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| - ❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅❄❅ — Jaymes Young, Northern Lights IT'S A PITY that Lucifer's the only cat I know in the den, because he's completely boring. He sits in a corner, brooding, his eyes sullen, nursing his wounds. Pathetic. I decide to take matters into my own paws. I scan the Snow Guard members, searching for one that looks approachable. Finally, I find one. She's a young, delicate little thing, an extraordinarily pretty she-cat with a pale ginger coat. Her eyes are large and the strangest shade of blue--more a pale turquoise than anything else, like frothy seafoam. "Hi," I say, padding up to her. "I'm Everly." She looks at me suspiciously for a moment, and then hesitantly says, "I'm Sasha." "It's nice to meet you, Sasha," I say politely. She continues to stare. It's only then that I remember that I'm covered with blood, dirt, and melted snow. I give her a sheepish smile. "I guess you think I'm nuts, just like everyone else?" "N-no," Sasha says. "I think you're... Well, you survived a night with wolves and Lucifer." She says Lucifer's name with a thousand times more fear than the word "wolves". "Oh." I nod at her, unsure of what to say. "I--yeah. We sort of had to work together, or risk being killed." She gives me a tight smile, but plainly by the look in her eyes, she is torn between awe and being convinced that I'm insane. I don't think this admiration is warranted. It's not like I had a choice: it was either face the wolves with Lucifer, or die. You almost chose death, I remind myself, and my mouth goes dry. That was so unlike me. I have many faults, but giving up has never been something I've wrestled with greatly--rather the opposite, as I'm often told I'm too stubborn and need to learn to let things go. I can't explain what it was like, hovering on the edge of that piece of rock, my lifeline. I could suddenly hear their voices, Mom's and Dad's and Juniper and Starlight's. It hit me all at once that they were dead, that I would never see them again, and the weight of the realization was almost enough to make me let go. I would've, if it hadn't been for Lucifer. It's hard to stop myself from disliking him--he seems to be made specifically to garner hatred, and he seems to revel in it--but I have to admit, I'm grateful. I wasn't ready to die. I snap out of my thoughts as I realize Sasha is still hovering near me, an expectant look on her face. Trying to make conversation, I say, "So how'd you get to join the Snow Guard?" "My father was in it. My mother's a warrior of SnowClan, and she raised me, but as soon as I was old enough, I joined my father up here. He died a few moons ago, but I... I stay up here. I feel closer to him at the top of the mountain. He always liked it better up here, closer to the stars," she murmurs. "The training's rough, but it helps me. I need to learn to be stronger." Nodding, I say, "I understand. My siblings, Starlight and Juniper, are-" I pause and choke on air. "They... they were always so talented. Caught onto everything really quickly. Hunting, fighting, you name it, they excelled at it." I take a deep breath. "A wolf pack killed them yesterday morning. Them and my parents." Sasha looks horrorstruck. "I'm so sorry," she says, and I know I've finally found someone who can see how cut open I am, how gruesomely mangled my heart is. "I'm so, so sorry. I can't imagine--I was devastated when my dad died, but he died of old age... Watching your family murdered..." She trails off, speechless. "Yeah. It hasn't really sunk in yet," I say truthfully. I don't know if it ever will--I feel like if it does, I'll sink right through the floor with the pain. As I glance around the den, I catch Lucifer's gaze. He's watching me with a slight frown on his face. I raise my eyebrows questioningly, but he gives no sign he understands. He only blinks impassively and drops his eyes. Shrugging it off, I return to my conversation with Sasha. We talk for a long time; she's surprisingly easy to converse with. I'm disappointed when her sentences start fading, and she slowly dozes off. Left alone again, I lay down in an isolated corner of the den and put my head on my paws. My eyes rove over my surroundings, taking in the dynamics of the Snow Guard. Most are clustered around a black tom who Sasha told me is named Jett; he's telling stories and making them laugh, despite the clear tension in the lines of their muscles and the wrinkles around their sleep-deprived eyes. A black-and-white tom sits against the wall, part of the group but not really part of it, his eyes vacant and dull. A stone-gray she-cat sits near the entrance of the den, supervising everyone with a watchful eye. Beside her sits a chubby brown tom with a chewed-up ear and a scarred but friendly face. A pile of herbs lay at his paws, and he's busily sorting them into piles with his small paws. Then, of course, there's Lucifer. He stands apart in more ways than one, and not just literally. With his blindingly white coat--somehow clean again, free of the grit of last night's adventure, save a few pinkish-red cuts that are too fresh to have healed--and enormous frame, it's impossible not to notice him. Other cats seem to fade compared to him; he looks like he's been chiseled out of ice, every line harsh and sharp. Once again I get that odd feeling, like he's not even feline. And his eyes. I've gotten slightly more used to the chill of his presence, but I still feel my heart jump a little when I meet that expressionless, wooden gaze. What's wrong with him? I wonder. Moonstar, the