Read Online Outcast by Erin Hunter - Free Book Online

Tasting the air, he picked up the scents of three cats: Barkface and Kestrelpaw, and Willowpaw, who must have met up with the WindClan cats on her way from RiverClan.
    â€œWhere’s Mothwing?” Leafpool asked anxiously as the other medicine cats caught up. “She’s not ill, is she?”
    â€œNo, she’s fine,” Willowpaw replied. “But Beechfur has an infected beesting, so Mothwing thought she’d better stay in camp and look after him.”
    Huh! Jaypaw thought. And hedgehogs fly! He could guess why Mothwing wasn’t with her apprentice. The infected warrior was just an excuse. Mothwing didn’t have any connection with StarClan. She must have decided that she could get a good night’s sleep in her own den instead of trekking all the way up to the Moonpool to have it there.
    â€œHello, Jaypaw,” Willowpaw mewed. Her voice was cool and polite.
    â€œHi, Willowpaw.” Okay, I know you don’t like me. I’m not all that besotted with you, either .
    â€œHi, Jaypaw.” Kestrelpaw sounded more friendly. “How’s the prey running in ThunderClan?”
    â€œFine, thanks,” Jaypaw replied.
    Before he had to think of anything else to say, he caught the strong ShadowClan scent of another cat bounding up behind them.
    â€œI thought I’d missed you,” Littlecloud panted.
    â€œWe would have waited for you,” Leafpool mewed.
    The cats set off for the Moonpool. Jaypaw felt Kestrelpaw padding along at his side. “Hey, Jaypaw,” he began, “what’s it like, being blind?”
    Well, you can’t see, mouse-brain! Jaypaw felt his neck fur bristling at the stupid question. “Everything’s dark. But I can hear and scent okay, so that’s how I find my way around.”
    â€œThat’s really tough.”
    The other apprentice’s sympathy made Jaypaw flex his claws. From the sound of his voice and the whisper of his paws on the moorland turf, he had a pretty good idea where Kestrelpaw’s ear was. How would you like it slashed, huh?
    â€œI manage,” he retorted.
    Quickening his pace, he caught up to Littlecloud; his paws itched to run on ahead but that would draw too much attention to the fact that he walked here in his dreams—when he could see. He couldn’t wait to get to the Moonpool.
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    But after he had paced down the spiral track, feeling his paws slip into the paw prints of those long-ago cats, after he had touched his nose to the water and settled himself comfortably, Jaypaw found it hard to sleep. All around the pool he could hear the other cats’ breathing sink into the rhythmic patterns of dream-sleep, while he stayed obstinately awake.
    â€œCome on ,” he muttered. “What’s the matter with you?” For once he didn’t want to enter the others’ dreams. Hewanted a dream of his own: to wake underneath the hill, in the tunnels where he had met Rock and Fallen Leaves. If he didn’t manage it now, it would be a whole moon before he had another chance to visit the Moonpool.
    He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come, but he could still feel the damp rock under his paws and hear the sound of the waterfall and the breathing of the cats around him. Stretching his jaws in a yawn, he opened his eyes again. His fur prickled with excitement as he realized that he could see.
    Instantly his ears twitched in frustration. He wasn’t in the underground cave. Instead, he had never left the Moonpool. He could see the curled-up bodies of his companions and reflected starlight glimmering in the water.
    â€œNow what?” he demanded.
    A quiet voice spoke behind him. “You wanted to speak with me?”
    Jaypaw spun around, almost tripping over his own paws. Rock stood in front of him. His long, twisted claws scraped on the bare rock. Here in the open, out of the shadows of his cave, his bare skin looked raw and painful, and his bulging eyes glowed silver in his