Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter. :)
ScourgexScarlet: Well, you'll find out in this chapter!
GoldenFeatherKid: Thank you! :D
Cherrynose: Nah, but someone else that I'll introduce to the story might. ;)
SakuraFlutist: I didn't actually think of that image, but now I do. :)
Smurflover: Thanks!
Spottedfire98: Thank you! :D
Mizumaru2312: Well, as the chapters go on, I hope that your curiosity is more sated. XD
KodochaFan55: Thanks. :)
Naaargles: Thank you! :)
FEIGN: Nope, but as I said to Cherrynose, someone else will. ;)
I do not own Warriors.
Chapter 10: Finding
Fire. Heat. Smoke.
Heavy ash settles in my lungs; I can't breathe. The air is filled with a gray haze and I can't find my way out. And then I see an opening—but as soon as I lay eyes upon it a falling piece of wood crashes onto the floor, closing off the exit. Frantically I look around and see another opening, another hope, another chance for life, but then it, too, is sealed with a burning piece of wood. One by one the possible exits are blocked until I am trapped, trapped, trapped. Flames lick at my paws, waiting for the exact moment to devour me in a blazing inferno.
I'm choking on the oxygen-scarce air, the fire eating up everything that it can. I collapse on the ground and fold my legs under me, the only way of pretending that I can defend myself from whatever's happening, that this isn't happening and that I am just resting. But I can't. It doesn't work. I am helpless and weak, smothered in the red and orange and yellow tinged smoke. I am defenseless, without a clue of what I can do to escape this.
I am going to die.
"Wake up, Amberpaw!" a cheerful voice calls. "It's morning!"
I jerk awake with a gasp, and nearly fall off the branch before I dig my claws in and hold on. As I right myself up, a mouse lands near my paws. I clamp my paw on it to keep the small dead rodent from sliding off the branch also.
"I already went hunting," explains Graypaw through a mouthful of vole. "I woke up way earlier than you did. I didn't want to disturb your sleep, though, since you looked so peaceful."
I nearly choke on my mouse. Me? Looking very peaceful in the most terrifying dream I've ever had? I decide he must be sleep-deprived, having woken up so "way earlier" than I did, and finish the rest of my mouse in silence.
After our meal, Graypaw and I set off on our quest to look for his sister. He suggested going toward the most clustered area of nests, and I agree, following after him like a dog after his Twoleg master. For every nest we pass, we climb up and look into the window to see if Cloudpaw is there, trapped by the Twolegs. It's a tedious process, and we haven't seen her yet. I would ask a kittypet if I saw one, but we haven't seen any of those either.
We finish combing through all the nests, without a single sign of Cloudpaw or any cats. The Twoleg nests seem to be almost deserted of all animal life except for dogs.
"Perhaps we should try over there," suggests Graypaw hopefully. I nod silently and we head over to the Thunderpath that separates us from the Twoleg nests.
Several monsters roar past, then there is silence. "Go!" Graypaw says, and we charge across the sticky black Thunderpath, hearts thudding in our chests. A red monster, bright as fire, zooms across the road just as we hit the other side.
"Thank StarClan we made it," Graypaw says. I nod again, my heart pounding too loud for me to speak.
"Hey, that was really cool!" a voice calls out.
Graypaw and I look up just in time to see a light brown tabby tom jump down from the top of a fence. He lands awkwardly in a heap, but then gathers his legs and stands up and continues walking toward us without breaking stride, as if he didn't even fall. "You're really brave!" he continues. "You know, I've always wanted to go across the road to see what was on the other side! But my humans won't let me and anyway, it's too scary for me. But you were really cool doing it!"
"…Road?" I ask.
"…Humans?" Graypaw asks.
The talkative kittypet tilts his head for a moment, puzzled, then understanding dawns in his eyes. "Ohhh! You must be those weird cats that live in big groups over there, or somewhere!" He waves his paw in a general direction. "Road is that thing you just crossed, and humans are the creatures who keep me and feed me."
Weird cats? Oh, that's nice.
