Whispers and Echoes

Chapter 13

"Hey, this squirrel is stuck!" exclaimed Cloverpaw through a mouthful of fur, just as Echopaw was about to say the same thing.

Echopaw looked up to see Cloverpaw holding a squirrel by its neck, and Echopaw was holding her own squirrel by its tail. Echopaw realized with a smile that they were both holding the same squirrel. Echopaw bit back a laugh as she let go of the squirrel, and Cloverpaw lost her balance from the momentum, falling onto her back with the squirrel dangling from her jaws.

"Got it!" she meowed as she got to her paws again.

"You mouse-brain!" Echopaw laughed. "We were both holding the same squirrel, and when I let go, you were launched backwards!" She doubled over, laughing so hard that she could hardly breathe, so she was taken by surprise when Cloverpaw pounced on her.

The black she-cat pinned her to the ground and growled, "It is not funny. Stop laughing."

"You should have seen yourself!" Echopaw laughed harder, to which Cloverpaw scowled.

"What's so funny?"

Echopaw and Cloverpaw turned to see Whisperpaw padding toward them, yawning.

"Finally! You slept like a hibernating fox!" meowed Cloverpaw.

Whisperpaw shrugged, "I was tired. But nevermind that. What are you laughing about?"

Echopaw told Whisperpaw the story of Cloverpaw being launched backwards, pausing every few moments to laugh. Cloverpaw scowled the whole time, her eyes narrowed at Echopaw. When Echopaw finished, Whisperpaw burst out laughing.

"I wish I could have seen that!" she exclaimed through laughs.

Cloverpaw grunted.

"Come on! It was hilarious! You have to picture how you looked!" Echopaw exclaimed.

Cloverpaw sat in thought and finally mumbled, "Yeah, I guess I probably did look pretty funny."

Echopaw nodded. "You did!" And she burst out laughing again.

"Do you want to actually eat the squirrel instead of laughing about this?" Cloverpaw growled, sounding exasperated.

Echopaw's stomach growled and she nodded, "Sure. You and I can share it."

Cloverpaw picked the squirrel up off of the ground and carried it to Echopaw. Whisperpaw padded over to the fresh-kill pile and brought back a finch for herself. The three of them sat side by side as they ate their meals in silence.

When Echopaw finished, she suggested, "Let's go visit Hailpaw! He's bound to be quite lonely in the medicine cats' den."

"Good idea," agreed Cloverpaw, and she turned, padding away toward Goldheart's den. Echopaw looked at Whisperpaw, and, together, they followed Cloverpaw to Goldheart's den.

When they got there, however, they saw that neither, Goldheart, Yellowpaw, nor Hailpaw were in there.

"What? Where are they?" exclaimed Cloverpaw as she peered through the den entrance.

"Oh, they're out looking for herbs by the stream," meowed Echopaw, suddenly remembering.

"They are?" asked Cloverpaw.

"Yeah, they decided that last night when Hailpaw and I went to ask Goldheart about Hailpaw's sprained paw."

"Oh," meowed Whisperpaw. "Well, let's go and find something to do while we wait for our mentors."

"Alright," replied Echopaw, and they padded over toward the clearing.

As they reached the clearing, Echopaw saw Aspenleaf sharing a mouse with Creekfall, their tails entwined and their pelts touching. Echopaw smiled to herself and thought, Their kits are going to have great parents.