Dead Rose
Chapter 7: Shadowed Desires
Redstar sat alone in his den, humming a song out of tune. The low murmurs of his voice carried on, and echoed around the den in an eerie whisper. Redstar opened his mouth and started to sing louder, enjoying himself.
"Uh, Redstar?" a voice made him stop short. "Can I come in?"
"No, I am busy," Redstar hissed, pointing to the leaves he was tearing up. "Come back later or go talk to Deadrose."
"Um, this is Deadrose," Deadrose said in confusion. Redstar looked up and sighed when he realized he was right.
"Oh," Redstar growled. "What do you want?"
"The gathering is tonight," Deadrose started. "And we need to pick out the cats for the patrol."
"That's Tigerlilys job," Redstar spat. "Stop trying to take over her duties."
"Well," Deadrose sputtered. "Someone's gotta do the duties... Tigerlily keeps putting it off."
"She will do them when she is ready," Redstar snapped, kicking his leaves that he had shredded. "Leave my sight."
"Okay," Deadrose mumbled, and ducked back out of the den and into the clearing. He spotted Lion and Flowertail right away, anxiously waiting for him.
"Redstar wants Tigerlily to do it," Deadrose said in annoyance as he approached them. "He won't do it himself."
"Great," Lion said sarcastically. "It's almost time to go, and yet nothing is organized. Where is Tigerlily, anyway?"
"I'm here!"
The three toms turned to see Tigerlily making her way towards them.
"Where were you?" Lion said angrily. "Are you aware it's the gathering tonight?"
"Relax," Tigerlily sighed. "I told Deadrose he could choose the cats."
"Redstar wants you to do it," Deadrose replied. "So you better choose, and fast."
Tigerlily looked between the four of them, getting more irritated by the second. "You all don't have to attack me like this," she hissed. "I already chose the cats so stop screaming at me!"
"Who?" Lion asked mildly.
"Um, Redstar, all four of us, Littlepaw, Lostpaw, Blueshade and Whitefire."
By the obvious look of confusion on Tigerlilys face, it was obvious to Deadrose that she hadn't so much as thought about the cats coming to the gathering until now.
"Alright, that sounds good enough," Flowertail put in. In a lower voice he added: "Personally I'd rather Whitefire didn't come, but oh well."
"Why, what's wrong with Whitefire?" Tigerlily asked. "Well, besides the obvious."
"Don't you remember-" Flowertail stopped short. "Oh wait, we forgot to tell you! Deadrose, how could we have forgotten?"
"I don't know," Deadrose sighed in exasperation. "Just tell her. We need to get going."
"Okay," Flowertail lowered his voice as he launched into the story of Whitefire on the patrol.
"It was so weird," Flowertail finished in a rush. "She just kept laughing and rolling in the leaves, berries crushing and smearing all over her face. And the apprentices wouldn't stop singing her horrid song."
"That's strange," Tigerlily murmured. "I wish you had told me sooner."
"I wish you planned out the gathering sooner," Lion mumbled from where he was sitting. Tigerlily shot him an angry look, but didn't say anything.
"Er- guys," Deadrose said awkwardly. He had looked across the clearing, in hopes of seeing his apprentice, but what he saw was not at all Littlepaw.
Whitefire sat in the corner, back hunched and neck stretched out.
And she was looking straight at them.
"Ugh..." Flowertail rolled his eyes at his friends. "She's such a freak."
"No doubt," Deadrose agreed reluctantly, hoping Whitefire didn't hear them talking about her. "She's a strange cat."
"Hey! Whitefire!" Tigerlily called out. "You're coming to the gathering tonight!"
Whitefire seemed to snap out of her hunched posture, jumping to her paws. "But... no!" she cried across the clearing. Cats sitting in different groups turned to stare, and Deadrose lowered his head in embarrassment.
"I was going to do stuff tonight," Whitefire snapped, stalking over to them. "I don't have time for the gathering!"
"What were you possibly going to do instead?" Tigerlily asked in annoyance. "You should be happy I picked you for the gathering and not someone else."
"Yeah, everyone should be just delighted that you picked them," Whitefire hissed. "Well, newsflash, Tigerlily! The only reason anyone even likes you is because you're sickeningly beautiful and all the toms want to be with you! And you think all the she cats want to be like you, but you are wrong!"
Tigerlily gaped at Whitefires outburst, eyes wide in shock. "How... dare you speak to me like that?" she growled at last. "Have you forgotten I am the deputy?"
"You never cease to remind me," Whitefire growled. "Well I've got news for you! You're a bad deputy and I am not looking forward to the day when Redstar dies because you will be an even worse leader!"
