A little pool, clear as the night sky, nestled itself into a crack in the biggest rock

at the top of the mountain. A tiny stream curled out of the mountain, traveling quickly

down from the top. The stream tumbled through a snowy glacier, leaving its track and

joining others. Soon the river grew bigger and approached a drop. A silvery waterfall

crashed down on the river, sending a cloud of droplets into the air. Nearby, trees

sprouted, scattered amongst yellowing grass and small stunted bushes. The river

curled lazily through a clump of trees and wound around into a forest. The trees of the

forest were close together and were tall enough to be affected by the little swirls of

wind up near the clouds. The river deepened and widened now, rushing through more

yellowed grass and over rocks. It cut a deep canyon in the rock and plunged down in

another, smaller waterfall. Soon the rocks receded from the land, leaving sand and

bushes. The river wound further and further, and gradually the sand grew warmer and

the prickly plants gave way to a long stretch of sand. The river spilled into the ocean,

rolling over itself and joining with the salt.

A black and silver cat sat with its back to the beach, facing the ocean waves. It

sat motionless, pricking its ears only slightly as a crackle sounded behind it. Suddenly a

dark shape bowled out of the bushes, yowling loudly. The silver and black cat whipped

around and neatly caught the intruder under the chin, causing it to cry out in a screech

of pain.

“Why are you here?” the intruder demanded, fur ruffled. “You haven’t been seen

since before the Clans were begun! Why have you appeared now?”

“I have come to witness great change,” the cat stated calmly.

Silverkit bounced excitedly as she heard Firestar calling out to the Clan. “Let

all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a

Clan meeting!”

She ran out of the den, followed by Dawnkit. Their mother, Dovewing,

followed them out of the den. “Not so fast, kits. You’ll get your pelts all dirty! You’re

two moons old, not some ridiculous kit who just came out of the den for the first

time!” Silverkit looked down at the white splash of fur on her chest. She licked it a

few times in embarrassment. Pinekit purred in amusement. “Mousebrain!”

Her father, Bumblestripe, padded up. “Come on, let’s go,” he meowed.

“The time has come,” Firestar called. “The Twolegs are less than three tail-

lengths from our dens. No cat can survive much longer with them so close to our

camp. When I went to the Moonpool, I met the other three leaders. It seems that we

all want to move. Our territories are all being invaded.”

Silverkit bounced nervously. Should she tell Firestar about the tunnels that

she and Dawnkit had discovered only a few days before? She glanced at her white-

furred sister. Dawnkit seemed to have had the same thought. She kept looking at

Firestar, twitching a furry gray ear, and nuzzling Snowkit for reassurance.

“Jayfeather came with me to the Moonpool,” continued Firestar. “He will tell

you the sign that StarClan sent him.”

Jayfeather looked awful. He lay at the edge of the clearing, having collapsed

there last night after the long journey to the Moonpool. At Firestar’s words, he

jerked up and struggled to walk to the Highledge. When he was just below it, he

looked up at Firestar beseechingly. With a sigh, Lionblaze walked up behind

Jayfeather and shoved him up to a rock just below the ledge. Jayfeather grunted. “I’m

not an elder! I don’t need help!”

Poor Jayfeather, thought Silverkit. Dovewing and Ivypool’s litters born at the

same time must have exhausted him, especially right after that battle with RiverClan. I

can’t imagine helping two queens kit at once. No wonder he’s so exhausted.

Jayfeather began speaking, his voice rasping a little more with every word.

StarClan had told him that they must move, he said. They said that the journey

would be hard, but made easier by a single kit.

Oh, no. Silverkit’s heart sank. That’s me they’re talking about. I’ll get in so

much trouble if I tell Firestar.

Jayfeather finished speaking and lay down again. Murmurs spread through

the Clan. “Shouldn’t the journey be made harder with kits to care for?” yowled

Brambleclaw from the elders’ den.

“Kits are the future of ThunderClan,” spat Dovewing.

“It is settled already,” yowled Firestar. “We must move. Stock up on prey. Eat

well. We must all be healthy for the trip.”

The meeting broke apart. Cats drifted off in twos or threes, casting suspicious

glances at the group of kits.

Ivypool gently pushed Snowkit away. “Go play with Dawnkit and Silverkit.

Dovewing and I need to talk.”

Snowkit scurried over to them. Silverkit stared blankly at the two other kits

as they began to wrestle. She quickly slipped away.

