Chapter 11. Another time jump, only this one is about a moon

"Who knew learnership would be so long!" complained StepStorm, collapsing next to her friends. It had been a moon after the trip to the reef. A couple days before, KitWave had given birth to two kits, LittleDolphin, LittleRipple and LittleTail. KitStream's kits were too young to do anything but KitWave did tell her that her kits were healthy.

"I know," agreed StepLight. "Five moons…" She glanced upwards at the ceiling of the cave. "It's been such a long time since we were kits."

"Of course it has been," said StepClaw. She got to her paws.

"Where are you going?" asked StepLight. "It's late."

"SunTalon wanted to show me something," replied StepClaw.

"I should probably get going as well," said StepStorm. "SpiralClam wanted me to practice getting coconuts at night." She purred happily. "She says I'm pretty good during the daytime."

"That's great," StepLight also got to her paws. "Speaking of which, ShiningFeather wanted to take me somewhere today."

"That's weird that all of our mentors are giving us something to do tonight!" laughed StepClaw. "Anyway, see you later!"

The three she-cats went on their separate ways. StepLight spotted her mentor and SpiritCave near the OceanTide border. She hurried over, now really confused. Why was SpiritCave there?

ShiningFeather dipped her head to her learner. "Good. You are right on time. That is a good trait to have."

StepLight dipped her head to her mentor. She always felt uncomfortable when her mentor treated her like an equal. At least she could show respect back. "Ummm, where are we going?"

"ForestRose territory," replied ShiningFeather simply.

StepClaw

StepClaw shook off her fur, the oils secreting from her skin removing the salt. She was on the resting island. SunTalon was watching her intently with blue eyes. "So?" asked StepClaw. "Why are we here?"

"I want to show you something."

"Okay, what?"

SunTalon chuckled. "Come on. It's this way." He jumped into the water. StepClaw was confused to why SunTalon specify told her to come out in the middle of the night.

However, he was her mentor and she trusted him. StepClaw thought that they were going to the reef but SunTalon surprised her when he veered left and began swimming parallel to the beach, in the direction of the OceanTide camp.

Huh? StepClaw was really confused now. Were they going to swim back to camp like this? It surprised StepClaw more after they passed the camp. The rock structure that the camp rested in stretched out into the ocean. SunTalon stopped before the tip of the rock structure. It was maybe ten palm trees away from the shore.

"You have to trust me on this one," said SunTalon to her. "Whatever it looks like we'll be fine."

StepClaw was confused but she nodded.

"Good, now follow me. Take a deep breath."

StepClaw did as he told and dove beneath the surface. It was odd to swim underwater at night. The moonlight hit the water differently, casting different shadows than what was around during the day.

SunTalon was at the bottom. It was odd to see him walking on the ocean floor like they were on land. StepClaw followed him down and walked like he did. It was odd to walk on the floor of the ocean. She felt much lighter and well, it was just an odd experience.

The rock structure stood before them. SunTalon gestured to an opening near the bottom and without waiting he squeezed himself through the hole. StepClaw stared at the spot in shock before following. The hole was large enough that she could swim in without any trouble. However the further in she got the lower the ceiling rock became. Soon she had to push herself through a small opening.

By then she was beginning to panic. She was running out of air. She wasn't sure what SunTalon was up to but she was staring to freak out. However she remembered him telling her to trust him so she pushed on. Soon her head entered a spacious area of water. With renewed vigor she pushed herself through and got to her paws. Her head was out of the water and she sucked in air.

"Good. I know you could make it."

StepClaw glared at her mentor. SunTalon was standing on dry rock. She glanced around and gasped. She was in a large cavern. Beautiful stones of different colors and shades were stuck in the walls. In the ceiling was an opening with moonlight pouring in. The moonlight was bouncing off the pretty stones giving the place a magical feel.

StepClaw climbed out of the water. "What is this?" she whispered in awe.

"I think it used to be connected to the camp," said SunTalon, gesturing behind him to a large pile of rock. StepClaw realized there had probably been a cave in of some sort causing this place to be separated from the rest of the tribe. "I was out swimming one day and was chasing a fish and I saw the opening and well, I decided to go in." SunTalon gestured with his tail. "And this is what I found."

"It's wonderful," whispered StepClaw, staring up at the rocks in awe. She looked back at him. "Does anyone else know about this?"

SunTalon shook his head. "No. Only me. Well, maybe the spiriters do. Not sure about that."

StepClaw couldn't believe it. SunTalon trusted her to keep a secret like this! "I…I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything then," said SunTalon. "You can come back here anytime."

"I will," she said.

"Shall we return then? I think the others will wonder if we're gone for too long."

StepClaw nodded and entered the small patch of water first. She felt warm and tingly inside. SunTalon was giving her a huge secret and she knew she would keep it. She took a deep breath and dove beneath the surface. She pushed through the small opening. It was much easier going back than coming in for the opening just got bigger and bigger.

However once she finally burst out of the tunnel the happy, tingly feeling was gone. She was frozen to the spot. A couple pawsteps away, almost within clawing distance was a shark.

StepStorm

StepStorm found her mentor near the coconut trees. She couldn't be sure but she thought in the light of the moon, SpiralClam looked a lot thinner than what she was supposed to be. StepStorm shook her head. That was dumb. Prey was plentiful.

"Ah, StepStorm," said SpiralClam turning to her.

"I'm here SpiralClam," she said, "Sorry to make you wait."

"Don't worry about it," purred SpiralClam. "Now why don't you get climbing?"

"Right," said StepStorm.

The young she-cat walked over to one of the coconut trees and peered upwards. It was difficult to see in the dark but she knew she could do it. She had climbed these trees many times in the past. This was just another one of those times.

Without any hesitation she began climbing. Even though she could still see pretty well in the dark it was much different than what she was used to climbing during the day. She had to use more feel to figure out where to go next than anything else. She was almost to the top when she heard a cough from the bottom. Peering down in confusion, she spotted SpiralClam on the ground. However there was something wrong. Although StepStorm couldn't see that well from her spot but from the sounds it sounded like SpiralClam was coughing forcefully.

"SpiralClam?" she called in confusion.

No answer. Only more coughs.

Suddenly afraid she began climbing down the tree faster than she had ever done before. SpiralClam's coughs were loud and vivid to her. Once her back paws touched the bottom she threw herself away from the palm tree and ran to her mentor's side.

SpiralClam was coughing forcefully, her body shaking. There was something on the sand, whatever it was had come from SpiralClam's mouth. A quick sniff made StepStorm recoil back. Blood. SpiralClam was coughing up blood!