This is a nice, healthy chapter. I have deemed it acceptable to be published. So read and enjoy! And, of course, review. I know if you don't…
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Watermint woke from her sleep. Something was pushing against her side. Looking down, she saw it was only Beechkit. His mottled sandy fur blended with the dry, white sand RiverClan used to make their nests with. She stretched, flexing her claws. "What is it, little one?" she murmured.
"I can't find Ghostkit. Where is he?" Beechkit blinked his electric blue eyes. Watermint frowned, looking around the nursery. It was empty except for her and Beechkit.
"Ghostkit?" she whispered. "Ghostkit?"
Worry rose in her chest. Rising to her paws, she shook the sand from her fur and padded out into the moonlight. The moonlight-filled clearing was silent except for the light breathing of many sleeping cats. Ghostkit was nowhere in sight.
Where is he? Watermint was very nervous now. He wouldn't leave the camp in the middle of the night, would he? What if something got him? WHERE IS HE???
Beechkit pawed at her legs. "Wherever he is, I wanna go too."
"Stay in the nursery, Beechkit. I'm going to find your brother." Watermint nudged him into the den as he protested. She made one quick circle around the camp, whispering "Ghostkit?" the whole time. She had just returned to the middle of the camp, debating who to wake, when Rowanstrike stuck his head out of the warrior's den.
"Watermint, what is it? You've been out there for quite a while," Rowanstrike asked sternly. He didn't like to be woken by anything trivial.
"It's Ghostkit!" she mewed, panicky. "He's gone!"
Rowanstrike immediately and calmly took control of the situation, exactly like a deputy should. Stepping out into the moonlight, he raised his nose and sniffed. "Nothing," he said. "Wait here. I'll get Smokestar."
Bounding off, he crept into the gray she cat's den, whispering urgently. Smokestar and her sort-of mate, Minnowleap, emerged moments later. She walked straight up to Watermint, who stood alone in the clearing.
"When did you notice he was missing?" she asked.
"About ten minutes ago," Watermint answered.
"There's no trace of fox, badger, hawk, dog, Twoleg or cat, or anything else that might want to take a kit. It's possible he just snuck when there wasn't anyone awake to stop him." Rowanstrike suggested. Watermint glared at him. There was no way Ghostkit would do that. Beechkit, maybe, but not Ghostkit.
"Rowanstrike, wake up… Darkleaf, she's fast. And Reedwhisker and Hawktail, they're both excellent trackers. And Mudslide, Ripplefur, Thistleclaw , and Tigernose. Everyone else will probably wake up with all the commotion, but that doesn't matter. Oh! And get Rosepaw, she does best in the dark." Smokestar paced back and forth, calling out her orders as she did.
"Watermint, you can go too. You, Hawktail, and Ripplefur will try and find his scent and track him down." Smokestar flicked her fluffy tail in the general direction of the river. "Oh, and make sure to take Beechkit out of the nursery. He can go stay with Wind, just in case."
Just in case whatever got Ghostkit doesn't come for him too, Watermint thought. No! Ghostkit was not taken by anything.
When the warriors and apprentices were assembled, Smokestar gave the order and the several patrols took off into the night. Watermint felt like she was about to snap.
Hawktail mewed in surprise. "Watermint! Watermint! I found a trail!" he shouted.
Her heart leaped. They were going to find him!
The kit's scent wound through the woods, towards the river. Hawktail led the way, his nose close to the ground. It wasn't long before they heard the splashing and rumbling of the water.
Ghostkit was sitting quietly on the shore, staring out into the river with his tail wrapped around his paws. Small pawprints led to where he sat. He looked up at the sound of their approach, stars reflecting in his big, gray eyes.
"Ghostkit!" Watermint cried, racing towards him. She skidded to a stop, her paws pushing up sand. "What in StarClan's name are you doing out here? Are you hurt at all? How'd you even find the river?" She scooped him up, clamping her mouth around the scruff of his neck.
He dangled limply. "I'm fine," he mewed.
Ripplefur stared at him angrily. "What did you think you were doing, mouse-brained kit? Half the Clan is running around in the dark looking for you!" Hawktail glanced at her in surprise. It took a lot to make laid-back Ripplefur mad.
Watermint glared at her, but said nothing because her mouth was full of Ghostkit.
"I just wanted to see where the silver cat was going," he replied.
Ripplefur stared at him hard. "What silver cat?"
"The one that was in camp. He led me to the river. That's how I found it."
All three cats froze, looking at the gray kit. "There was a cat in our camp?" Hawktail was dumbstruck.
"Yeah." Ghostkit was unconcerned by this fact.
"Why didn't you tell anyone? You mean you just decided to follow some strange cat you don't know? What he a Clan cat" Ripplefur's train of thought raced ahead too fast for Ghostkit to answer.
"I think he wanted me to follow him." Ghostkit said, undeterred. "He looked right at me and walked away, and waved his tail. I followed him to the river, but then I couldn't find him. That's when I saw the other kitten. She was silver and pale in the same way the other cat was. She didn't say anything, but she wanted to play, so I did. We were playing over there." He gestured with his tail to a spot upriver. The sand was churned up by little paws, but there was only one set of prints.
"I think you were dreaming, Ghostkit." Watermint said gently, doing her best to speak around his fur.
"I wasn't," Ghostkit said firmly. He honestly believed he was right.
"Maybe," Ripplefur said, but she looked relieved. Just a kit's imagination.
They started walking again. Hawktail bounded ahead to tell Smokestar to call off the search. When the two she cats reached camp, Wind came to meet them. Examining Ghostkit for injuries in her den, she looked up at Watermint, who sat beside her.
"He's fine, not a scratch on him," she declared.
"Thank StarClan," said Watermint.
Ghostkit proceeded to tell Wind his dream about the two strange cats. Wind treated it very seriously, questioning him about it. Watermint could practically read her half-sister's mind, and knew Wind was wondering if she should offer to take him as her apprentice.
"Did these cats have stars in their fur?" Wind asked. Of course, Watermint thought. If he dreams of StarClan he's bound to be a medicine cat.
Ghostkit's gray eyes stared into Wind's gray eyes, just as serious as she was. "No," he mewed. "They were silvery-gray. They didn't shine, but they sort of glowed. And they were…" he struggled to find the right word. "See-through. Pale. A bit like fog, but they were clearer."
Wind was confused. "Fog? No, StarClan cats shine like stars."
Ghostkit licked his chest fur a few times and shrugged. "Then I guess they weren't StarClan cats."
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Not StarClan cats? What could this mean? Ghostkit is a strange one…
To get in the mood to write this, I was listening to Evanescence's 'Haunted', wich by the way is a great song. It fits this chapter very well.
Don't worry, I'll get to ThunderClan and WindClan soon. I felt this chapter would fit in nicely here, though, so I put it here.
Fun Facts:
Wind is not a Tribe cat, but she has a tribe sounding name because her mentor died before she had finished training; her mentor had to help Wind finish her training from the ranks of StarClan, and Wind named herself because 'the wind whispered secrets' to her
Wind is the younger sister of Minnowleap, and the two of them are Watermint's half-siblings, because they all had the same father
Minnowleap is called the sometimes-mate of Smokestar, for while they aren't strictly together, they occasionally sleep in the leader's den and are good friends; it's like an on/off thing
Watermint has her two sons, Beechkit and Ghostkit, but she and her mate Mudslide are also the parents of Swiftpaw (Watermint's the kind of cat who spends a lot of time as a queen)
Darkleaf and Rowanstrike are the parents of Stormypaw and Flamingpaw, who are twins
