Thanks for all the reviews! (Hugs all reviewers) You guys are the best. Heres the next chapter. I may not be able to update much next week. It's the last week of school and I have exms galore! (Groan) Not to mention performances by the Drama club and Chorus. (Chews on finger nails anxiously.) Anyway, enjoy the longer than usual chapter I have prepared for you in the meantime.
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Robinpaw stared at her shoulders in horror. Lying weakly on the ground, were two huge, feathered wings. "Great StarClan," Robinpaw gasped.
"We've all changed," Willowpaw whispered. In the dim light of the den, Robinpaw could see that a blue light surrounded Willowpaw. Sprucepaw's legs had grown, and Goldenpaw looked like a warrior, not a recent apprentice.
"This is crazy," Sprucepaw squeaked. "What happened to us?"
Robinpaw tried to move her wings, and was surprised when they moved at her will. She pulled them close to her, so that they were almost completely hidden in her fur. "It's not dawn yet," Goldenpaw mewed, "Let's go to the training hollow and see what we can do."
The four siblings carefully tiptoed out of the apprentice's den, being wary no to wake Flickerpaw and Fleetpaw. They made it to the Training hollow without being stopped.
"Okay," Goldenpaw meowed, "You go first Robinpaw because we know what you'll be able to do." Robinpaw nodded. It made sense, but she really didn't want to go first. Robinpaw spread her wings and gave a half hearted flap.
"Come on Robinpaw," Willowpaw mewed, laying her paw on Robinpaw's wing. Suddenly, a surge of energy ran through Robinpaw, and she gave a deep flap, and suddenly, she was flying.
Giving a yowl of surprise, Robinpaw banked hard and just barely managed to avoid hitting a tree. Robinpaw flapped again, rising into the air. How high was she? She could see the whole of ThunderClan camp, and the river. Then Robinpaw let out a yowl of pure exhilaration. After doing a flip, Robinpaw came in for a landing, but it didn't go too smoothly. Robinpaw careened past her siblings and into a tree. It took her a minute, then the pain from her leg hit her. "Ow! Owowowow!" She shrieked.
"Robinpaw!" Willowpaw dashed over. "What happened?"
"I think my leg is broken!" Robinpaw yowled.
Willowpaw groaned. "How in StarClan's name..." She put her paws on Robinpaw's leg. Willowpaw's paws flared with blue light, and it soaked into Robinpaw's leg.
Robinpaw stood up in shock. "It's healed," she cried. Testing it, she ran to the other side of the clearing. "Well now we know your power," she mewed to Willowpaw.
"Healing," Willowpaw murmured. "But don't you realize? I won't be able to use my power. If somecat comes in with an injury, I can't heal it like this! Grayleaf will suspect something, not to mention the cat I healed."
"That stinks," Robinpaw agreed.
"What do you suppose Goldenpaw and I can do?" Sprucepaw asked, flicking his tail. "Ours aren't as obvious."
"In my dream with StarClan," Willowpaw mewed, "Sprucepaw was running...fast, and Goldenpaw, you were ripping giant trees out of the ground." Willowpaw sounded uneasy.
"Let me try something," Robinpaw mewed. She flapped her wings and rose into the air. "Sprucepaw, keep up with me."
"But you've got wings," Sprucepaw objected.
"Try," Sprucepaw nodded. Robinpaw flew across the clearing, watching Sprucepaw. He tried running after her, and in a split second, he was beneath her. Robinpaw flew over the forest. Sprucepaw kept up with her, his speed making up for the time wasted on dodging trees. When Robinpaw flew over a river, Sprucepaw barely hesitated. He ran over the water, his speed keeping him from sinking.
Robinpaw flew back to the training hollow. Sprucepaw, guessing that she was headed that way, sped past her and made it back several heartbeats before Robinpaw. "This is so cool!" Sprucepaw yowled, circling the hollow in less than a two heartbeats.
"What about mine?" Goldenpaw demanded. He slammed his paw against the ground. There was a loud crack. The siblings looked to see large split in the earth where Goldenpaw had slammed his paw down. Goldenpaw's eyes widened, then he purred. "Strength," He trotted over to a rock and split it straight down the middle with his tail. "Neat!"
