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| - I woke to utter commotion. Granted, I shouldn't have been asleep anyway; as I stepped out into the chilly evening, I saw that the sun hadn't even fully set yet. But I was exhausted, from the fire, from my encounter last night with Duskwatcher... from everything. "What's going on?" I asked Specklenose, who was standing a little while away with Chamomile and a very disheveled-looking Minkears. "Something's happened," he muttered. I shot him an acid look. "Well, that's helpful, thanks." "Look." We turned towards the entrance, where Dewfrost and another GreenClan she-cat were dragging in a limp form. "Is she the one who screamed?" I asked, nodding at the GreenClan she-cat. "I heard a scream." "That's Seabreeze--she must have been the one to scream, because the other she-cat couldn't have... She's dead." Minkears stiffly jerked her chin towards the limp form, which turned out to have been a small brown tabby. "Her name's Mimsie, she's GreenClan... we went on a hunting patrol this morning." Minkears turned away, shutting her eyes as if she could somehow make everything disappear by doing that. Slowly, Dewfrost let go of the body and turned to face the circle of onlookers that had formed. "We should tell Viperstar!" screamed a gray GreenClan apprentice. "Viperstar is..." Dewfrost hesitated. "Away. On an errand." "What about Quailstar?" demanded Thistleblossom. Several SpringClan cats turned to glare at her, angry that she would bring the attention to our mad leader, the obvious lack of her presence and guidance at a time like this. "Stop clamoring for other cats," said Eveningfall sharply. "We must deal with this ourselves." The crowd fell silent. Dewfrost gave Eveningfall an grateful look before continuing, "It is not the work of the killer of Thornfeather and Hawkeye." "What?" said Nighthawk in disbelief, as a confused murmur swept over the Clan. "Are you saying we have more than one murderer to catch?" "The style of the killing, the scent... it doesn't match with the previous two murders. Mimsie was poisoned." I exchanged glances with Minkears and Specklenose. Cammy gave a faint whimper and leaned her head on Specklenose's shoulder. A wave of anger crashed through me. I was tired of this. There was no reason we should be going through this; it was absurd. I couldn't believe how evil cats were... Then again, if I got my claws on the culprit, could I honestly say there wouldn't be a fourth killing? I shook my head, as if I could magically clear my mind of the red, bloody haze I was peering through in blind rage. Lionpatch was bending over Mimsie's body, examining her closely. Blossomleaf stood nearby, looking pale but determined to put on a brave face. "It would seem that she's been poisoned by deathberries, but it's confusing that she got so far from camp before dying--there were no deathberries at the place you found her, right?" he asked Seabreeze. The blue-gray she-cat shook her head, looking miserable. "None. I found her in a thicket... I was hunting... Oh, it was horrible." "Perhaps some cat crushed the seeds carefully, and put them in a piece of prey to dilute the effects, so there was not an immediate death... But why?" Lionpatch turned to the GreenClan cats, as if waiting for them to offer up some reason for their Clanmate being killed. "I can't think of a thing," said Seabreeze shakily. "Mimsie was always so sweet and kind, so loyal. Even Viperstar favored her, because she was Odessa's best friend." I glanced around and spotted Viperstar's mate standing beside a gray tom, her eyes filled with tears. She turned and trotted away, evidently too overcome with emotion to keep staring at her dead best friend. After a moment's hesitation, the unknown gray tom hurried after her. Someone nudged my shoulder. It was Minkears. "Come on," she said, tipping her head towards the exit. We met up just outside: Fire, Cammy, Specklenose, Minkears and I. I looked around at them and knew a gut-wrenching pang of sadness for everyone that wasn't there, missing from our little group. Ryan, Bluebird, even Lily, and... Daisyheart... If she were here, I felt like maybe I could stand, staggering, under the weight of everything crumbling around me. Now, I just felt crushed, pressed against the floor with nowhere to go but down. "Is everyone okay?" asked Specklenose softly. He was looking directly at me; I knew there was no use pretending; we'd known each other for too long for him to be fooled. I settled for giving him a weak smile. Everyone in the group seemed to be equally out of it. Minkears was blurry-eyed and downcast, her glossy dark-brown pelt ruffled and messier than I'd ever seen it before. I wondered if this had anything to do with her screaming match with Bluebird, and felt a pang of guilt; she'd insulted him while defending me. Cammy's