the ghost assassin

~~~

THE MOON WAS STARTING its climb up the sky when Violetkit and Ravenkit wiggled out of the nursery's roots, and in the dark, the white she-kit could make out the shadowy silhouettes of her Clanmates - warriors, apprentices, and elders alike - crowded by the Highledge. 

"Never before have I seen my warriors act like this." This was Lilystar, whose tortoiseshell fur ruffled with disapproval as she spoke. "Especially in times of disparity, such as this one. Not only are SkyClan pushing borders, but StarClan's disappeared. Do you really think two grown cats fighting like kits will bring them back?"

Lilystar's an old cat - that much was seen by the specks of white around her muzzle. She'd always been the respected, wise one, so maybe she'd been expecting Sunbounce and Stormbird to apologize. But she was sorely mistaken.

"I'm sorry, Lilystar, but I did what was right." Sunbounce sat up taller, squaring his chest. "A murderer - especially Violetdust's murderer - should receive repercussions."

There was that name again - Violetdust. Though Violetkit had known this whole thing was about Sunbounce's sister and Swanfrost's best friend, hearing the name brought her attention to another level, and she found herself starting to creep closer.

"Violetkit." Ravenkit's whisper, a sharp hiss, came from behind the white she-kit. "What're you doing? Get back here."

"Be quiet," Violetkit meowed back. "You're being too loud. You're going to get us caught."

"Oh, I'm going to get us caught?" Ravenkit rolled his eyes. "I'm not the one whose pelt doesn't blend in with the night."

Violetkit glanced at her fur, then scowled. "Who cares? You're the one that's whining and complaining. Now either be quiet or go back to the nursery."

Ravenkit grumbled, but to his credit, he followed Violetkit to as close to the Highledge as they could be before ducking into a nearby bush. "Great, thanks to that, we're much closer and have a higher chance of being discovered. Now why do we need to be so close that we can hear Lilystar breathe?" 

Truthfully, Violetkit didn't have an answer to that. Somehow, hearing Violetdust's name made her feel as though she ought to be part of the conversation, or at the very least hear the entire thing, loud and clear. But she couldn't tell Ravenkit that, because it was absurd. So instead, she very wisely told him to shut up.

"Calm down." Somewhere, between sneaking closer and speaking with Ravenkit, Sunbounce and Stormbird were snarling at each other again, and Russetfrost was now in the middle of them, waving his tail tiredly. 

"Don't you care, Dad?" Sunbounce snapped. "Don't you care that-"

"What I care about now is having a Clan who'd support each other through this upcoming leafbare." Russetfrost's voice was firm. 

Sunbounce's eyes flashed. "You hardly spoke to anyone for moons after Honeykit died," he meowed coldly at last, "and she was taken by natural cause. But when Violetdust was murdered, you hardly flinched."

Russetfrost growled. It was the first time Violetkit had seen him lose his temper. "Of course I was upset when Violetdust died. If we found her killer, I'd be happy to send them to the spirit lands myself!"

Sunbounce gestured to Stormbird a little wildly. "He's standing right in front of us-"

"Lilystar cleared him-"

"But don't you think-"

"No," Russetfrost barked, his voice thundering through the camp almost scarily. "No, what I think is that Violetdust protested StarClan her whole life, then died the same night they disappeared. Maybe they're trying to communicate something. Maybe it was their will."

Sunbounce jerked his muzzle with disagreement. "That's a load of mousedung-"

"Enough, Sunbounce," Lilystar meowed, anger creeping in her tone as well. "This is hardly the time to have this discussion. We're gathered together to decide what to do about StarClan and Violetdust's murderer, whomever that may be. We aren't here to watch you and your father argue."

Finally, the ginger tom looked a little remorseful, and though he folded his ears to his head like a scolded kit, his blue eyes still flashed with defiance. 

"Now," the ThunderClan leader mewed, addressing the entire Clan once more. "Tensions are clearly very high even though I've judged Stormbird as innocent, so let's review this. Stormbird, please tell us what happened from your perspective."

