Cloverpaw's Shadow

Chapter 3

Cloverpaw yawned and curled up in her nest. She had gone straight from telling Finchstar about her vision to her nest. If she had to stay up one more minute, her paws were going to fall off!

She soon fell asleep, only to open her eyes to a dark forest. She slammed them shut, not wanting to face reality. She knew Twistedbrook would come after her eventually, but she didn't want to see him so soon.

Maybe he wouldn't come after her today, she thought hopefully.

"Waiting for someone?" A deep voice rumbled behind her.

Cloverpaw froze. It's okay, she thought. It's just a dream.

Twistedbrook laughed. "Oh, I assure you, this is much more than a dream," and Cloverpaw figured she must have spoken aloud.

"What do you want with me?" She asked. She hoped he couldn't see her trembling.

"Oh, I want many things," He sneered. "Look at me Cloverpaw."

Cloverpaw turned around, and gasped. Twistedbrook was standing with two other cats she didn't recognize. She backed away.

Twistedbrook smirked. "There's no need to run away. Would you like to meet my friends?"

Cloverpaw stared at him with wide eyes. "No," She said.

He advanced towards her and Cloverpaw backed into a tree.

"Nowhere to run now," Twistedbrook said. He beckoned one of the cats forward with his tail. The cat, a pale brown tabby, moved to stand with Twistedbrook.

Twistedbrook smiled at Cloverpaw. "This is Jaggedscar," He told her. "And the other one over there is Blackspirit."

Cloverpaw decided she wasn't going to get out of there with words. She snarled and arched her back. Baring her teeth, she hissed.

Twistedbrook laughed. "You think that's going to scare me?" He said. He leaned closer to her. "There's not many things that scare me easily," He said.

A branch creaked and the leaves rustled. He straightened up and glanced behind him. Facing back towards Cloverpaw, he said, "Well, looks like I have to go. But here, something to remember me by." He lunged forward and drew a claw over her eye. Cloverpaw fell back with a screech. When she looked up again, Twistedbrook and his friends were gone.

She felt a sharp, stinging pain in her eye, and she whimpered.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked. Cloverpaw looked up.

"Junipercloud!" She exclaimed. She shook her head. "I'm fine,"

Junipercloud frowned. "You-" She broke off with a gasp. "What happened?" She asked, seeing the scar over her eye. It was still bleeding, and Cloverpaw could taste blood in her mouth.

Cloverpaw looked away. "I'm fine. I- I ran into a tree." She didn't know why she said that. She felt like she had to keep that a secret. For now.

"Cloverpaw!" Someone was calling her name. Junipercloud was gone. She blinked open her eyes.

Silverpaw was leaning over her, shaking her with a paw.

Cloverpaw looked up at her. "What's wrong?" She asked wearily.

"Firefang wants you for a border patrol. He said that you need-" She broke off with a gasp. "Cloverpaw! Your eye!"

Cloverpaw buried her face in her nest. Her eye was still bleeding. How is that possible? She wondered. It was just a dream!

She remembered Twistedbrook's words. Oh, I assure you, this is much more than a dream.

She shook her head. Looking up at Silverpaw, she said, "I'm fine, really."

She got up, and staggered to the entrance. She emerged from the den, blinking as bright sunlight filled her vision.

She let out a breath as early morning birdsong filled her ears. Marshflight and Sootfrost were by the fresh-kill pile, sharing a shrew. Cherrypaw and Nettlepaw were practicing battle moves, and Whiskerkit was playing with a leaf near her mother, Nightfeather. Hawkpuddle was sunning herself in a patch of sunlight.

She watched as Ambersplash and Greyfern came in from the bramble entrance with fresh-kill in their mouths, a black tabby trailing behind.

"Cloverpaw!" Silverpaw said impatiently behind her. "Are you going to stand there all day?"

Cloverpaw stumbled out into the clearing. She felt blood trickling into her mouth, and she gritted her teeth.

Bounding over to Firefang, she said, "Are we going now?"

He started to nod, the spotted the condition of her eye. "Actually, you're not going anywhere until you take care of that."

She sighed, trotting over to the medicine cat's den.

Brushing against the ferns that lined the entrance, she called out to Needlenose.

"Cloverpaw?" Needlenose poked his head out of the slit in the rock where he stored his herbs. Spotting her cut, he gasped and disappeared again.

Emerging again with a bundle of herbs, he directed her to an empty nest. He laid the herbs down next to her and poked around in them.

"Can you tell me what happened?" He asked, trickling juice from a bright yellow petal into her eye.

Cloverpaw blinked. "Not really," She said. "But Firefang said I can't go on border patrol, so it's not doing anything good for me."

Needlenose sighed. Cloverpaw shifted uncomfortably, trying not to stare at his disfigured face. His mouth was permanently turned down due to the ugly scar trailing across his face. His ear was torn, and Cloverpaw wrinkled her nose. If Needlenose saw, he didn't comment.

"You're fine now," He said. "If it starts bleeding again, come let me know."

Cloverpaw exited the den and sighed.

You won't always have your precious medicine cat to help you, A voice whispered in Cloverpaw's mind. Cloverpaw shook her head, but it didn't help.

You'd better be ready tonight. The voice said again. Tonight I'm introducing you to the others. And then we'll get started on training.

Cloverpaw growled. "I'm not doing anything for you," She mumbled.

Too bad. I have living forces, too. Either you be on our side and win, or be on the losing side and be destroyed. Decide. Tell me what your answer is tonight.

"And what if I decide not to sleep at all?" She questioned.

Oh, you will sleep. You can't avoid me forever. You need to learn to accept your fate. The voice seemed to sneer at that.

"I don't have to listen to you!" She said loudly.

She realized cats were starting to stare and she ducked her head in embarrassment. She figured she must look pretty silly, talking to herself.

Of course, she was talking to someone in her mind. She suspected it was Twistedbrook. She shook her head, and ducked into the apprentices den.

Curling up in her nest, she sighed, preparing herself for more of Twistedbrook's taunting. Closing her eyes, she fell into sleep.