Chapter 7:

Stormlight woke up to a jolt of pain. Her bones were aching like she was some sort of elder and pain seared her flanks. Her fur was damp, like it had been raining. But it hadn't, Stormlight would've woken up before if she'd felt the rain patter on her pelt. No, it was warm. Sweltering, in fact. Stormlight's flank was sweaty as humid air buzzed around her. It was hard to think that it had only been raining the day before.

Yawning, she placed her head back on top of her paws, suddenly feeling something even warmer pressing against her pelt.

She glanced at her side to see a dark grey shape curled up. She smiled lightly as Ace's flank raised up and down as he snored softly. His fur was just as damp from sweat as her own.

How had she forgiven him so easily? After the fire, she'd sworn that she would hate him forever. At the gathering, her pelt had bristled with hatred when she'd seen him. But, now, he lay next her, the two of them together peacefully facing the lake as if he hadn't tried to burn the whole forest down.

Maybe, the reason why she'd forgiven him so easily was because she never really hated him in the first place. Sure, she'd been angry, but maybe she'd just made up the hatred in her mind as a coping method for the loss of her mate and her brother.

Maybe, it was because he'd been right. The clan had turned against her like she'd never belonged to them in the first place. They'd killed her kits.

They'd killed her kits.

Stormlight suddenly realised that she could never return to Lightningclan, they wouldn't let her.

And, even if by some miracle they changed their minds about Cursed cats, would she go back? No, her kits were dead, she could never ever forgive them.

But, maybe, just, maybe, if she'd forgiven Ace, then she could forgive Shadowheart.

Maybe she belonged in Pineclan. Technically, she had Pineclan blood flowing through her anyway, thanks to Duskpelt.

Yeah, she could live here. She could hunt in the marshes and walk beneath the tall pine trees.

'I could be happy here,' she thought, sparing another glance at Ace.

"He was supposed to be guarding you, you know," a voice shook her out of her thoughts.

Stormlight glanced up to see Starlingwing who, despite the damp, humid weather, looked cool and laid back.

"Brightfur told me that you hated him," the Pineclan she-cat dipped her head in the sleeping Ace's direction, "she was wrong."

"I…" Stormlight looked for the right words, "I forgave him."

"Forgave him?" She tipped her head, "What'd he do?"

"Doesn't matter," the grey she-cat muttered, "but I do have a question for you."

"Fire away," Starlingwing shrugged.

"You remember ages ago? When you were still a kit and I was still an apprentice."

She peered at her, "yeah…"

"Well…" Stormlight looked for the right words, "You told me that you had a power, right?"

Starlingwing nodded.

"What is it?"

"My power?" The black and ginger she-cat grinned, "this…"

Suddenly, a light, cooling gust of breeze washed over Stormlight. The grey she-cat leant back into it, enjoying the coolness as it swept over her, washing out all the humidity in her pelt.

When it was over, Stormlight glanced up.

"So…" She was confused, had Starlingwing not used her power.

The black and ginger cat simply rolled her eyes and lifted her paw. The breeze returned, this time more violent. It was strong, it caused Ace to stir slightly.

"I can control the wind," Starlingwing told her.

"Neat," complemented Stormlight, "I bet that's great on a day like this."

Starlingwing shrugged, her amber-red eyes scanning the area carefully. It was in that moment that Stormlight realised something. Starlingwing was her half-sister, they both shared blood through Duskpelt. It was a strange realisation for her, to think that she was related to a Pineclan cat. It had been a subconscious thought before, back when she'd found out Duskpelt was her father, but now it was at the forefront of her mind.

Then again, Stormlight supposed that she probably had a lot of half-siblings in all the clans. Didn't Duskpelt say that he had to try with lots of cats in different clans to have Cursed kits.

Stormlight almost physically shuddered at having half-siblings walking around on the moors of Heatherclan or swimming around in the river in Rainclan.

She was once again shaken out of her thoughts by a loud yawn.

Ace had lifted up his head, his violet eyes blinking in the sunlight as he glanced around. He looked surprised to see Starlingwing but even more surprised to see Stormlight. It looked like it took him a couple of seconds to get his bearings.

"What time is it?" He asked grumpily.

"Well," shrugged Starlingwing, "the dawn patrol's already been and gone and I came over to fetch you so you could get some sleep, but it looked like you had plenty of that."

Ace flattened his ears.

"Anyway," the she-cat continued, "do you wanna go back to camp or stay here? I've got prey."

The question was directed at Ace but Stormlight butted in.

"Can I go back to camp?" She questioned, "my legs will cramp if I have to lie here all day."

"No, Stormlight," Starlingwing shook her head, "your legs would probably do a lot worse thank cramp if you tried to make the trek back to camp."

The silver-grey she-cat felt hot with annoyance, "I'll be fine."

"No," it was Ace this time, "you should see the state of yourself. At least give it another day, stand up and stretch your legs if you want but there's no way I'm letting you walk back to camp."

"Fine," Stormlight snapped.

She knew that she was being a bit difficult and that they were only trying to help, but she still wanted to get back to her nest.

