Outcasts

Chapter eleven

It rained for the whole day after the confrontation with Gale. Fox paced around in the little cave they had found that morning in the side of the mountain. He found it frustrating that they were now a day behind Gale. They were going to have to travel for the full day and throughout the night. He figured that if they made it to the island before Gale, she wouldn’t be able to claim it as her own. He had talked to the others and they had agreed.

                “You may as well take the day off.” Amber suggested.

                “I took a day off yesterday.” Fox grumbled.

                “I hardly call that a day off.” She scoffed. “What are you going to do anyway, pace around? Dig a hole through the mountains to the island?” She asked rhetorically. He spat at her and sat down. The others didn’t look like they were in good spirits, which was understandable. He decided that he would speak to Jazz and Soot about the night before, so he got up and headed towards them. They were curled up next to each other with their eyes closed. Soot’s yellow eyes shot open when Fox arrived and he shifted uncomfortably.

                “Should we be doing anything?” He asked guiltily.

                “Have you looked outside?” Fox asked. Soot looked out at the pouring rain and then back at Fox. “If you can find something to do in these caves you have my permission.” Soot nodded and shuffled next to his sister again. “Is she asleep?” Fox asked.

                “Yeah, she hasn’t woken up since we got here.” Soot said.

                “How are you coping?” Fox asked.

                “I’m alright. The three most important people in my life just betrayed me, but I’m alright.” He growled.

                “Well Daisy was just trying to protect you.”

                “She was trying to get us killed.” He snapped. Jazz stirred at his sudden outburst and Soot licked her ear, encouraging her to go back to sleep. She rested her head on her paws and fell back into her deep trance. “She went out without telling us and put us and the others in danger. She was being selfish and careless and I am sick of people defending her.” He spat. Fox didn’t say anything. Instead he sat and listened as the frustrated cat continued. “How could she do that to us?” He asked. Fox didn't realise that he was actually asking him the question until Soot repeated.

                “She just wanted the best for you.” Fox said cautiously. He didn’t want to turn Soot’s mother into an enemy, but he was afraid that Soot had already decided to.

                “What about Petal and Moo?” He asked.

                “Moo didn’t feel safe without your mother and Petal was just trying to protect him.” Fox answered.

                “Moo is the same age as us. He should be able to make his own decisions without ‘mum’ hovering over him, as for Petal…” He trailed off and looked somewhere behind Fox. There wasn’t much he could say to comfort him, so he decided to change the subject.

                “Where’s Bianco?” Fox asked. Soot came back into focus and looked at him.

                “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since we got to the caves.” He answered. A terrible thought crossed Fox’s mind. What if he had gone out to change Daisy’s mind and bring her back? He had to see where he had gone; it was too dangerous for him to take on Gale alone.