𝒟𝙰𝚁𝙺𝙴𝙽𝙴𝙳 𝒫𝚁𝙾𝙿𝙷𝙴𝙲𝚈 ─── 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 2.

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍

The den was dark and barely any sunlight came through the small cracks in the rock that kept Spottedsong and Dawnsplash trapped. She paced the den, searching for some sort of escape. Dawnsplash was laying down on the other side of the den, which was only a few mouse-lengths away, with her paws tucked under her chest. She watched as Spottedsong paced, her eyes wide and thoughtful. "Why aren't you helping?" Spottedsong hissed, glaring at Dawnsplash. "We've been on here for two days, and you've done nothing to find a way out."

     "There's no use," Dawnsplash replied simply. Her voice was heavy with hopelessness. "Besides, this way I don't have to go back to that place again."

     Spottedsong stared at her in shock and disbelief. "You don't like it? So why did you try to kill Frozenfang?"

     Dawnsplash let out a hiss of disgust. "That wasn't my intention. Cypressstar told me to kill Frozenfang. And when I refused when I was just about to kill her, it felt like . . . like I wasn't myself anymore."

     "What do you mean?" Spottedsong asked.

     There was silence from Dawnsplash for a long time before she sighed. "I don't know," she replied. "That's just what it felt like. Is that what happened to you when you failed to kill Dovepaw?"

     "N-no. Well, kind of, I guess. I don't know. I was scared that something bad would happen if I didn't kill her, so I did it, but I failed," Spottedsong admitted. "Now I think something's going to happen."

     Dawnsplash grimaced. "Maybe you can somehow avoid it?"

     Spottedsong shot a surprise look at her. "How?"

     "I don't know . . . don't go to that place?" Dawnsplash guessed.

     "And how do you suggest I do that? You know from your own experience that there's no way to resist going because of that . . . voice." Spottedsong suppressed a shiver. "There's no way not to go. And when you're there, you're not able to leave."

     "How could you know that? I haven't even thought about trying to leave." Dawnsplash cocked her head to one side curiously.

     Spottedsong glanced at the entrance of the den where Mousetail and Ashbreeze were guarding the prison. Then she inched closer to Dawnsplash so they couldn't hear. "That's the point. You don't think about leaving. Moonclaw obviously has a way of getting into her victim's heads, and when she does that, these weird, creepy, unnatural things happen. Get it?"

     Dawnsplash's blue eyes widened with thoughtfulness and surprise. "That . . . makes a lot of sense. And that's weird. How did you figure this out?"

     "I had nothing else to do but think," Spottedsong explained simply. "It's kind of easy to realize if you think about it."

     "So is that why I had no control after I hesitated to kill Frozenfang?" Dawnsplash asked.