“Firestar?” Her voice sounded like the squeak of a mouse in the huge den. She

called out again.

“Were you calling for me, Silverkit?” said Firestar from the back. He padded

closer. “What’s wrong?”

“I- I did something bad,” she confessed, shuffling her paws. Firestar cocked

his head. “How?”

“I snuck out of camp with Dawnkit. We wanted to explore. We found

tunnels!” She brightened. “We saw rabbits! And we smelled fresh air, but there was

a boulder blocking the way. But there was grass in the tunnels, too. And a hole in the

top of one.” Silverkit jumped up and down as she remembered the sprawl of yellow

grass, just recovering after the long snows of leaf-bare.

“Is that where you went when you disappeared for four days? You told us

ShadowClan cats captured you!”

She hung her head. “They did at first. That yucky cat Nightkit tried to take me

prisoner… but then we escaped and found the tunnels. They were so cool!”

“You shouldn’t have lied, Silverkit.”

Her heart sank. “You won’t punish us, will you?”

“No! You actually found something useful. I’ll inform the other leaders of your

discovery. You made this journey much easier. I’m proud of you. Telling me was the

right thing to do.”

She looked up into the leader’s eyes. They twinkled back at her. He was

amused! Indignation and gratitude swelled in her belly. “Thank you, Firestar!”

*****

Silverkit moaned with pain as a sharp stone dug into her pad. This journey

was hard and tiring. Behind her, Dovewing carried Redkit, who coughed weakly. He

had caught greencough shortly after they had left the camp. Now he hung limply in

Dovewing’s jaws.

She sighed with relief as Firestar called, “Clans! We have come to a stopping

point. You may rest now.”

She flopped down and sank into dreamless sleep.

*****

“No!” Her mother’s wail jolted her awake. “No! Redkit! Please wake up!” She

opened her eyes, twisting her head. Dovewing stood over Redkit, who was lying

motionless in her paws.

“She won’t wake up!” cried Dovewing. Beside her, Pinekit sniffed warily at

her brother. “Mother!” she cried. “Why doesn’t he wake up?”

*****

Silverkit’s pads had never hurt this much. She groaned, and Dovewing picked

her up gently by her scruff. “You’re getting much too heavy,” she muttered. “I

shouldn’t be carrying you. You can walk yourself.”

“I miss Redkit,” she muttered. Dovewing sighed. “I know, little star,” she

murmured. “He’s with StarClan now.”

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here near me for a

meeting,” yowled Firestar. Silverkit pricked her ears. Blackstar had named a new

apprentice, Nightpaw, yesterday. Would Firestar do the same for her?

He did. “Silverkit, Dawnkit, and Pinekit, please come up here.”

“Oh, no!” cried Pinekit. “He’s making us apprentices!”

Silverkit nudged her and purred. “Of course he is, mousebrain!”

“I’m gonna be sick!”

Silverkit pulled away in horror. “Ew!”

Dovewing nudged them gently. “Ivypool said the same thing when she was

made an apprentice,” she meowed. “Now look at her! Off you go. You’re going to be

fine.”

They scampered up to Firestar.

“These kits have reached their sixth moon, and it is time for them to become

apprentices.” Firestar said. “Silverkit, from this day forward, you will be known as

Silverpaw.”

He beckoned with his tail for a cat to come forward. “Mistwing, you will

mentor this young cat. StarClan honors your kindness and wisdom, and I hope that

you will pass on all you have learned to this young cat.”

The beautiful black and silver tabby bowed her head and touched noses with

Silverpaw, her yellow eyes glinting in the half-light of the tunnel.

“Dawnkit, from this day forward you will be known as Dawnpaw. Frostgaze,

you will mentor Dawnpaw. StarClan honors your fighting skill and courage, and I

hope you will pass on all that you know to Dawnpaw.”

The red-furred cat with his cold, gray gaze stepped up to Dawnpaw.

Dawnpaw looked nervous as she touched his nose.

“Pinekit, from this day forward you will be known as Pinepaw. Ivypool, you

will mentor Pinepaw. The Clans honor your courage and bravery, and I know that

you will teach your apprentice to follow the warrior code.”

“Silverpaw! Dawnpaw! Pinepaw! Silverpaw! Dawnpaw! Pinepaw!”

