Picked Off In the Dark

Chapter 6

So much had happened since the death of Silvermist yet at the same time, so little had happened since the death of Silvermist. Ivypaw hardly left her nest except to see Eaglefeather, who she had been seeing to help her cope with her loss.

"I know how you feel," he had told her, "Me and Sunfur felt the same when our mother, Sandbreeze died. No apprentice deserves to go through this pain."

Ivypaw felt comfortable when she was with Eaglefeather. He understood her pain and was simply a welcoming presence. When Ivypaw wasn't with Eaglefeather, she was usually with Lightningpaw or their families. Lightningpaw wasn't taking her loss any better than Ivypaw. Lightningpaw also hardly left her nest and them along with Applepaw and Antpaw, weren't training. The only apprentices that were still training were Mistpaw, who frequently visited Applepaw, and Shrewpaw, who hadn't taken a single break from training. Ivypaw wanted to slash her claws across her sister's nose. Shrewpaw was acting like she didn't even care that their mother was dead! At the very least, no more cats had died in their sleep so every cat had assumed that Shadowclan had murdered their cats and the battle had taught them a lesson. Ivypaw however wasn't convinced. It had to be more than that, she just knew it!

"Ivypaw!" A voice called.

Ivypaw looked up from her nest. Applepaw and Harepelt were sitting just outside the apprentices' den. Ivypaw sighed and padded out to sit beside them.

"Still no Shrewpaw?" Harepelt asked.

"She said she didn't need to grieve," Applepaw growled.

Ivypaw's eyes widened.

"That arrogant furball!" Ivypaw hissed, "Does she not even care that Silvermist is dead?!"

"She does care!" Harepelt replied, "She's just grieving differently."

Applepaw sighed while Ivypaw rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I called you here to discuss," Harepelt meowed sternly, "I wanted to ask you if you'd like to return to training."

"Tr-training?" Ivypaw stuttered.

"Yes," Harepelt replied, "I think it would be good for you two to focus on something other than your grief."

"B-but," Ivypaw began to protest.

"I agree," Applepaw interrupted, "We'll move on faster if we let life go on."

Ivypaw glanced at her brother. When did he get so mature?

"I agree," Ivypaw said softly.

"Great, I'll talk to your mentors," Harepelt replied.

With a nod, he walked away. Ivypaw padded toward the apprentices' den, immediately noticing Lightningpaw, laying in her nest.

"Lightningpaw," Ivypaw murmured.

The black and white she-cat slowly rose her head to face Ivypaw. There were tears in her blue eyes and her fur was badly dishevelled.

"Me and Applepaw are returning to training today," Ivypaw continued, "Do you want to join us?"

"I guess," Lightningpaw sighed.

She sat up and wrapped her tail around her paws.

"I'll tell our mentor," Ivypaw replied.

Ivypaw felt her stomach knot at the thought that they were sharing a mentor in Snowpelt because there weren't enough moor runners to be mentors. The only other moor runner was Harepelt who couldn't mentor Ivypaw because he was her father and Snowpelt was already Lightningpaw's mentor before. Lightningpaw stood up and pressed against Ivypaw. She glanced affectionately at her friend and wrapped her tail around Lightningpaw. After a while, Snowpelt padded toward them.