Odd Eye

Chapter Four - Crystalpaw

Crystalpaw woke with a start, looking wildly around camp. For a moment, she still remembered the scratch of her claws against the badger, the difficulty she had gripping onto its spirit form. She remembered the young ginger tom, Flickerpaw, yowling crazedly around, his eyes filled with fear. At that moment she had been so furious at him - his ignorance had attracted one of the most dangerous kinds of creatures in the entire Grey World, one of the Broken. It was when, as Jayfeather had explained to her, an animal died while it was going insane because of some kind of disease. These appeared in the Grey World with almost blobby disconnected bodies and glowing red eyes.

Jayfeather had also told her that after her birth, a pool had appeared in StarClan that allowed cats to see the Grey World beneath. That was how he knew so much about the comings and goings of the things that lived there. He also told Crystalpaw that before she had arrived in StarClan, the surface of the pool was as hard as ice, and no cat could slip through. However, when Crystalpaw appeared before it, suddenly the pool was rippling like any other body of water - so she twined her tail with Jayfeather's and they jumped through.

It had been a moon since her first talk with Frostclaw and her other mentors. Crystalpaw had learnt so much! Frostclaw and Lionblaze were truly great warriors.

She stretched and padded outside, bumping instantly into Lightstep.

"Crystalpaw!" Lightstep exclaimed. "I was just looking for you! Shall we go on a hunting patrol?"

Crystalpaw instantly felt more awake. She was starving, and hopefully her efforts in hunting would earn both her and the Clan a good meal.

"Yes please!"

They padded out of camp.

"I think I should have a look at your forest skills," Lightstep said. "Your fishing's coming along very nicely, but I haven't seen you catch a mouse in so long! We'll hunt over there."

She nodded at a thick grove of trees growing just beside the river.

Crystalpaw felt extremely confident as she stalked through the undergrowth. Lionblaze had taught her some ThunderClan hunting moves.

"If you need to survive in the Grey World for a longer period of time," Lionblaze told her grimly. "You can't be picky about what you eat."

Crystalpaw dropped down, scenting a vole scuffling underneath one of the bushes. Making sure to keep her weight on her haunches and not her paws, she stalked through it. Once she could pinpoint its exact location, she bunched her paws under her and leapt, feeling the small body squirm then fall still. She bit its neck and felt warm blood oozing between her teeth.

"Great job!" Lightstep said, surprised. "I wasn't aware you knew how to hunt forest prey that well."

Crystalpaw beamed at her mentor's compliments.

"I've been practising for leaf-bare," she said modestly. "In case the river freezes over again, like the elders say it did once!"

Lightstep mrrowed with amusement. "I assume Galepelt, your father, taught you some tricks as well. He was always particularly good at forest prey."

Crystalpaw smiled and nodded along, as if she agreed. What Lightstep didn't know wouldn't hurt her. She scraped some dirt over the vole and sniffed the air again, hoping she hadn't scared off any other prey. Instead, she smelt a strong scent of WindClan.

"Lightstep," she said uncertainly. "Do you smell WindClan?"

Lighstep opened her mouth to taste the air, then the fur on her spine lifted up.

"Back to camp, now," she hissed, turning to face the bushes.

"I should stay," Crystalpaw said defiantly. "You might need help."