She puffed out her snowy white chest and met Nightpaw’s gaze defiantly. You

can’t beat me! I’m gonna be a better warrior than all the cats in ShadowClan put

together, and you won’t stop me no matter what!

*****

She groaned. What was the point of doing patrols? All they did was walk up

and down the tunnels. And this night, Firestar had put her on patrol with that

mousebrained cat Nightpaw.

They silently paced the tunnels. The iciness was almost too much for her. She

spun around, flinching as Nightpaw did the same, kicking gravel in her eyes.

“Ow!”

“Oh- I’m sorry!” Nightpaw bent down in front of her. She struggled to open

her eyes. They watered uncontrollably, and a tear streaked down her silver fur. She

angrily sliced at his nose. “What did you do that for?”

He winced. “I didn’t do it on purpose- I-“

Silverpaw shied away as their whiskers brushed. Her heart skipped a beat.

Ew! I touched a ShadowClan cat! I’m poisoned forever!

“S- s-“ stuttered Nightpaw, stepping back. “Ouch!” He lifted his paw again,

stepping off of a sharp stone. Blood spurted out of his pad. He gasped. “Ow-ow-ow!”

Silverpaw’s eyes widened. His pad was bleeding so fiercely, he was staining the cave

floor red. She crouched next to him. “Lick it,” she ordered.

He licked it once, flinching away from her. She leaned in closer and growled,

“Lick it!”

He obliged, lapping at the bleeding pad, but it only made it worse. He thrust

his muzzle in his face. She could see the whites of his eyes. “It won’t work!”

Silverpaw stumbled back. Nightpaw tried to put his paw back down. “Ow!” he

yowled, removing another stone from the other pad. He gasped and slid towards

her.

His breath smelled like sagebrush. His eyes glowed a bright green. The fur on

his ears tufted above into a point. She saw every detail of his fur as if it was

highlighted.

Silverpaw cried out as he fell on her, unable to stand anymore. He was losing

too much blood! Silverpaw struggled to get out before he fainted. He grabbed her.

“Help me!” She looked back in his eyes. They reflected her, a ridiculous scared

apprentice trying to be a medicine cat. She groaned as Nightpaw’s eyes closed. His

nose brushed against hers once before he slid to the floor, eyes closing, head hitting

the floor with a dull thump, to lie unconscious until morning.

*****

Silverpaw woke up to feel a warm pelt pressed against hers. She twisted her

head around, seeing the other cats preparing to leave already; tongue already half

out to lick her sleep-ruffled fur, she blinked as she saw not the white pelt of her

sister, but the spotted pelts of Nightpaw and Sunpaw. She drew back, fur prickling,

as Nightpaw stretched and turned his face towards her.

“Oh…” Nightpaw looked as embarrassed as Silverpaw felt. She leapt to her

paws, avoiding Sunpaw, looking for an excuse to run away, when she saw her sister

curled up with Snowpaw a few tail-lengths away.

“Dawnpaw,” she whispered, shaking her sister’s shoulder. “Wake up! We

have to go!”

Dawnpaw and Snowpaw stretched, tails brushing against each other.

“Silverpaw!” Dawnpaw complained. “I was having the most wonderful dream about

a fat squirrel-“

“Mousebrain,” muttered Pinepaw, opening her eyes blearily.

“Come on!” Silverpaw interrupted, her tail swishing irritably. She gestured

towards the other cats, who had already begun to eat. Dawnpaw sighed and picked

up a vole. Silverpaw chewed halfheartedly on a thrush, but her mind was on

Nightpaw, who was watching her…

*****

They padded over a thin path on the tunnel- mountain, watching the skies

warily for bats. Silverpaw hung back to watch the elders, carefully placing her paws

so that she would not slip.

Blackstar was watching her, eyes narrowed. “Nightpaw,” he meowed quietly.

“Will you go and help Silverpaw with the elders?”

But I can manage on my own! Silverpaw narrowed her eyes. Did Blackstar

really think she needed help from a ShadowClan cat? She shook her head, troubled,

as Nightpaw padded over.

He dipped his head politely. “Silverpaw.”

“Nightpaw,” she said, nodding her head respectfully and trying to keep her

voice from trembling as his green eyes pierced her blue ones. She turned her head

and mouthed his name again, feeling the delicious taste of it on her tongue, not

noticing the rock ahead of her until she tripped over it.

