The sun had reached the midpoint of the sky by the time Quartz and the bck cat returned. Both of them were carrying dead mice along their backs, and the bck cat was holding a small rabbit, its brown muzzle red with blood.

  Lyre blinked in awe as they carefully walked towards the center of the stone clearing, where they dropped most of their prey. Where do they even have to go to get all this food? He wondered.

  Quartz caught his gaze with a warm smile, followed by a purr as she approached him with a lifted tail. “Hey, Lyre.”

  Lyre flicked his tail in acknowledgement before going towards the small prey pile. He suddenly stopped- and just in time- as the Calico cut off his trail and began neatly organizing the different prey.

  Root was thanking the bck cat when they spotted the rabbit half-buried beneath some mice.

  Oh no… Lyre opened his mouth to yowl a warning, but it was too te. Root was already pawing away the mice and was about to grab the rabbit, but the Calico snatched away the rabbit.

  “You didn’t!” Root gasped.

  “I did.” The white tom let out a warning growl. “And if you don’t like it, then you can kiss the ground.” He reared back and sshed at Root’s nose, but they quickly moved their muzzle away.

  Lyre took the opportunity to grab a mouse, then ate quietly as he watched the chaos unfold. He heard a sigh coming from the direction of the fern curtain.

  Frowning, Root slowly reached out their paw and pced it on the Calico’s back. In an instant, he scrambled away, only to get pinned. His cws scraped and scraped against the stone as he struggled to free himself, forcibly pushing away the rabbit as a result.

  Then with a few quick bites, Root devoured the rabbit and didn’t let go of the Calico until the rabbit was gone.

  “Good-for-nothing food thief!” The Calico snarled. “Lazy pile of- ugh!” He shed his tail. He scratched ferociously at the ground as if it was the wolf’s fur.

  “Goodness…how old do you have to be to throw a tantrum like that?” Root shook their head as they released him.

  That seemed to hit a nerve. The Calico turned and lunged at Root, but a quick blur of movement intercepted him, and he blindly sshed and bit. Lyre didn’t notice the bck cat was creeping closer to the two.

  The Calico retreated backwards, spitting out bck fur as his tail-tip twitched angrily. Suddenly his ears fttened as he froze. “What-?” His surprised tone quickly became repced with redirected rage. “Don’t get in the way!”

  The bck cat stood up, shaking the stray fur tufts loose from their coat. The dark brown eyes blinked expressionlessly at the Calico. “I think your unwelcome behavior towards our guests has gone far too long, Calico.”

  Lyre couldn’t help but interrupt. “Hold on- his name is Calico?” He couldn’t believe the unbelievable ck of creativity his parents must’ve had.

  Calico gred at him. “Is there a problem?!” He shouted.

  Yes, of course there’s a problem- who names a Calico…Calico? Lyre fixed his confusion onto the bck cat. “Then what about you? Is your name Brindle or something?”

  The cat shook its head. “No. It’s just a boring name. Soot.”

  “And why did you wait a month to tell me?” Lyre asked. “Sorry- I forgot I was too busy sulking around to ask for any of your names. Also, I guess you weren’t expecting me to stay for this long.” He quickly corrected himself.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it. I can only imagine how much you loved your home; you must’ve lived there your whole life.”

  I did. My whole two and a half years of my life. Lyre thought with a gentle jab of disappointment.

  Calico scoffed. “I bet he can’t expin why that wolf is here.”

  “He can, but it shouldn't be any of your business.” Root said nonchantly.

  The tom gred at them with a hiss of pure fury. “You’re on my st nerve, pup. Say another word and I will strike you down.”

  Soot went closer to him and tried to rest a tail on his shoulder, but he shoved the cat away, and they stumbled into the water.

  Lyre felt a slow edge of resentment for the first time, and he felt that it was a bit te for that. He turned towards the bck cat and grabbed its scruff before dragging it out. The cat met his gaze as they shook out their fur, which was soaking like a raincloud releasing a downpour.

  “I’m alright,” Soot meowed before he could ask. “Thankfully my fur was long enough…” The cat shuddered.

