"You're muddy," the tortoiseshell not-cat noted.

Her partner grinned, "Yeah, a little. I spent the morning with Shred and Tressa."

"Roleplaying as moles?"

"Eating snacks," Ayrie corrected her. "Besides, it's quite fun."

"Don't expect me to join you." Sparrow frowned slightly; the group had spent their first nights in Not-Earth hiding in small, muddy tunnels. That wasn't an experience she wished to repeat any time soon.

Late morning sunlight filtered through the leafy branches above, bouncing delicately off the shining hide of a cricket. Sparrow immediately crouched, tail flicking back and forth slowly.

"I seriously don't understand why you're doing this," Ayrie said, eyes on a passing bird. "Hunting bugs is supposed to be my job."

"Anyone can do it," Sparrow replied, "but for me... you never know with a cricket. They might lead you somewhere you never expected to be."

"Like into a tree?" Ayrie giggled as Sparrow's nose bumped a little too hard into a tree.

"I wouldn't be so distracted if you would stop being cute for a moment."

The dark not-cat smiled, wrapping her tail gently around Sparrow's. "At least you caught one, that's good enough for me. Come on, let's head back."



"Sparrow!" Dean bounced up to the two not-cats as they entered the village. "Wanna play hide and seek with us?"

"Just say yes," Shred muttered under aer breath, trailing behind Dean. "If you don't they're gonna dare you."

"Uh, sure?" Was that the right answer? Of course, it had to be; she couldn't have the whole village knowing she turned down a dare.

Ayrie rubbed her head against Sparrow's one last time. "I'll see you later," she purred, trotting off to add Sparrow's cricket to the village's storage chests.

Sparrow watched her partner go, then turned back to... well, it was just Shred now. "Where's Dean?"

Shred let out a soft sigh, nodding in the direction of the albino not-cat. "Look's like Cinnabar's coming with us."

"This will be fun, I think," Sparrow said, mostly to herself. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"The caverns," Shred replied flatly.

"Oh!" She bounced excitedly a few times, then noticed Shred's confused expression. "I was there yesterday, with Robin and the others. It was pretty fun!"

"Yeah, sure. It better not be muddy down there."

"Don't worry, it isn't," Cinnabar's voice interrupted from behind. "It is pretty rocky though."

"I assume you were on Robin's, er, quest yesterday too?"

"Oh, absolutely! No way I was missing that," they said, pausing to lick a paw.

"That was super fun," Sparrow agreed. "I hope he hosts another of those soon."

"Guys! Are you coming?" Dean's excited voice echoed from down the path.

Cinnabar got up slowly, letting out a soft, slightly amused sigh. "Well, I guess none of us can afford to turn down a dare now, can we?"



Sparrow padded through the darkness, thankful for not-cats' ability to see with little to no light. She'd had the best hiding place ever! – or so she'd thought. It felt as if hours had gone by; had Dean even started looking?

Water trickled down a wall somewhere in the distance, filling the tunnel with odd echoes. It surprised her that she hadn't run into the others yet, especially considering they'd all started off in the same direction.

Something skittered nearby, and Sparrow's ears flicked up in response. "Hello?" Her voice echoed softly off the walls of the cavern. She wasn't even sure whoever it was had heard her – which might have been a good thing. She couldn't risk being the first one found, after all.

As it turned out, the caverns were pretty boring without Robin's exciting stories and dangerous quests filling the silence. Sparrow sat down, batting at a pebble with one paw. Surely there must be something to do down here?

Somewhere in the background, the skittering noise continued. Probably Cinn or Shred, Sparrow thought to herself. She turned her attention back to the pebble. The skittering drew closer, but she didn't notice. It came closer, and closer....

"BOO!" A sharp voice cut through the silence.

"AAGH!" Sparrow yowled, unsheathing her claws. "Who's there? Come out, I'll show you my wrath! I'll make you regret –"

"Woah, Sparrow, relax! It's just me." Cinnabar's soft nose brushed against her side, their dark pelt barely visible in the dim light of the caverns.

"Oh," Sparrow felt her ears growing hot with embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, I thought –"

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I would have done the same thing." There was a flash of white as Cinnabar grinned at her.

