Odd Eye

Chapter One - Crystalpaw

Crystalpaw sat twitching, staring into the rushing river. Her eyes stared back at her - one blue, one gold. It was how, Snowflower told her, she got her name.

"Your eyes are like two little crystals, sparkling in the sun."

It's too bad I don't have two of the exact same crystals, Crystalpaw thought grumpily.

Snowflower and Galepelt tried their hardest to hide RiverClan's whispers from her, but Crystalpaw wasn't a mouse-brain. She heard them clearly, and every single day. There were rumours that she was some kind of mistake; or that even worse, her odd eyes were sent to her by Starclan as a warning to her parents. Nobody could give a single reason for what her parents did to warrant such a warning, but it didn't stop them from talking.

"Crystalpaw!" Lightstep, her mentor called from further up the river. "You're supposed to be fishing!"

Crystalpaw looked down guiltily, and focused her eyes on the river. A trout streaked past and she impaled it with one claw, forcing the flopping fish onto the bank and killing it with a neat bite.

"Nice work," Lightstep nodded, bounding up to her with her own catch. "We'll leave fishing for now - bring these two back to the freshkill pile, then meet me in the shallow part of the river opposite from camp. You know, the sandy circle surrounded by reeds? Hollowstar wants to try a new battle program where we fight underwater. If you see Flutterpaw or any of the other apprentices, get them to come with us too if they're not busy."

Crystalpaw nodded her assent, and began the trek back to camp. She saw her friend Flutterpaw lazily sharing tongues with her brother Otterpaw in the midmorning sun, while her mentor Whistletail talked quietly to Heronflight, the deputy.

"Flutterpaw, Otterpaw" Crystalpaw meowed as she prodded her friends. "Lightstep wants us and our mentors to meet her in the shallows, so we can practise a new battle move.

"Okay, Crystalpaw," Otterpaw said, stretching his jaws wide in a yawn. "I'll go get Splashfoot, and Whistletail's just over there. We'll meet you there soon."

Crystalpaw nodded, and bounded away. Hardley a second later, Flutterpaw caught up to her.

"I convinced Otterpaw to do all the work for me," she purred, huffing. "How have you been? I haven't seen you since sunrise!"

"Yes, and that's totally a long time ago," Crystalpaw teased, bumping her friend. "I can't believe we're apprentices! Mewling around the nursery as kits seems just yesterday."

"Well it's not that close," Flutterpaw snorted. "Your mother's already on her second litter. Willowkit and Nestkit are so cute!!!"

Crystalpaw blinked happily. "Dusknose just kitted a few days ago, and Chervilpaw was so happy."

"Of course she would be, she's been wanting littermates for so long after being the only one to survive in Dusknose's first litter."

"Sometimes I wonder what it would be like training to be a medicine cat apprentice. Chervilpaw's only a few moons older than us, but she seems to know everything already! Sometimes I want to be like her."

"You're not really going to be, right?" Flutterpaw meowed, her eyes wide with alarm.

"No, of course not," Crystalpaw purred.

"Good. I wouldn't want to lose my best friend."

Lightstep, Otterpaw, Whistletail and Splashfoot emerged from the reeds in front of them.

"Hey," Otterpaw whispered to Crystalpaw as he slid in beside her. She nodded at him, then turned her attention back to her mentor.

Lightstep paced in front of them. "Recently, the border clashes with ShadowClan and WindClan have become quite fierce. Hollowstar is afraid they might try to invade our actual camp, and it's our job to make sure that doesn't happen."