Looming Darkness

Chapter 5

Whispersong felt the world around her slowly focus again. It was dark, and clouds hung above the forest, blocking out the starlight. She blinked. Her nose stung, and she smelled blood on it. She exhaled slowly, then looked around. She was lying on the cold, damp forest floor, the soggy wet leaves below her and the trees towering above her.

How'd I get down here?

Then she remembered.

Oh, no... No, no, no, no, no...

But she knew she was expecting kits. Why else would her stomach jerk around like it had been if there weren't unborn kits inside it? She shuddered. Oh no, no, no.

Whispersong took a deep breath of the misty air, then carefully pushed herself off the ground, shaking the dirt and damp leaves from her pelt. She stared around her at the gray and black forest. Her stomach jerked again. She sighed deeper.

Then she remembered that she was on the evening patrol, remarking the border where they'd smelled Rainstar. How long had she been here? Where were Eveningstar, Echoheart, and Star?

She sighed, then stared down at her belly, feeling a squirm. Now that she knew that she was having kits, she noticed their movements easier.

What am I going to do?

She could, of course, ask Goldheart or Yellowflower about it, but then the news would spread around DawnClan like wildfire, and she wasn't sure she wanted her Clanmates to know she was expecting kits just yet- especially since they were Bumblefrost's.

I should tell Bumblefrost, she thought, but then she second guessed it. Should she tell him? He wouldn't be able to keep it in, and she didn't want DawnClan to know about it. She sighed again, then looked at her swollen belly, her silver and gray tabby fur patchy in places from the stretching. How hadn't she noticed it before?

How hasn't any other cat noticed yet?

She knew they'd find out sooner or later, but she still didn't want to tell any cat. What would they all think?

"Whispersong!"

Whispersong hissed in fright, leaping into the air. She felt her fur quickly bristling and she arched her back at the incomer.

It was Echoheart.

"Echoheart! You scared the living daylights out of me!" Whispersong panted, twitching her giant, fluffed-up tail.

"Where have you been? You were supposed to remark the borders then meet us back at the place we split up! Great StarClan, Whispersong, you worried us!"

"I'm fine. I was, I was just..." Whispersong meowed, trying to not show her overweight stomach. "Um, how long were you waiting?"

"Not that long, but where in the name of StarClan were you?" she asked angrily.

"Right here, I must have... must have lost track of time."

Echoheart narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you're alright? You look like you've been lying in the dirt."

"I'm fine," Whispersong meowed. "Let's go."

"Okay..." Echoheart murmured skeptically.

Whispersong walked past her sister, letting her tail hang in an effort to try and hide her stomach.

"Wait!"

Whispersong spun around as her sister hissed this, and her heart jumped. "What?" she hissed back worriedly. Had Echoheart noticed her overweight belly?

"How... how did you not smell that earlier?" Echoheart's voice shook.

"Smell what?" Whispersong felt her heart thumping.