Odd Eye

Chapter Seven - Crystalpaw

That night, Crystalpaw dreamt once more. This time, all her mentors faced her, including Frostclaw.

"Hey!" she purred, hurrying forward to greet them.

Dovewing touched her cheek affectionately.

"You fought well against WindClan," Lionblaze told her, his eyes gleaming with pride.

"Yes," Frostclaw nodded. "I'm very proud of you."

Crystalpaw blushed at their praise.

"No more of that mushy stuff!" Jayfeather hissed, covering his eyes. "I can't bear to look."

Crystalpaw smiled at the grumpy old medicine cat.

"Today, we're going to try spotting and talking to normal cat spirits," Jayfeather told her.

Crystalpaw's spirits lifted and she bounced up and down in excitement.

So far, she knew of three different classifications of creatures found in the Grey World.

The Broken. These were dangerous animals that died while they were made crazy by some kind of disease, or simply by rage. The Broken tend to have circular torsos with their head, tail and limbs drifting above or underneath them. They had the ability to shoot out these limbs in lightning fast ways and sever a cat's spine just with a flick of their mental consciousness. Animals like this were the only spirits in the Grey World that had real thought. They were also vividly colourful, as if they were still alive - and they killed for fun, not because they had to eat. It didn't matter anyway - the Grey World was the final afterlife, if a dead animal died there, it would be ressurected.

Ghosts. It had seemed slightly unfair to Crystalpaw that Twolegs would get their own category in the Grey World, but once she saw how creepy they were, she didn't feel that way anymore. Ghosts were more rare, but they were basically stiff, grey-coloured Twolegs with their eyes wide and unblinking and their limbs pinned to their sides. Crystalpaw had only ever seen one of them, bobbing casually in the air. It was so terrifying it gave her nightmares for a week. She even preferred battling The Broken then having to even look at a Ghost. Thank goodness they only just floated in the air like pieces of dust, and rarely ventured onto the ground - in fact, they only really hovered around the Twolegplace.

The Zephyrs. Jayfeather told her that 'zephyr' was really just another word for 'small wind.' He had looked even more grumpy than usual as he said it. Apparently, he had suggested the name 'Breezelings' but Firestar had vetoed it. Personally, Crystalpaw had thought Jayfeather came up with the better name, but she was wise enough not to say it - his ego was already quite inflated! Anyway, Zephyrs included creatures like squirrels, mice, and most importantly, cats. Only half of their body was visible (the one with their head) and the rest crumbled away into grey smoke, while the visible half was bright and colourful. They were all over the Grey World, but had very little conscious thought and were inclined to be distracted easily. To bring one back to StarClan, Crystalpaw had to hold its concentration long enough to take it back to the pool where she and Jayfeather (and sometimes Dovewing) appeared from almost every night to access the Grey World. Easier said than done.

Jayfeather had always told her she didn't have enough experience to be making communications with Zephyrs, especially since calling out to them would undoubtedly bring Broken with them. But now, she had trained hard for almost two moons - up to the middle of her apprenticeship with Lightstep. Crystalpaw felt more than ready.

"Lionblaze and Frostclaw will be coming with you, should the worst happen," Jayfeather said. "We don't want to attract the Broken, but we may have no choice."