Hope ✓

Chapter Eighteen

I padded forward, surrounded by a confusing fog. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see anything through the dense fog.

I thought I saw something and whirled around. My eyes narrowed and my fur stood on end when I saw a strangely familiar orange cat standing before me.

"Why do you always show up during the worst times?" I hissed.

The orange tom smirked. "Is now a bad time?" He questioned.

"Who are you?" I asked him, straightening up, my fur lying flat.

The scarred orange tom ignored my question and started slowly towards me. "Looks like you've come a long way." He stated as he began to circle me.

I kept my eye on the tom. "What do you want?"

The orange tabby almost smiled at this. "I want many things . . ." He answered vaguely.

I hissed in annoyance. "What are you doing here?" Why couldn't he just give a straight answer?

"I see you've found Mistclan." The orange tabby said.

That caught me off guard. I tilted my head in confusion. "How do you know about Mistclan?"

"I know many things." He answered.

"Why can't you ever give me a straight answer?" I asked in annoyance.

The scarred orange tabby stopped in front of me. "There is a time and place for everything."

I sighed and sat down. Why would I expect him to give me an answer I wanted, anyway? It was clear I couldn't trust him. Although hadn't he helped with escaping Aster's group? I didn't know what to believe.

The orange tom watched me and seemed to be pondering something. He didn't ask any questions, though. "Sometimes the light can be shrouded by the mist."

I looked up at him, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The orange tom began to fade and my eyes widened with panic. How was I supposed to know when I would see him again? "Wait!" I called to him, standing up.

"Never lose hope . . ."

That's all I heard from the tom before he completely vanished from sight. I turned around, searching for him. "Hello?" I called.

The mist began to swirl around me. It was all a huge blur until I woke up with a start.

I looked around frantically but relaxed when I realized where I was. I was in the Mistclan warriors den in my makeshift nest. Flick had moved his nest closer to mine and I smiled warmly at him. Bella was on my other side, curled up tightly into a neat ball.

Once I sat up, Flick moved. His ear flicked and opened his eyes, smiling at me. He raised his head and yawned. "Good morning."

I returned the sandy tom's smile. "Morning." I said. I stretched and shivered. "It's a bit chilly this morning."

Flick nodded. "Still not as cold as last night. I don't know how you fell asleep so quickly, I couldn't get warm!"