Chapter 40

Jayfeather's POV

"Psst!" a voice hissed.

Jayfeather sat up, annoyed. They had just been taken into Victor's camp, and he made them stay inside a den that felt smooth, but hard, guarded by the cat that was whispering at them. Jessy was sleeping, recovering from the earlier battle. Jayfeather was checking on her every few moments, making sure her wounds were healing. He did not want to be bothered at this very moment.

"What is it?" he whispered back. "Does Victor want us so he can make fools out of us again?"

"You'll just have to trust me," the cat mewed back. "When it's dark, and all the cats are sleeping, I'll help you escape."

Jayfeather twitched his ear. "You want us to get caught, to give Victor more of an excuse to kill us?"

"No!" the cat whispered, clearly frustrated. "I want to help. I'm sick of being in Victor's gang. Heard about the wild cats in the forest. Always wanted to join."

"We'll see about that, if you keep up your end of the bargain," Jayfeather replied.

"Midnight it is, then," the cat whispered back. "By the way, my name is Fusion. What's yours?"

"I thought every cat in this horrid camp knew by now," Jayfeather said. "I'm Jayfeather."

"Well, I was somewhere else when Victor brought you to camp," Fusion said. "Well, nice to meet you, Jayfeather."

Fusion crept back to his guard position while Jayfeather sat and watched over Jessy. He thought about how the whole ThunderClan camp was worried about his disappearance. Squirrelflight probably sent a patrol to look for him.

I've got to get back to ThunderClan as soon as possible, Jayfeather thought. I'll do whatever it takes, even if I need some rogue to help me get back home. As for Jessy, well, I can't let her get into any more danger for me. She needs to go back to her Twolegs, where she's safe.

Jayfeather felt Jessy stir beside him. "Where are we?" she mumbled.

"We're in Victor's camp," Jayfeather said. "They took us here after Victor discovered us in his territory."

"I'm so sorry," Jessy whispered. "I never meant for this to happen."

"There's nothing we can do about it now," Jayfeather replied. "This cat called Fusion wants to help us break out of Victor's camp. You in?"

"Totally," Jessy answered. "But should we really trust this cat?"

"There's no other choice we have," Jayfeather said. "Look, once we're out of Victor's territory, I want you to go back home. You've helped me enough already."

"I need to make sure you get all the way home," Jessy replied immediately. "What if Fusion was lying and, I don't know, led you astray?"

"Fine, but if anything happens to you, I'll never forgive myself," Jayfeather replied. "I just don't want you to get hurt any more than you already have."

"Now all we have to do is wait until midnight," Jessy whispered, excited.

"Okay, it's time, everyone's sleeping," Jayfeather heard.

Jayfeather raised his head up, blinking away his sleepiness. He could scent Fusion right in front of them, impatiently waiting. Jayfeather shook Jessy awake.

"It's time to go," Jayfeather whispered urgently.

Jayfeather felt Jessy shift, then rise. Jayfeather followed suit, waiting for Fusion's next step.

"All right, follow me. I'll get you back to the forest," Fusion said.

They walked gingerly out into camp, making sure to keep their pawsteps quiet. Jessy guided Jayfeather with her tail, while Fusion scanned the clearing for any sign of an awake cat. Jayfeather didn't hear any sounds of any other pawsteps, other than their own; he could hear the cats sleeping, and Jayfeather's whiskers twitched with amusement when he heard one loud snore that sounded suspiciously like Victor's.

"Everyone's asleep, so let's get out of here as quick as we can," Fusion whispered.

Jayfeather followed Fusion and Jessy out of their camp, careful to head in the direction of their breathing. He didn't want to make a dumb mistake and wake the whole camp up.

"Okay we're out of camp now. Let's get moving," Fusion said.

Jayfeather picked up his pace, making sure to keep Jessy's tail tip on his forehead at all times. He felt confident, and started to move faster, until he tripped over something and fell.

"Jayfeather! Are you all right?" Jessy asked. "Sorry about that."

Jayfeather nodded.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes I forget you're blind. You move as well as a normal seeing cat!"

"Let's just get moving," Jayfeather grunted as he got up.

The group continued following Fusion as he made their way out of Twolegplace. Jayfeather could feel a faint scent of the forest. They were almost there.

"Okay, there's a fence up ahead," Jessy said. "Three, two, one, jump!"

Jayfeather bunched his haunches and jumped onto the fence without any trouble. He could hear Jessy jumping up, landing beside him. Jayfeather opened his mouth for Fusion's scent; he was on the other side of the fence already.

