Lyre blinked open his eyes and yawned. He just woke up from a well-deserved nap, after eating. During his meal, everyone was silent, and he’d isoted himself from them. His nap would have been restful if he didn’t have a dream about being in a brightly colored flower field, while walking down a dark pathway that felt like ash beneath his paws.

  He took in a deep breath of the cool, crisp air, catching the scent of a burning smell again. He froze, but only for a moment. It’s just that contained fire. He reminded himself as he got up. The sun was well above The Stone Forest now.

  The sun was up high, leaning away from a few clouds on the horizon where it rose. The clearing was quiet, aside from the peaceful snoring of the wolf pup, who was wandering the edge of the dirt clearing, and Quartz and Root, who were still asleep.

  This is my st chance. I have to leave now. He sadly blinked at Quartz, then quickly looked away before his eyes strayed onto the stone gray colr. No, Lyre. don’t do this. Have some faith in yourself. You can’t let any of this get to your head. He hesitated, then his paw took a step towards her as his body crouched low.

  But would there really be a point in staying here for any longer? Root has a reason to avoid me now that they know the ugly truth about my actions; and I didn’t even apologize. His teeth clutched.

  A few more quick pawsteps.

  Quartz was going to leave anyway. She’d abandon the idea of ever helping me.

  So he decided he was going to help himself.

  A cw unsheathed. Lyre was right by Quartz now. His heart was quickening, his arm was trembling, and his ears were pinned. With a held breath, he slowly dragged his cw along the colr until he felt a change in the smooth surface, then dug in and slowly pulled.

  Snap.

  Lyre held his breath as the back of the colr was untched and fell onto the ground. As it did, Quartz moved around in her sleep, and Lyre had to back up.

  She ended up with the side of her neck resting on the colr.

  Now, this…Lyre…

  He went towards the front of her neck, where the long side of the colr was. He slowly pulled it from underneath her. He stopped as the she-cat murmured something intangible, then did a sudden jerk.

  The colr was free, and ying across the ground. It was about as wide as his own neck, minus all the fur.

  …this is the point of no return. You’ll have no choice but to leave.

  Lyre knew that. And he knew exactly where to go. Goodbye, Quartz. Whatever we had…trust…it was nice. He bent down and grabbed the colr in his jaws, only to flinch and let go as he noticed the soil that it was in contact with turn gray.

  He gulped as he started breathing again. What if I get turned to stone? Quit that, Lyre. Obviously Quartz was just fine, so you would be too.

  Lyre leaned back forwards; a little too far forward, as his neck was just above the colr. Before he could shift his body so it could be below his jaws again, a strong force buried his face into the ground, muffling his gasp of shock as he felt something pressing down onto the front of his throat. The pressure spread to the back of his neck before he heard a clicking sound, which was muffled by his fur.

  Did it stop? Lyre slowly but carefully rose to his paws. Everything still felt normal; even the cold pit finally went away. He felt more confident. The only thing he didn’t like was the uncomfortable feeling that something was grasping his neck.

  Walking to the ke was easy, but nothing prepared Lyre for what he saw next.

  He still looked his normal self, and so did the colr, but the stone held in the bck material wasn't rough or clear like when Quartz wore it; it was smooth like an actual pebble, and bnk white with a small dot in the center.

  Okay…so how does this thing work? Lyre looked around for the wolf pup, who was paying n attention to him. I guess one of the upsides of being hated. He felt his blood run cold as he approached the pup. He grabbed its scruff, only to quickly let it go and wrap its muzzle with his tail as it let out a loud, startled yelp.

  Thankfully only a small squeak came out, and the rest of the noise was muffled. Now how do I make those stone cws grasp this thing’s muzzle shut? He looked back at the almost colr-shaped gray mark on the ground.

  He tapped the strange white stone with his cw, then he pointed towards the mark. Do…things. Anything to shut this stupid baby wolf up.

  Lyre set down his paw, half-stamping it as nothing happened. Ugh, please don’t tell me I have to know enough about the cat who allegedly created this thing to use it properly. He accidentally let go of the wolf pup as his tail shed once. But nothing came out except silence.

