Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 54: The Apprentice

Chapter 54: The Apprentice

For six days Scorch found herself followed the same routine. She met with Sonya and Time in the morning to train her powers- in which she made moderate progress. Then hunting all afternoon with Moonfrost- they continued to grow closer, though they quickly realized the only thing they had in common was the belief that Pinefur should be driven out as soon as possible. And finally, she spent her evenings alone with Featherpaw, during which she sometimes would practice her powers and other times talk with Featherpaw about getting her back to StarClan.

Every night was the same routine as well. The dream filled her nights with its wretchedness- the fighting cats, the fog, and the pools of blood were all she saw when she closed her eyes to sleep. And every morning before dawn she followed the patrol along the WindClan border before going to meet with Sonya and Time, to make sure they made it home safely without any cat knowing of her paranoia.

It was exhaustive, but Scorch felt happy to work with her friends and following the dawn patrol put her nerves at ease. The only shadow on her days was that Boulderfall continued to avoid her. And it seemed, to her irritation, that Flameclaw was always whispering words into his ears like a snake.

The sixth day ended like all the others, Scorch and Moonfrost entered the camp together just as the cats were turning to their dens for the night's rest. "I didn't catch much today," Scorch murmured, dropping and prodding her two small pieces to contribute to the food supply.

"You really haven't gotten used to hunting in a forest yet, you need to remember that there is a lot more undergrowth here than in the pine forest," Moonfrost mewed, dropping her own large catch on the fresh-kill pile.

Scorch sighed and looked around, wondering if Boulderfall was still up. She spotted him sitting outside the warriors den, he was watching her with narrowed eyes but looked away abruptly when she met his gaze. She didn't dare approach him, not with Flameclaw stretched out on his belly right besides him.

The orange tom noticed her and smirked, mewing something to Boulderfall that she couldn't hear, and then laughing. Boulderfall didn't laugh, but he looked amused and turned toward the warrior.

Scorch's fur prickled uncomfortably and she looked at Moonfrost who had observed the two toms as well. "What am I going to say to Boulderfall to get him to be my friend again, or at least start talking to me again?" she asked, scuffling her paws on the ground.

Moonfrost shrugged, "I don't know my brother very well, but he thinks very highly of the Clan's opinions of cats. The best thing would be for you to get in the good thoughts of the Clan, not that I could be of any help with that."

Scorch sighed, "I'm trying my best with hunting, and I help the medicine-cats when I have the time. But hardly any cat will talk with me, so I don't know how to show them they can trust me."

Moonfrost shrugged again and yawned, "Well, good luck with that. I'm going to my nest, see you tomorrow, Scorch."

"Okay, good night," Scorch mewed, watching the she-cat pad toward the warriors den. Moonfrost paused besides Boulderfall and Flameclaw and snapped something at them. Flameclaw rolled his eyes and Boulderfall stared at his paws, then they both headed into the den and disappeared from her view.

With paws itching to walk over to Boulderfall, she instead searched for the gleam of silver around the camp, spotting it above her head. Featherpaw sat on one of the rocks that led up to Highledge, watching the night sky yearningly as the stars appeared one by one in the midnight blue sky.

Scorch padded to the base of the rocks and stared up at the apprentice. "Hey, do you want to talk tonight?" Scorch asked quietly, Featherpaw seemed so immersed in searching the sky that she wasn't sure if the apprentice wanted to be disturbed.