"Well-" The black tom swallowed hard, as if he'd been asked to tell this story too many times. "I was taking a walk in the forest. Fogsky can vouch that I left camp before Violetdust did - there's no way I could've planned to murder her if I didn't even know whether or not she'd leave camp."

Sunbounce dug at the ground with agitation at these words, but remained quiet.

"Then, after a while, I heard screaming. I ran over, and I found her body." Stormbird ruffled his fur as he came to the end of his story. "I didn't see anyone else around."

"But it couldn't have been a cat from another Clan," Sunbounce challenged. "Surely they would've left a clue."

Very suddenly, a cold chill swept over the gathered cats as they were faced with the possibility that this murderer may be a Clanmate. Though Stormbird had initially been on the suspect list, that meant he had a spotlight on him. Every cat knew who to be careful of. But now, if it wasn't Stormbird, this murderer was hidden and unexpected, and the unknown was always frightening. 

Sunbounce seemed to realize this, and quickly tried to backtrack his words. "I didn't mean-"

"Maybe it's the Ghost Assassin," an elder by the name of Dovesky called out, clearly trying to relieve the tension. "Remember? Ashbird of SkyClan was killed out of nowhere, no clues left behind. Great StarClan, Crowstar was furious."

"Well, Ashbird was his daughter, so I can't blame him," Lilystar meowed a little dryly, "and the Ghost Assassin happened years ago, Dovesky. Likely Ashbird was taking a walk, accidentally slipped, and hit her head wrong. Only kits still believe in the Ghost Assassin."

A round of light-hearted, teasing purrs rose as Dovesky dipped her head and licked her chest fur in embarrassment, the tension successfully diffused. 

However, Violetkit was lost. She'd never heard of any story about a Ghost Assassin before, and when even Ravenkit's whiskers twitched with amusement, she found herself grumbling and swallowing all her pride to ask him what it was. 

"Swanfrost's never told you the story?" Though his voice held a tone of mild surprise, a stronger build of teasing laughter was brewing in his yellow eyes. "Everyone knows of the Ghost Assassin."

"I don't," Violetkit gritted out.

"Well you've got ears, haven't you?" Ravenkit turned back to the Clan gathering. "They just went over the whole story."

The white she-kit scowled. She didn't know why she'd bothered to ask him, anyway. He was as unhelpful as ever. "Nevermind. Let's go."

Just as she'd wiggled out of the bush though, she heard Ravenkit scampering after her, followed by his voice, low with apprehension of being caught, once they were far away enough. "It happened when our parents were newly made warriors. Ashbird was killed mysteriously in the middle of the night."

Violetkit stopped, tilting her head to take in this information - for some unknown reason, it interested her, perhaps more than it should've. "I thought Lilystar said she slipped."

Ravenkit snorted. "From what my mom told me, it was a clear murder. Her neck was bent oddly, and there was blood everywhere. She was hardly recognizable." Seeing Violetkit's face, growing slowly frightened, he quickly added, "But maybe she just made that up so I would stay in the nest at night."

The white she-kit ruffled her fur. "No clues?"

"No. Crowstar kept everyone searching for moons, but there was nothing. The killer knew the territory too well. And if this really is the Ghost Assassin... if he didn't leave a single tuft of fur behind in SkyClan's bramble territory... I don't see how he'd have left anything in ours."

"So this assassin's a SkyClan cat," Violetkit concluded. "He must be."

Ravenkit shrugged. "Maybe. The Ghost Assassin is just a theory become tale, after all. But Brightkit thinks it's true, so don't tell her the truth. I think it's the only reason she's so well behaved, and if you break it to her that the Ghost Assassin isn't real-"

"She'll be delighted?" 

"Yeah, but her mother will be furious. Whitebird will have your neck if her angel kit suddenly starts breaking the rules."

Violetkit purred lightly at the mere thought. Who knew Ravenkit could say something that wasn't completely mousebrained? 

"I hope that story gives you nightmares."

Violetkit sighed. And he's back.