Zodiac (warrior cats)

Chapter 20

Bleak shadows crept into the apprentices den, casting long images onto Hollowpaw's dark brown pelt. She fidgeted in her mossy nest, not wanting to open her eyes to the world.
Hollowpaw just wanted to curl up and sleep for moons, she didn't want to face the reality only fox-lengths away.
But I killed a cat, she thought with a pang of guilt and remorse. Now Lizardfang was a jerk, but he most certainly didn't deserve to die.
I didn't know what was going to happen, she contradicted herself, How was I supposed to know my power was to kill cats?
It was hard enough explaining to herself what happened to Lizardfang, but explaining it to Scorchstar and Nettleclaw was even harder. She may have bent the truth a little, but if they knew she killed a fellow ShadowClan cat, then Scorchstar might banish her.
"Time for the Dawn Patrol" a voice came from her new mentor Redwillow, who poked his mottled brown head in.
Sighing Hollowpaw lifted herself up, and blinked as the rays of the Green-Leaf sun filtered through the surrounding Rowan Trees.
        "Hey sleepy" Smokepaw teased as she ran her tail along Hollowpaw's pelt, "I bet you had a fun night."        
Hollowpaw perked her ears, "What do you mean?". Smokepaw always was a bit of a weird cat, but Hollowpaw just thought that was from the time her mother dropped her on her head as a kit.
"You were mumbling in your sleep all night" the gray apprentice chuckled, "Lizardfang no, please don't leave me Lizardfang. You didn't like him did you?".
Her mouth gaped open in shock, Hollowpaw didn't know what to say. She obviously had been dreaming about her former mentors death, but it had already been half a moon!
Why was she lingering on it?
"I mean he was kind of handsome" Smokepaw mentioned as she curled her tail, "But that attitude was just to distasteful, I like a tom who respects me."
"Like Ryefoot?" Hollowpaw retorted, as the she-cat gasped. All of ShadowClan had known for awhile that something was going on between the two cats, but barely anyone actually talked about it.
"I don't like that flea-brain" Smokepaw scoffed as they padded outside the camp, "Ugh and what a stupid warrior name, Ryefoot. Couldn't Scorchstar have picked something more fitting? Like Ryepetal or Ryeflower, now that fits his personality!".
A lot of the she-cats in the clan had a reason to think Ryefoot was secretly a she-cat. For one he never looked at any of the she-cats in the clan, and for another reason he never had any interest in taking a mate.
"Maybe he just wants to be a warrior" Hollowpaw shrugged, "Just because a tom doesn't want to take a mate doesn't mean he's practically a she-cat."
Smokepaw chuffed, "Well think whatever you want, but I'm convinced Ryefoot likes toms, I mean look at the way he's always following Umberpaw around, If you ask me there's something going on there."
Hollowpaw flicked her tail so the she-cat would just shut up about it, just because Ryefoot wasn't interested in she-cats constantly didn't mean he liked toms.
Padding on through the morning forest, Hollowpaw noticed a sound trailing behind her. It sounded like tiny paw steps pattering the ground, was it prey? Perking her ears, Hollowpaw stopped.
"Shh" she could hear a tiny whisper come from the bushes, "She'll find us!".
Sighing Hollowpaw walked over to the bramble bush, and poked through the spiny burrs.
"Acornkit and Beetlekit" she scolded the two kits, "Why aren't you two back at camp? Don't you know its dangerous for kits to be out in the forest so young?".
These were Goldenheart's litter, she had only kitted a moon ago, but already the kits were adventurous.
"Go back to camp this instant!" she growled, as Beetlekit stepped a paw forward. Instantly their little eyes turned black, and Hollowpaw was thrust into a memory of Lizardfang.
"If you want us to" Acornkit echoed in a mindless voice, "Then we'll go back to camp."
At a loss for words, Hollowpaw could only watch as the little kits padded back to camp obediently, not even whispering a word to each other.
My power! Hollowpaw had used it again! But it hadn't killed anyone this time, the kits just simply did as she said. So perhaps Hollowpaw could use her power for good after all!
She didn't have to be evil, did she? Umberpaw had told her last moon what Scorchstar and Scarletshine had said, but he could very well be the evil one!
Darkness is always associated with evil, Hollowpaw snorted, So maybe he's the evil one, not me! But a deep sense of worry soon filled Hollowpaw's mind and thoughts, she was the one that killed a cat, not Umberpaw.
And all her life Hollowpaw was raised to think that murderers were evil, and by ShadowClan standards, she was an evil cat.