Silverpaw let out a yowl as her paws slid on the rock and she tumbled off of

the precipice. She swiped at thin air, hoping to find a hold, and managed to grasp a

rough edge of the rock. The apprentice gritted her teeth as her claws scraped the

rock.

Silverpaw yowled as her claws slid off the rock. She was about to give up and

let herself tumble into the abyss when strong jaws gripped her scruff. His muscles

strained, his teeth clamped on her neck, the cat that had saved her life hauled her to

safety. Weak with terror, Silverpaw looked up and saw Nightpaw, his pupils diluted

with terror.

“Thank you,” Silverpaw gasped. “I’m safe now.”

“I thought that I would lose you forever to StarClan!” he panted, crouching

over her and giving her ear a few swift licks. She pushed herself up and padded on,

her pelt barely brushing his, but still tingling with relief- and something else.

Blackstar narrowed his eyes.

*****

Silverpaw kept watch on top of a rock. Her gaze swept over the sleeping cats

below, and she told herself that she was looking for her sister, not Nightpaw.

“Hi, Silverpaw.”

The voice startled her, and she lost her balance on the rock. It was only a

short drop to the ground below, but Silverpaw scraped her pads hard on the rock.

She licked the grit out of her pad as Sunpaw bounded down. “Sorry, Silverpaw! I’ll

get you some herbs for that!” Silverpaw remembered that Sunpaw’s sister, the

pretty gray she-cat Thrushpaw, was Jayfeather’s apprentice. Sunpaw found herbs

after a short search. He pressed the juices into her pads. Silverpaw felt relief

immediately, looking into Sunpaw’s yellow eyes. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he purred, licking the fur behind her ear affectionately.

Silverpaw stiffened. Nightpaw had licked her in the exact same spot on her neck. Her

thoughts raced. Nightpaw’s a ShadowClan cat, she thought. It’s Sunpaw you should be

watching. She settled into the warmth of Sunpaw, comfortably sharing tongues with

him.

Yet she could still feel the eyes of Blackstar burning into her pelt.

*****

The cats were finally out of the tunnels and near their destination. Silverpaw

felt as though her paws would drop off, and the wind had actually blown her off of

her paws once. She sighed in relief as Firestar called out to signal the stopping point

for the day. She padded over next to Sunpaw, a little way off from the others; they

lay underneath a large oak tree, her back pressed firmly against his. Nightpaw made

a slight noise of discontent and joined them.

She woke up sometime in the middle of the night to an ominous creaking. She

looked up at the tree they were sheltering under.

Surely it wasn’t at that tilt before! Silverpaw felt her eyes widen as the tree

shifted and began to slowly move earthward towards her sleeping companions.

“Great StarClan!” she yowled. Sunpaw woke immediately and stumbled out of

range of the tree, but Nightpaw was still asleep.

“Nightpaw!” she howled, shoving her friend hard.

“What?” His sleepy mew wasn’t enough to convince Silverpaw that he was

awake. She bit him on the ear hard.

Nightpaw let out a cry of alarm and shot to his paws, but the tree creaked and

fell faster, until Silverpaw could see that it was going to crush him. She shot to his

side and thrust her shoulder into his, knocking him and herself out of the way a

second before the tree crashed to the ground. Nightpaw was fully awake now. He

stared in horror at where he had been only a moment before, covered in the trunk of

the great tree.

“You could have died,” Silverpaw gasped. Nightpaw pressed himself into her,

shivering.

*****

“We shall hold the Gatherings in the hollow that I found with Jayfeather. The

Moonpool, we discovered, has a little river. This river flows down into the edge of

ThunderClan territory, where it ends in a cave. Let all Clans go their separate ways,

and may StarClan be with you!”

Silverpaw shivered as Firestar yowled the words that would separate the

Clans forever again. She tried not to think, and Nightpaw and me.

She twitched her ears as Nightpaw bounded over to her. “Meet me here at

moonhigh,” he whispered in her ear. “I need to tell you something that will affect

both of our Clans.

*****

They found their camp on top of a cascade of rocks that leaned against the

cliff. Hollow boulders sat on top, just waiting to be made into a den. It looked

impossible to get up at first, but they had found a slightly easier path. They were

sure that no other cat could take that much time snooping around and trying to find

the entrance before they were caught in another Clans’ territory. A couple fox-

lengths away they found a hollow, filled with soft sand and rimmed around the

edges with bushes.