Robinpaw coasted in for a landing, this time not crashing into an trees, but stumbling and hitting Willowpaw. "Ouch," Robinpaw groaned, "But the suns coming up. We need to get back to camp before everyone wakes up."
"Should we tell anyone about our powers?" Sprucepaw asked.
Willowpaw shook her head. "Not for the time being. We might want to get more control before we tell anyone. In the mean time, Sprucepaw, watch the speed, and Goldenpaw, don't kill anyone." Her tone was light hearted, but all the siblings felt it. The ominous feeling that something was going to happen.
"Robinpaw," Silverstorm's voice came from the entrance to the apprentice's den. "Time to get up sleepyhead. I'm going to take you on a tour of the territory."
Robinpaw jumped up, with great restraint keeping her wings tucked in. Then, trying to mask the overwhelming excitement she felt, she mewed, "That'd be great Silverstorm." Robinpaw crawled out of the apprentices den. "This way," Silverstorm led Robinpaw out of camp.
"I'm really sorry about yesterday," Silverstorm mewed. "I didn't want an apprentice after my last one betrayed me."
"Betrayed you!" Robinpaw cried. "I thought she had died."
""That was the cover story," Silverstorm meowed, "She ran away after falling in love with a ShadowClan cat. They had kits, and my apprentice died bearing those kits. Those kits were taken to ThunderClan, and fed a cover story that was the only family history they would get. To this day, only a few cats know the kits' true heritage."
Robinpaw thought, processing this slowly. Then she understood. "We're the kits, aren't we Silverstorm? That's why you didn't want me. I was the spitting image of your last apprentice. Who was your first apprentice?" Robinpaw was relieved. All her life, she had though that she and her siblings were rogue born. It was nice to know she was blood related to her Clan. And another Clan.
"My apprentice's name was Skyfire. Your father's name was Eaglefeather." And with those words, Silverstorm led Robinpaw out of the forest, and into a clearing filled with cats. But not ThunderClan cats. These cats had no scent that Robinpaw recognized. They must be from the other Clans.
"Who are these cats?" Robinpaw asked, not feeling nearly as scared as she though she should.
Silverstorm trotted to the center of the cats. "This is Lionflame, from WindClan," the ginger tom dipped his head. "This is Hazedream, from RiverClan."
A pale ginger she-cat mewed, "Welcome Robinpaw. It is nice to meet you."
"And this is Nightshadow, and her apprentice Lilypaw," A black she-cat nodded at Robinpaw, and a white she-cat, Blossumpaw, flicked her tail.
"Robinpaw, welcome to SunClan. This is where your mother and father met." Robinpaw peered around her. Her gaze was caught by Nightshadow. The black she-cat was glaring at her, hostility barely contained within her. Robinpaw held her stare; amber eyes against robin egg blue ones. Somehow, Robinpaw knew. This cat had been her father's mentor.
Silverstorm went on to explain the whole idea behind SunClan, but Robinpaw listened on autopilot. This she-cat was her father's mentor. Unconsciously interrupting Silverstorm, Robinpaw mewed, "My father was a ShadowClan warrior, and a SunClan warrior. So was my mother. SunClan is why they met isn't it. It's the reason that she died."
The joyful mood fell. Everycat cast his or her eyes downward, except Blossumpaw. "Why is everycat acting so sad?" She asked.
"We all remember the passing of Skyfire, and the day she and Eaglefeather left," Lionflame mewed, "You were not yet part of SunClan."
"I remember," Hazedream meowed. "It was my first day of SunClan. Wildwind had taken me to meet everyone. Then Silverstorm and Nightshadow started shouting at Skyfire and Eaglefeather. Wildwind filled me in on what had happened later. They had fallen in love, and were leaving because the warrior code forbade it."
"Isn't SunClan technically against the warrior code?" Lilypaw asked, "We're sharing Clan secrets that the leaders wouldn't want shared."
"Yes, but the Skyfire and Eaglefeather had broken the SunClan code as well," Hazedream mewed. "They wanted to have kits, and that was unacceptable."
Robinpaw silently absorbed all the information. So her parents hadn't been great warriors. They had been traitors. "Now I understand why you refused me," Robinpaw ducked her head. "You didn't want Skyfire's daughter to reach the same end as her mother.