"I'm glad you're here, honestly. I thought that might be you skittering behind me."

"Huh? No, not me. I was in that cavern we found the amethyst in. Remember, when we were here with Robin and Tressa?"

Sparrow did remember. And she hated that she remembered, because if that was where Cinnabar had been, then that skittering....

"Where's Shred?"

"Last I heard, trying to convince Dean that ae hadn't been found," Cinnabar chuckled slightly. "I got out of there pretty quickly, no way I'm getting caught!" They paused, then gave Sparrow a concerned look and added, "why do you ask?"

"Cinn, I don't think we're alone in here. I heard something behind me – I thought it was you, or Shred or Dean."

"No, no... They aren't anywhere near here." Cinnabar looked over Sparrow's shoulder, their gaze darting around the cavern. Then they shrugged. "I guess we probably shouldn't stick around then."

"You don't believe me, do you?" Sparrow asked as she followed them down the tunnel.

"Did I say that? I didn't say that. Did I?"

"Wait – shush! There, you hear it?"

Cinnabar's ears flicked back and they stood still, listening to the sound for a moment. "That can't be good, let's find the others."

"Great idea," Sparrow mewed, running down the path after her friend. The darkness threatened to hide Cinnabar's pelt from her sight, but she could feel the heat from their fur next to hers, and that comforted her a bit.

It felt as if the two had been running for an eternity before they burst into a large amethyst-lined cavern, breathless. Dean and Shred sat in the middle of the cavern arguing, but they stopped when they noticed Sparrow and Cinnabar.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked as they approached. "Afraid I wouldn't find you?"

"We're not alone in here," Sparrow snapped, perhaps a bit too harshly.

Dean sat back, a stunned expression on their face as Cinnabar nodded in agreement.

"I – we're not sure what it was," the dark not-cat added. "But I heard it myself. There was definitely something there."

"Probably just a cricket or something," Shred mumbled. Ae said something under aer breath about food, then wandered to the tunnel where Sparrow and Cinnabar had come from.

"I have to agree – I mean, I don't think anything bigger than a not-cat's ever been in these caverns. These tunnels would be kind of cramped for larger creatures anyway – er, i assume they would be. I've never seen any myself."

"Perhaps you're right. But perhaps we should head home anyway, it's getting late." Cinnabar paused, looking around, then added, "Where's Shred?"

"Ae was right here a minute ago... Shred? Shred! Maybe we should split up and look for aer."

"Are you insane? With a potential monster wandering the caverns?" Sparrow began to pace back and forth, tail lashing, not wanting to admit that she was scared.

"She's right," Cinnabar said.

"I am?"

"We don't know what's down here with us, or how dangerous it might be. It's best we stick together, just in case."

"Alright," Dean said after a moment. "I can agree to that."

The three set off down the tunnel, calling for Shred. Sparrow wasn't sure how much time had passed as they were walking, but eventually it came to her attention that their calls had grown quieter. She turned around uneasily. "Guys?"

"We're still here," Dean's voice came back to her. They paused, waiting for Cinnabar's agreement. "Er, correction," Dean said after a moment, "I'm still here."

"Shred! Cinn! CINNABAR!" Sparrow passed a few feet down the path, calling frantically.

"I'm uh, gonna check down this path real quick," Dean informed her. "I'll be back in a sec."

"Yeah, good idea, you do – WAIT, NO!" Sparrow whipped around, only to find that Dean had already gone. She poked her head into the tunnel Dean had taken, but saw no sign of the not-cat's bright pelt.

Sparrow's own pelt began to fluff in horror, as she realized she was once again alone in the dark. She yowled until her lungs hurt, and then past that until her voice began to rasp, but nobody answered.

The echoes in the cavern were odd; it seems as though even silence could be distorted by the cavern walls. Sparrow took a deep breath, then another, trying to calm down. The others were nearby, she could sense it. Everything would be fine, in fact, this was probably their plan all along. Yes, that was it. They had planned this.

As the moments ticked by, Sparrow became painfully aware of the odd echoes in the caverns, and the way they slowly sharpened into an all-too-familiar skittering....