Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Eighteen

Sunpool

The days until the next half-moon passed without much incident. Slowly, the prey was starting to return, and almost all of the snow had melted. Pidgeonkit, the only cat left in his litter, came out of the nursery precariously, his nose twitching as he looked at the sky. Peonystorm didn't appear after him. Sunpool was a bit worried about her; she wasn't eating much, and seemed to blame herself for Sorrelkit's death. No matter how much Rosefoot tried to assure the queen that her kit's death wasn't her fault, Peonystorm simply refused to accept it. After a few days, Applestar had gone into Cloverfur's den and reported the terrifying news that the medicine cat was gone. Sunpool had felt a worm of dread wriggle into her stomach at the pronouncement, and she felt one now as she glanced at the empty den.

Cinderstorm came out and stood beside her. "Tonight's the night."

"You make it sound like we're going into some huge battle we're all going to die from," Sunpool joked, then wished that she hadn't. Even on a morning like this one, where the sun blazed brightly overhead, the lingering shadow of Cloverfur's departure and Applestar's unwillingness to do anything about it (maybe because she had nine lives? No, probably because she had connections in other Clans, or something.) still cast a sort of gloom over the Clan.

"Yeah, well, in a way, it kind of is," Cinderstorm meowed. "We need to find the answers in StarClan, and if they don't answer us or tell us false information... well, then, we're probably all going to die. I wish Goldleaf was still alive," she added as an afterthought, her voice cracking. "He was always... good at motivational speeches."

Sunpool's stomach contracted. She still hadn't told any cat about how she had been the one who had ultimately sacrificed Goldleaf's life. To save him from pain, it was true, because Applestar torturing her was something that would definitely hurt him, but she still took his life. She felt immeasurably guilty about this; and surely he must have found out by now. Lilycloud would have told him. He'd never want to see her again. He was only ever Applestar's mate to protect me, she thought, and felt the guilt multiply. He didn't want to see me hurt.

Now, will he ever want to see me again?

"Sunpool?" Cinderstorm mewed, and Sunpool realized her friend had been talking, and she had been ignoring her, lost in her own thoughts.

"Sorry, what?" Sunpool asked. Cinderstorm sighed, and wiped her paw over the ground.

"Remember the plan," she said, beginning to walk over to the old flower bush they used to sit under, like kits in a make-believe fort. The flowers were starting to regrow; in another few moons, they would blossom. "Tell me it."

"Alright," Sunpool sighed. "At moonrise, we say we're going hunting and sneak out, and meet Yellowheart at the Starbrooke. She'll have a place ready for us, and we'll talk to StarClan with her help. Then, at dawn, we go back."

Cinderstorm nodded. "I still think we'll be missed," Sunpool added.

"We won't be, probably," Cinderstorm replied. "Applestar's too busy doing... whatever she's doing, the rest of the warriors will be asleep or doing their own things, and there's nobody else to figure us out. We'll be fine. We can just say we went out and did some early-morning hunting or something."

"Won't the 'I'm going hunting' excuse get a bit repetitive?" Sunpool interjected.

"I really, really hope not," Cinderstorm replied, and Sunpool let out a reluctant purr. It felt so good to be sitting here, with her friend, just like the old days, when everything was so much simpler...

But that was when the bush was dying.

Now, it was coming back to life. Was it an omen? An omen that things were going to get better?

Either way, it made her feel a bit better.

"Okay," Sunpool meowed, standing. "Let's act normal for the day."

-=-

Amberclaw assigned Sunpool to a hunting patrol with himself, Skypelt, and Stonewhisker. The four cats were nearly silent as they padded through the trees, until Skypelt meowed, "Shall we hunt forest prey or fish?"

Stonewhisker shrugged. "I don't mind either."

"If nobody minds, I'd like the fish," Sunpool mewed. Amberclaw nodded.

"We'll fish, then," he meowed.

They made their way over to the HollyClan River border and fished in silence. Sunpool felt a strange tenseness in the air that she didn't know how to explain. Amberclaw and Stonewhisker seemed alright, but Skypelt didn't. She hardly caught anything, just a small fish, and let several easy catches escape. Sunpool wondered what was wrong with her, as she was never this off.

The time came, after the hunting patrol had returned and gone their separate ways, for Sunpool and Cinderstorm to retire to their nests. Sunpool curled into a ball and attempted to slow her breathing, to make it appear like she was asleep, but wasn't sure how well she did. However bad she did, nobody disturbed her, so she must have done alright. Occasionally, she glanced up at the light filtering in through the tiny gaps in the den roof, until she gauged that it was moonhigh.

Carefully, she got up from her nest and picked her way through the sleeping warriors, freezing as her tail brushed Stonewhisker's forehead. Luckily, he grunted and turned in his sleep, but didn't wake up.

Cinderstorm was awake when Sunpool finally reached her. "Ready?" Cinderstorm asked.

"Yeah," Sunpool whispered. "Let's do this."

Slightly shorter chapter but hey I updated.

Pretty much the next month or so a bit stressful, as I've got standardized testing and then another type of testing that are both really annoying and I've got to get crazy high scores in. Slow updates are a yes. I'll be able to get a lot out over the summer though, woohoo!

If half of it appears indented and the other half doesn't just ignore that cx

Also I've begun to start editing "Secrets in Shadows"! I would definitely check the new allegiances, as some of the names have been modified to be more realistic and such. Thanks.

Thanks all for reading 💜 This book is at 2k reads, and we're not even halfway through! I want to try to get it to 3k by the end of the book? Maybe?

~✨🐱✨ Rainfeather ✨🐱✨