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Before Larkpaw was even aware that she was awake, she heard whispering all around her. Her eyelids lifted slowly and with difficulty. Although she was sure she had slept through the night, she felt unrested.
The first thing she noticed was the unusual brightness in the apprentices' den. The sunlight filtered through the ferns unhindered.
Wait a moment. Where has the barrier gone? Larkpaw suddenly realised why it was so bright. The high wall of twigs and branches that the cats had built up with great effort had collapsed and was lying around the camp in numerous pieces.
Larkpaw dashed out into the clearing and almost collided with Birchpelt. Shaking herself dazedly, she narrowed her eyes. "How did that happen?" she meowed in disbelief as she realised that all the barriers around the den had been destroyed. "Was there a storm that I didn't notice?"
"We would have known that," Birchpelt replied.
Now that he said it, Larkpaw realised that it was true. The barriers had been standing there for a long time. It would have had to be an extremely strong storm to blow them down.
A few pawsteps further on, Elderpelt rummaged around among the branches. "Most of them are broken," the light tabico she-cat stated with a regretful undertone. "Great, then we'll have to go to the trouble of looking for new material again." She rolled her green eyes.
Discretely, Larkpaw padded off, leaving the two of them alone. Strange, extremely strange, she thought helplessly. How could something like this happen and nobody had noticed anything?
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her head. Larkpaw gasped for air and swayed. For a very brief moment, her eyes went black.
You really are nothing but a stupid cat. And naïve, too.
Out of shock, Larkpaw let out a hiss.
"Are you alright?" Amberpaw's face appeared in front of her. The red and gold tabby she-cat had tilted her head worriedly.
Larkpaw breathed out slowly and deliberately. She really should pay more attention to how she reacted when Goldenstar spoke to her. "Yes, don't worry," she replied as casually as possible.
But Amberpaw didn't miss a thing. Instead of being satisfied with the answer, she moved closer to Larkpaw. "You don't look like that at all," she said expertly. "Is something bothering you? You can talk to me about it... well, only if you want to." Her voice softened and she turned her head away shyly.
"It's okay, I'll be fine," Larkpaw fended her off vehemently and hoped that Amberpaw would be satisfied with that. At the same time, it filled her body with warmth to know that her littermate was worried about her.
Still, she couldn't tell her anything. She couldn't and didn't want to drag Amberpaw into the same doom.
For a while, Amberpaw stood motionless, keeping eye contact with Larkpaw, then she finally stepped back. "Okay, if you say so," she said, twitching her ears. "But please let me know if you're not feeling well and need someone to talk to, okay? Lately, you seem kind of... different. Like something's bothering you."
