Distant Sun: Flashing Lights - Shimmering Stars

Chapter 10

The medicine cats don't talk much as they lay beside the Moon Gem and press their noses to the cold surface. Jadepaw allows the cold to wash over her but feels something jerk her to the side and when she opens her eyes, she is in a familiar area with a lake. It's Ambereyes's prison.

"Jadepaw–" Ambereyes voice begins behind Jadepaw, but she feels another jerk and she is in a place with air that stinks like the fresh-kill pile after it has been sitting out in the sun all day but far worse.

The trees are dead and void of leaves. The grass feels too sharp to be real under her pads. The air is heavy and full of an eerie red mist. The sky is dark save for a bloodred moon, providing an uneasy glow. Jadepaw has a feeling she knows what this place is.

The Forest of Lost Souls.

Jadepaw looks around and shifts her weight anxiously as a decaying bird flies overhead, a dark blot on the odd moon. Why is she here of all places? Jadepaw gazes around, looking for any sign of life near her, when she hears voices. She jumps into a bush, the thorns on it tearing at her fur, and watches anxiously as three figures come out of the mist.

"I just think we should try it, at least once," a she-cat who looks heavy with kits meows, flicking her bushy tail from side-to-side. She has long black and white fur and piercing indigo eyes that don't waiver from her companions.

"We don't know if we'll be pulled back, though," a cat with a bobtail meows. Their bright blue eyes glint in the darkness and their brown and black fur looks matted with blood.

The tallest of the three cats, a white and black she-cat with green eyes, shakes her head worriedly. "I don't think we should risk it. You know how the founders feel about us, since we're friends with Ambereyes."

Ambereyes? Jadepaw gives an involuntary gasp. She quickly covers her mouth with her paws, but the three cats have already heard her.

"Who's there?" the tall she-cat demands. Jadepaw can see the claws that have been unsheathed glint in the eerie red light as the three cats creep closer to her bush.

"How much do you want to bet it's a new arrival?" the plump black and white she-cat asks, tearing the ground beneath her with her claws.

"It could be another one of those SpiritClan kits who wandered into the Forest," the brown cat meows, stepping in front of their companions. "We don't want to scare them."

"Then go look," the black and white she-cat urges.

The brown cat creeps towards Jadepaw's bush. She fights the urge to bolt away, knowing she's not used to the terrain here, and watches the cat creep closer and closer. She runs over all the moves Rocktooth taught her in her mind, but it's not enough.

The brown cat lunges forward and grabs Jadepaw by the scruff, dragging her out. Jadepaw yelps and flails her paws in the air, hoping to get a good hit on any of the cats. They just step out of her range and the brown cat backs off.

"This one is far too big to be a kitten," the white and black she-cat meows, tilting her head curiously. "And she doesn't smell like a new arrival."

"Doesn't look it either," the black and white she-cat agrees.

Jadepaw backs away, fear bubbling up in her throat as the three cats who she knows have killed stare at her.

"You're living, aren't you?" the brown cat asks.

Jadepaw can't find any words in her. She knows that if she even opens her mouth, she'll scream and that will bring more cats who can kill her closer.

"Of course she's living, take a look at her!" the black and white she-cat meows, motioning to Jadepaw. "You can't see the trees through her body!"

"It's alright, hon, we're not going to hurt you," the white and black she-cat meows kindly. "I can tell you're the cat Ambereyes has been raving about. Jadepaw, right?"

Jadepaw meets the green eyes of the white and black she-cat and nods. The three cats all look less tense now and take a step back.

"Why're you here? The moon here matches the moon in the living world, so it's the halfmoon. You should be in SpiritClan with your guide, shouldn't you?" the black and white she-cat asks.

"I..." Jadepaw croaks. She pauses and begins again. "I don't know how I got here. I was pulled into Ambereyes's prison and then suddenly I was here."

"Weird," the brown cat frowns.

"How... how do you all know Ambereyes?" Jadepaw asks.

"I met her when she was trying to find another medicine cat in here," the brown cat meows. "I stick pretty close to the SpiritClan border usually, so I helped her find him and went on my way. And I think Patchbreeze and Indigoshade met her when she broke out of her prison semi-recently."

Jadepaw nods and then frowns a bit. "Last time I was brought to Ambereyes's prison, I got a lot of time to talk to her. This time, though, she sounded like she needed to say something quickly and got cut off."

"The founders might've put new protections on her prison," the black and white she-cat offers with a shrug.

"They have," a new voice behind Jadepaw meows.