Legacy: Infinity (Book 3)

Chapter 35: Lost Time

Chapter 35: Lost Time

The days were dark, the night was darker, everywhere Jay lifted her eyes she was met by darkness. The shadow of horror remained imprinted on her mind long after the memory had lost its bitter taste. It had awakened old haunts in her mind which had remained buried since the birth of her kits. Now they returned with a vengeance, making it no difficulty to sit guard all night while the others slumbered around her.

Nearly half a moon had passed since she and Ash had gone to collect her herbs and found the two corpses. Ash had disappeared the day after and Jay couldn't muster any energy to track him down. She was still embarrassed that she'd shown such weakness in front of him, but she could also remember the gentle warmth in which the two had walked away from the scene.

Had she ever felt such tenderness from anyone? Certainly not in recent memory, and definitely not from him. She could only surmise that he had been so shocked that he hadn't been thinking about what he was doing. After all, she knew he was easily put into a tame state when he was given too much of a shock.

The mountains had changed since the first snow-fall too, the stone valley's ponds had frozen over and it was coated smoothly with an even sheet of pristine snow that glimmered. She was sure the valley was white as well. In the ravine the pines held up most of the snow upon their heavy branches and the snow underpaw was hardly enough to retain a paw-print.

The kits enjoyed the snow, finding it fun to fling sticks or pawfulls of snow up at the branches in the hope that they'd cause an avalanche of snow to fall on the head of one of their play-mates. Eagle had become an expert, being able to fling pebble harder and further than the younger kits and nary a day passed without some bunch of snow-covered kits ganging up on him to exact their revenge.

Their innocent playfulness was Jay's only solace. Though every time she looked at Eagle she was struck with pangs of guilt, which was so unlike her that she wondered if she had become ill. But there were no other symptoms for the heaviness in her chest.

She hadn't been able to tell Eagle or Thunderstorm what had become of their parents. She had tried twice to tell the elder sibling, but had gotten too scared that he would ask the circumstances of their death that she had aborted the attempt. It haunted her and she avoided him, leaving Silver to take care of him while she busied herself with the kits.

Despite living with so many cats, Jay felt like she was growing more and more lonely. Her kits spent most of their time with their play-mates and even Midnight's kits no longer needed her like when she'd first taken them in. She missed Amelia and longed for the company of the quirky murderess.

She had once gone out to the crescent arch tunnel entrance and started down the mountain, intent on finding Amelia, but the sight of the ravine had chased her back home as she swallowed feelings of sickness.

It killed her, knowing what had happened was in part because of her actions, that those who had done such a thing were still in control of many other cats she knew. It killed her that she was now too afraid to try to save the StarReaders. It killed her that the fear controlled her.

The thought that there was even a possibility that if she tried to rescue the StarReaders such a terrible fate could befall her precious kits or any of the cats she'd taken into her care was such that left her trembling deep in the night. Those corpses, all hair pulled from their pelt, their skin nearly all torn off and what left rotten and crawling with maggots; she had no appetite on those days.

A thought came to her mind on one of those nights as she looked at the mouse she had failed to eat for supper; this simply could not go on any longer. She could not bear this pain, this fear, this anxiety that followed her like a shadow waiting to strike.