Whispers and Echoes

Chapter 16

"Echopaw!" Cliffpaw purred.

"Hello, Cliffpaw." Echopaw meowed in return as she reached the NightClan apprentice. To her disappointment, Cliffpaw was sitting with Pebblepaw and two other older NightClan apprentices: one was a dark brown tabby tom with a white underbelly and pale green eyes. The other was also a dark brown tabby tom, but he had a light brown underbelly, and white flecks on his face. He, like the other tom, had pale green eyes. They were definitely brothers. Echopaw cautiously padded up to them, and to her relief, Cliffpaw smiled when she saw her.

"How was it when you got home? I'm surprised your Clanmates didn't banish you from DawnClan!" Pebblepaw taunted, and the two older apprentice brothers laughed mockingly. Echopaw was reminded again about how much she disliked the white- and black-patched she-cat.

"Oh, stop it, you three," Cliffpaw muttered to her Clanmates, sounding annoyed. Echopaw looked at Cliffpaw and blinked, thanking her for sticking up for her. But Cliffpaw just meowed, "Oh, this is—" about ready to introduce Echopaw to her Clanmates, but was cut off by the tom with the white underbelly.

"We know! Pebblepaw told us. This is Echopaw, the cat we so kindly  saved from the river," he sneered.

Of course Pebblepaw told them!  Echopaw thought bitterly. She didn't like the way the tom annunciated 'kindly'. It had an air of foreboding with it.

"Fine, you three can gossip about nonsense. Come on Echopaw, let's find somewhere else," Cliffpaw meowed.

"You don't have to do this, you know," Echopaw warned Cliffpaw as she padded away, "They'll probably tease you and call you disloyal for sticking up for me. They may think I'm your new best friend, then—"

"Oh, come on, Echopaw," Cliffpaw flicked her tail, signaling that the conversation was done. "By the way, those two toms were Duckpaw and Goosepaw, you remember me telling you about them, right?"

Echopaw nodded, "Yes. But which one is which? They look really similar."

"Oh, yes they do," Cliffpaw nodded. "Well, the one with the white underbelly is Goosepaw, and the one with the light brown underbelly and white flecks is Duckpaw."

"Oh, okay," Echopaw nodded, searching for something else to talk about.

"What did you do today?" Cliffpaw asked, and Echopaw was spared having to think of a conversation-starter.

Echopaw thought back to the events of earlier that day. Catching the shrew felt like a lifetime ago. Pride filled her chest as she meowed, "I caught my first prey today."

"Congratulations!" Cliffpaw meowed. "Today, I scented a fox in our territory and, with a few warriors, we chased it out," she declared proudly.

Echopaw wondered if the fox Cliffpaw had chased out was the same fox her and Bronzepelt had seen not even a half-moon ago while training in the meadow. Echopaw decided to tell her mentor and see what he thought.

Echopaw glanced around the clearing and saw Aspenleaf announcing something proudly to Gingerfur, the DuskClan warrior. Echopaw guessed she was telling her about her having kits. Echopaw purred in amusement and turned to the left to see the group of DayClan apprentices Whisperpaw had gone to sit with earlier, but her sister wasn't with them. Worry filled the pit of her stomach again, and she decided it was time to find Whisperpaw. "Bye, Cliffpaw. It was nice to talk to you again, but I've got to go find my sister," Echopaw meowed as she trotted away.

"Oh, okay. Bye, Echopaw," Cliffpaw meowed, then she turned and padded away.

Echopaw reached the DayClan apprentices and asked them, "Have you seen my sister? She's a silver tabby, and she has brown eyes."