CHAPTER28
Jayfeather slid through the thorn tunneland stood panting in the middle of the clearing. He had raced back from the island as soon as the Gathering1 broke up, struggling through the mass of bewildered cats to get across the tree-bridge.
He scented3 Leafpool leaving their den5; right now she was the last cat he wanted to talk to. Beyond her, fainter, he picked up Hollyleaf’s scent4.
What’s she doing in our den? What did she say to Leafpool?
Darting6 across the clearing, he crashed through the brambles and confronted his littermate. “Hollyleaf! What are you doing here?” Sniffing7, he detected another scent. “Why are those deathberries out here?”
“Leave me alone!” Hollyleaf screeched8.
Before Jayfeather could dodge9, she leaped at him, bowling10 him over and raking her claws across his shoulder. Jayfeather’s legs flailed12 and his hind13 paws connected with Hollyleaf’s belly14. Her anger and despair flooded over him as she gave him a cuff15 over the ear and fled out of the den.
“Hollyleaf, wait!” Jayfeather scrambled16 to his paws and launched himself after her.
When he emerged into the clearing, Hollyleaf was already plunging17 into the thorn tunnel. Jayfeather raced after her, his belly fur brushing the ground as he broke out into the forest. The scents18 of more cats greeted him as the rest of the Gathering patrol returned to the camp.
“Jayfeather, what’s wrong?” Lionblaze called out. He turned and bounded along beside him. “What’s happening?” he gasped20.
“It’s Hollyleaf,” Jayfeather panted. “We’ve got to catch her.”
Hollyleaf was heading deep into the forest, crashing through bracken and brambles as if she had suddenly lost her sight.
“Hollyleaf, come back!” Lionblaze yowled. “We need to talk!”
But Hollyleaf didn’t slacken her pace. Briefly21 she burst out onto the old Twoleg path that led past the abandoned den, then veered22 into the undergrowth again.
“I know where she’s going!” Jayfeather panted, feeling a chill run through him. “The old tunnels…”
“But she can’t!” Lionblaze sounded terrified. “Hollyleaf, stop!”
Racing23 around a bramble thicket24, Jayfeather and Lionblaze came face-to-face with their sister; she had halted just inside the mouth of a tunnel halfway25 up the ridge2, above the abandoned Twoleg nest. It wasn’t one Jayfeather had used before; there was a stale scent of fox, overlaid with the smell of water and stone drifting from the darkness behind her.
Jayfeather tried to speak calmly. “Hollyleaf, you’ve got to listen to us.”
Hollyleaf didn’t seem to hear. “I’m sorry,” she meowed softly. “I was only trying to do what was best. I couldn’t let Ashfur live! For all our sakes! You understand that, don’t you?”
Jayfeather caught his breath. Beside him, he heard Lionblaze gasp19, “Youkilled Ashfur?”
If Hollyleaf replied, Jayfeather didn’t hear it. Hating his power more than he ever had before, he had reached out to his sister’s memories. She was stalking Ashfur along the WindClan border stream, treading lightly, avoiding boulders27 where her claws might scrape or ferns that would brush against her fur. Ashfur, intent on hunting, never noticed she was there. Hollyleaf followed him like a shadow until they came to a place where the bank was steep and slippery, and the stream was a foaming28 snake far below. She pounced29 on him from a rock, gripping his shoulders with her forepaws and twisting her head around to sink her teeth into his throat. Inside the red mist that clouded her senses, Ashfur was nothing but prey30, something that had to be killed to protect the warrior31 code and the future of her Clan26.
Ashfur clawed feebly at her, but blood was gushing32 from his throat. His body went limp and Hollyleaf leaped away, letting it crash into the stream. She stood watching it for a while, until the swift-flowing water had washed away the blood. Then she padded up to a pool of water on top of the bank and rinsed33 her paws, turning the water red. Behind her, Ashfur’s body bobbed against the bank before floating away downstream.
“He should have been swept into the lake and never seen again.” Hollyleaf’s voice wrenched34 Jayfeather out of her terrible memories. “But they found him, and now everything is ruined. I can’t stay here.”
Despair vibrated in her voice. “I knowI did the right thing, but no cat will ever understand.”
There was a patter of paws as she turned and fled down the tunnel. Running forward, Jayfeather could hear the roaring of the river underground, pounding hungrily against the stone.
“Hollyleaf, no!” he yowled. “We can figure this out together—” A deafening35 rumble36 interrupted him; it went on and on. He pictured wet soil and rock raining down as the tunnel collapsed37, crashing onto his sister, knocking her to the floor, crushing her, burying her….
He darted38 forward. “Hollyleaf!”
Lionblaze charged into him, knocking him off his paws and pinning him down; Jayfeather writhed39 furiously underneath40 him. “Let me up!” he screeched. “We have to get her out!”
“We can’t help her,” Lionblaze growled41. “The tunnel has collapsed. There’s no way we can follow her in.”
Jayfeather lay still, panting, as the tumult42 of falling earth and stones died away. In the silence, Lionblaze stepped back and let him clamber to his paws. Hollyleaf had seen the tunnels as a way to escape her Clan and everything that had gone wrong. Except she hadn’t escaped—not in the way she wanted.
