"Shade?" I called. Nothing. Just dark. "Shade!" I called louder. Still just black. "Shade!" I screamed, whipping my head around.

"I am here, Rose. Do not worry."

Shade! I tried to follow his voice, but he wasn't there. "Where are you, Shade?! I can't see you!"

"Tonight is not clear, dear Rose. StarClan will not let us see each other." Shade's voice was saddened and heavy.

"How come I can hear you then?!" I snapped, flipping around. I knew I wouldn't be able to see him tonight, but I could try.

"Please calm, Rose. StarClan is doing their best. I only have a short time tonight. I have a message to tell you."

I flicked my tail. StarClan, I spat, why tonight?!

"Eight letters," Shade's voice flicked as he spoke, "three words," his voice became softer, "one meaning." And then he was gone.

I turned around frantically. "Shade!" I screamed. "Shade!" But he was not here. His voice was not enough to keep me at bay until tonight. I couldn't live with just his message. I had to see him.

But I sensed that this place was almost over. This dream. His message, however, was not.

"Wake up, Scarletpaw!"

I shook my head, closing my eyes tighter as I clawed against the black. "No, not now, not now, Shade!" I called into the black. "Not now!!"

"Scarletpaw!"

My eyes snapped open, reluctantly. I bit back a hiss as I pushed myself to my paws. Fireheart eyed me oddly.

"Another day in the life of a ThunderClan apprentice..." I mumbled.

Fireheart sat at the opening of the den and flicked his tail in greeting as I sleepily staggered over to him. He kept looking at me as if I had just said that I wanted to eat Deathberries. What if he had heard me talking in my sleep? What if he had found out about Shade?!

I bent down and nervously started washing a paw, trying to distract my mind from the thought that Fireheart could have found out about Shade.

Fireheart shook his head and stretched out his hind legs. "Well, Tigerclaw came to tell me that because Whitestorm is busy with his apprentice today I have to take you out on a border patrol along Sunningrocks. I thought it would be a great idea since you've never smelled a RiverClan cat scent before."

I flicked my ear. "Really? A patrol?" That's when when I remembered that on border patrols you get to eat whatever you caught, unlike on hunts when you have to feed the clan before yourself. I mean, it was for good intention and all, but it was annoying.

"Yes. Why, do you not want to become a Warrior?" Fireheart tested.

"It's not like one more patrol will make me a Warrior, because it certainly didn't for you!" I laughed, playfully cuffing Fireheart's shoulder.

"Are you going on that patrol or are you going to sit around and play like kits all day?" I saw Fireheart's ears flatten, and I knew it was Tigerclaw making the remark.

"How about you go and clean some kit's bedding? It's all your good for!" I hissed at him. I wasn't able to control the words coming from my mouth. But it wasn't like I was doing it for attention. Fireheart always talked to me about how much he hated Tigerclaw.

"Scarletpaw!" Fireheart gaped.

"Why you little inconsiderate kit," Tigerclaw growled, his claws unsheathing as he padded over towards me and Fireheart. "Do you not know how to watch your tongue?!"

I was scared to death of this cat. He was big and strong, and could kill me if he wanted to. I gulped.

"Do you?!?!" Tigerclaw yowled.

I nodded, stepping back.

Tigerclaw's eyes narrowed. "This will not be taken lightly, kit." He growled. "Remember that." He trotted off.

"Better be going to stick his head in a badger hole..." I spat at the ground, turning to wash my back.

"What were you thinking?!?" Fireheart snapped at me. "Talking to Tigerclaw like that; you may as well not want to become a Warrior anymore!"

I looked up at Fireheart, meeting his gaze. "I know," I said dryly.

Fireheart flicked his tail and stood again. "Come on. Let's go before Tigerclaw gets onto us again." He said nervously.

I nodded and stood up.

Rose...

I flicked my head up at the trees. Did I just hear my nickname?

Rose...

I looked up at the bright sky. I had heard it. My nickname. But how...?

Fourtrees...

What? Fourtrees? What did that have to do with anything?

No cross...

I twisted my head. Was StarClan sending me a message? Fourtrees- No cross? What was there to cross in Fourtrees? I shook my head and ran through the brambles at the camp entrance, where Fireheart sat.

"What, did you get caught up in your own fur? Come on, Scarletpaw." He scolded, setting off to a run. I followed eagerly.

