Her Clanmates stood around Stormkit and Heatherstar in a shocked silence. Thunderheart’s words echoed in her head

This is not the last you'll see of me, ThunderClan... Especially you, Stormkit...

She shook her head. “At least we’re safe now.” Stormkit mewed. “For now, I guess.”

Heatherstar nodded. “We can’t just sit around and wait for Thunderheart to return. We know he’ll be back. But we’ll be ready.” She gazed at her Clan, a spark of determination glinted in the ThunderClan leader’s eyes. “From now on, we’ll increase border patrols. No apprentice is to leave camp without a warrior. Meeting dismissed.”

    Murmurs of worry filled the air as the Clan began to discuss what would happen next.

    “Surely he’ll be back soon.” Echopool worriedly exchanged glances with Fernheart and Pinetail. “My kits aren’t safe as long as he’s alive!” She fretted, pulling them closer to her.

    “My kits are his, he wouldn’t dare hurt them!” Pinetail crowed, then cast a side glance at Stormkit. “Except her. We all know he despised Stormkit!” A small bubble of hurt welled in Stormkit’s chest, but she ignored it.

At least my apprentice ceremony will be at dawn , she thought. Finally, something to look forward to!

*****

    Stormpaw glanced back at Whitesong, her mentor. It had been two sunrises since she had been made an apprentice, and this was her first patrol. They were on the dawn patrol, remarking the ShadowClan border.

    “Yuck!” Stormpaw wrinkled her nose as ShadowClan scent washed into her nose. Memories of the battle began flooding her mind, but she pushed them back.

    Whitesong let out a purr of amusement. “I bet they’d say the same about us!”

    Stormpaw stepped forward, holding her breath as she placed a paw near the  border. ShadowClan scent drifted towards her in a gust of wind.

A blackbird flitted down onto the forest floor a few tail-lengths away from her, and she pressed herself down in hope that it wouldn’t notice her. It pecked at the needle-strewn earth, unaware of Stormpaw as she creeped forward.

She knew she would fail. And she was right. As she crept towards it, a twig snapped under her paw and the bird shot in the air. Stormpaw leapt, and managed to snag its wing before she crashed back down.

“Mouse-dung! I almost had it.” She angrily muttered. “I could swear the stupid things are laughing at me!” Her mentor sidled up to her.

“It’s okay,” Whitesong said. “A lot of apprentices catch their first prey after a few tries.” She reasoned. “We’re on dawn patrol anyways. We don’t need to hunt.”

Another few moments passed. “I suppose you’re right,” Stormpaw mumbled. “Do you think we’ll meet ShadowClan?”

“There’s a chance,” Whitesong replied. “Although they always make sure to mark their borders before we do. Can you smell the ShadowClan scent? Does it seem fresh or stale to you?”

She was right. Fresh ShadowClan scented wafted into the apprentice’s nose. “Its fresh.” She told her mentor. Whitesong nodded.

“That’s what I thought. They always try to be the first to mark the borders.”

Stormpaw sniffed the air. “Smells like a ShadowClan patrol is coming.”

“We better get going then.” Whitesong meowed. “I don’t want to cause trouble after that battle.” A shudder passed through her.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, before Stormpaw broke the quiet.

“Who did Eaglescratch kill?” She suddenly blurted. Whitesong froze.

“My-my mother.” She mumbled, her voice encased with grief. “Amberwish. She was deputy then, deputy before Heatherstar一Heathercloud at the time一became deputy. It was a few nights after Dawnstar died and Graystream became leader; He had killed Dawnstar and pretended it was ShadowClan.”

“How did he pull that off?” Stormpaw asked.

“Well, it wasn’t ShadowClan. When they brought Dawnstar’s body back, it didn’t have a trace of ShadowClan on it. His mate, Tigershade, was horrified. He murdered Tigershade after a fight, and the rest of the Clan killed him for it.”

“Is that all?”

“No, but I’d rather not talk about it anymore.” Whitesong certainly did look uncomfortable. Her eyes were sullen with grief. “I was only an apprentice then.” She rasped, closing her eyes. The senior warrior suddenly looked very frail, as if a feather could knock her over.

“Come on,” Stormpaw mewed worriedly. “We’d better get back to camp.” She walked closer to Whitesong, letting the white she cat lean on her shoulder.

A pair of eyes glinted from the shadows, its gaze intent on the two she cats. “I will return..."

Lol I'm lazy. It has been months since I last updated helpp