Spirit

CHAPTER THREE

Ivory woke up. She was breathing heavily, and two kits around one year old were playing near her paws. She felt the same warmth that she had had when she was around her mother. Her paws were even the same beige as her pelt. In fact, one of the kits was a more vibrant beige with ginger tabby stripes—quite the odd sight. When she looked at her, she had such an eerie similarity to her with her luminous yellow eyes; then Ivory realised who she was. Rosemary. Her mother.

The other kit was familiar too. He was a tabby and had the same ginger pelt as Ivory's stripes with scattered spots of silver that inspired his name; Fire. His golden eyes were bright and courageous, while Ivory's were dull and kind.

"Rose?" Ivory flinched. The voice was all too familiar. The ginger tabby that gave his life so his mate and kits could stay safe. Who Fire was partly named after.

"Dusk." The she-cat didn't say that. She had to remind herself that this was a dream and she can't speak or move for herself.

Then she heard something faint in her ear. Hissing? Leaves? Paws? "Cats!" she exclaimed. She leaped to her paws and gazed out of the den. She found nothing. "But I swore. . ." she trailed off.

Dusk tilted his head at her. "What got you so paranoid?" He licked her ear, purring. Ivory felt quite awkward because she still felt like herself, and yet this tom is acting like she's Rosemary.

Ivory stepped away. Finally, she had control. I need to find where that noise is coming from. She darted away, not caring how much Dusk protested. She knew that this was not how the memory was supposed to go, but she'd rather change the past in a dream than have to live in the future right now.

Through the lush trees of Hot-Season, she could see them. The small group of cats who managed to destroy the entire group of Claw-Bearers. They ran through the trees, but Ivory's stance stopped them.

"You are not laying a single fur on our territory!" she snarled. "You'll have to go through me if you want to hurt us!"

One of the cats—a white she-cat with a gray nose, paws, and tail—stepped forward with her blue eyes gleaming.

Singe. Ivory went from protective to helpless in a heartbeat. This was undeniably the most dangerous cat to set paw on group territory.

The she-cat smiled and said, "Well I don't see a problem with that."

Ivory slacked slightly as her eyes widened. No. I am not going to be the most pathetic death in Claw-Bearer history, I am going to win this! She leaped towards the white she-cat and crashed into the dirt; at least Singe was on her paws.

They became a sudden flurry of fur and blood. After being rolled over many times, Ivory couldn't think. She managed to pin Singe one last time. . . until she struck her face, the taste of blood in her mouth.

Singe grinned, pulled the beige and white she-cat closer to her face and whispered, "Just remember; your ignorance is what killed you."

She then kicked her off of herself and pinned her before she could move. Her claws raked Ivory's wound one last time; the last thing she heard was the thundering of paws before all was lost.

~~~

Ivory woke again. This time, she was standing over her own dead body. She noticed her paws were translucent and she yelped. Tears filling her eyes, she realised what had happened. This was still the dream, but it felt too real to be fake. She was dead. The moonlight highlighted the moss in her body's fur. She doubted that would still carry on when she became a Spirit.

She heard paws tracking in the ground, and her face lit up. Maybe all was not lost. The other Spirits were there to greet her; tell her she lived a good life, and that she died bravely. But as she watched, there were no more translucent cats, it was just an adult ginger tabby tom with two kits; one which was beige with ginger tabby stripes, and one that looked almost just like his father, but with silver spots.

She couldn't look. She had to get back to the Claw-Bearer camp, and tell everyone she was okay. Alive. But she wasn't. And she couldn't. She just had to trace Spirit Lake until she was let in. Sighing, Ivory looked over at herself and her family once again, then left to the lake.

Once she got to the lake, she stepped in the water. Instead of walking around like all Spirits should, she just lay in the water, not wanting to let go of her life yet. She sighed again, and closed her eyes.

~~~

Ivory finally woke up, with the sunlight filtering through the entrance in a green, earthy mood. Pawsteps came closer, and she recognised the cat's scent. Robin.

The brown and golden tom poked his head in the entrance, and his expression turned to a grimace when he saw her.

"What's wrong?" she blurted.

"Your. . . face," her friend answered in an awed disgust. "I didn't hear or smell you sneak out in the night, and I would've heard if a badger or something snuck in your den."

Ivory's ginger ears perked up. "Badger? Snuck? What do you mean; is there anything wrong with me?"

Robin nodded solemnly. "Follow me to Spirit Lake, and you'll see."

The beige and ginger she-cat copied his tone. "Okay. But I better see what's so disgusting about me."

She followed the golden tom out of the den.