  Meanwhile, Root let out a loud half-yelp, half-whimper from behind, and Lyre snapped around to see blood dripping slowly from the area where their nose met their muzzle.

  “So how long has he been doing this?” Lyre asked.

  Soot shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. He’s the only male cat here. While I can understand if it’s some me excuse like competition, that still doesn’t excuse his behavior.”

  “Hm,” was all he could respond with as Calico bit down on Root’s front leg.

  The poor wolf wasn't fighting back; either because they didn’t want to, or they couldn’t. The thick fur was doing some justice, but once it was torn, skin soon followed, and Root yelped softly. It wasn't until Calico moved to their hind leg when they finally did something.

  They kicked him away, but only to a short distance. He stumbled, then leapt again. However, the yearling stepped to the side and caught his left paw in their jaws.

  Calico let out a surprised screech of agony as his arm twisted awkwardly. His body lurched forwards, as if thinking it could nd on the ground after the leap. It then ragdolled as it hung.

  Root bent down and carefully let go of his arm, wincing as tiny dots of blood rose from where the teeth had dug into his flesh. “Sorry…I’m so so sorry about that. I- I didn’t mean to…”

  Calico yowled painfully in response.

  “What is happening over here?!” Quartz excimed as she emerged from the fern wall. Her dark teal eyes widened in horror at the sight in front of her. She silently stared at Root, who was crouched low and whimpering softly. “Soot?” She turned her head towards the damp bck cat.

  “I mean…he’s Calico. I don’t know what else you’d expect to happen.” The she-cat sighed.

  Brow furrowing, the Bobtail began pacing back and forth, muttering under her breath.

  Calico’s yowling stopped as he spoke in a strained voice. “You…” he began in a wretchedly evil-sounding tone, “you and that monster…leave.” He gasped in pain and fell silent for a short while, then gred deep into Lyre’s eyes in the kind of anger and hatred Velvet gave him when he injured him. “Leave…leave now! And don’t return ever!”

  “Gdly- I never wanted to be here, anyway. You deserved it, too, for harassing me the entire time I was here.” Lyre retorted. “In fact, I hope that becomes permanent.” He turned towards Root. “Come on. We’re leaving.”

  Root slowly rose to their paws without a word. “Um…are you sure…? What about…what about…”

  Quartz watched Soot as the bck and brown cat began licking the disfigured arm. “Don’t worry about us, or him. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Probably.”

  “Leave, fiends!” Calico’s screech made everyone flinch.

  Lyre grumbled. “He reminds me of my father…”

  “What?” Quartz eyed him with interest.

  “Can you show us how to leave this forest?” Lyre asked, changing the subject.

  Shrugging, Quartz looked back at Soot. “How well can you handle this?”

  “Uhh…” Soot stopped and hesitated, deep uncertainty in her eyes as she stared at the arm.

  “Great! We'll be gone for a while. Good luck, and I hope your injury heals soon, Calico.” The Bobtail turned and took a couple pawsteps towards the exit.

  Lyre and Root followed, though Lyre took one st gnce at the two cats, who were shrinking as he stepped further away. A lot has happened today, hasn’t it? At least once we get out of here, we can walk in peace. Maybe then we would find a proper pce to live.

  The moment he stepped out, the white and light brown tom suddenly froze. He was ahead of Quartz, and only she knew the way out of this pce. He bowed his head in apology as she slunk into view.

  She simply grinned before turning her attention ahead. “We’ve got quite a long way to go,” she warned, “so I hope you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t care. I came a long way myself.”

  As she made a turn, Quartz twitched her whiskers thoughtfully, but didn’t say anything more.

  They turned right, and Lyre noticed this was the same direction he took when he was attacked by the stone cws. The memory almost made him shudder, but his mind shoved it away; only for it to return as soon as he spotted it.

  The cws were still there, a month ter, still halfway through the clearing. What's up with that thing- these things, anyway?

