CHAPTER 12

The apprentices sat in a lineup as Minkfur finished his task of rolling what looked like a particularly heavy log directly into the running trail in front of them. He pressed his shoulder into the base of the rotting wood in a final heave. The log slid into place.

"I have set up an obstacle course," he announced once he'd caught his breath. Beside her Mothpaw turned her head, as if to exchange a glance, but Rosepaw did not take her eyes off the log. A sense of foreboding hung over the air. They weren't yet ready for their first assessments, but this was a test of some sort. That, or another obscure training program that only Minkfur would think to set up.

"You will leap this log," he went on. "Tunnel through the ferns on the other side. Cross the stream. Then I want you to climb a pine. Catch a bird and bring it back here. First cat back wins."

"We have to climb?" Snipepaw grumbled. "If I wanted to do that, I'd have joined SkyClan."

Minkfur's eyes turned sharp. They did that most often when Snipepaw challenged him like this, Rosepaw had noticed. Yet his voice remained even when he answered. "SkyClan are the most prolific climbers in the forest, but they're not the only ones who can do it. ThunderClan will often climb the trees in their territory to catch squirrels and other tree prey. And we ShadowClan must climb sometimes for various reasons." He shot a glare at the apprentice. "If you're scared of heights, don't fret. The trees here aren't nearly as tall."

Though he bared his teeth at the humiliating jab, Snipepaw was smart enough not to respond.

"There's something else," Minkfur went on. "There are stinging nettles in the ferns. When you cross the stream, you must not get your paws wet, and lastly, I want you to catch the bird without touching the ground."

Snipepaw hissed, Mothpaw gasped, Rosepaw merely stiffened. She again eyed the log. It was big. If she was to clear it, she'd need a good running start.

"When I say so, go." For a moment he looked over the apprentices, each now beginning to think of the task before them and how they'd accomplish it. Rosepaw figured it wasn't worth spending too much time worrying about what was to come. She'd have to think through each problem as she faced it.

For a second Minkfur's eyes penetrated her fur. She felt like an icy blast went through her body as their eyes met. This happened sometimes, when they made eye contact or during those tentative times in training where he might use a paw to nudge her into proper formation. His touch would always leave her fur tingling and her bones ringing. What was he thinking behind those deep, blue eyes? Familiar eyes, although she'd never met him before she'd joined the Clan nearly a moon ago.

Like so many times before, the moment ended abruptly. Often, they felt endless, like that brief pause in time had been stretched out over days. Not today. Rosepaw deliberately cut eye contact, her head jerking her gaze back to the log. This cat was her mentor. He would be the one assessing her. If she had any hope of making it into ShadowClan, she needed to impress him. Mooning like a starstruck kit most certainly wouldn't do it. Right here, right now, the best she could do was to win this challenge.

Which meant she needed to figure out this obstacle course.

"Go!"

All three apprentices shot forward together. Rosepaw was at a serious disadvantage for this first task. Both Mothpaw and Snipepaw had been born in WindClan. They'd been running laps around the camp since they were old enough to walk. They easily outpaced her, leaping magnificently into the air. Rosepaw tried to copy their move, but couldn't clear the log. She dug her claws in and sprang upwards, clawing her way over the top.

Now she was last! She landed heavily on the pine forest floor, her wrist screaming as she landed, but she didn't have time to think about that. In fact, she was quite proud of herself for maintaining her composure through the pain. By now Mothpaw and Snipepaw had reached the stinging nettle. Mothpaw paused, her eyes flicking over the nettle for a way through. Snipepaw barreled straight through it without so much as a flinch.

Taking her chance, Rosepaw threw herself into the hole Snipepaw had left behind, leaving Mothpaw to follow. Once on the other side, she saw Snipepaw encountering his first hesitation. He leaped from rock to rock over the stream but had slowed down significantly. The rocks were coated in treacherous green slime. The water below was not deep, probably knee-height at its deepest. But in the increasingly cold weather of leaf-fall, a dip in any body of water was liable to leave them with a chill. Any sickness could put them behind in their training, something they could not afford.

Rosepaw leaped carefully onto the first rock, surprised at how easily her paws slid on the green slime. Taking a deep breath, she bunched her haunches, ready to leap to the next one. Ahead of her was a yelp followed by a heavy splash. Snipepaw had fallen in the water. Careful not to follow in his steps, Rosepaw took her time calculating the next jump.