thick fur was matted and messy, and I couldn't blame her; her siblings had vanished and she was being forced to live under the rule of the cat who had murdered her parents. Watching the way she leaned on Specklenose, almost constantly now, as if her legs were made to bend in whatever direction he was, I was pretty sure he was the only thing holding her together. Even Fire, stoic and impenetrable as she was, looked worse for the wear. Her face was gaunt from too many hunting patrols and not enough prey to eat herself. The Order is ruining our Clan, I thought angrily. We shouldn't have to deal with the burden of feeding GreenClan as well as ourselves. Sure, there were some GreenClan warriors who were good hunters, and a few who even wanted to help instead of lazing about, but the fact remained that since the Order resided in their homeland, SpringClan cats had to deal with the brunt of the work required to feed everyone. And the toll it was taking on my Clanmates was evident in every hollow face, in the ribs that jutted out under their pelts. "We have to do something," I said uselessly. I paused, waiting for suggestions that I knew wouldn't come. Then Fire said something unexpected. "I think the answer lies with Viperstar himself." "More like with Viperstar's death," muttered Specklenose mutinously. His eyes blazed with a familiar fervor--the same look Ryan got whenever you mentioned GreenClan's leader. I understood why; he cared for Cammy, and therefore would think it a pleasure to tear the cat who had hurt her so badly to shreds. Something stirred uneasily within me. I hated Viperstar of course, but I didn't possess that same fervent rage. Did that mean that I didn't care about Ryan as I should, because what had hurt him didn't make me blaze with the need for revenge? A familiar fist closed around my heart, so that for a second I couldn't breathe with the pain. Don't think about Ryan, don't think about Ryan, don't think about Ryan. The truth was, I suspected something else about my lack of urges to tear Viperstar's head off. It was something I knew about myself already, though I tried to pretend again and again that it wasn't really true. I was too impassive. Too focused. Too "for the greater good". I was practical, I hated Viperstar for what he was doing to my Clan; in the grand scope of things, I couldn't focus on a wrongdoing he'd committed moons ago, far away--even though that wrongdoing had ruined my friends' lives. In a world where the reckless, the impulsive, the starry-eyed, die-for-you type of lovers were praised, I felt alone and ashamed of what I was. Like I was born wrong, lacking a piece of my heart that was irreplaceable. Yet, on the other hand, there were still times when I wished I was even more heartless, just to spare myself from all pain... It was all very confusing. "Breezeflight? You okay?" began Specklenose, but Minkears silenced both of us. "Shhh. Guys, listen." All of us stopped talking at once. And I heard it: pawsteps, rapidly heading away from the camp. "Probably a cat out for a hunt," said Fire with a frown. "No, I don't think so. There are two cats-" "So it's a patrol," said Fire impatiently. "And what bothers me most is which two cats they are," finished Minkears. "It's Odessa and Rabbitfur." "I know who Odessa is, but who's Rabbitfur?" I questioned. "He's a gray tabby GreenClan tom-" "Oh!" Realization sparked. "I saw him standing with her when they brought in Mimsie's body." "Yes," said Minkears. "He stands with her a lot." Uncertainly, I regarded her. "What are you trying to say?" "I feel like they're planning something." Specklenose raised her eyebrows. "Do you realize what you're saying, Minkears? What reason would Odessa have to plan something? She's Viperstar's mate; he listens to her for everything." Scornfully, Minkears said, "Do you really think Viperstar is capable of truly loving another? Enough to sacrifice his pride? I doubt he even let Hollystrike truly escape; he probably let Odessa think he'd spared her and then hunted her down right after. And you know something? Odessa is smarter than he gives her credit for. While the rest of the Clan labels her as Viperstar's spoiled mate, she's gotten a closer glimpse at Viperstar's inner self than anyone else has. Why couldn't she use it to her advantage?" Frowning, I said, "Do you have any proof for your suspicions?" "Bluebird and I," her voice cracked almost imperceptibly on his name, but she steeled herself and continued like nothing had happened, "did a little sleuthing on our own, you know. We figured we might as well, since no one else had the time. You've been busy with training Brightpaw. Fire's been out hunting, Specklenose and Cammy have been, uh..." Both Specklenose and Cammy blushed and hastily stepped apart for the first time since we'd began talking. "... spending time together," finished Minkears wryly. "All the time," she added under her breath. "Get to the point," interrupted Specklenose, his fur rising in embarrassment. "So, we've been keeping an eye on... Well, at first it was just Viperstar. But that quickly grew to Viperstar and Odessa. She acts strange. She's always sneaking off with Rabbitfur, always talking in conspiratorial tones... Bluebird and I had our suspicions, but it's only a few minutes ago that I confirmed them." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Did you follow her and Rabbitfur when they left after seeing Mimsie's body?" Nodding, Minkears said, "And you'll never guess where they went. They went right out of camp, to a little spot where they'd buried something." She paused dramatically before revealing, "Deathberries." Cammy gasped, but Fire looked skeptical. "Are you saying that Odessa poisoned her own best friend?" "No, of course not. I'm saying that she tried to poison someone else and it went wrong." "How do you know that, Minkears? What motive-" "What motive? Didn't I just tell you? She's always with Rabbitfur, Breezeflight. Always." "You think Viperstar wouldn't realize if his own mate was cheating on him?" demanded Fire. Minkears hissed in exasperation. "Just trust me, just humor me for a second. That's all I ask. We've got to follow them; they're already getting away. If we don't hurry, we could lose the trail." Knowing there was no time to waste--and that we couldn't risk ignoring Minkears's suggestion, on the chance that she could be right--I said, "We can't all go. That'd be too noisy." "I'll stay at the camp," volunteered Cammy. "I'll make sure Viperstar doesn't catch wind of anything suspicious, make sure he doesn't go after Odessa if he realizes she's missing, because if she's innocent... Well, we can't have him find out about her and Rabbitfur then, can we? I mean, who wouldn't want a mate other than Viperstar? And he's bound to realize she's gone, of course; she's left Owlkit and Vixenkit alone. When he founds out, he's going to be angry." This was a perfectly sensible conclusion, but a perfectly insane offer; there was nothing Cammy would be able to do if Viperstar did choose to track down his mate. But the rest of us nodded like we didn't know this. "Okay, Cammy. So the four of us-" "Three," Specklenose corrected. His voice was calm, but there was a flicker of anger in his eyes, like he realized we were planning to let Cammy try to hold Viperstar on her own. "I'm staying at the camp. Breezeflight, you, Fire, and Minkears can track down Odessa and her companion." I wanted to apologize to Specklenose, wanted to assure him that I cared about Cammy, that I was not as cold as everyone thought and I desperately feared... but Minkears was already pulling me away, saying, "Come on. We can't lose them." I cast one last glance over my shoulder at Specklenose, who had put his tail over Cammy's shoulders and was guiding her back to camp, and then raced after Fire and Minkears. We were almost completely silent as we ran through the woods, Fire directing us with flicks of her tail as she followed Odessa and Rabbitfur's trail. We hadn't gone that far when we caught up with them, hearing their voices ahead of us. Motioning my friends to be quiet, I dropped to a crouch and slunk forward, hidden by a large thatch of bush. Fire and Minkears crawled in beside me, and we peered through the bush's boughs, out at a fallen log upon which Odessa and Rabbitfur sat, facing each other and talking. "... is this different? Just because it's someone we know? You know, Mimsie could've been hurt in that fire, too!" Rabbitfur was saying angrily. "I know she's your friend, but think, Odessa, we could've killed two Clans with that fire!" None of us said anything, but I felt Minkears and Fire stiffen beside me. Odessa and Rabbitfur set the fire? That couldn't be--it was Thornfeather and Hawkeye... Unless Odessa and Rabbitfur planned it? A cold feeling spread through me. If that was true, these cats were much more dangerous than the star-crossed lovers they'd first appeared to be. They weren't thinking straight--I couldn't for the life of me comprehend how they'd justified setting fire to the camp, just because it might mean the end of any restriction on them being together. There was something else nagging at the back of my mind. Odessa certainly didn't seem like the type of cat who was above doing something wrong as long as she got what she wanted, which was why this set-up seemed perfect; pretend to be Viperstar's mate while running around with Rabbitfur. But the thing was, what would make her want to change that? What would make her want to do something as reckless as getting rid of Viperstar, her protector and means of status within the Clan? What had become different? I felt like the answer was obvious, but it was