In the side of the cliff, on top of the rocks, Jayfeather and Thrushwing found a

cave that sloped sharply down to the ground. Thrushwing fell the first time that they

found it, so they put soft moss at the bottom for a cushioned landing.

The camp was perfect.

*****

She paced over the grass, searching the hills expectantly for Nightpaw’s dark

pelt. Her heart sank as she realized that she couldn’t see him. She tried hard to spot

his pelt against the green and black of night.

“You’re not the only cat that can hide,” Nightpaw said from behind her. She

spun around. “Nightpaw!”

“Silverpaw.”

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Nightpaw’s green stare met hers. “No, Silverpaw. I’m not.”

“But you’re not in StarClan! The tree didn’t kill you!”

“I would be better in StarClan than here without you.”

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. “No!” she gasped,

doing her best to force down the excitement was shooting through her veins. “I’m in

ThunderClan!”

“I want you here, Silverpaw! I want you here next to me, I want to feel your

pelt against mine, and I want you! Don’t you feel the same?”

Silverpaw shut her eyes against his anguished green gaze. “We’re in different

Clans, though.”

“That doesn’t matter! Silverpaw, I have to know! Do you feel this way about

me?”

Silverpaw looked into the depths of his desperate eyes, then up at the

motionless cats in Silverpelt. Surely StarClan couldn’t deny her this, when it was so

important to her?

She leaned forward and pressed her muzzle into Nightpaw’s pelt.

“I love you, Nightpaw.”

Nightpaw’s eyes gleamed with delight. He wove his body around hers. “Meet

me here tomorrow night. I can’t go any longer without you. I’ll see you soon!” He

bounded away, towards ShadowClan territory.

Silverpaw stared after him, guilt and excitement coursing through her.

*****

“Silverpaw, wake up!”

Silverpaw opened her eyes and was instantly blinded by sunlight. “Ugh,” she

groaned.

“Silverpaw, you’re on dawn patrol with Firestar! You’re going to set the new

borders!” It was Pinepaw, and she was obviously jealous. Silverpaw rolled over,

stretched, and pushed herself up onto her paws. She blinked her eyes as she realized

what her sister was telling her.

“I’m setting the borders?”

“Go!” Pinepaw butted her affectionately. Silverpaw bounded off.

She was out in the middle of the forest with Firestar, Berrynose, and her

mentor, Mistwing. She marked the tree that they had agreed on and trotted back to

the others, stopping to pounce on a thrush on the way.

“Good, Silverpaw.” Firestar said. “Mistwing is obviously training you well.

You’ll be a warrior soon! Now, I want you to check the scent. What can you smell?”

Silverpaw drew in the air over her scent glands. “’I smell…” She drew in a

deep breath and the musky odor of ShadowClan rolled over her. “ShadowClan… and

I smell a mouse! And I smell a Twoleg and its dog, but they probably passed by a

couple of days ago. I smell a fox, but it’s stale too.” She drew in another breath and

growled with pleasure. “Catmint!”

Firestar pricked his ears. “Where?”

Silverpaw angled her ears towards the border. “There!”

The remains of an old Twoleg nest rotted near the border, but the herbs in

the garden were flourishing. They sniffed around and found catmint and rosemary,

as well as lots of herbs that they had never smelled in their lives. “The medicine cats

will love this,” Mistwing meowed happily.

“Silverpaw, we’re going to split up and hunt now. You may hunt near the

border. We’ll spread out and catch a few mice, and then meet at this spot.”

Silverpaw padded over to the ShadowClan border and sat looking out at

Nightpaw’s territory. She smelled a mouse and pounced on it absently, burying it in

the shadow of a small tree.

“Hey! What are you doing, stealing our prey?” Silverpaw looked up. Her

heartbeat sped up when she saw Tigerheart bounding towards her. She fluffed out

her fur.

“I’m not stealing prey! You just stepped over the ThunderClan border!”

“Did I?”

“Yes, you mouse-brain!”

Tigerheart sniffed the air. “Oh. I’m so sorry. You smell too much like badger

for me to notice!”

Silverpaw hissed, but stopped when Berrynose and Mistwing trotted up.

“What’s going on?”

“Tell your apprentice to stop stealing ShadowClan prey!” Several brawny

ShadowClan warriors appeared on either side of Tigerheart. Silverpaw’s heart sank

as she recognized Nightpaw, standing on the outside of the patrol.

