “Kitties!” another little girl added. They rushed over to the bed and started petting the two girls changed cat frantically. The older children were roused by the younger kids enthusiastic talking and rushed down the stairs to tell the head mistress that two children had vanished but two cats had appeared. The two sisters looked at each other in panic before some how forming the same plan in their minds and leaping out the window just as the headmistress, Miss. Darkener, tromped into the room and roared
“Where are the pesky mongrels!” The younger children started to cry at the headmistress harsh tone and the cat’s disappearance. Terror coursed through the sisters as they ran for their lives. They raced through the town, to the immense, dense forest that lay to the left of the town. They ran, and in doing so, gave up their human lives.
When they reached the clearing in the woods, the clearing that they escaped to when their lives in the orphanage got too terrible, the clearing that no one else knew about. The clearing had four gigantic stones. They stopped when they reached it and caught their breath, chests heaving in effort to breathe. They finally sat down when they realized that there was no way that they would be able to return to the orphanage. As they sat there, staring around at everything, it finally hit them that they were free.
“Wow.” Rachel mewed softly “So this is what it feels like to be free.” Melanie mewed something as an agreement and then said
“We need to find a place where we can live.” She stated and then looked at Rachel for support. Rachel nodded before adding,
“We also need to change our names; otherwise other cats are going to think we are housecats.” Melanie nodded agreement and then meowed
“I am going to be Rose” “I am going to be Hawk” Rachel said. They set out from the clearing, heading east. They walked and ran and trotted, and walked again, for what seemed like hours. They finally reached a abandoned house, the one the townspeople called ‘Yon Abandoned Bungalow’. They decided to call it ‘home’. They crept inside to find it held plenty of mice and voles and pigeons. They finally caught 2 old mice, for they didn’t know how to hunt. Finally, as the sky was turning a deep blue, they lay down with their bellies filled, to fall into a contented sleep. They awoke later, well after dawn by the look of the sky. They got up and stretched, showing supple muscles. They jumped a little when they saw each other; they had forgotten what had happened. They then shook themselves and began grooming their fur, not really thinking about it. Melanie/Rose jumped onto a half rotted ladder and quickly made her way up to the loft where there was a pigeon. She made quick work of it by jumping and landing squarely on it and biting it in the neck. She then took the lifeless body down the ladder to her sister, who had managed to catch a few mice. They shared the meal in silence and walked out of the house into the bright, warm sunshine. They purred in happiness for a moment before sitting down and giving their silky fur another wash.
“I think we should explore the forest.” Rose said quietly. “I agree” Hawk/Rachel mewed quickly, for she had wanted to explore. They sprang to their nimble feet and quickly raced towards the close forest. They wasted the time by practicing their hunting skills by pinning down leaves that they stirred up, purring in satisfaction whenever they managed to get one. It was well past noon, Hawk thought, when they again came to the clearing with the 4 stones. This time, they did not linger and raced to explore the hills on the other side. They raced around, nipping playfully at each other, when they reached a swampy bit of land. They quietly raced through the unwelcoming bit of land and came to a river. They realized that they were bone dry thirst and gratefully gulped the refreshing liquid. After they had had their fill, they lay down together and started grooming each other. They had just started when Rose put her nose to the air and said,
“Do you smell that?”
“Yes, it smells like other cats” Hawk replied instantly, and jumped up when she saw eyes moving towards them through the shadows. She felt Rose jump up to, and they both snarled at the other cats. They were outnumbered, and surrounded by angry felines.