Dedicated to Amber

Second in the Shattered Trilogy

Prologue

When I first opened my eyes, I saw my mother. She was beautiful, long silver, white and black fur. Her voice was all ready familiar to me, and I watched her meow gently "Shard, he's opened his eyes!"

I heard rustling behind me, and I turned to see my father. He was huge, silver and covered with black spots. I had heard my parents saying that I looked just like him. I glanced down at my own paws... silver with dark spots! In awe, I looked back up at my father.

"Shatter," his huge head came down and nudged my gently. "What's it like to see?"

"Its amazing!" I meowed in excitement. "Everything's so much more... more better!"

My mother purred, "More better?"

I nodded. Then, I saw another cat, this one smaller than me. "Wren!" I meowed. "Wren! I can see you!" My sister looked like me and my father, with slightly different colouring. I walked over to her. "Wren! You look just like me and papa, but you're fur's more..."

"Creamy," my mother suggested.

I nodded. "Yes, creamy," I had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to make sense. "Your fur's more creamy, and your spots are more... um..."

"Brown," my father meowed.

I nodded again, "Yes, more brown," I meowed confidently.

"Go away, Shatter," my sister meowed.

"But Wren, you have to open your eyes and look at everything!"

"I don't want to. I want to sleep."

"Wren, come on."

(***)

Despite my complaining, Wren didn't open her eyes until sunhigh. Once she did, I convinced my parents to let us look outside the den. My mother was worried at first, but I father reassured her by meowing "Willow, we'll be right there watching them." So, Wren and I took our first steps outside the den.

My parents explained that we lived in dead twoleg monster. The idea scared me, but I could see that all that was left of the monster was a hard shell, and the strange squishy things that we slept on inside the monster. We explored everything we could. Every nook and cranny. We asked our parents countless questions. I even caught a bug, which my parents called a grasshopper.

While my sister and I explored, my father went out hunting. He returned home with a couple of mice, which he dropped in front of us. "These are mice," he told us.

Wren prodded one with her foot. "Its tiny!"

"You're tiny," I teased, prodding her side the same way she had the mouse.

"So are you," she retorted.

I purred and leapt away from her before she could poke me. While she was distracted by the mice, I decided to climb up on top of the monster shell. It looked so high! "Wren! Let's go up there!"

Wren followed my gaze. "Up there?"

I nodded. "Come on, Wren. We'll be able to see anything." I ran over to its side and started to climb up. Wren reluctantly followed me.

"Be careful," Willow meowed.

"I am being careful," I replied. I climbed up the last bit and helped Wren up. Then he looked around. It was amazing. I could see everything! It must have been the whole world. "Woah, look, Wren."

"I'm looking."

I took a deep breath and yowled, "This is my family's monster shell. No one else can have it! I am Shatter!"