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...
"what?" he asked pitifully. "that i will take no mercy on anyone. i know what you tried to do." "what do you mean?" "i saw you with them. the forest cats."
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as the sun sank below the horizon, finally casting the forest in darkness, reedgaze and turtlemist were still sitting in the marsh.
"listen, i have a theory," turtlemist meowed, looking reedgaze dead in the eye. her amber eyes reminded him of his own. "that kit— he has relation to the two she-cats."
"what's your deal with being able to tell cats' genders when you're looking at them from like 60 fox-lengths away?" reedgaze asked, partially to himself.
turtlemist ignored his question and lashed her tail. "did you notice how they all had spots and those blue eyes?"
"yeah." reedgaze had to admit that was strange. "that was weird. i've never seen a golden cat. but i don't think that really means anything."
he had been joking, but turtlemist took it seriously. "of course it does! maybe they're all siblings."
"but the gray tom was way younger than the she-cats, wasn't he? he looked a little older than four moons."
"i know. that's what's weird. i don't know how that part fits. but here's the thing— the gray cat called the other two by nicknames. shy and moony. think about it— what does the word shy remind you of?" turtlemist leaned in, hanging on every word she spoke.
"um...?" reedgaze had no idea.
"the word earthshine. er-th-shy-ne!" turtlemist pronounced the word slowly. "so, what if one of the cats is named earthshine?"
reedgaze looked at her, and tilted his head. "um, i mean," he started, "maybe?" to be honest he didn't know if he believed that, but it was a good theory. "but i don't know. what if earthshine means something more scientific? like something to do with the sun or something."
"oh, you're right!" turtlemask— mist, his mind automatically corrected— meowed, jumping up. in the darkness reedgaze noticed that her eyes looked more like brown. the thinker sprinted away towards camp. "let's go!" she called shrilly.
"what— wait for me!" reedgaze yowled, chasing after her. the darkness was a small obstacle, but he nearly tripped over a huge log. "i'm not as fast as you!"
but turtlemist did not slow down for him. she weaved through trees and cattails and arrived at camp minutes before he did. out of breath and nearly passed out, reedgaze trudged into camp with what he knew to be a sour expression on his face.
"don't be bitter," turtlemist whispered, "and don't be loud. almost everyone is asleep." she flicked an ear towards sorrelmask, who was keeping watch over the camp. he nodded at them.
"where did that sudden burst of energy come from?" reedgaze hissed at turtlemist. "i don't have time for this."
"what do you mean? we have all night!" the thinker mewed, suddenly very bubbly.
"oh, no. please no. we are not pulling an all nighter. please please— i'll do whatever you want, but no all nighters— please."
"too bad! you signed up for this," turtlemist meowed joyfully. "anyways, we have my brain to work with!"
is this what happens to you late at night? reedgaze thought. he sighed. "maybe we could just go to sleep?"
"no! we need to find out what's happening before it happens again."
"why can't that wait until tomorrow?"
"because! we're detectives! and spies! and warriors— well, you are at least. and we need to go on a secret spy mission!"
"oh my stars— NO! NO SECRET SPY MISSIONS!" reedgaze whispered angrily.
"too late, reedy! we're going on a secret spy mission!"
reedgaze didn't even question the nickname. the sooner i just accept my fate, the sooner i can go to bed. "fine! where are we going?"
"to nightbreeze's camp, duh!" turtlemist meowed quietly, with glee. her eyes glowed in the darkness. a few murmurs arose in the warriors' den.
a small head poked out of the entrance. it was seedpatch, a small fawn-colored warrior. "what are you two doing?" she growled quietly. her eyes still looked drowsy, and reedgaze didn't even know if she knew who she was talking to. "some of us are trying to sleep!"
"thinker?" seedpatch coughed in surprise. her eyes opened wider. "and reedgaze? wow, that's not a pair i would have expected. where are you two going..? actually— maybe i don't want to know. nevermind. carry on." she disappeared back into the den.
"oh, great," reedgaze hissed. "just what i need. rumors."
"it'll be fine, reedy! let's go!" turtlemist meowed, bounding out of camp.
"why did we come back to camp just to leave again?" reedgaze asked, mainly to himself. but he followed the thinker out of stormbreeze's camp.
"this really is a terrible idea. in fact, i can't think of a worse idea some cat has had than this. checking— nope. this takes the prey. this is the worst idea," reedgaze said to himself. turtlemist was sniffing the ground in front of him. they'd been walking for quite a while. "oh, no. this is such a horrible idea..."
"shush, reedy! do you want to give us away?" turtlemist whispered. "we're here. let's go."
the camp was absolutely shrouded in trees, but they cut short about halfway in the camp, where it turned gradually into moorland. there were dens spread out all over the camp, and the two leaders' dens were built with rocks and towered over the rest of the clan.
reedgaze prayed to all the dead cats he knew. please, please, please, please, please don't let us get caught. but he swallowed his pride and followed turtlemist in.
the nightbreeze camp was quiet. there were no guards, which was weird, but everything else seemed completely normal.
"let's look around," turtlemist mouthed.
reedgaze continued to pray with all his might, and if he hadn't opened his eyes when he did, he wouldn't have seen the golden spotted cat creeping in the bushes in nightbreeze's camp. and he wouldn't have seen her blue eyes burn into his like fire. and he most definitely wouldn't have seen the white kit that appeared in front of him.