Fireheart cleared a fallen log in one leap, and I tried to do the same, but tripped over my paws. I got back up and kept running. Fireheart glanced over his shoulder, back at me, and slowed until I caught up.

Rose... No cross.

The voice was louder. I shook my head. StarClan wasn't sending me a message, not now. I was an apprentice, not a medicine cat, or leader.

Rose, don't cross...

As we neared the path leading to Fourtrees, the voice was loud and stern. I shook my head, slowing down.

Go!

Was this Shade talking to me? But he only talked to me in dreams! Not in the middle of the day. I stopped to a trot.

No! Run!

"Shade...?" I whispered, looking around. I stopped and drank in the that scent carried in the wind. Nothing abnormal.

Rose, run!

I saw Fireheart quite a ways ahead of me. He slowed, stopped, and looked frantically around. He couldn't see me.

I walked a few paw-steps to the side, so he could see me, but that's when I heard it.

No!!!!

I felt a pair of claws clamp around the side of my face and pull me away, into the brush. I could only hope Fireheart saw it.

"You dirty little rat," the husky voice growled. "How dare you speak to me like that. You should loose your tongue."

I looked up. He had pinned me against a tree. "Tigerclaw, please..." I squealed.

"Do you want that?!" He snapped. "To loose the thing that lets your mouth run?"

"Take something else, please..." I begged. "My ears..."

"Hmm, your ears? I don't think so. You won't be of any help to the clan if you can't hear to hunt. But..." Tigerclaw lifted a paw from my shoulder and traced around my right eye with one unsheathed claw. "How about this?"

"Please, no..." I begged, feeling tears streak down my muzzle. "Please... I'm sorry, Tigerclaw... No..."

"Ha! Too late, kit!" Tigerclaw roared.

"No!"

Shade and Fireheart screamed in unison, but were too late. I screamed a yowl of pain as three claws ripped across the side of my face. Blood splattered on Tigerclaw's fur.

Fireheart pounced on the deputy, raking his soft underbelly with his hind legs and keeping him pinned with his forepaws. "How could you?!" Fireheart hissed out of bitter rage. "She was only an apprentice! Hardly older than a kit!!"

"She needs to learn to hold her tongue." Tigerclaw hissed through clenched fangs. "Now get off before I tell Bluestar all about your little indecent with that RiverClan cat!!" Tigerclaw pushed Fireheart off him, glanced back at me, and took off through the trees.

I couldn't hold back a loud whine. I felt my scarlet blood run down my orange fur, staining the earth.

"Dear StarClan..." Fireheart gasped, sinking down to me. "Scarletpaw, you're going to be blinded..."

"Please help..." I begged, holding out a paw. "Please, Shade..."

I saw him then. It was Shade. His black fur and dark gray paws that looked blue . His pelt was spotted with that gray color, and those icy blue eyes, holding back tears. "Shade..." I murmured softer, feeling him pick me up by the scruff of my neck and drag me away from the tree.

Hang in there, Rose...I heard Shade whisper before his image faded away back into Fireheart. I tried to use my back legs to help Fireheart, but the pain in my face kept me from doing so.

It seemed like forever until we reached the brambles of the camp. I was dragged through, and I heard the stifled gasps of the cats around.

I was taken to Yellowfang. She looked petrified as she saw my eye. I heard her tell Fireheart that she wouldn't be able to save my right eye.

I closed my eyes and put my head on my paws. All I wanted to know, to see, was Shade.

And I did. The poppy-seeds Yellowfang gave to me to numb the pain helped me go to sleep instantly.

And Shade was there. He ran towards me, and groomed my head and flank comfortingly. When he was done, he stepped back a paw-step. "Rose..."

His fur glistened underneath Silverpelt in this dream like ice on a river. "Do you want to see?"

"My eye?" I asked.

He nodded.

I looked up at the sky and saw. My appearance was like that on glass. Three claw marks across my right eye, starting at the base of my ear and ending at the end of my muzzle. I stepped back, then launched myself at Shade.

He caught me, and I nuzzled in his shoulder for a moment. He groomed my fur again, whispering to me about how it would get better when it healed.

I nodded and sat beside him, just soaking in the pure comfort of him.

Shade's image started to blur when the winds started picking up. He looked down at me. "It's time to go." He purred.

I nodded, and pushed myself up.

"Bye, my dear Rose. I shale see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Shade." I purred, brushing against him.

I opened my eyes and the dream was over.