Shadow padded over to her sister, who was sitting next to Diamond. They were talking in hushed tones, throwing glances around them to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. They both stopped talking when Shadow came closer, looking at her impatiently.

"Hey Spark, I was wondering if you wanted to go hunting later?" She asked, acknowledging them both with a nod.

Spark looked slightly annoyed at the question, "I have training with Talon later today, maybe another time?"

Both cats looked eager to resume their conversation and be left alone so Shadow nodded glumly and padded away, hurt by Spark's rejection.

She pricked her ears when she saw Blaze sharing prey with Shimmer and Flint. They hadn't talked since that night.

"Hi!" She meowed brightly, her hurt forgotten.
"What?" Flint sneered, glaring at her.

Shadow blinked in surprise, then turned to Blaze, expecting him to look at her. Instead, he was ignoring her, chatting to Shimmer about battle training.

"Want to go hunting sometime today Blaze?" She questioned hesitantly.

Blaze turned his gaze to her, his usually burning orange eyes were now cold and reserved.

"No."

"Why not?!" Shadow breathed, confused at his behavior.

"Just leave," He growled, an unreadable expression dancing in his eyes, "No one wants you around anyways." 

Shadow huffed angrily and walked away, hurt and then hot anger flowing through her. How dare he talk to her like that! After everything, he'd said and done before?

She pushed her way through the camp tunnel and started sprinting through the forest, tears blurring her vision.

Leaves crunched under her paws and twigs snapped as the apprentice raced by blindly, all her bottled up emotions getting fueled into taking long strides across the forest floor.

Shadow eventually came to a halt in a grove of trees, panting heavily. She let out a yowl, slashing her claws across an oak tree. All her pent-up emotions came tumbling out as she raked her claws across the tree over and over again, letting out growls of anger.

She froze when a familiar odor hit her scent glands. She quickly composed herself as a hunting patrol led by Ivy padded into the grove of oak trees.

Ivy cast a strange look at the claw marks on the tree but quickly moved her gaze to her apprentice.

"Sky is calling a clan gathering at sun-high so be back in camp before then, go hunt some prey if you're out here anyway." Her mentor meowed and left with her patrol.

Shadow heaved a sigh and cast a look at the sky, the sun was only a quarter of the way up so she'd still have plenty of time to hunt a decent amount of prey.

~~~

"All cats old enough to shed blood gather beneath the Big Stone!" Sky's order rang through the camp, drawing cats to sit in the clearing, staring up at their leader expectantly.

"As every-cat knows, three apprentices became warriors of BloodClan not too long ago. They each defeated a prisoner to become a warrior. One cat escaped, our assassins are still busy tracking him down but we're running low on prisoners. And what does that mean?"

Sky questioned, a strange light gleaming in her bright blue eyes.

"Prisoner Hunt!!" The clan roared as one, excitement evident in their bristling pelts, unsheathed claws, and wide eyes.

Shadow had heard of prisoner hunts, savage hunts to capture more prisoners for the prisoner den. All the stories she'd heard before were gory and brutal. She gave an involuntary shudder at the thought.

"There will be three groups, one led by me, one led by Venom, and one group led by Nightshade. There will be one assassin per group, Blizzard will be in control when we're gone. Will the other two group leaders come stand next to the Big Stone." Sky ordered.

Venom and Nightshade dispatched themselves from the gathered cats and padded over to the Big Stone.

"We'll each take turns choosing a cat to join our group, five cats per group. Slash, join me."

The sleek brown she-cat silently went to stand near the Big Stone, her paw with six claws barely hindering her.

Venom swept his eyes across the gathered cats, looking for the strongest cats.
"Panther, you will be in my group."

A massive pitch black tom stepped forward, his muscular back littered with scars. Nightshade was next, her intelligent stare scanning the gathered cats.

"Ivy, join me."
Ivy stood up from where she sat close to Shadow.

"Oh, and take your apprentice too. This experience will be good for her."

Shadow's eyes widened in shock, cats began muttering amongst themselves. Apprentices were rarely chosen for Prisoner Hunts.

She forced herself to stand up and pad after her mentor, pelt bristling self consciously from all the states she was getting.

Shadow caught Spark's gaze, it was filled with worry and a bit of anger. She hoped the anger wasn't directed at her, but at Nightshade for choosing her. Spark had always been a bit paranoid of losing Shadow.

Shadow kept her head bent low as the rest of the cats were chosen, Frost, Flame, and Quartz joined the group. Apparently she didn't count as a full cat and they now had six cats in their patrol.

"We leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow! Make sure every cat that's going gets enough prey and sleep." Sky announced before jumping down from the Big Stone to join her group.

"We'll discuss our plan in the morning, every cat go get some prey and rest, you'll need it." Nightshade ordered calmly, apparently not intimidated to order an assassin what to do.

Frost let out a low hiss but padded to the fresh-kill pile to grab a dove.

Ivy turned towards her apprentice,
"Do what Nightshade told you, no going out of camp for the rest of the day."

Shadow nodded and went to get some prey herself when she heard Ivy saying to Nightshade; "Goodbye sister, I'll see you in the morning."

Shadow was surprised, Nightshade and Ivy were sisters? Family didn't really have a meaning in BloodClan, you might be friendly with your littermates when you're apprentices because you train together but after you became a warrior those bonds quickly vanish.

Shadow didn't even know who her father was, she and Spark always made sure to steer clear of Aster to avoid tension and awkwardness.

She shrugged it off, family wasn't important anyways. The apprentice fished a small squirrel out of the fresh-kill pile and ate it before lying down in a patch of shade to rest.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter should be interesting ಠ‿ಠ
Does anyone have any idea what to name the Big Stone? It's such a plain name.
Questions:
1. What are your theories on Spark?
2. Do you like Blaze?
3. What do you like and dislike about this book? (Please be honest! This improves my writing!)

[Word count: 1165]