RiverClan leader, said something about him being "Greer's prized weapon". I'm not sure what that means, but Greer seems awful. She scares me more than Lucifer ever could. But if he's her weapon... Moonstar using the word "weapon" to refer to Lucifer makes me certain I'm not the only one who senses that he's off. All the other cats avoid him like the plague, and I can tell Sasha hates him. It's like he isn't a living thing, like he's some kind of phantom born of the mountain, soulless. He saved your life, I remind myself. Then I argue back. He also tried to kill me. And besides, I already saved his life twice. Almost before I know what I'm doing, I get up and pad over to him. A few Snow Guard cats take notice me and stare like I'm insane. Their bewilderment makes me feel defiant, and I purposefully sit as close to Lucifer as I dare. "Hi," I say cheerfully. I hear one cat actually choke in surprise. No one looks more confused than Lucifer himself. He doesn't utter a word, looking up at me as if waiting for me to sprout antlers or something. When he figures out that I don't intend on leaving, he says quietly, "You told Sasha everything about yourself." "What?" His glacial blue eyes pierce mine. "How your parents and siblings died, how you got here... It was so dim-witted of you. You don't open up to cats like that up on Thorn Mountain. It's dangerous." "I didn't tell her everything," I say. He arches an eyebrow challengingly. "No?" "No," I say in a clipped voice. "If you think that's all there is to me--my family's deaths--then that just proves that you'll never, no matter how much I tell you, be able to understand me at all." Dryly, he says, "I get that a lot. Told that I don't understand. I guess I'm just lacking something." His smile is so sarcastic it stings. "I think you are," I say seriously. Glancing around, Lucifer says, "I think we're the only ones left awake. Even Ruta's asleep." He gestures towards the stone-gray she-cat who Greer put in charge. "Great. Fantastic." I leap to my feet. Lucifer smirks. "What, you scared?" "Huh?" "Of being alone with-" "You?" I laugh. "Been there, done that, remember? I'm not scared. I want to explore this place, and now that your pals are all asleep-" "They're not my pals-" "-I'm perfectly free to do that." He gets up and says in an ominous tone, "If Greer catches you-" "She won't catch me. She's in the main cavern with all the Clan cats." Sighing exasperatedly, Lucifer says, "It's your vigil." "You said that before. I'm not dead yet." "I remain optimistic," he responds. I scoff and turn my back on him, marching out of the den where the rest of the Snow Guard patrol is gathered. Once I'm out in the tunnels, I realize I have no idea where I'm going, but I don't let that stop me. I wander down at my leisure, peeking my head into random caverns and branches of the tunnels. I find a tiny den full of herbs, and another large, high-roofed one that seems to be a training room; the floor is tamped down with scuff-marks, and claw indentations line the walls. My exploring takes me into farther, more lonely reaches of the tunnels. These don't look like they've been used by many cats in a long time; in fact, all I can smell is Greer. That's a clear warning: this is private quarters, for her only. But my curiosity eggs me on. There's a cave at the end of the tunnel, and I want to know what she's hiding... Probably just her sleeping quarters. You should turn back, I tell myself. But I don't. I duck into the cave and stop short. It's almost entirely empty, save what appears to be a hollowed out tree stump in the middle. I have no idea how Greer got a tree stump in here, but there's something silvery rippling inside the dip of the wood. It's a vapory substance, lit up by flashes of blue, purple, and pink. It reminds me of the northern lights, the legendary colors of the star cats that my parents and I used to watch on dark winter nights. I recall something my mother told me a long time ago. "The northern lights over Thorn Mountain... there's power there. A cold sort of power, one that belongs entirely to the Polar Zone, that wild, tempestuous region." Something creaks behind me, and I nearly jump out of my pelt. I whirl around, certain I'll find Greer standing behind me. It's not Greer. It's Lucifer. Finding my voice, I squeak, "You followed me?" "What are you doing here?" he hisses. "This is Greer's private quarters. If she finds you here, you're dead for sure." "Come here." I beckon him over and point down into the tree stump. "What do you make of that?" Lucifer's eyes widen. He steps forward and gazes down at the swirling substance inside. Something strange happens then. The colors mixing and flashing inside the silvery vapor start reflecting off the pale blue of his irises. His eyes light up, glistening and flickering with hues of violet and emerald. Though I know it's just a reflection, I can't help feeling like the silvery substance has almost entered Lucifer. "What is this stuff?" he asks. His voice sounds almost entranced. Before I can respond, a brilliant silver light bursts from the contents of the tree stump. Both Lucifer and I are blinded. I let out a yell. A cold wind washes over me, smelling of pine sap and snow. The wind whirls faster and faster around Lucifer and I, till suddenly I feel my feet lift off the ground. At the same time, I feel my body become nothingness; it's like I disappear for a second. When I touch the ground again, something's different. We're no longer in Greer's den. We've been transported somewhere else.
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