  Quartz slowed her pace until she walked beside him. “Stay with me, you two.” She said carefully as the three approached the edge. Root was staring down at the ground, literally dragging behind. As they came up on Lyre’s other side, he could even feel the guilt radiating off their pelt.

  Quartz paused for a moment, then stepped into the clearing. The cws didn’t move. Lyre followed, doing the same in case it didn’t attack because she made that movement.

  A creaking noise, but nothing else.

  Root looked at both of them, and followed their movement. The cws didn’t move.

  When Quartz passed the tree, the cws trembled as another creaking was heard, then the stone crumbled.

  The rest of their walk continued silently as they entered a thin forest of trees; these ones didn’t have stones lining them, but the grass was a bit desaturated in color. Soon the grass suddenly vanished, completely repced by a dirt path with the same colored dirt as the eerie, mist-covered pce. Up ahead was a small ke, with a small stone structure in the center.

  Quartz slowed her pace before stopping. “We’ll rest here and continue ter. Rest up for now.”

  As she sat down, Lyre stepped in front of her and faced her. “Now hold on a second- there’s no way we’re going to ignore what just happened back there. Not to mention the incident with that Calico cat.”

  The she-cat gave him a pondering look. “Calico messed with a wolf, and paid the price. I really hope he’s okay. But it’s his fault; he should’ve had better control of his temper.” She looked away. “He was absolutely seething.”

  She was right; which made Lyre wonder what could’ve happened to that cat to make him so hostile. It might be what Soot had said, but Lyre found that hard to believe. He caught Quartz looking at him again.

  “I’m not tired, so I’m gonna look for some better food.” Root murmured before going towards a bush and crashing through it.

  Oh, Root is definitely missing their home. I hope I can find a forest for them. Lyre realized what he said in his head, and quickly shook his head. No! Wolves ruined everything for you, Lyre. You got in this mess because of them, and it’s your job to get out of it. Speaking of wolves, you forgot that dang wolf pup you stole. He dug his cws in the soil in frustration. I’ve been wasting my time! And I don’t even know where it went…if it’s even still alive.

  He felt something touch his paw, and he looked at Quartz. She was leaning over, pcing her paw on his. He Slowly drew it back as his ears also drew back.

  “Lyre, you still look troubled. It’s been a month now. Surely losing your home wasn't that bad…was it? Please tell me.” She sat back up, her tail-tip slowly flicking anxiously.

  No, I can’t. What are you even doing, trying to be my friend or something? I don’t have time for any of that! He felt a bit frustrated at both himself and this cat. Quartz respected his space while he was grieving, and didn’t force him to socialize with her; unlike the Calico, who’d bother him every other day, if not daily. Soot just left him alone. But Quartz…

  Quartz would silently watch me with worry whenever I’d wake up from my nightmares. A bit creepy, but it’s not like she was ignoring my existence. Still, he felt like she would waste her time with him. She could find out about all the things he did wrong, and then what? She was only there to help him leave The Stone Forest. She’d return home and they would never see each other again; not that Lyre minded.

  “Come on. I’ll tell you more about myself and our home if that makes you any better.” She gently urged him.

  Lyre slowly lowered himself to the ground with a screw face on as he stretched his hind legs out to the side, and his front legs in front of him. He closed his eyes and breathed. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He shook his head slowly as he reopened his eyes.

  Truth is, I don’t really have anyone to tell, do I? Root is only staying with me because I want to find them their own home far from mine…wherever that may be…and Quartz wouldn’t dare to follow me everywhere. Lyre lowered his head until it rested onto his paws.

  Quartz looked away and stared off into the distance. “I want to understand you and that wolf more. You two are interesting.”

  Lyre blinked.

  “Well,” she rose to her paws and stretched, her cws slightly shifting the dirt, “I’d better see what that wolf is up to.” The sound of her pawsteps began to fade as Lyre slowly closed his eyes.

  Maybe I can sneak off to try and find that wolf pup. Lyre wasn't tired- that tired, any- and he knew it. And besides, that pup was his only tool. How he’s going to use it though, he hadn't figured that out yet.