Meanwhile, Mothpaw bounded across the rocks with reckless abandon. Watching her go, and watching Snipepaw splash the rest of the way across the stream, Rosepaw knew she needed to hurry. Ignoring the voice inside her head that told her it was stupid, she quickened her pace, leaping to the each rock less carefully than the last. On the third rock from the end, there was a scary moment when her paw came out from under her. Her jaw smashed the rock, sending stars into her vision. When she flexed her jaw, however, the pain was minor enough for her to push it out of her mind. It wasn't broken, and she needed to go on. Already Snipepaw and Mothpaw had begun scaling trees, though Snipepaw had fallen already once.

At last she was at the shore! Instead of climbing the nearest tree, however, Rosepaw darted away from her Clanmates. She wouldn't catch a bird with the ruckus they were making. Ahead there was an old fir, it's bark silver with age. The tree itself was healthy, with a knot in the lower half that would easily give her climb.

Rosepaw had never climbed a tree in real life before. The advanced apprentices in ThunderClan did it before their final assessment, she knew, and of course SkyClan climbed trees taller than this every day. In her dream at the Shining Rock, Alderheart had told her that she had an aptitude for SkyClan based on her climbing. But that had been a dream, and the circumstances had been very different.

Yet as she dug her claws into the soft bark, Rosepaw felt an instant connection. Tree climbing was in her spirit, if not her blood. It was like her body knew what to do before her mind did. Soon enough, she was crouching amidst the middle branches, peeking from grayish foliage into the forest around her.

Looking around, Rosepaw understood the appeal SkyClan had with climbing. The competition was pushed out of her mind as she took in her surroundings. This was a vantage point she could get used to. The trees from up here were an entirely different landscape, with a maze of places prey could hide. Her fur blended in perfectly to the evergreens, which had browned slightly in the cooling weather.

In the tree next to hers, their branches interlocking at their tips, a small chickadee landed on a brush. This prey was hardly a mouthful. It wouldn't even feed one cat, unless that cat was a kit in the nursery, maybe. Minkfur's instructions came rushing back to her. He hadn't specified that the bird had to be large, simply that it had to be caught in the air.

No cat in ThunderClan nor in ShadowClan hunted in the trees. Nobody had prepared Rosepaw for what she was about to do. Trusting her SkyClan instincts, she crept along the branch as far as she safely could. The bird fluttered from branch to branch, hardly noticing her as it picked at the bark of its perch. Rosepaw knew she had to leap. It was now or never. Yet she didn't entirely trust the branch below her not to snap when she dug her weight in. A fall from this height might not kill her, but it would probably hurt a lot, and it would definitely halt her training.

StarClan, don't let me fall!

The branch dipped scarily as she propelled herself off of it. A few of the branch tips snapped as she tunneled through them. The chickadee took off at once, but Rosepaw's aim was true. Her paw pinned the tiny bird to trunk of the opposite tree, snapping its neck and killing it instantly. For a moment, Rosepaw balanced precariously on the thin branch, savoring the thrill of the hunt, especially from this height. Then, again, the competition came back to the forefront of her mind and she started.

I must get back right away!

Digging her claws in, Rosepaw followed the easiest path back to the ground. When she landed, her wrist screamed in agony, but there was no time to pay attention to that now. She limped as fast as she could back to the clearing, hoping that her climbing instinct gave her enough of an advantage to make it back before the others.

Her hopes were dashed the moment the clearing came in sight. Snipepaw and Mothpaw were both already there, each with a bird sitting at their feet. Snipepaw had caught a chaffinch almost as small as her chickadee, but Mothpaw had managed to catch a grosbeak.

"Thank you for joining us," said a familiar, drawling voice. Beetledust was sitting beside Minkfur. His eyes flashed as she set her prey down. "I thought you told them to catch prey," he said to Minkfur. "That's not going to be filling any bellies."

"I told them to catch a bird," Minkfur said. "She caught the bird. And she's the only one to complete each task correctly. Mothpaw went around the nettles instead of through them, and Snipepaw fell in the water."

"Yes, but the challenge was to get back here first, and I'm afraid Rosepaw didn't do that." Looking at each of them, his eyes flashed. "In that regard, Mothpaw is the winner."

The golden she-cat lifted her head proudly. Beetledust sneered at her. "Don't be so smug about it. You each failed an aspect of this task. It's clear you need more training."

"Of course they do!" Minkfur snapped. "It's only been a moon!"

Beetledust shot him a look of undisguised derision. "You would say that. You've been training them. They should be better by now. Perhaps they need a new mentor. Maybe you're not ready for the task of training ShadowClan warriors."

"More ShadowClan than you," Minkfur muttered darkly.