Silverstorm was silent for a moment. "That was one of the reasons yes." She meowed.
Robinpaw was silent for the rest of the meeting. Apparently RiverClan was having some trouble with twolegs polluting the river, but it was nothing that affected ThunderClan. Silverstorm admitted that ever since the temperature had begun dropping, prey had been harder to find on the territory. Lionflame and Nightshadow admitted to the same thing.
At long last, Silverstorm led Robinpaw back to ThunderClan territory. The two hunted a bit on the way back, Silverstorm showing Robinpaw the proper crouch. Robinpaw had to focus on keeping her wings flat as well as her body, but when they finally arrived back at Silverstorm was carrying a rabbit and a shrew in her mouth. Robinpaw proudly held her first caught mouse.
Goldenpaw trotted up to Robinpaw when she arrived back at camp and deposited her catch in the freshkill pile. "Willowpaw needs to show you something," he mewed. Robinpaw's heart clenched. What had happened?
Goldenpaw led Robinpaw to where Sprucepaw and Willowpaw were staring at a small shining gold stone. The dying light of the sunset shone on the stone, lighting it up from the inside. "What is it?" Robinpaw asked.
"We don't really know," Willowpaw mewed. "But it has something to do with StarClan. I can feel it." Willowpaw laid her paw on the stone. Her breath caught. Willowpaw closed her eyes, trembling violently.
"Willowpaw," Sprucepaw mewed worriedly.
"I'm fine," Willowpaw mewed in a voice that didn't sound like hers. The medicine cat opened her eyes. They were purple.
"Willowpaw, are you okay?" Robinpaw asked.
"I told you, I'm fine." Willowpaw glared at her, "No, Robinpaw, Sprucepaw, Goldenpaw, get away from me. My powers are going crazy."
Robinpaw and Sprucepaw took Willowpaw's advice. They scrambled back a few tail lengths. Robinpaw untucked her wings a bit, ready to take flight if needed. Sprucepaw tensed, obviously ready to take off running if he had to. But Goldenpaw took a few steps closer to Willowpaw. "Willowpaw, what's going on?"
Then Goldenpaw noticed that Willowpaw hadn't taken her paw off of the stone. "Willowpaw, take your paw off of the stone," Goldenpaw murmured.
Willowpaw glared at him, fury in her eyes. "No," she hissed.
"Yes Willowpaw," Goldenpaw mewed.
"Be careful," Sprucepaw meowed, amber eyes watching the scene carefully.
"Willowpaw," Goldenpaw tried to lift Willowpaw's paw off of the stone.
"No," Willowpaw hissed again. With a yowl of surprise, Goldenpaw was seized by an unseen force and thrown into a tree. Robinpaw's brother hit the tree and crumpled to the ground.
Willowpaw gasped a breath in, and then two. "Great StarClan," she muttered, and with what seemed like great effort pulled her paw off of the stone. "Great StarClan," she muttered again, and then she spotted Goldenpaw. "Goldenpaw," she shrieked, sprinting over to him.
Placing a paw over Goldenpaw's head, Willowpaw closed her now blue again eyes, and her paw glowed with a soft light. Goldenpaw gasped, his eyes jerking open. "Willowpaw!" He yowled.
"Right here," Willowpaw mewed.
Goldenpaw shook his head, climbing to his feet. "What happened to you?"
"I don't really know," Willowpaw admitted. "I felt this surge of power inside me. I had to use it or it would explode. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"That stone isn't good," Robinpaw mewed. "I don't like it. Let's get rid of it." Her siblings nodded.
"I'll take it to twoleg place," Sprucepaw meowed, "The twolegs will keep it. They do things like that." Sprucepaw took the stone in his mouth, and wincing, sped off at high speed to twoleg place. Less than ten heartbeats later, he was back. "It's gone."
"That was fast," Robinpaw observed.
Sprucepaw purred. "I'm getting faster. Caught so much prey with my speed I think that Brownclaw's getting suspicious."
The siblings all purred in amusement. "Try to keep the speed down," Goldenpaw mewed, mischief in his eyes. "We don't anyone to discover our powers." Everyone purred again, and trotted to his or her nest. Before she fell asleep, Robinpaw couldn't shake off the feeling that they hadn't seen the last of the stone.