She crouched. The Finch was right in front of her. 

1 more second.... 1 more second..... and leap! She wrapped her claws around the prey. Finally, she had caught something! 

She bit the birds neck, but it kept moving. She swiped at it again and again. It would never stop moving. 

Just die! She prayed. Maybe this will impress my clan!

She sat down with the Finch still in her paw. She bit it again and again, but every time she did the wound would heal.

She opened her paw and let the bird flutter away.

With a sigh, she turned and padded back to camp empty pawed.

——  ———————————

Finchpaw jolted awake.

Again! My do I have the same dream every night? She looked outside of the apprentices den, and yawned. She saw her Littermates still curled up in their nests. The sun had nearly disappeared over the top of the trees, nearly time for Darkclan to awake and start their night. 

"Lightpaw, Firpaw!" She hissed, and poked them with her tail

"Wat?" Firpaw grumbled. "Go away weirdo." Finchpaw rolled her eyes. The same thing happened everyday, she was used to it by now.

"Yeah, our  mentors don't make us get up straight away, cause we don't have contaminated blood." Lightpaw added.

You do realise that we share the same bloodline, right? She nearly said that, but knew only bad things would come of it, so she held it back.

"Apprentice! Come out now! No more sleeping in." A white head shoved it way into the den.

"Coming Snowlight!" Finchpaw said respectfully and rushed out of the den, feeling the glares of Lightpaw and Firpaw on her back. When she reached her mentor she dipped her head. "Sorry for being late." Snowlight hissed.

"Well then, maybe do better next time." All she could do was dip her head.

"We're doing hunting and tree climbing today. I expect you get five pieces of prey. Now hurry up." Snowlight went over to the camp entrance and glared at Finchpaw. "Apprentice!" She warned. Finchpaw's mentor had a habit of calling her Apprentice.

She rushed over to her, and dipped her head. "Well? What are you waiting for, go hunting!" Finchpaw nodded and rush into the forest, and opened her mouth to smell for prey. She went over to a giant tree, and looked up into its branches. She spotted a flash of grey and leaped up into the first branch. She looked back down and saw she had jumped at least 3 meters high. She smelled the air again, and found that the squirrel was just above her. 

The forest was  in full bloom, as it was green leaf, and it made it hard to move around without making a sound. She scouted a route, and quickly climbed to trunk, careful not to disturb the squirrel, and went to the beach above. 1 more heartbeat, 1 more, and she dropped down on top of it, trapping it in her claws, and giving it a swift bite to the neck. It soon went limp between her paws.

She dropped down from the tree, carrying the piece of prey. She dug a hole and quickly buried it, not wanting to be caught by her mentor for 'Being lazy, and not doing enough work.' She smelled the air, and, when she couldn't smell anything, she decided to go over to the stream that ran through Darkclan territory. She broke into a run, and soon heard the sound of rushing water, so she slowed down to a trot, and halted when she reached the stream edge. She sniffed the air again, and smelled water vole upstream. She traced the scent, and the smell became strong. Finchpaw dropped into a crouch, and peered over the reeds that surrounded the prey. 

A grey shape was snuffling around a hole. It would be a risky catch. She held her breath and started to stalk forward, careful not to swish any reeds. When she was close enough, she stopped, and felt the breeze it was starting to change. 

Suddenly, there was a snap and the voles head flicked up. Now! 

She leaped, but missed it as it scuttled away. She stretched out a paw and caught its tail just before it entered its hole. She dragged it out and quickly snapped its neck.

"Ahh, pity." Lightpaw, Firpaw, and Snowlight came out of the reeds, along with Blackheart and Shadewing, their mentors.

"I thought you were going to miss that for sure!" Shadewing looked at her and smirked a nasty smile. "It's a pity really."

Finchpaw flinched. That hurt more than she knew. "I'm lucky is all." She lowered her head.

"Anyway, instead of tree climbing, we're going fishing!" Snowlight glared at her. "It's a challenge to see who can get the most fish." The cats smirked, not knowing that Finchpaw would beat them all, as she practised when she could.

They followed the river, until they reached a calm spot. "Did you know, Weridopaw, that we're having our warrior assessment  this afternoon?" Finchpaw internally rolled her eyes at Firpaw that was their nickname for her. She glanced back at Snowlight, who was talking to Blackheart and Shadewing, and her mentor looked at her, hissing.

"Oh, yes, you certainly will, anything to get you off my paws, you horrible thing." She snarled, then added to Shadewing. "Why'd Flightstar choose me as the mentor? It could have been any cat! Like Shadowwing! He would have certainly put her in her place..... she would have deserved it."

"Okay Lightpaw, Firpaw, and.... You." Blackheart flicked his tail towards Finchpaw, not looking at her. "When I tell you to start, you have to try and catch 5 fish, and the first to do it wins." Finchpaw shuffled slightly so her shadow wouldn't go on the water. "Alright..... Start!"

Finchpaw eyed the water. She could already hear her littermates splashing around, diving under the water and popping back out again empty jawed. She saw a flash of silver and quickly dived down. She opened her eyes and saw a giant mullet swimming lazily down at the bottom of the creek. She grabbed it in her jaws and swam back up to the surface.

She climbed out and snapped the fishes neck. She looked around and saw that Firpaw had a minnow beside him, and Lightpaw was diving below the surface. Snowlight was watching her with a frown.

 A couple of minutes later, she had caught five fish, with Lightpaw at 3 and Firpaw at 4.

"Hey, you cheated!" Lightpaw hissed. Finchpaw looked at her, puzzled. "You obviously know how to fish, and Snowlight hasn't been teaching you!" The others looked at her, and Snowlight hissed.

"How dare you! Come with me. Now!" Finchpaw followed her into the woods, and soon she stopped. They turned to face each other. "Cheating? In a test?" Snowlights voice was dangerously low. She lifted her paw with claws unsheathed and strikes Finchpaw face. "I am so disappointed in you." She took her paw away with blood dripping from it. 

Finchpaw froze. She couldn't speak. She couldn't think. She couldn't even breath. "Now go! Somewhere where you won't be a problem. Actually, your gonna have your warrior assessment right now. The task is the catch ten pieces of prey, defeat me in a battle, and run around the whole territory."

Finchpaw nodded weakly and ran off. She couldn't believe what Snowlight had just done.

Maybe I am as bad as they say