♕

A owl hooted overhead as Honeypaw silently walked out of the Elders den, stars glistening above. She jumped in fear as Goldenpaw bumped into her, her sister stepped away quickly.

"Oh uh, hey Honeypaw I—"

"Goldenpaw!" she interrupted. "What are you doing here?!" She lowered her voice as it rang throughout the camp.

Goldenpaw looked down to her paws. "I just wanted to say sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have acted like that," she apologized.

Honeypaw shrugged. "It's whatever I guess," she began padding away until Goldenpaw stopped her, clearing her throat.

"I want to help you," Goldenpaw announced excitedly.

Honeypaw started at her horrified, how much did her sister hear? "What do you mean...?"

Goldenpaw looked around. "I heard everything you said, everything about Hedge—"

"Quiet down!" she hissed in anger. So Goldenpaw was snooping and listening to everything she said and heard.

Goldenpaw shrunk, twitching her ears as she finished. "—HedgeClan and you trying to find them," she whispered. "I want to help."

Honeypaw tried to remain calm, perhaps she could tell Goldenpaw it was all a lie and she would believe her, it was worth a try. "Sorry Goldenpaw I think you misunderstood. I was talking to them about, uh, the Dark Forest, we just used HedgeClan as a code word," she responded, trying to sound reasonable.

"Oh, uh, are you sure? It didn't really seem like the Dark Forest stories we were told..." Goldenpaw muttered.

Honeypaw nodded vigorously. "Yeah, it was for sure about the Dark Forest, it's really weird huh. . ."

Relief swept over her as Goldenpaw fixed herself, scrambling her paws. "Yeah, I must've misunderstood I guess," Goldenpaw reasoned.

Honeypaw looked up to Silverpelt, thanking her ancestors. She was lucky this time, but she would have to be more careful, Goldenpaw is apparently always listening.

"Come on, we should get to sleep it's late," she meowed.

Goldenpaw nodded in agreement as they followed each other to the apprentices den. Once they reached the den Goldenpaw stopped herself and Honeypaw stopped too.

Goldenpaw sighed. "I have something to tell you," she admitted.

Honeypaw looked at her sister suspiciously, what was she going to say now?

"I had a dream," Goldenpaw began slowly. "It was strange. I saw cats screaming and yowling in fear, it was just like what you were talking about, about HedgeClan. Then I saw the red berries, deathberries, the berries that kill a cat instantly. I—I'm scared Honeypaw."

Honeypaw looked at her sister, horrified. That's what the berries were, deathberries! "It's okay Goldenpaw, it was just a dream," she said, trying to comfort her sister.

Goldenpaw sniffled. "Yeah, I guess."

Honeypaw nudged Goldenpaw as she followed her into the den as they both laid down quietly, trying not to disturb Whitepaw or Rainpaw.

She closed her eyes. Was it a bad idea to lie to Goldenpaw? Should she have told her about HedgeClan and the prophecy? She needed more time to think about it...

♕

She opened her eyes, her head pounding as yowls of agony split the air. She was in a place of darkness, blood stained the rocky ground below her as black rain poured down onto her, blinding her vision. She was standing, alone.

Water began to form around her, but it wasn't blue, it was yellow, a bright, golden yellow, and she was going to drown if she didn't do anything.

She tried moving but she couldn't. The golden colored water was rising and soon she was covered. Panic attacked her as she couldn't breath, she couldn't do anything.

Then she woke, panting in fear.

Was that like the dream Goldenpaw had, she wondered.

Sunlight was already piercing through the apprentices den, cowering toward her eyes as she walked out, sun warming her cold fur.

I had a dream about golden water while Goldenpaw had a dream about death, what does that mean, she realized.

If Goldenpaw told her dream to her then perhaps she  might as well tell her dream back, it was only fair. Maybe they could possibly figure out what the dreams meant, together! Moonrise would work, besides, that seemed to be the only time they saw each other the most.

She noticed cats walking to the center of the camp, though, her mentor was still no where to be seen. She padded over to where everyone was huddling, quietly talking to each other in a hushed tone.

She spotted Whitepaw, his yellow eyes flashing with pride as he puffed out his chest. She padded over to the tom, his eyes suddenly widening in fear. "I'm so sorry about the other day," he apologized. "It was Goldenpaw, she told me so many things about you and—"

"It's okay," she promised. "Honestly I don't mind what she says about me because none of it is true."

Whitepaw took a deep breath. "Well, what she said seemed true to me," he commented.

"What did she say...?" she asked.

Whitepaw shrugged. "She said you were really nice and apparently you're in some prophecy or something I don't know."

Honeypaw looked around. "Wha—what do you mean "prophecy?""

Whitepaw prodded the ground embarrassingly. "She heard it from someone, let me think—"

"Think faster!" she spat.

Whitepaw rolled his eyes playfully. "Alright, alright, I think it was Rainpaw. You'll have to ask him about it I really don't know."

"Whitepaw!" Rushcreek, Whitepaw's mentor, called. "We're going on the dawn patrol!"

Whitepaw dipped his head before bounding over to his mentor.

Rainpaw, she thought, I need to find him.

She dashed toward the apprentices den, anger surging through her body. How could he possibly know? She slipped into the den and noticed Lightpaw's body. She walked over to him, nudging his with her muzzle.

Rainpaw looked up. "What do you want," he grumbled.

Honeypaw paced a little ways away to give him space. "I've come to ask a simple question."

"Well, spit it out," Rainpaw beamed.

Honeypaw nodded. "Whitepaw told me that Goldenpaw knew that I was in some sort of prophecy, which is not true, and I came to ask you about it because you were the one that told her," she finished upsettingly.

Rainpaw got to his paws. "So you want to know how I know, isn't it simple, Stripestar was clearly worried at the meeting and I already know he went to talk to the other leaders. Yeah, I listened but that's not the point."

"So you're telling me you know everything." Honeypaw questioned.

Luckily Goldenpaw was still sleeping softly near the entrance, I hope she's not listening.

Rainpaw nodded. "Yes I suppose, I was even listening while you were talking about HedgeClan, I hear everything, I want to know everything."

"No I was just talking about the Dark Forest, that's the code word," she repeated.

Rainpaw rolled his eyes out of annoyance. "Honeypaw, if you're really trying to find HedgeClan then I'm going with you, along with Goldenpaw."

Honeypaw's ears pricked. "No, no one is going anywhere, especially Goldenpaw, besides, I want to start training before I do anything, I'm just an apprentice."

Rainpaw snorted. "Fine, but don't think I won't forget," he finished.

Honeypaw sighed and padded away to go find Leopardfur. She didn't expect becoming an apprentice created this many mysteries to be solved. For now, she would have to wait until she became a warrior and was ready to take on such a quest.

She spotted Leopardfur waiting patiently beside the camp entrance. Fear pricked her pelt, she was late! "Sorry Leopardfur, I was talking to Rainpaw," she panted.

Leopardfur shrugged. "It's okay, I'm waiting for Lionstone anyway."

Like it was out of command the older warrior made his way over to them, his big shoulders peeked above his head, yet, his expression could show that he was both friendly and loyal.

Honeypaw dipped her head in respect to Lionstone.

He greeted her back with a flick of his tail. "Greetings Honeypaw, and you too Leopardfur. Shall we get started?"

"Yes we shall," Leopardfur announced as the three cats set out to start training her.