Warriors | A Prophecy Reborn: Book 4. (Hidden In Darkness)

~Hidden in Darkness: Chapter 13~

Russetfire opened her eyes and looked around. Everything seemed lighter as though it were the early morning, but the moon was still up, bright and visible in the dark blue-black sky.
"Where are we?" Spiraltail asked, gazing at the brightened world around her.
"This is StarClan territory," Firpaw explained. "Hi, Spiraltail!"
"Firpaw?" Spiraltail said in surprise.
"Hold the happy reunion for now," Russetfire told them. She knew Spiraltail and Firpaw were good friends, but whether or not she had seen him after death as well was still a mystery to Russetfire. Although, Firpaw had said recently that he had been giving visions to Stonestar's kits.
Looking around, she noticed Darkclaw was nowhere to be seen. "Spiraltail, where is your brother?" she asked the grey she-cat.
Spiraltail turned away from Firpaw and looked around. "He... Darkclaw!" Spiraltail called. "Darkclaw, where'd you go?"
Russetfire started to panic. "Firpaw, what else do you know about the ritual?"
"I..." Firpaw hesitated. "Nobody told me someone would go missing."
"You must know some way to find living cats in the land of the dead though, right?" Russetfire prodded.
"I already told you, I don't know!" Firpaw hissed. "You may be stressing out in the living world, but things are difficult here as well! We've had no information to share for moons and the one time I'm able to aid you and the living Clans, you act like your life is so horrible. At least you still have a life...
"Be a real medicine cat for once and endure. Deal with what you have had to put up with for so long while you can because now, here in StarClan, there is no time to stop and think things over, no time to stop and worry about what we do."
Russetfire was taken aback by his sudden outburst. Guilt began to overwhelm her shock as she realized her brother was right. Russetfire had been acting quite bitter lately, and she really had no good reason to. Tears of grief threatened to appear in the lids of her teal eyes, but she held them back with great force.
Firpaw's face was covered in regret and grief. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just miss my friends in the living world. And we have a lot of work to do here while we prepare."
"What is StarClan preparing for?" Russetfire asked, surprised to find that her voice was steadier than she'd thought it would be.
"It should be safe to tell you here," Firpaw said, glancing around. "But first, we should help Spiraltail find Darkclaw."
"Are the StarClan cats able to see what's happening in the living world?" Russetfire asked as she searched with Spiraltail and Firpaw.
"Some of us can't," Firpaw said. "Others are able to visit and, rarely, speak with, our kin, or the closest thing to kin they have."
"Are there any kittypets here?" Spiraltail wondered.
"Some," Firpaw said. "Most of them were given warrior names. Others ended up keeping their names. There's a mix of former kittypets and rogues here though. A few that used to be loners or used to belong to other Clans."
Russetfire had never met any cat who had formerly been from another Clan, excluding Burlytalon. She didn't actually know if anyone in ThunderClan was from another Clan originally. She knew Grayfur had been a kittypet and Swiftflight had been a loner, but she didn't know about anyone else in ThunderClan.
Although she had heard that there was someone in the Clans who wasn't originally of that Clan. I think it might've been ShadowClan.
"Hang on," Russetfire said, skidding to a halt. Spiraltail and Firpaw stopped beside her.
"What is it?" Spiraltail asked.
"Firpaw," Russetfire said, turning to her brother.
"Yes?" he replied.
"You seem to be able to read my mind," she said. "Unnecessarily, in some cases. Are you able to read anybody else's minds?"
"I can read minds if I want to or if I'm able to," Firpaw said. "What do you need?"
"Do you think you'd be able to hear Darkclaw's thoughts?"