Chapter 2
"Don't be ridiculous!" My mother snapped sharply. "Of course Froststar is going to be fine!"
"That's what you think, mother," Cloudkit replied calmly. Her dark, stormy blue-gray eyes glinted, and that somehow sent shivers down my spine. "Fate can be denied, but not avoided."
Nightfall opened her mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it and shut it again. "Stormkit, you go stay here," she commanded. "Me and your sister will have a... talk over at the fresh-kill pile."
"Mom..." I started, but she gave me a hard stare and she began leading Cloudkit away, her gray eyes still shining.
Sparkling like moonlight.
OoOoO
Cloudkit
"Now listen," Nightfall rumbled. "It is important that you respect your elders! It will be an essential part of life later on."
I growled impatiently. "But those cats spoke to me! I know it!"
She sighed. "Look, I'm not going to argue with you anymore, Cloudkit. Just be careful, alright? I don't want you to-"
"You're just jealous that I know more than you do!" I snapped. "Stormkit... she's clueless."
"Don't speak that way about your own sister!" She snarled, rising up on her hind legs. "Family! It's what holds us together!"
I sighed. "Mother, you're not going to get far with that attitude of yours. Remember, you're speaking to innocent kits," I said in a sarcastic tone. "It wouldn't be nice to-"
Nightfall shrieked and leaned in towards me, her eyes blazing. "Don't you know what I do in making sure you're all safe everyday? That you have milk to drink? That you have someone to play with?" Her voice began to tremble. "Your brother died, Cloudkit. It was a sign from Starclan!"
"Not all signs are true signs," I began, but she cut me off with a glare. "Get back to Stormkit. Play. Do what any other kit does. Please."
OoOoO
Stormkit
"What did she tell you?" I asked eagerly as Cloudkit propped herself up besides me.
She frowned. "Nothing, really... Just some stuff about being respectful. Eh, didn't really pay much attention to it."
Her eyes turned towards me, and I saw those eyes, both of them wide and intense for the first time; haunting. Disturbing. "Do you ever doubt the things those Starclan thingies tell you?" I asked.
"Oh, no. It's as clear as daylight to me," she answered with a shrug. "Think maybe I'm special?"
I snarled. "What? Bragging too? Like you haven't had enough already."
"Well, like it or not, I'm gonna be the messenger of you all," Cloudkit meowed simply. "Mom... eh, she's as lost as the rest of them."
"Will you just stop saying how great you are?" I snapped, standing up. "Maybe to appreciate ME for once?"
"Calm down, it's your first day," she sighed. "Speaking of that... do you have anything to prove to me that you can do something?"
My claws slid out, as if instinctively. "Back off, or you'll-"
"Or you're gonna shred me into pieces?" Cloudkit cut in. "What good does that do, remind me again?"
I hesitated. "Is it gonna change destiny?" She continued. "Will it give you a better life? No. It's your choice- hey, where are you going?"
I growled and glanced out to the camp entrance. "Outside. Far, far away from you!"
She was silent for a moment. "Do you... do you really hate me?"
I shrugged. "Go ask your starry ancestors, 'cause I'm not answering that."
OoOoO
Cloudkit
She hates me. I know that, there's no denying it.
But you know what?
I don't care. I don't NEED company anyways. They're all blind, every one of them.
Just yesterday, a gray cat came and visited me in a dream. His name was Dappledsand, he had said; and a raging current would destroy everything that we knew. "Beware of your sister," he had warned.
They're wrong. They think Starclan have all the answers, but they don't. The truth is, they're just trying to find their way around themselves. They want to make us think they have everything in control.
But I know better. Because if those other voices. They don't belong to Starclan, that much I can tell. But they are older. Much, much older. Beyond the time when the clans were created. Before there was anything.
They tell me the truth.
I've heard the others talk about me already. They say that I'm mad. That I'm insane.
Sure. Let me hear them say that when the prophecies have been fulfilled and the paths layer out. Everything's carved in stone. Unchanging.
I'm... Worried about my mother, to be honest. She seems to think there's something wrong with me. But then no one says anything about the medicine cat who's seen false visions, a leader whose path has been strayed.
Why do they not ask?