“It’s over,” Lionblaze meowed, his voice shaking.
“I don’t understand.” Jayfeather was trembling with shock and grief. “She killed Ashfur to keep the secret safe. But then sherevealed it to every cat at the Gathering.”
“It wasn’t the same.” Lionblaze pressed up against him until Jayfeather felt his brother’s dismay mingling43 with his own. “Hollyleaf couldn’t bear the thought of being a medicine cat’s kit44. She couldn’t bear the idea that she was half-Clan. The warrior code meant everything to her, and our birth smashed it to pieces.”
“We should have done something,” Jayfeather insisted. “What are we going to tell the Clan?”
Lionblaze let out an exhausted45 sigh. “We can’ttell them she killed Ashfur. How can we let that be the only thing she’s remembered for?”
Jayfeather nodded. After all this, there was one more secret to keep, for Hollyleaf’s sake. “Let’s say that she chased a squirrel into the tunnel, and it collapsed on her. They can remember her for being a brave hunter, feeding her Clan. They don’t need to know the truth—that she was trying to escape from them.”
Slowly they began limping back to the camp. Jayfeather felt a fresh breeze ruffling46 his fur, and he drew in long, cold gulps47 of air. A new day was beginning, but all he wanted was to go back to his den, curl up, and try to escape into sleep. How could the sun rise today, after everything that had happened?
Suddenly he halted. “The prophecy!” he burst out.
Lionblaze, who had padded on a few paw steps, stopped. “How can you think about that now?”
“But don’t you see?” Jayfeather clawed at the grass. “What happens to the prophecy if Hollyleaf is dead? It said there would be three cats, and now there are only two!”
Jayfeather stretched his cramped48 limbs and turned his face up to the first feeble rays of the sun. All night his Clanmates had kept vigil for Hollyleaf, even though there was no body to be buried. Cats were beginning to stir around him, and a few fox-lengths away he could hear Brambleclaw quietly calling together the dawn patrol.
A full day and night had passed since the Gathering and the death of Hollyleaf in the tunnels. The day before, Firestar had addressed the shattered ThunderClan from the Highledge.
“Last night Hollyleaf revealed secrets that shocked us all,” he meowed. “But that prey is eaten. There can be no going back. Instead we must find the way forward, for all of us.”
“What about the other Clans49?” Dustpelt called out. “They all know what happened, thanks to Hollyleaf.”
“Maybe Hollyleaf should not have spoken out,” Firestar admitted. “But she has paid terribly. As for the other Clans—they think we are broken. It’s up to us to show them that we are not. ThunderClan will survive!”
Yowls of agreement rose from the listening cats; Jayfeather could feel their shock and distress51 giving way to a new sense of purpose.
Now he rose, gave himself a long stretch, and sat down to groom52 his pelt50, craning his neck to reach over to the fur on his back. After a few moments he became aware of movement outside the nursery as several of his Clanmates gathered there; he padded across to find out what was going on.
“It’s Whitewing’s kits53,” Lionblaze told him. “It’s the first time they’ve left the nursery.”
“Their eyes are open!” Whitewing was announcing delightedly as Jayfeather and his brother approached. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
A loud squeaking54 and the patter of tiny paws drew closer and then stopped. Jayfeather felt a powerful curiosity trained on him.
“Hello, little kits,” Lionblaze murmured. “Welcome to ThunderClan.”
“This one has such fluffy55 gray fur,” Sandstorm commented. “And the little one’s tabby-and-white pelt is so pretty. Have you given them names yet?”
“Yes.” It was Birchfall who replied, sounding ready to burst with pride. “We’ve called the gray one Dovekit, and the tabby-and-white one is Ivykit.”
“Those are beautiful names,” Brightheart purred.
The ginger-and-white she-cat was sitting close by, with Cloudtail beside her, watching their daughter’s kits; Jayfeather could feel their happiness at seeing all their kin11 healthy and strong. It was brighter than the sun just breaking over the trees at the top of the hollow.
Another scent wafted56 past him as Firestar bounded up. “This is good to see,” the Clan leader meowed. “They’ll be apprentices57 before we know it.”
Jayfeather suddenly felt a jolt58 in his belly like a blow from some cat’s paw. He clawed at Lionblaze. “The prophecy…” he whispered.
“What? Get off!” Lionblaze sounded irritated.
“There will be three, kin of your kin….” Jayfeather’s voice shook as he wondered if he could possibly be right. “Cloudtail is Firestar’s kin, Whitewing is Cloudtail’s daughter, and now Dovekit and Ivykit…. Don’t you see? The prophecy isn’t over! We aren’t the only kin of Firestar’s kin. It doesn’t matter which of Whitewing’s kits is the one. There are still three of us!”
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Cherith Baldry
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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screeched
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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flailed
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| v.鞭打( flail的过去式和过去分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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rinsed
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| v.漂洗( rinse的过去式和过去分词 )；冲洗；用清水漂洗掉（肥皂泡等）；（用清水）冲掉 | |
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34
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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41
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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46
ruffling
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| 弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱 | |
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gulps
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| n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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clans
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| 宗族( clan的名词复数 )； 氏族； 庞大的家族； 宗派 | |
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pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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kits
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| 衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件 | |
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squeaking
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| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的现在分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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wafted
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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