eluding me. If I could just have a few non-tense moments to think, moments when I wasn't sandwiched awkwardly between Fire and Minkears, with a prickly branch practically up my nostril, I would be able to figure it out... "You think, Rabbitfur! You know perfectly well why we set that fire!" Odessa wasn't bothering to keep her voice down now. "You know why we poisoned that prey! It was supposed to go to Viperstar!" Beside me, Fire gave me an urgent prod. Her eyes were wide, pleading with me to understand what she didn't dare speak aloud, lest we be heard. She'd already figured it out, figured out what was going on with Odessa and Rabbitfur, and I felt like I was wandering blindly through a haze of smoke, clutching at grass strands trying to catch up. Rabbitfur began to say something. "So you want them to grow up thinking that we're-" But Odessa cut him off. I couldn't see her through the bush, but I heard her pawsteps getting closer. Suddenly, a clear thought cut through my mind. Vixenkit and Owlkit. They were what had changed. They weren't Viperstar and Odessa's kits; they were Rabbitfur's and Odessa's. That was what had made Odessa realize she had to choose. Caught up in this revelation, I failed to realize what was happening, failed to register Odessa's approaching tread. She slammed her forepaws into our hiding place, sending the sharp end of a thorny limb into my side. I let out an involuntary yelp of pain. Minkears grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and dragged me back as Fire rose up to meet Odessa's oncoming attack. "How dare you eavesdrop on us!" screamed Odessa, quite mad with rage at discovering us. Fire disappeared under the frenzied lash of her paws. "Go!" Fire screamed at us. "Get out of here!" "We're not leaving!" Minkears yelled back. "This isn't all for one!" Fire, I realized, was fully prepared to die fighting. Her eyes gleamed almost as much as Odessa's, and she was slavering. "This is one for all! Go and warn SpringClan!" "You are SpringClan!" retorted Minkears. "And we don't make sacrifices out of friends!" I thought Minkears was right, in that moment. Practical and cold as I could be, I couldn't draw the line between the many and the few. I had to save my friend, Fire, no matter what that meant. Did that make me as bad as Odessa and Rabbitfur themselves, who would stop at nothing to ensure they got what they wanted for those they loved? In any case, I didn't have much of an actual choice on whether to fight or not; before I could move, I was knocked over by Rabbitfur, who'd come barreling into the fray. Though he'd seemed the calmer of the two during he and Odessa's conversation, he was equally as fearsome as his partner. His jaws closed on my front leg and bit down. I yowled in pain and slashed his ear to ribbons, fighting to regain my footing. Minkears had jumped in to help Fire against Odessa, so I focused all my energy on Rabbitfur. I kicked my hindlegs into his chest, knocking him backwards. He slammed into Minkears, who turned on him savagely and sunk her jaws into his shoulder. Meanwhile, Odessa seemed to have disappeared. Fire was wild. "Where did she go?" she yelled, spitting clumps of dark brown fur out of her mouth. Blood dripped into her face from a gash above her eye, but she didn't even bother blinking it away. None of us was stupid enough to suggest that she might have retreated. We stood, turning in careful circles, Minkears still hanging onto the struggling Rabbitfur with her jaws, heedless of the blows he rained down on her. A sharp crack lanced through the air. We heard a deranged cackle of glee and looked up just in time to see Odessa, clinging to the trunk of an oak tree above our heads. She had just slammed her hindquarters into a heavy bough, one that already had a crack in it. As we watched in horror, the bough began to sway. Crack. Odessa kicked it again. I lunged at Fire, throwing all my weight against her. I sent the two of us sprawling, breathless and dazed, against the floor, out of the falling tree limb's path. Minkears, meanwhile, was still tangled up with Rabbitfur. She let go of his shoulder, but he was limping badly, and he fell against her. She staggered away, running towards us with her eyes wide. "COME ON!" bellowed Fire. Then, watching in disbelief as Minkears skidded to a stop and turned around, making her way back to Rabbitfur, Fire yelled, "ARE YOU INSANE? DON'T HELP HER!" All this happened in mere seconds, but it felt like much longer. The oak limb detached itself from the tree and came down in a freefall like a heavy arm of death. There was a horrible, sickening crunch. Minkears and Rabbitfur disappeared beneath the tree limb. Odessa, Fire, and I all screamed as one. It was, it seemed, the way of the world to have the few die for the many.
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