"At least drag Shadowheart out here," she sighed, "I want to talk to him."

Stormlight was surprised to see the doubtful glances that Starlingwing and Ace exchanged. In Ace's violet eyes she saw frustration and anger, not directed at her or Starlingwing but probably Shadowheart.

"Is something wrong?" She asked them both.

Starlingwing spared another glance at Ace and sighed. "He… He doesn't want to see you."

Ace looked away.

Stormlight blinked, "what?"

"When you and Brightfur appeared in our territory asking for help, Shadowheart just…"

Stormlight could see it was paining Starlingwing to even say it.

"He just what?" She pressed.

"He just didn't care," the black and ginger she-cat shook her head, "when Ace stayed to look after you, I tried to talk to him but…"

"But what?" Stormlight could feel herself shaking.

"But he said that he didn't want to talk to you because you never wanted to talk to hi, at least, not one Ace was around."

"I would never hurt you," growled Shadowheart.

Stormlight took a step back, watching the flames flicker in the magenta eyes of her brother was looking at her in fury.

"Then what changed?" She asked, her voice breaking.

Shadowheart glared at Ace, it was a glare filled with hate and loathing beyond any reasonable or understandable measure.

Stormlight wanted to understand.

She shook herself out of the memory, "I need to talk to him, I don't care what he says."

Starlingwing blinked, "are you sure?"

Stormlight nodded firmly, she had to speak to her brother, so they could be siblings again.

Starlingwing glanced at Ace, "you go get him, I'll stay here."

Ace hesitated, looking as if he were about to argue. Then, he shook his head and raced off into the pine trees, leaving Stormlight alone with Starlingwing who turned to her.

"What happened?" She asked, "what happened between you, Ace and Shadowheart? At the gathering, you hated Ace, what changed?"

Stormlight was going to lie before she realised that Starlingwing, the cat who had once been the lonely kit in the nursery, ignored and neglected by her father, deserved better.

"Ace and Shadowheart started the fire," she told her, "they did it and I hated them for it, it's not difficult to see why. But their reasoning was good, they wanted to prove to the clans that Cursed cats could be strong, that they shouldn't go on thinking that their evil. They taught Lightningclan that Cursed cats could fight back. But they didn't listen," Stormlight's voice was shaking, "they tried to kill me, they almost did but…"

Starlingwing watched in mute horror as Stormlight looked on the verge of breaking down.

"Ace, we were mates. So when he betrayed the clan, it was horrible. I thought 'they're you're clan, how could you do this?' But I was so blind, Starlingwing!"

The Pineclan she-cat continued to watch.

"Lightningclan didn't care when Breezecloud, a normal cat, tried to stop his brother from being murdered. They didn't care when Mouseeyes cried when his own sister killed him. And they certainly didn't care what I'd been through with Ace and Shadowheart because they still tried to kill me."

"In the end," Stormlight continued, "I wasn't the one who betrayed the clan. The clan, since the very beginning, was betraying me because they were blind, arrogant and stupid. I should've listened to Ace, I should've listened to his warning but now it's gone because my kits are dead!"

Stormlight's breathing was heavy, she shook violently on trembling paws.

Starlingwing didn't say anything, but she pressed herself against Stormlight and let a cool, calming breeze wash over them.

Stormlight sighed, looking up into the clouds.

'How Starclan?' she asked, 'How could you let this happen to me?'

But Starclan would never reply.


A/N: Haha! I'm back from Spain! Very good holiday. Next chapter, expect more cats yelling at each other and at clouds, siblings not being nice to each other and more Starlingwing because damn do I love that cat.

Anyway, I just wanted to talk to you guys about something very important. I'm not a massive reader of books, I like books but I'd rather write. But, as most of you know, I write in third person, I used to write in first person, on a very old account.

Anyway, I began writing in the third person and in my particular writing style because of one book series and I am going to recommend it to y'all right now because I love it.

THE GONE SERIES.

Basically, it's a book series by Michael Grant with six books in total and a new sequel series coming out this October.

Its premise is set on this small, beach town in California where everyone over the age of fifteen vanishes randomly one day and the town, and the surrounding area, are encased in an impenetrable dome that comes to be known as the FAYZ.

Inside, kids began to develop supernatural abilities and it's really fucking cool.

Just a little warning, in some books, especially the later ones, it can get a bit graphic.

The main character is a boy called Sam Temple but, don't get this wrong, it tells the story from lots of characters point of view in a way that's very structured and organised and wow I'm in love.

Looking for diversity? Well I can name three homosexual characters from the top of my head, none of whom are cliche at all. There's black people, white people, Mexican people and so so so so many more. I can also name at least six, probably more, strong female characters, all who get their own point of views at one point or another.

Just an FYI, my favourite characters are Drake, Lana, Dekka, Edilio and Hunter!

So please, please, please, read this series, you won't regret it! I could rant on all day about how much I love it so I need to stop!

If you want, recommend some books to me, but I'll only read them if you promise to read the Gone Series.

Seeya!