A YOUNG WHITE CAT WITH PALE GINGER patches crouched at a window, staring out into the silent night. Her sharp, azure eyes caught sight of small rustling movements in the grass below. Leaning forward for a better view, her pink nose met the cold glass, causing her to flinch back at the icy touch. It was probably just a mouse anyway, she thought, licking her paws.

The she-cat purred with contentment as she ran a paw over her head, cleaning herself, and purred harder when she sensed another cat leap onto the windowsill. It was her brother, Taiyou—a ginger tabby with blazing emerald eyes and white paws. He curled up next to her, pressing his warm, flame-colored fur against hers.

“It’s getting late, Feiya,” he meowed with a quick lick across his sister’s ear. “Keep sitting here and your fur will freeze off. It’s warmer in the den.”

“I was just observing the stars,” his sister replied, feeling the vibration of Taiyou’s soft purrs against her side. “There are so many of them tonight. Pillows and a warm basket are nice, but I feel so calm and happy to be here right now.”

Taiyou turned his eyes to the dark night sky, which was dotted with millions of fiery white stars. They stretched into the distance like a glittering river, blinking down at them. Feiya was right—they were indeed beautiful. Drawn into the radiance of the celestial abyss, neither of them noticed that a storm was rising until large drops of water began splattering onto the window glass with a dull, thumping sound. Thunder rumbled quietly in the distance, thin streaks of lightning flashing warningly over the horizon. The stars began disappearing one by one as dark clouds slowly seized the sky.

The once quiet and tranquil atmosphere was soon broken by a raging thunderstorm. Lightning struck down from the black skies, and the clap of thunder droned out even the sounds of car engines as they sped through the streets, windshield wipers working furiously.

Feiya shrunk back as her sensitive ears throbbed at the storm’s angry roars. Distraught at the sudden change, she sprung away from the window and shook her head as if to shake the bad weather out of her fur. Taiyou followed, lighting flashing over his ginger-orange pelt and laying shadows across his rippling muscles as he landed gracefully on the floor. The two cats padded toward the bedroom door, hoping to take refuge in the windowless hallway. But to their dismay, the door had been firmly closed by their human companions.

“I don’t like it in here anymore,” Feiya mewed, shivering as another clap of thunder shook the sky.

“Me neither,” Taiyou meowed in agreement. He glanced around and jumped with one swift movement onto a bed, beckoning with his tail for Feiya to follow as he crawled under a blanket. The storm was slightly muffled under the thick cotton cover, although the air was a bit stifling.

They crouched there for a while, keeping their heads low. Feiya snuggled against her brother, clearly afraid of this new experience. Taiyou gave her a comforting nuzzle on the chin, but the loud booms and cracks sent a few pangs of anxiety through him as well. His ears pounded with all the noise, and he longed for their human companions to come to reassure them soon. “When will the thunderstorm stop?” Feiya asked, distress clear in her voice. “It shouldn’t have appeared so quickly without warning! I don’t like it.”

Taiyou flicked his tail uncertainly. “I don’t know when it’ll pass, but it’s stronger than last season’s thunderstorms for sure. I’m going to keep looking at it. You stay under.”

Poking his head out from under the blankets, Taiyou glanced through the window again to watch the storm, this time from a further distance away. Rainwater trickled down the glass in miniature streams, blurring and bending the view. His whiskers twitched curiously as he noticed that a flickering, golden glow was dancing across the left side of the glass. He edged closer cautiously and peered outside for its source.

What he saw sent jolts of panic stabbing through his chest, and his eyes were wide with alarm as he called Feiya to his side. A tall tree standing close beside the house had been completely set on flames, its many leaves and branches burning steadily, oblivious to the rain. A large crack caused by lightning ran through its center, splitting the tree vertically in half. The nearest side was toppling over, and the cats stared, wide-eyed, as it crashed onto the left side of the house.

Feiya and Taiyou shot toward the bedroom door immediately as the walls began to burn, flames licking across the furniture. Scratching at the wood hopelessly, the young cats could not get it to open. They froze for a moment, at a loss for what to do as terror flooded their minds. A small chunk of the burning ceiling crashed down upon them, and they ducked out of the way just in time as the fire spread over the door.

“Where are the humans?” Feiya cried, blue eyes glistening with fear, her white and pale ginger fur sticking on end. “Aren’t they going to help us?”

“Crow dirt! I don’t think they’re home!” Taiyou hissed in frustration. “Our best chance is the window—it’s the only way to get out!”

“But how are we possibly going to open it?” Feiya asked, her voice quavering.

“There’s nothing else we can do! Do you want to die or at least take a chance?” Taiyou sounded impatient, but his sister knew he was as scared as she was.

“Let’s hurry, then!”

The two cats scrambled back to the window as the whole room was engulfed in flames. Their hearts were beating so fast it felt like they would just pop out of their chests. Clawing at the hard glass, their small hope of escaping began to fade. They were surrounded by deadly fire, trapped, helpless, and unable to move. By then the storm had subsided to drizzling rain, disappearing as quickly as it had first appeared. The dark clouds parted to reveal pieces of the dazzling night sky, the stars shining brilliantly once again. That, however, did nothing to extinguish the quickly growing flames, which only seemed to take over the storm’s reign.

“We can’t get through!” Feiya coughed, breathing in the smoke that had begun to cloud the air.

Taiyou, suffocating as well, managed to rasp, “We’re break through this glass if it’s the last thing we do!”

“It probably will be the last thing we do!” his sister retorted, frustration and fear evident in her croaking voice. “And I don’t even think we’ll be able to do it anyway!”

They continued scratching, clawing, and kicking the glass, but it was firmly placed and would not budge under their weaker muscles. Pressing themselves as far from the flames as possible, they heard the ceiling cave behind them. The rain pelted down onto them with half the roof gone, the smoke lifting into the storm-ridden atmosphere. But the fire blazed on. Parts of the inner walls collapsed under the heat, and the flames hungrily spread further through the house.

“There’s more open space now!” Feiya yowled above the crackling of the fire and the now retreating sound of thunder.

“But we’re surrounded by fire! There’s no way we can fly up!” Taiyou shouted, slamming himself against the window.

Feiya felt a sharp pang of sympathy as she watched her brother fighting stubbornly for their lives, his usually well-kept fur smeared with dust and the smoke. She knew better than him that there was about no chance they would live to see the new sun. However, as long as there was even one small, possible chance…