"That's enough," Lion broke in before Whitefire could dig her grave even farther. "Whitefire, you're being completely inappropriate."
"Truth hurts," was Whitefires scathing reply.
"You... you..." Tigerlily sputtered, body quivering in anger. Deadrose waited patiently for Tigerlily to finish her sentence, but to his surprise, she didn't.
"I don't have time for this," Tigerlily hissed. "I have to go tell Redstar we're ready to leave." and with that, she turned and stalked away.
"I think I made my point," Whitefire said triumphantly.
"Tigerlily may struggle being a deputy, but at least she's liked," Flowertail hissed. Whitefire looked at him in alarm.
"I've got news for you too," Flowertail continued. "You're a freak. Everyone in this clan thinks you're insane. And Tigerlily may not be the best deputy, but you're not the best at anything!"
Whitefire lowered her head and closed her eyes. Deadrose was just about to tell Flowertail he was out of line, but was stopped short when Whitefire let out one single sob and turned around to walk away. "I'll come meet the patrol when it's ready to leave," she whispered.
When she was out of earshot again, Deadrose turned to his friend. "Don't you think you were being a bit rude?" he asked. "I mean, I don't like Whitefire as much as any other cat, but that was a little cruel."
"She hurt Tigerlilys feelings, so I hurt hers," Flowertail said, getting a weird expression on his face. "Why does everyone look annoyed at me...?"
"Just forget it," Lion said abruptly. "We should get going. There's no time to keep fooling around."
"I'll go get the apprentices," Deadrose said before walking away.
This is going to be one of those strange nights.
I can already tell.
...
Whitefire trudged on at the back of the patrol, glaring at the back of Flowertails head. Dumb idiot. He's the foulest cat in the forest.
"Would you like us to pay him a visit?"
Whitefire visibly jumped at the sound of Denvers voice. She turned her head to the side to see the faint figure of her tormenter walking beside her. Beside Denver was the third ghost. Whitefire wondered dimly where the second one was.
"Whitefire," Denver snapped. "I asked you a question. Please be polite and answer."
Whitefire shook her head no, hoping no one saw. That would be just like Denver. Strikes up a conversation in the middle of a gathering patrol.
"I didn't catch that, Whitefire."
"No, I don't want you to pay him a visit," Whitefire said as quick as she could. Blueshade and Lostpaw turned to stare at her. Whitefire just shrugged and looked away.
"Are you going to meet that apprentice tonight?" Denver asked quietly. "The one with a clouded eye?"
"Yes," Whitefire said, realizing that if she didn't answer Denver would just pester her until she did. She saw Blueshades ear twitch, but she didn't look back again. When Denvers in my body, they must hear me talk to myself all the time, Whitefire thought briefly. I guess it won't look to weird.
"I don't like the clouded eye cat, Whitefire. I advise you not to see him anymore."
"Why, jealous I finally made a friend that doesn't use me?" Whitefire whispered under her breath. Whitefires heart pounded as she spoke, she had never openly defied Denver in front of the other ghosts before. He won't hurt me with so many others around, Whitefire gulped. I hope.
"Whitefire, don't you remember our little agreement?" Denver said at last. "You're breaking a rule."
"You tricked me," Whitefire growled. "You told me you loved me."
"Ah, but see I do."
"You're sick," Whitefire mumbled.
"Don't see Jaypaw, Whitefire. Unless you want me to pay a visit to your little friend."
"Don't touch him," Whitefire hissed. "Don't you dare touch him." The thought of Denver possessing her was bad enough, but the thought of him getting into Jaypaws body and kicking out his spirit made her sick to her stomach.
"I will respect your wishes, Whitefire," Denver smiled at her. "But I also expect you to respect mine."
Whitefire turned her head away as Denver vanished, along with the third ghost. She looked up, and was alarmed to sense tension spiking the air in volts.
"Who was Whitefire talking to?" Whitefire heard Lostpaw ask his mentor. Blueshade sighed. "Herself," she replied quietly.
"I do that sometimes," Lostpaw shrugged like it was the most normal thing in the world. Whitefire felt a pang of appreciation, even though she knew Lostpaw wasn't sticking up for her.
"I tell myself stuff because I get scatterbrained," Lostpaw explained when Blueshade didn't respond.
"Well, that's different," Blueshade murmured. "You tell yourself things you need to remember, and that's good. Whitefire thinks she's actually talking to someone."
"Oh. That's weird," was Lostpaws reply. Whitefires brief moment of appreciation vanished at once. I wonder what they would have thought if Denver was inside me, Whitefire thought scathingly. It would have been even worse. She was used to Denver making her to dumb things when he was controlling her, but it was still difficult to watch when you couldn't do anything about it.