"The ground in front of you is clear. You can jump off," Jessy said.

Jayfeather jumped off, landing neatly on his paws. Jessy followed behind almost immediately.

"Wow, the forest looks so familiar," Jessy mumbled.

In the distance, Jayfeather heard a series of shouts and cries. He twitched his ears. They were angry shouts, coming from inside the Twolegplace.

"Victor knows!" Fusion exclaimed. "Both of you, follow me now. We need to get out of here!"

Fusion zoomed off into the forest, and Jayfeather followed, with Jessy bringing up the rear. He tried not to stumble or trip, but it was inevitable, and soon Jayfeather was lagging behind them.

"Come on, Jayfeather!" Jessy shouted as she helped him up for the StarClan-knows-how-many-times time.

Jayfeather gritted his teeth, pushed himself up, and kept running. Soon, he smelled the scent of ThunderClan.

Almost there! he thought. Just a few more pawsteps.

Jayfeather barged through the thorns and skidded to a stop. Something didn't feel right. Instead of smelling the numerous amounts of cats that lived at camp, there were only four distinct scents from ThunderClan.

"Berrynose, is that you? Molewhisker? Thornclaw and Birchfall? Where are all the other warriors?" Jayfeather asked, confused.

"You know these cats?" Fusion asked.

"Oh, it's the ThunderClan warriors!" Jessy exclaimed.

"Jayfeather, are you all right?" Berrynose asked. "I recognize Jessy, but what about that strange cat over there? He isn't an enemy, right?"

"No Berrynose, he's a… friend, Fusion, who helped me escape Twolegplace," Jayfeather explained. "We need to catch up later though, because there are some very angry kittypets right behind us."

"Prepare for a fight!" Berrynose said. "And protect Jayfeather."

"I don't need pro-," Jayfeather exclaimed before being pushed behind someone.

"You've been taken by Twolegs already," Thornclaw mewed. "We don't want our medicine cat to get taken again."

Jayfeather sighed and flopped down onto a nest one of the cats had made. He could just sit here and be useless while other cats fought for him.

"ThunderClan, and Jessy and Fusion, attack!" Berrynose exclaimed as Victor's gang burst into the makeshift camp.

Jayfeather tried to keep out of sight, sticking to the edges of camp, but making sure not to stray away. He opened his jaws, scenting the air for any other danger around.

Okay, I think I'm good, Jayfeather thought. Maybe I should be checking the others for wounds.

Jayfeather collected a few cobwebs and headed back into the makeshift camp, scenting for blood. The battle was still going strong, but it sounded like the ThunderClan cats, along with Jessy and Fusion, were winning. He heard some cats yowl with pain, fleeing from the battle. Jayfeather made his way over to Birchfall, where he scented blood.

"I'm fine, Jayfeather," Birchfall said as he saw Jayfeather coming closer. "I'm kind of busy right now. You should stay hidden."

"Birchfall, if you would rather lose your paw, then it's fine by me," Jayfeather said as he stepped back.

"Fine, as soon as I get rid of this mouse-dung," Birchfall said. After a series of strikes, blows, and audible grunts, Birchfall's opponent finally gave up and went sprinting back towards Twolegplace.

"Stay away, you mouse-heart!" Birchfall exclaimed as he padded over to Jayfeather.

"Are the insults really necessary?" Jayfeather asked as he wrapped Birchfall's paw in cobwebs.

"Yeah, they help by making the enemy distracted, and it boosts your morale," Birchfall said.

"Suit yourself," Jayfeather said, seeing no point in shouting something meaningless.

"Looks like the battle's almost over," Birchfall said. "I'll be back. Molewhisker, I'm coming!"

Jayfeather twitched his whiskers in amusement as he listened to the battle. Most of the cats were gone, as there wasn't as much noise as there was before. He could hear insults coming from Birchfall at every scratch he made on a cat's pelt. Soon, Victor's gang was gone, and the ThunderClan cats, plus Fusion and Jessy, were victorious.

"Okay, let's get you home now," Berrynose said as he padded closer to Jayfeather.

"I'm coming," Fusion and Jessy said simultaneously.

"You don't need to be here anymore," Berrynose said. "You two have done enough."

"Let them come," Jayfeather said, surprising Berrynose. "They should be able to know that I will be safe again among my Clanmates."

"All right then," Berrynose said. "Let's get some sleep while we can now, and at dawn, we'll head back to ThunderClan."