  Curious, he looked back at the pup. His eyes widened in a mixed emotion of shock and horror as the parts of the muzzle he’d touched with his tail was gray. The nostrils fred angrily as the piercing, bright yellow eyes stabbed the cw of guilt into him.

  Lyre shook away the emotions and picked the pup up again, barely managing to move it by a few cw-lengths. Right. Now that this pup is bigger, I can’t bring it everywhere I go. Dang, these wolf pups get big fast.

  His curiosity brought his attention to the pup’s paws, which were rooted to the ground. As if noticing this, the pup immediately stood up and stepped beside him with fttened ears.

  That’s all it takes for you to become obedient, huh? So no more running away then. He then walked past Quartz. Thankfully Root was on the other side, so Lyre didn’t have to worry about them.

  He decided to see if there was another way up the hill as he stood in front of it. Unfortunately it didn’t seem like it, so he started climbing. For the record, it wasn't even that steep, which meant the wolf pup could climb it as well.

  Once the two reached the top, Lyre caught sight of another set of clouds in the distance. These ones looked darker than the ones completely covering the sky, and smelled like a distant wetness. Of course, he could also smell the smoke coming from an unattended fire that was pretty far from the hole.

  A harsh nudge in his shoulder made Lyre gre at the wolf pup. But it was looking deep into the forest; or what used to be it.

  There were no stone-colored trees to be seen. For the first time, Lyre could actually hear life within the forest. The otherwise silent air was filled with the chirping of birds, and the very faint, strange and rhythmic sound of weird bugs that also sounded as if they were chirping. The cedar-colored tree bark from the trees was only lightly dull in color, but other than that, they were no longer stone. Lyr could still see what used to be the rger stone trees. The only thing that looked different about them was how saggy and droopy their branches were.

  What in the world kind of trees were those? And what did this cat do to them? Lyre found this new sprout of life amazing yet creepy. But what about that stone area? Is it just dirt now? He squinted his eyes, but was so far up he couldn't see anything but trees; and the forest wasn't even thick like the one across the grassnd.

  Giving up, he looked back at the clearing where Quartz and Root were still sleeping. Now I’m back where I should’ve started long ago. So what if I needed time to grieve? That doesn’t change the fact that the voice in my dream…was right. Those cats are all trying to make me forget everything important.

  This won’t happen again. I won’t let anything else get taken away from me. Lyre stared ahead, confidently striding across the wooden structure with a quick but steady pace. The scratching of non-retractable cws from behind him let him know who was following him.

  He stopped on the other side, facing the wolf pup as it was forced to stop as well. He wanted to try something…perhaps another thing that could make it more obedient.

  I’ll figure it out ter. He made a sharp turn, catching a better gnce at the advancing dark clouds, as he began walking along the side of the bck pit, remembering both what Slip and the voice told him. My supposed new home should be within a day’s walk from now. So if I’m heading the right direction, halfway to my destination I should find the river where Slip got that fish. He felt his confidence growing as he sped into a trot.

  His fur suddenly bristled at a distant rumble. Whatever those clouds were bringing, it wasn't going to be good. He couldn't remember the st time there was any rain back at the grassnd. But even so, if it rains there now, there’d be no point in watering ashes.

  The moment he passed the tunnel, his body shivered. But I’m not even cold. Lyre frowned.

  Yes you are. You just don’t know it yet.

  He froze. A voice spoke, and it wasn't his. It was impossible for it to be the voice that just wouldn’t go away. What's happening? He looked around. No one was there.

  Funny thing is, you asked the same thing when I first spoke. The voice spoke again. It had been so long since it st spoke, that Lyre hadn’t noticed how much clearer it sounded.

  Don’t distract me, whoever you are. Lyre gred at the air before continuing.

  Don’t allow me to distract you.

  Lyre felt like the voice sounded oddly familiar; like a cat he knew. But he still couldn't know for sure.

  Lyre looked back at the fire and saw Slip, who was crouched his his ears fttened and his paws tucked. He was faced away from him. All this time, I thought… he paused for just a moment. So then how does this…thing…know about everything that happened since I was in the forest? And how did it know about my father? If it was Slip, that would expin the hesitation when mentioning Velvet.

  Lyre was sure he was thinking about this too hard; too hard to get any answers.