The Call of the Tide

Chapter 3

Tidepaw was down on the beach with Gravelpaw, hunting for any crabs or fish that had been washed ashore. The rest of their hunting party was farther up the beach, hunting among the rocks at the base of the cliffs. The two of them had volunteered to go further down the shore so that there weren't so many cats in the rocks. So far, she and Gravelpaw weren't having a whole lot of luck.

Although that might've been because they were too busy being excited about the Gathering that they'd be attending that night. They'd been apprentices for a whole moon and were more than ready to go to a Gathering.

Tidepaw skipped ahead and spun around before dashing back to walk with Moraytooth and Floodgaze again. Gravelpaw was talking with Flintpaw and Minkpaw about what to expect, but Tidepaw wanted to go in without knowing. If she had an expectation, she was sure she'd be disappointed.

"Calm down, Tidepaw, for StarClan's sake!"

"Sorry, I'm just really excited." She tried to set her paws down normally, but her excitement fizzled in sparks all inside her and she found that she couldn't, so she dashed ahead again and ran around in circles until the rest of the Clan caught up.

She heard someone sigh and mutter about how immature she was and her tail dropped, all the sparks going out one by one. She heard her father snapping at whoever it was that she was just excited, but it didn't make her feel any better. What's wrong with me? Why am I so different from my Clan?

She stuck close to her parents again and her mother gave her a comforting lick between her ears.

They arrived at the same time as DeathClan; the others already there. The sudden number of cats unnerved her and she balked, feeling overwhelmed by the different scents and the sounds of all the cats talking amongst themselves.

Flintpaw and Minkpaw padded up with Gravelpaw. "Come on," Flintpaw mewed. "We'll introduce you to the other apprentices."

She wanted to say no, she wanted to bury her face in her mother's fur, she wanted to pace in circles until the confusion went away.

Moraytooth urged her daughter forward. "Go on, don't be shy." She gave Tidepaw's shoulder a little push and Tidepaw was walking, as if in a daze, after them.

There were six other apprentices, Basilpaw and Mintpaw from BirchClan, Breezepaw from GrassClan, and Tumblepaw, Firepaw, and Hazepaw from DeathClan. Tidepaw nodded at each of them and tried to hide behind Gravelpaw, all the names and faces confusing her and making her wish she'd stayed at the camp.

"What's your favorite thing about being an apprentice, Tidepaw?" she thought it was Hazepaw who was asking.

Tidepaw couldn't think. She could hardly breathe. She shrugged.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Gravelpaw asked with a purr. "Just the other day you wouldn't shut up about how much fun making new nests is!"

She shot her brother a glare. Of course it was fun, but she'd only said one sentence about it and had moved on. Gravelpaw was the one who'd refused to let it go. And it definitely was not her favorite thing about being an apprentice.

"Wow! Good one, Gravelpaw!" Was it Basilpaw who'd said that?

"I'm serious! She actually said it was fun!"

Tidepaw felt her throat begin to sting. She started backing away into the shadows and then ran. She didn't care where; she just had to get away. Away from the teasing, away from the chaos, away from everything.