Dark Skies- Book #2 in Sunrise

Dark Skies- #2 Book in Sunrise

                                                                                                   Chapter 10
"I wonder who killed her," Jadepaw murmured, almost to herself. Cloudpaw scoffed. "Nobody had to kill her," "She was killed by deathberries, somebody had to put them there." Jadepaw insisted. "No, maybe the mouse ate deathberries." "But they were whole berries!" Cloudpaw sighed. "Okay, then who would kill her?" "I don't know, I was asking you!" Cloudpaw pulled in front of her to the border where the other apprentices were marking it. Hawkpaw glared at her, turning away from Jadepaw.
. . .
Jadepaw was lying down in the grass, licking her paws and grimacing. Tick duty....she swallowed. Why didn't she remember that she had just had tick duty? She flicked her tongue in and out rapidly, trying to get the taste of mouse-bile out of her mouth. Outside the nursery, Creamcall lay in the grass, her belly bulging. Drizzlepaw was sitting next to Cloudpaw....and Frostfang. What a kit! Jadepaw looked around her. Well, I'm sitting by myself. She sank into her pelt. She felt lonely. Sun warmed her pelt, but the sun wasn't much of a friend to her. Sparkpaw was sitting with her siblings, and Jadepaw really didn't want to sit with Hawkpaw or Goldenpaw.

Jadepaw watched Fireclaw and Yellowstone sharing tongues, gnawing an her prey absently. A jet black pelt blocked her view of them, and Jadepaw looked up into Ravenstar's emerald eyes. "Hey, want to train?" "Um....er, sure.. what are we doing?" Jadepaw would do anything no to have to sit her being lonely. "Finish your mouse." Ravenstar said excitedly, his tail swooshing back and forth across the GreenLeaf grass. Jadepaw ripped into it, she was almost finished. Ravenstar waited beside Jadepaw impatiently.

Jadepaw squirmed under Ravenstar's gaze, which was flicking between the entrance and her. Jadepaw finished the mouse, tossing it aside. "So, what are we going to do?" "Hunting." "Oh. Why?" "Because you need to become a good warrior." "Oh." Jadepaw felt her tail droop. "Can we please do something else? Like tree-climbing?" Ravenstar narrowed his eyes. "Oh, okay. Let's tree-climb." Maybe he isn't so bad. Jadepaw hopped up and hurried after Ravenstar, who was already heading towards the entrance of camp.

"Okay, let's get this over with." Ravenstar grumbled, looking up at a very tall tree. The branches stretched out, shadowing the other trees, making them appear puny. Dark green leaves were sprouting off of tiny limbs farther from the bottom of the tree. Ravenstar dug his claws into the trunk and sprang his hind legs up. This is going to be great. "Follow my movement." Ravenstar instructed her. So Jadepaw dug her claws into the bark. Luckily it was soft and her claws sunk into the wood easily.

She clambered up the tree, looking at the branch above her where Ravenstar was perching. She hauled herself onto the branch, panting. "Good job." He praised her, getting ready to spring onto another one. Jadepaw sighed heavily. "How...many...branches....will we...climb?" She breathed. "Until we can see the whole camp." Ravenstar said happily. "Can't we see camp from..." She paused to catch her breath. "The ground?" Ravenstar shook his head. "Nope." Jadepaw hauled herself up to another branch, all of her muscles screaming for her to stop.

So, maybe she wasn't the most fit cat in ThunderClan, but she wasn't Goldenpaw. She was panting by the time Jadepaw reached about twenty fox-lengths from the ground. "Isn't..this h-high en-ough?" Jadepaw stuttered nervously. "I can't see the whole camp from here," Ravenstar said. Is this the only thing that he actually enjoys doing? "Okay, are you....good at this?" "Yeah." Jadepaw trembled, reaching for a branch just above her.

Her front paws were barley on the branch, and her hind paws couldn't quite reach it. Her belly felt like it was flying, and she was dangling in space. "Ravenstar, help!" Ravenstar turned around. "I'm coming..." He said, climbing cautiously down a few branches. Her hind paws were slipping, and she dug her claws in harder to the branch, and they felt like they were being pulled out. "RAVENSTAR!!! I'M FALLING!!!!!!" She whimpered. "I'm here." He meowed. "Jump up," "WHAT??? I can't jump! My legs aren't on the log-branch anymore!"