why are the cats of nightbreeze becoming suddenly aggressive when they never used to be? why are their eyes torn out, rendering them blind? who is doing it to them? and why?
in a world where thunderclan and riverclan joined forces many moons ago, tu...
she paced over and gripped his paws with her unsheathed claws. "say you're sorry," she hissed slowly.
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reedshine decided that he could trust the thinker. even if she was a little crazy, she was a lot smarter than him. and that made her trust him.
"is this what you were going to tell me about earlier, love?" poppystar asked turtlemist.
"yes. we saw two blind, nightbreeze cats on our territory. they were alive, too."
"one of them attacked us," reedgaze put in. "and in her eyes there was an X."
"what?" turtlemist exclaimed. "what do you mean?"
"didn't you see the X? it was like whoever blinded her crossed an X into her eyes. gross." he shuddered.
cloudpebble glanced at sorrelmask. "that's weird," she meowed softly. "i wonder why there was an X there."
turtlemist was thinking hard. reedgaze could tell by the look on her face. her eyes flickered around and her ears flattened against her head.
"we have to solve this mystery," adderstar meowed, sniffing one of the nightbreeze cats that had fallen. she kicked it. looking around, reedgaze saw that all the warriors left were huddled in corners scattered around camp, mourning the dead and licking up their wounds. turtlemist opened her mouth, perhaps to volunteer to solve said mystery.
"let me do it," reedgaze jumped in. turtlemist glanced at him quickly, and although he knew she wouldn't say it out loud, he knew she was hurt because she wanted to solve it.
"okay, reedgaze. you're on it," poppystar noted. "i'll make sure you aren't put on any patrols."
"sounds good to me," adderstar meowed stiffly, looking at turtlemist. but the thinker said nothing. she stared past reedgaze.
"'kay," turtlemist muttered. "fine by me." and she walked away, tail down.
adderstar watched as turtlemist walked to the warriors' den. she turned to face reedgaze when she knew the thinker was out of hearing range.
"are you serious?" the stormcreek leader asked, sitting down across from reedgaze.
reedgaze dug his claws into the earth, running the silt through his claws. he looked down. "what do you mean?"
adderstar growled softly, and rolled her eyes. "you hurt her feelings. you and i both know that."
poppystar was leaning in to hear the conversation. reedgaze could feel her eyes on him. guilt ran through his veins. he started to sweat minimally under his pelt.
"i'm sorry! i wasn't thinking, okay? i don't know the thinker that well!" he spat out, feeling worse and worse as the minutes ticked on. in his mind, the old mantra echoed in his head. things will always get worse before they get better.
"the thinker?" came a new voice. "is that.. what cats call me? the thinker? not even anything close to my actual name?" the voice didn't sound hurt, surprisingly. turtlemist's voice sounded like shocked.
reedgaze's heart sank. he closed his eyes. "that's not what i meant. i'm just so used to calling you that."
"listen, reedgaze. i could care less what you call me. we really just met for real today. it's that everyone else calls me that. hearing you say it so casually just rests the case. i don't need anyone to tell me that cats call me that. it's right there in your voice." and then, turtlemist appeared from behind a wall of cattails. she padded up to reedgaze and sat right next to adderstar, so that she was facing him.
"i'm sorry," reedgaze said, shuffling his paws. he had no idea the thinker—er— turtlemask— no— turtlemist was so confident in her words. "i really didn't mean it like that. and, can you please help me solve the mystery?"
turtlemist rolled her eyes, smiled wistfully, and said, "i've been waiting all day for you to ask me that. let's go."
"hold up," said sorrelmask. reedgaze blinked in surprise. he hadn't even noticed that adderstar's deputy was still with them. cloudpebble was there, too. she was licking her paw with an empty look on her face.
"yes?" reedgaze meowed, tilting his head in confusion.
"no 'i love you, let's be mates forever'? where's the entertainment in this?"
"i don't know what entertainment you could possibly be talking about right now," cloudpebble said monotonously before either turtlemist or reedgaze could respond, casting a look at her fellow deputy and turning to face him. "we just lost one fourth of our warriors to blind zombie cats."
an awkward silence hung over the six cats. sorrelmask stiffened. "sorry," he muttered. "i'm a sucker for a good romance."
"um, yeah, about that. no," turtlemist mewed. "definitely not. ever."
"i agree," reedgaze chimed in. "no offense, because you're pretty and all, but like. no." and there was a definite feeling in reedgaze's chest that they were both being honest. the two of them would never be anything more than simply friends.
"anyways," poppystar said awkwardly, with a glance at adderstar, "why don't you two go try and get a lead on this— whatever's happening." with her cream-colored tail she pointed at turtlemist and reedgaze.
"good idea," cloudpebble meowed quietly. "i want to know everything that happens."
"why don't you come with us?" turtlemist asked politely.
"no thank you, i have better things to do," poppystar's deputy murmured. "have to tread carefully these days."
turtlemist shot reedgaze a look of bewildered confusion. "what?" she mouthed at him when cloudpebble had walked away.
he shrugged, but started walking towards the exit of camp. following him, turtlemist mentioned that it was going to be a long journey to find out what was happening.
"i agree," reedgaze said solemnly. "it's going to be dangerous, too."
"well, i sure hope you can protect me, then," turtlemist meowed with a grin.
"i hope i can protect you, too," reedgaze said with a laugh. "don't worry," he added. "i'll try to make sure you aren't blinded."
