Whiteheart's Betrayal- Chapter 16

 The eyes flashed in the bushes and Whitepaw let out another gasp, "Nightpaw! Frostpaw! This is your mother!"
"What?" Nightpaw mewed, turning his head towards the bush. A white paw slid out from under the leaves and padded over to them. The large cat was black and she had yellow teeth. Whitepaw had to shrink from her horrible breath when she spoke, "What do you want?" the cat snarled. "I was chasing this mouse and you scared it away!"
Frostpaw gave Nightpaw an amused glance as if he couldn't believe that kittypets hunt. The young black and white tom politely mewed, "Hi," he mewed, dipping his head. "I'm Frostpaw, and this is Nightpaw. We were wondering if you  knew about the Clans."
"Clans?" the cat snarled. "What do you know about the Clans?"
Suddenly Whitepaw began to feel uneasy. Did she pick out the wrong cat? But it had the scent of the forest, as if she'd been visiting all this time, without the other Clans knowing....but the kittypet had a red collar around her neck, so this wasn't a rogue or a Clan cat. So why would she visit the forest?
"What's your name?" Frostpaw tried to meow politely again.
The cat snorted and mewed, "I am Dark," it hissed. Dark looked up at the sky, which was glittering with StarClan warriors and mewed at the Clan cats, "Don't you know it's late out here? You really should go away." As she turned around to pad away, Whitepaw put her paw forward and mewed, "Wait!"
Dark stopped and glanced over her shoulder.
"I want to know if you know any kind of cat from a group of cats!" Whitepaw asked. Surely Dark visited some tom in her life in the Clans? There would be no other reason why they would look all exactly alike. Whitepaw suddenly felt different from the three cats, as if she suddenly wasn't born in the same Clan.
Dark let out a heavy sigh. "I suppose you won't leave me alone if I don't answer your questions?"
The three apprentices shook their heads.
Dark let out a grunt and headed toward a fence and mewed, "Very well, but follow me." The large she-cat leaped over the fence and balanced neatly at the top, staring down at the smaller apprentices. Frostpaw looked up anxiously and mewed, with wide eyes, "We have to go up there?"
"It's either that or go home," Dark shrugged, waving her tail. "We don't have all night. Hurry up!"
Whitepaw turned to Nightpaw and Frostpaw. What if she had led them into a trap? But it was the only way to know the answer, she thought stubbornly. Surely a kittypet wouldn't do any harm? She crouched down and leaped high in the air, her claws scraping against the wood. The silver and white cat barely managed to sink her claws into the wood and hauled herself up, balancing herself neatly on the fence and mewed, "Come on!" she mewed, though, privately she was more terrified than ever. What if she fell off? "It's not that bad."
Frostpaw was trembling with fear while Nightpaw grunted. "Oh, stop being such a coward," the black tom murmured. "It can't be that scary." Crouching down, he leaped and his paws hit the fence first, but Nightpaw let out a screech when his claws didn't get a grip of the wood and slowly slid off. Whitepaw's eyes widened and she leaned herself forward toward him, grabbed his scruff with her teeth in, then hauled him up until the tom balanced on the fence, panting with his eyes wide.
"I am never doing this again!" Nightpaw hissed. "I can't wait to go back home." He stared down at Frostpaw, who was trembling with fear. "Hurry up, slow mouse!"
"I-I can't," Frostpaw stuttered. He stared up at the three cats in horror. "It looks scary."
Nightpaw rolled his eyes at Dark and snarled, "Can't you help? You haven't done anything except stare at us!"
Mouse-brain! Whitepaw hissed to herself. If he spoke to Dark with such disrespect, there's no way she would give him any answers.
But Dark didn't seem offended by Nightpaw's rude attitude. Instead, she shrugged and leaped down from the fence, landing neatly on all four paws. Dark looked twice as large than Frostpaw did, who stared up at her with his tail tucked under himself.
"Come on," Dark grumbled. "Suck it up and let me carry you." She leaned over him and sank her teeth into his scruff and leaped back up at the fence and placed him on the top. Frostpaw managed to stand neatly on all four paws, sticking his tail straight in the air for balance. His breathing slowed as if to calm himself down when he finally landed on the fence.
"Ready?" Dark grumbled over her shoulder, and the three apprentices nodded. "Then let's go."




The four cats padded along the fence until they hit a small backyard, a word Whitepaw learned from Dark. It was a place for cats to live in, but they had to slide open a strange clear shape in order to let the cat outside, which made her shiver. She felt glad she lived in a Clan, where she didn't have to depend on Twolegs for her own freedom. She suddenly felt sorry for Dark. The she-cat also told her about the kittypet slop she had to eat, which tasted crunchy and moist at the same time. She said it tasted delicious, but Whitepaw didn't think so.
"Come and try it." Dark offered. A round shape with a hollow in it had small brown pebbles that looked like rabbit droppings laid in there. A nicer scent with another round shape had this white liquid in it. Curious, she padded over to the round shape and looked into the liquid. It smelled sweet, similar to Emeraldflame's milk when she had it as a kitten.
"Milk," Dark mewed. "Milk from a cow. It's delicious."
Whitepaw nodded and dipped her muzzle into the white stuff. She slurped up enough milk until her throat felt cold and licked her lips when she finished. "Mmm, it's so good!" She mewed to Nightpaw and Frostpaw. Nightpaw let out a snort of amusement. "You look funny!"
"Do I?" Whitepaw mewed. She wiped her paw on her muzzle and a patch of white milk was on her paw. She felt hot with embarrassment and swiped her tongue around her muzzle to lick off the rest of the milk before padding over to the apprentices.
Dark was sitting a tail-length away from them, her tail wrapped over her paws. "Now," she mewed, "the night is almost over, so we haven't much time left. What do you want to know?" She sounded cranky as if she were tired of being up all night because of three nosy apprentices.
"Have you ever visited the Clans before?" Frostpaw mewed. Whitepaw guessed that he smelled the forest scent on her as well.
Dark nodded. "I have."
"Which one?"
"StormClan."
Whitepaw froze. StormClan was not BreezeClan.....but a different Clan. Is it possible that Nightpaw and Frostpaw aren't blood-related to BreezeClan after all? She held her breath. There was still a chance that their father could have been born into BreezeClan as well.
She glanced at Frostpaw, whose gaze was unreadable. But when she stared at Nightpaw, she couldn't tell if his eyes were narrowed from curiosity or anger. She knew how badly tempered the tom can be.
"If you know about the Clans, then is it possible that you know any cat there?" Nightpaw asked. Whitepaw stayed silent when Dark answered.
"Yes. I did know a cat from a Clan." Dark replied.
"Tell me!"
Dark took a deep breath. And, when she answered, she mewed, "The cat I know lives in StormClan, and I still visit him to this day. His name is Stonepelt."
Nightpaw and Frostpaw both let out a gasp. Frostpaw's eyes were glazed with pain while Nightpaw's eyes were dark with anger. He gasped, "We're from StormClan?"
Suddenly Whitepaw began to regret coming back to see Dark after all. It's all my fault....is Nightpaw going to hate me now?