Jayfeather's Curse

Chapter 20

I can sense the cats' confusion as I stop in my tracks, but I ignore it as I focus on the feeling in my gut. I hadn't even realized I lost this intuition when I went to find Lilypaw, but having it hit me this hard, I couldn't believe I didn't notice its absence. I'm pulled out of my own head as Lilypaw stops beside me.

"Jayfeather," she mews softly, but I flick my tail across her muzzle to quiet her.

"Shush. I'm not in the mood to work it out right now, so we're not going to. It's not that important anyway, because we're close to the clans. I can feel it," I tell her, and turn my head so she can look into my eyes. Unfortunately, I can't get a read of her emotions, and I can't exactly see her, either.

She seemed to shake something off before she spoke, choosing her words carefully. "How... how do you know?" she asked, after a long pause.

"Because I can sense it. I get this gut feeling, and I know that we are close. Maybe it's Starclan making up for the fact that I'm blind," I joke, and she snorts at the thought.

"Yeah, that's so much better than being able to see. I'm so jealous of you," she deadpans, and I flick her with my tail.

"Yeah yeah, I know. I'm the coolest. Putting my endless special abilities aside, you need to keep your eyes peeled for cats. We don't know which clan territory we're approaching, and I'm not too sure that the other clans will be inviting," I warn her.

"There's no way that the other clans will harm us. We've been missing for Starclan knows how many moons. They'll understand if we need to cross through their territory. They'll most likely escort us, but they won't stop us. Have some faith in the other clans," she mews, and I shake my head.

"Yeah, but I'd rather get to the clan without having to walk through other territories. We can follow the outer boundary until we get to Thunderclan. Staying in neutral territory will be better for everyone."

As I talk, Stream pads up and sits beside Lilypaw, waiting for us to finish talking. Once I finish, he nudges Lilypaw and mews, "We should get going then. The sooner we get you back, the better. Everyone must be so worried about you," he lowers his voice as he saysthe last bit, but I don't think he's aware that I have an amazing sense of hearing. You know, from being blind or something like that.

Ignoring him, I stand up and continue walking, hoping we end up in our territory. I don't have the patience to deal with the egotistical warriors of another clan.

*********************

We aren't that lucky.

Even though we stay a good distance from their territory, a border patrol discovers us and feels the need to defend their precious territory. Of course it's Shadowclan, the most arrogant of them all.

"What are you doing out here?" A cat aggressively mews, and I scoff at his boldness. I can tell he is a young warrior because I don't recognize his scent from any of the gatherings, and he sounded slightly unsure of himself.

"Relax, we're just Thunderclan cats trying to return to our territory. We went on a little mission, and we're just trying to return," I explain, and at the mention of our clan he snarls in disgust.

"So you were sent out to spy on us then," he sneers and I snicker, but after a while I realize he's not joking. I sit back on my haunches, realizing that this might not be the quick interaction I was hoping for. My suspicions were confirmed when two more warriors stepped up beside him.

"What are these five doing so close to our territory, Mudpelt?" One of the warriors asks, not even acknowledging us.

"We're trying to return to Thunderclan you mousebrains," I hiss, and I can feel the anger rolling off their pelts. I don't care, though, and I keep going. "I haven't been back in moons and I don't want to deal with you fleabags any longer. So return to your territory and we're going to be on our way." The audible gasp from Lilypaw signals to me that I may have started something bad, but at this point I didn't care. We were so close to getting back to the clan, and as much as I hated to admit it, I wanted to see my clanmates again.