Lurking Evil

Chapter 12

Whisperpaw felt her neck fur rise, but Gravelpelt shot her a warning glance, and Whisperpaw forced her fur to lie flat.

Behind Frostwhisker, Whisperpaw saw a reddish-orange tom renewing the scent markers. He was followed by a smaller cat: a light brown tabby tom with black stripes and a thick black tail; his pale green eyes were staring across the river, directly at Whisperpaw.

Whisperpaw's heart skipped a beat as she recognized who it was. Bumblepaw looked away shyly. He glanced at Whisperpaw again, then followed the reddish-orange tom along the riverbank. Whisperpaw then knew the red tom had to be Bumblepaw's mentor: Applefang. Applefang glared at the DawnClan patrol, following Frostwhisker through the reeds. Bumblepaw continued to stare at Whisperpaw, then scampered after his mentor as he realized they were gone.

"Let's renew the scent markers," growled Eaglefeather, not taking his eyes off of the DayClan border. Then he raised his voice. "Maybe they'll learn to stay on their own territory!"

Meadowheart gave Eaglefeather a warning glance and meowed, "We don't want to provoke a fight."

Gravelpelt nodded and glanced at Eaglefeather and Meadowheart. "You two start remarking the border downstream; Whisperpaw and I will check the borders here."

Whisperpaw nodded at her mentor and stifled a laugh at the delighted look in Eaglefeather's yellow eyes. Meadowheart turned and headed down to a clump of frozen, frosted reeds and gorse bushes, renewing the scent marker there. Eaglefeather eagerly followed her, his bushy brown tail high.

Whisperpaw turned around and saw that Gravelpelt was already many fox-lengths upstream, so she began to follow him, but something stopped her.

"Hey!" hissed a voice near Whisperpaw.

Whisperpaw turned her head and saw the frosted, white-tipped grass rustling along the riverbank across from her. The reeds shook as Bumblepaw stepped through them.

"Bumblepaw!" Whisperpaw gasped. "What are you doing?"

"I came to talk to you!" Bumblepaw whispered. "I just can't stand to wait until every full moon to see you; I can't! I had too much fun at the Gathering to wait that long again!"

Whisperpaw didn't know what to say. She glanced around and hissed, "Bumblepaw, you're going to get us both into trouble if some cat sees—"

Bumblepaw didn't seem to hear her. "I want to meet you in other places besides the Pointed Mountain! I... I need to see you more!"

Whisperpaw blinked in surprise. "We're from different Clans, Bumblepaw. You know we can't see each other until the night of the Gathering."

The DayClan apprentice pressed on. "I know, but... but I want to see you more than once a moon—"

Whisperpaw shook her head. "Listen. What you're suggesting is against the warrior code. I'm not about to break the warrior code just to see you again. I'm sorry, but we can't."

She did want to see Bumblepaw again; he was becoming something like a close friend, except he was from another Clan. Whisperpaw had to put her Clan first, as she should. And Bumblepaw should too!

"Whisperpaw... don't you want to see me again?"

"Well, yes. But we will have to wait for the next Gathering!"

"We don't have to wait until then," Bumblepaw murmured. "Isn't there a place we could meet?"

"But where, Bumblepaw?" asked Whisperpaw in exasperation at this apprentice's persistence. She glanced over her shoulder, aware of Gravelpelt walking closer to her.