"What did you say?" Although Beetledust's voice got quieter, Rosepaw could sense the growing fury beneath his pelt as if it were radiating sunlight. "Don't forget who's deputy around here, Minkfur."

"Don't you forget what happened to the last one." It was a threat. Rosepaw didn't know anything about the deputy before Beetledust other than that his name had been Antfoot, and that he was dead. But even she was not so thick as to miss the hidden meaning in those words. Now she was curious, what had happened to Antfoot? How had he died?

Beetledust hissed, his ears going back and his fangs coming out. Without another word, he turned and stalked back in the direction of camp. Minkfur glared after the deputy, and Rosepaw realized just how much hatred there was between the two cats. It was scary, how much two Clanmates could despise one another. Such feuds would never be allowed in ThunderClan.

"Back to camp!" Minkfur ordered. "And make sure some prey gets to Shadefern!"

They returned to camp, Rosepaw trying not to limp. Snipepaw did not stick around. He grabbed a mouse and padded off to join Moonpaw by the sunny rock, leaving Mothpaw and Rosepaw by themselves. They each chose a prey from the pile and made there way over to the old white birch that shaded the clearing, where Toadpaw and Lilypaw were already finished eating. Weak sunlight filtered into the camp here, but it hardly warmed their fur as they settled to eat.

"What happened to you?" Toadpaw asked, eyes flicking over Rosepaw's face. She'd winced as she'd settled.

"Training accident," she murmured before tearing into the prey.

"Was it the gauntlet?" Lilypaw asked. "My mentor had me run that my first moon of training."

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Lilypaw had been training a whole moon longer than they had. Mothpaw started to explain their task while Rosepaw devoured her vole hungrily. Her wrist throbbed whenever she bent it.

By the time Rosepaw had finished her dinner, Mothpaw had gotten to the birding. "I had leap from one tree to the next!" she said. Her body shivered as she recalled the hunt. "I've never been so scared in my life!"

"Really?" Lilypaw scoffed. "Never?"

Mothpaw shifted uncomfortably. "I'm from WindClan, okay? We don't climb trees there."

Lilypaw still looked skeptical, but Toadpaw nudged her good-naturedly. "Come on, we're all scared of something. Aren't you afraid of owls, anyway?"

She withdrew from his touch, eyes flashing. "It's natural for cats to be afraid of owls!" she hissed. "They come from above, silently, at night so you can't hear them or see them. And Lichenleaf says they can kill you with their talons alone. That doesn't make me a coward."

"Well, I'm afraid of the Wolf's Den," Toadpaw admitted. "Darkrose took me inside once. The smell is…it puts my fur on end. It reminds me of my test at the Shining Rock."

At his words, all four cats froze, looking at him with wide eyes. "What?" he asked, and it was obvious to Rosepaw, at least, that he was uncomfortable being stared at like that, but did not seem to regret bringing up the topic. "It's over. Why shouldn't we talk about it?"

For a moment nobody said anything, then Lilypaw said. "I'd never seen a dog before, let alone tried to kill one." Her voice got lower. "When the dream was over, I thought I was really dead."

Beside her, Mothpaw's voice was eerily quiet. "I don't know what came over me. In WindClan, we're taught to run whenever we encounter creatures like that. Run into a burrow or something. But fighting was my instinct. The last thing I saw was that dog's slavering jaw." Her entire body shuddered again. "I still have nightmares about it." That was a whisper, as if she hadn't intended on saying it at all.

Rosepaw remained silent throughout this exchange. It felt like a stone was weighing her tongue. It was obvious they had experienced a different scenario than she had. They had actually fought the dogs, and if what they were saying was true, they had fought to the death. Yet she'd run away, a decidedly cowardice behavior according to ShadowClan sensibilities.

"What about you?" Toadpaw asked, peering at her again. "What was your test like?"

"I…" Rosepaw hesitated. This conversation was a bonding experience for them, and Rosepaw felt a little put out that she hadn't shared their experience. Would they still want to be her friend if they knew the truth?

"In the dream, when you fought the dog," Mothpaw prompted. Understanding lit her gaze as words stuck in Rosepaw's throat. "You didn't get ShadowClan for your aptitude, did you?"

All three pairs of eyes were focused on her now, wide with expressed interest. "Did you get ThunderClan?" Toadpaw asked. Still Rosepaw could not find the words to tell them about her divergent results.

Her continued silence seemed to confirm it for Lilypaw, whose eyes gleamed in the gathering moonlight. "I knew it!"

Indignation sparked in her chest. What did Lilypaw mean by that? She was about to explain, rather hotly, that she had gotten ShadowClan, but before she could, a voice spoke above hers. "Apprentice!"