"We're looking for my sister, Cloudpaw," says Graypaw, getting right to the point. "She has a white pelt with blue eyes and is just a little over six moons. Have you seen her?"
The tom looks thoughtful. "Hmm… Why yes, I think I have! Follow me!" He turns tail and leaps up onto the fence, then quickly disappears on the other side.
I blink. That was fast.
Graypaw climbs up the fence, though not as quickly, and then vanishes from sight. I follow suit.
On the other side, there's a Twoleg nest, ringed with the same fence we just climbed over. The kittypet squeezes in between the nest and the fence, bringing us out into another cluster of Twoleg nests. "I think I saw her over there…" He leads us to a small yellow house with a small rectangular flap at the bottom on the wooden rectangular entrance. "The cat flap," he explains before he goes through.
Graypaw and I look at each other. "Cat flap?" I say, then shake my head. "I'll go first."
Once I'm through, the tabby tom's tail is already disappearing. I dash after him, only to find him disappearing through another cat flap. How many flaps does this nest have?
The flap leads to outside, where a pretty white she-cat lounges on a Twoleg contraption, lazily blinking sky-blue eyes. I take one look at her and am disappointed. It's not Cloudpaw.
A female Twoleg is sitting on another contraption next to the kittypet, and she gets up as soon I as burst through the cat flap. The Twoleg doesn't look surprised at the sight of a new cat in her nest, nor when she opens the door and Graypaw darts out from between her legs. "Have fun with your new friends, Sweetums!" she calls, then disappears into the nest.
The light brown tom is waiting eagerly by the white she-cat's side. "Well?" he asks expectantly.
Graypaw shakes his head. "Sorry, she's not her."
"Not what?" the she-cat asks in a snooty voice, finally deeming to take a look at the three cats who've barged into their territory. "I'm right here, you know. And I don't even know you."
"My sister," says Graypaw, choosing to ignore the rest.
"And what does she look like?"
"Kind of like you, but a bit younger."
The white kittypet sniffs. "Oh, she can't look that much like me," she declares. "I bet I have way better fur."
My fur momentarily bushes up. This cat is starting to get on my nerves. Well, even if you don't look quite the same, you could be twins in personalities.
"Are you sure this isn't your sister?" wheedles the brown tom.
Graypaw's patience finally snaps. "Of course it isn't my sister, you mousebrain! Don't you think I know how my own sister looks like?"
The kittypet's tail immediately droops and he hangs his head. "Oh. Sorry."
Graypaw sighs. "It's alright. I just need to find her…and I'm really worried."
The white she-cat crosses her forepaws, now interested. "You say you're looking for your sister?"
"Yes."
"Well, there's a new she-cat down at the Harrisons' place that fits your description. Came in just yesterday. She says that she wants to go home, but as her being a kittypet, that is her home. I just don't get her. I mean seriously, she's so lucky. The Harrisons have the best toys and food." The pretty white she-cat shakes her head.
Graypaw's eyes light up, and I swear I can see a tiny flicker of hope sparking to life in the air around him. I then realize just how much he was worried for Cloudpaw. It doesn't seem to be like anything I feel for my littermates, which I feel a twinge of guilt at, and I make a promise to myself that when I get home I will spend more time with Ashpaw and Lilacpaw. They are, after all, my family. "Really? Could you please show me the way there?"
The kittypet makes a grudging noise. "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do," she sighs haughtily, and clambers gracefully to her paws.
Now the air is nearly abuzz with Graypaw's happiness. "Thank you so much…" He trails off.
"Brigit," the she-cat announces loftily. "And you're welcome."
"And I'm Skipper!" pipes the tom in an extremely cheerful voice.
"I'm Graypaw," says Graypaw. After a moment's silence, he looks at me.
"And I'm Amberpaw," I say reluctantly. I would prefer to keep my name to myself, but politeness demands otherwise, it seems. Though Brigit and Skipper seem like nice enough cats, I would just like to find Cloudpaw and get us all home safely.
