Foxgaze's Haunting

Bonus Story: Beechtooth's Awakening

This time, she was actually a ghost.

Beechtooth gasped and her eyes flew open. She looked around and saw she wasn't in the warrior's den, but in some kind of misty, gloomy forest. Glowing fungus grew on the based of some trees and cast sickly green light on everything. Beechtooth looked up at the sky but the trees appeared to go on forever.

She saw blood and looked down. The place where Foxgaze had torn her throat open had already healed to a scar but blood still oozed around it. The thought of Foxgaze made Beechtooth growl. She said aloud, "Right when she admits that she's my mother, she kills me!"

Beechtooth unsheathed her claws, "I'm going to kill her once she comes to StarClan", she muttered to herself.

Getting to her paws, Beechtooth began wandering through the dark, smelly, forest. She couldnt smell a wiff of prey even after walking for a long time but she didn't feel hunger.

StarClan is darker then I thought it would be Beechtooth thought to herself.

Movement in the bushes made Beechtooth freeze. She arched her back and spat ,"I know you're there!"

The bushes were still and silent. Suddenly, a burst of dark ginger fur flew out of the bushes and rammed into Beechtooth's side. She hissed and batted at the cat's ears. Beechtooth's felt a rush of satisfaction when she nicked the tip of of the apprentice's ears.

The dark ginger tom then jumped back and held a paw to his ear. He whimpered, "Hey! I thought this was training!"

"Training?" Beechtooth asked.

The tom nodded, "You know, we fall asleep and then we get summoned here so we can train with our mentor?"

Beechtooth narrowed her eyes, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not some weak apprentice, I was a former cat of IceClan until my own mother killed me for doing what was right!"

"Ouch, harsh", the tom's ear twitched. "Well, I'm not dead, I'm actually just a SeaClan apprentice, name's Otterpaw by the way".

"Otterpaw! Get back here now!", a voice yowled.

Otterpaw winced,"Oh, that's my mentor Plummetfall. I have to go" Otterpaw raced off into the dark bushes. Beechtooth realized with a bit of dread that this wasn't StarClan, but it was instead The Place of No Stars.

Then, a new, framiliar feeling came rushing to her, triumph. There would be cats here that would understand her frustration and her longing to rule her clan. They will understand me.

"You're new", a voice hissed from behind her.

Beechtooth whipped around to see who had hissed that. There was nothing there but the reek of the stagnant forest.

"Slow reflexes can cost you your life someday", the voice chuckled from above her.

Beechtooth snarled,"I'm already dead. I don't care if I die again".

The russet she-cat felt a cat land from above behind her. She turned around quickly in case it disappeared once more. The voice turned out to be a very dark tabby tom. His pelt was so dark that it was nearly black, especially in the gloomy surroundings. Green light reflected off his greasy fur.

He grinned, it was a yellowed, sharp grin, "I can teach you, like I did others, so that you can survive here but also so that one day, we can get revenge on the clans". His amber eyes glinted from the light of the fungus.

Beechtooth narrowed her eyes ,"Of course I would. I want to make my enemies bleed. But first, what do you call yourself?"

The dark tom grinned again. His sharp teeth were stained with something dark red and black that made Beechtooth wonder if it was blood. "Call me Shadowstripe".