"I like Whitefire, she likes to play and sing," Lostpaw said loudly. Whitefire nearly stopped walking she was so shocked, but she forced herself to keep going. By his defensive tone, Whitefire inferred Blueshade had said something rash about her and Lostpaw just reacted. Blueshade didn't say anything and ducked her head, clearly embarrassed.
"Don't you remember that patrol when we all played together?" Lostpaw asked his mentor in the same loud voice. "When Whitefire taught us that great song?"
"They will fall, one by one, into the fire they call the -" Littlepaw started to sing the song from where she was walking with Deadrose. She was immediatly shushed by her mentor and Tigerlily.
Whitefire was filled with so much emotion at the little cats words, her throat closed up and her tear ducts swelled. Oh, sweet cat, Whitefire thought to herself as she looked at Lostpaw. If only you knew what that song really means.
Lostpaw turned around to smile at her, but was cuffed over the head by Blueshade. "Stop pestering her," Blueshade growled. Lostpaw hung his head and didn't say another word.
"Maybe we can play and sing together tomorrow," Whitefire called out hesitantly, voice croaking and raspy. That is, if Denver doesn't pay me a visit.
Lostpaw looked up at his mentor excitedly, waiting for approval.
"No," was Blueshades simple answer. Lostpaws tail drooped, but he said nothing more.
Whitefire didn't have time to be sad about Lostpaw, for the gathering clearing had appeared. The cats filed in, and Whitefire settled down in the back row where she usually sat. She looked around at Plantclan, scanning the clearing for Jaypaw. I hope he's here. I forgot tonight was the gathering yesterday when we made plans to meet. I hope he's not sitting on the border waiting for me.
"Whitefire, what did we just talk about not even five minutes ago?"
Whitefire looked to her left to see Denver sitting beside her, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I just wanted to tell him we can't meet tonight," Whitefire lied. Her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Jaypaw sitting among the ranks of Plantclan. Yes! He's here! All I need to do now is ditch Denver and all will be good.
"Have you forgotten I can read your thoughts?" Denver snapped. "Whitefire, you've pissed me off more than once tonight."
"I'm sorry," Whitefire mumbled. Shit. I forgot he could hear what I'm thinking.
"You don't learn, do you," Denver rolled his eyes.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Whitefire asked, changing the subject in hopes of leering him away from possibly punishing her.
"I came to watch the gathering," Denver replied. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Well... why?" Whitefire muttered. "And where's the others?"
"I told them to go, so we could be alone," Denver whispered.
"Uh, okay," Whitefire was starting to get a bad feeling of where this was going. "Do you do this with all the other cats you possess?"
Denver chuckled, lazily turning his head to look at her. "No."
"Well, why not?" Whitefire silently begged for the gathering to start soon, before forgetting Denver could hear it.
"Well, Longwhisker is smelly and I don't personally like giving extra attention to toms," Denver shrugged. Whitefire figured he either didn't hear her thoughts, or did but chose to ignore them.
"Are you mean to Longwhisker too?" Whitefire mumbled.
"Define mean, Whitefire. I'm mean to an extent. I just shove you around a bit. The other day, three cats got shoved off a cliff from a cat who was possessed."
"Oh my god," Whitefire gasped. "Who? From which clan?"
"Frostclan," Denver said. "The cats who got pushed off were all sick. What the ghosts didn't prepare for was the female cat latching on to a ghost in disguise when she was shoved."
"So they're... dead?" Whitefire whispered, feeling a cold shiver run up her spine. "Who was the ghost that went down with them?"
"I actually don't know," Denver said in a puzzled voice. "Not one of mine."
"I will start the gathering!"
Jaggedstars voice boomed through the night, silencing all the cats.
"We'll talk about this later," Whitefire whispered to Denver.
"I want to talk about it now."
"What left is there to talk about?" Whitefire hissed, getting very few up with Denver. "If you want to talk to me, possess me and make me talk yourself!" she looked forward, feeling proud of herself for being so forward. She waited for Denvers reply, but when the seconds ticked by in silence, Whitefire got confused. She slowly turned her head and peeked with the corner of her eye. Denver sat still, eyes set on the ground. Whitefire watched him, wondering what he'd do. He looked up at her and blinked, eyes sad. Whitefire was just wondering to herself if she had imagined it, but Jaggedstar loud call distracted her.
"Plantclan is thriving, with more prey than we catch and our stream running clear. We have a new warrior..." he went on. Whitefire turned to look back at Denver, and was confused for a second when grass and leaves met her view.
Denver was gone.