Skipper bounces up and down. "Let's go, let's go!"
But Brigit is already squeezing through a hole where the fence meets a hollow in the ground. She stands up and then sticks her head back in. "What are you waiting for? Come on already!"
Skipper, Graypaw, and I follow suit.
Brigit leads us down a Twoleg path for about three minutes. Skipper spends the entire time chirping about how exciting this is and about how this'll be a story he tells to his grandkits, about how one day he met two Clan cats and helped them on an adventure.
If anyone actually likes you enough to put up with you, I think uncharitably. Immediately I feel mean and am glad that no one is able to read my thoughts. But if he would just shut up for a second! I would clamp my paws over my ears if I didn't need all four of them to keep moving forward.
But unluckily for my ears, Skipper keeps on talking all the way while Brigit turns down an alley. I idly wonder if he has any friends, or if he has scared them all away with his chattiness. Finally he stops talking when we step out of the alley and into the bright leafbare sun. The reason why is clear: there, sitting as clear as day, is a large, large nest. Very large.
Brigit turns and stops. "See what I mean?" she whines. "Your sister's so lucky!"
I groan inside my head. The only reason Cloudpaw isn't living it up in that nest right now is most likely that she's scared out of her mind.
"Let's get closer." And without any more preamble, Graypaw leaps out onto the Thunderpath and crosses it in a moment. A monster zooms by just as he touches down on the other side. He's lucky that it didn't run him over.
Skipper, however, looks awestruck. "That was so cool!" His mouth is open, and if it drops any lower a monster could drive into it. "I wish I could do that!"
"You will," says Brigit matter-of-factly. "Go." She nudges Skipper onto the wide pathway before he can protest. The brown kittypet looks around wildly for a moment, then quickly takes off, galumphing to a hurried stop on the other side of the Thunderpath, just in time to take away a blue monster's chance to make a pancake out of him.
"I'll go next," I say, and cross the Thunderpath easily. Brigit comes next, without any troubles, and then we're all looking up at the humongous white nest.
Graypaw is already looking for a way in. I can tell by the manner he tilts his head and narrows his green eyes. But Brigit is frowning.
"No cat flap," she says, unintentionally sealing off another possibility for Graypaw. "That part they're not civilized in. I mean, seriously! A cat's got to go where a cat wants to go. But your sister still is pretty lucky…"
Graypaw looks crestfallen. Then, "Windows, windows…" he mutters, and I remember the new word that we learned last night. Window equals: see through square. Phoenix equals: eternal life. Amberpaw equals: new, horrifying, fiery dreams…
I shake my head to clear the thoughts.
"Windows!" exclaims Graypaw, and Brigit starts to look as if she regrets coming with us.
"Excuse me?"
"We can check to see if the windows are open!" And he scampers off around the house, apparently having already checked the two front see-through squares. Brigit and Skipper follow him, but I stay there, waiting for one more moment.
And there she is. Suddenly a pink nose presses against the window, a paw claws at the unforgiving surface, a scared blue eye and then two peer out of the see-through square.
Cloudpaw.
She notices me with a slow manner of surprise, head tilted as if she doesn't believe what she's seeing. Her forehead furrows, as if finding it hard to accept that I'm the one who came to find her. Then she mouths, Where's Graypaw?
This question hits me like a sack of stones; a realization comes to mind. Cloudpaw had believed that her brother would come for her. And he had. I wonder if my littermates count on me the same way that Cloudpaw counted on her brother, and I don't trust myself to answer. I need to strengthen my bonds with the cats around me. Lilacpaw and Ashpaw are nearly strangers to me. Even if my father won't, I will learn to love my littermates.
Around the corner of this nest, near the back, I mouth back. Do you want me to get him?
Cloudpaw shakes her head, and her eyes are wide with fear. There are dogs in the back.
I twist to the right just in time to see Brigit, Graypaw, and Skipper tear out into the open with monstrous, snarling animals at their heels.
Dogs!
Oooh, Amberpaw had a nightmare. Review, please! ;)
~Ponyiowa