A black and white she-cat with amber eyes stomped over to them, glaring at each cat in turn. "Haven't you taken food to Shadefern?"

"Oh no!" Mothpaw squeaked. "We forgot!"

"Well do it now. You." Her eyes bored into Rosepaw's form. "Come with me."

Waving to her friends with her tail, Rosepaw got to her feet and limped after the warrior. In a flash, she remembered her name was Turtletail. She had been the first cat to greet Rosepaw on her first day in ShadowClan.

She was led around the sunning rock, now empty as Snipepaw and Moonpaw had disappeared to who knows where. They went through a side entrance in the camp and up an embankment, eventually stopping at the same brush that Minkfur had hidden her in before. Together, they squeezed into the brush.

Turtletail rounded on Rosepaw. "What did you get for your aptitude results?"

It was asked so plainly, so suddenly that it threw Rosepaw off balance. "Why?"

"Just answer the question."

Rosepaw blinked at the intensity in Turtletail's voice. Like before, she hesitated to say. It was a habit formed from moons of being told not to tell anyone. But it seemed important to Turtletail, so she was honest. "I got ShadowClan, and ThunderClan, and SkyClan."

The warrior nodded, as if she'd expected that answer. "So you're divergent." It wasn't a question.

Rosepaw shrugged. "So what?"

"So you need to be careful who you share that information with."

That surprised Rosepaw. Aptitude test results were supposed to be kept private, so that no cat could be turned away from their chosen Clan. The Warrior Code stated that ShadowClan had to take her in if she chose them, and she'd chosen, so they had to train her. What harm could telling her Clanmates be now?

Turtletail seemed to sense her confusion. "It's dangerous to be divergent."

"Why? Who cares if I can climb trees like a SkyClan cat as long as I'm putting to use for ShadowClan?"

"I don't know," Turtletail told her honestly. She sounded weary. "My brother, Frogstripe, he was divergent. We were born in SkyClan. When I got ShadowClan for my aptitude, I wasn't surprised. I already knew who I was. But he got both SkyClan and ShadowClan. I convinced him to come to ShadowClan with me. We could stay together that way." Her eyes flashed in the moonlight. "He was very careful not to tell anybody about his divergence. He was embarrassed, afraid that he'd be rejected if he told anyone."

"But somebody found out?" Rosepaw guessed.

"Yes. And they killed him." Rosepaw gasped as Turtletail went on. "He was found by the Wolf's Den. He'd been killed by warrior's blow, but there were no enemy scents around him."

Fear bubbled to life in Rosepaw's belly. "Somebody from ShadowClan killed him?"

Rosepaw sensed rather than saw Turtletail's lip curl. "Owlmask said it could've been a badger or an owl. Probably not a fox. But I know a warrior's strike when I see it." Now Rosepaw was shaking, and she couldn't stop. In her dream, Alderheart had made it seem like divergence was no big deal, as if it hardly mattered. That dream seemed so far away now. There really were other divergent cats, and if Turtletail's story was true, they were being killed because of it. Suddenly she understood the danger of her dual nature. Had she chosen horribly wrong? Would she be safer in ThunderClan?

"What do I do?" she whimpered, unable to disguise the fear in her voice.

"Calm down!" Turtletail snapped, less soothing but it worked well enough. "I can smell your fear-scent. Look, if your pals ask again, tell them you got ThunderClan as your result. That's a story they'll believe."

Her words made Rosepaw wince. Lilypaw's words from earlier echoed in her head. I knew it! "Is it really that obvious?"

Turtletail shrugged. "Most cats assume you probably got ThunderClan." After an awkward pause she went on, "They see it as an act of great courage, actually, to defy what StarClan tells you to do to join ShadowClan. So, it's pretty good for your reputation if you stick to that story."

For a moment they just stood there in silence, Turtletail letting Rosepaw absorb the information. She was in danger. Now she understood. Each thing had pointed to that, the odd tension that filled the air in ShadowClan, the lack of elders and the hate that seemed to burn in several of the warriors. She remembered again Minkfur's look of pure loathing at the Clan deputy, not that Beetledust didn't deserve it. Would Beetledust hate her if he knew what she was? Would he chase her out? What about Minkfur?

It occurred to her then that her secret was safe. She'd told no cat except for one. Suddenly fear blossomed again in her chest. What was Turtletail going to do now?

It seemed Turtletail sensed her tension. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. No go back to camp. And see Owlmask about that paw," she added thoughtfully. "It might do you some good to look weak."