“I didn’t! I was on this side of the border all the time!”

“You didn’t seem to notice that the ShadowClan markers are three tail-

lengths behind you!”

Mistwing sniffed the air. “He’s right, Silverpaw. It stinks of ShadowClan.”

Berrynose hissed, fur bristling, and shook his head. “Maybe that’s just because his

filthy scent crossed the border!”

Hisses erupted on the ShadowClan side of the border, and Silverpaw took the

opportunity to hiss, “Nightpaw!” But he was too busy snarling at her Clanmates to

notice.

“ThunderClan thinks that every Clan owes them a debt,” Nightpaw mocked.

Silverpaw’s heart skipped a beat. Was Nightpaw criticizing her Clan? Anger rose in

her as he added, “It’s all because of that kittypet, Firestar!”

Is that what he thinks of me? Silverpaw felt confusion engulf her.

“They steal prey and break the warrior code because they think that the

Clans owe them something!”

Berrynose snapped. Screeching, he dove at Tigerheart and gripped his scruff

with his teeth.

Nightpaw turned his head and saw Silverpaw. For a heartbeat, Silverpaw saw

fear, regret, and sorrow in his gaze, but next all she saw was terror- the terror of a

cat who was about to lose his only love-

Silverpaw leapt at Nightpaw, bowling him over and slashing at his face with

unsheathed claws. She dully heard Berrynose let out a screech of triumph and

Mistwing howl in hatred as she scored her claws across him again and again.

“I don’t know why I even bothered with you!” she hissed at him as he

struggled to push her off. “What did I ever see in you?”

“Silverpaw- I didn’t mean it!” he yowled, but Silverpaw was driven beyond

fury. “Go, you traitor!” she snarled. “I don’t ever want to see your face again!”

Nightpaw stumbled to his paws and dashed off.

Silverpaw’s heart slowly sank.

*****

Silverpaw paced around the field where she and Nightpaw had met,

miserable. She hunched her shoulders and looked in the mud at two pawprints. One

had the scent of ThunderClan, one of ShadowClan. She sighed and looked up- and

her gaze met green.

“Nightpaw?” Silverpaw whispered.

“Silverpaw!” Nightpaw leapt out of the bushes and nuzzled her. “Please

forgive me, Blackstar made me do it! He said that if I didn’t say it, he’d tell all the

Clans my secret!”

“What secret?”

“You must know that we’re breaking the warrior code, Silverpaw! He saw us

together, he saw you save my life! I can’t leave you, but Blackstar thinks that I’m not

loyal. I love you, Silverpaw, but not your Clan.”

Silverpaw looked at her paws, ashamed. “It’s almost full moon,” she meowed,

hoping to change the subject.

They looked at each other awkwardly; then Silverpaw scurried around him

and batted at his ears playfully. “Race you to the stream!” She bounded off.

Purring, Nightpaw dashed after her.

*****

Exhausted after their romp, the two cats curled up in the grass. Silverpaw

cast one last glance at the stars of Silverpelt. Her tail rested on Nightpaw’s flank. She

closed her eyes and matched his breathing with her own.

*****

Silverpaw awoke to feel the soft pelt of Nightpaw and the itchy grass, dew

cool against her skin. She stretched and sniffed the air, then looked at the sky.

“Great StarClan!” It was almost sunrise. She nuzzled Nightpaw and bounded

off.

Silverpaw slunk into the den and trotted over to her nest. Dawnpaw was

gone. Worry immediately stabbed her, but she forced it down. She’s probably just

using Dirtplace. Indeed, a few moments later her sister crept quietly into the den.

“Silverpaw,” she hissed.

Silverpaw raised her head and yawned, trying to act as though she had just

woken up. “Dawnpaw! I was dreaming about the most wonderful vole-“

“No, you weren’t.” Dawnpaw said. “You were out in the meadow, talking

with- oh, I don’t know- Nightpaw?”

Silverpaw’s heart skipped a beat. “Nightpaw?” she said wildly. “Isn’t he in

ShadowClan? Doesn’t he have a gray pelt, with black feet and black spots? And his

eyes are really green?”

“Yes,” Dawnpaw sighed.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about!”

“I don’t believe you, Silverpaw. I watched you. I saw you touch noses and race

each other and rub your pelts together.” Dawnpaw leaned over and plucked a single

black hair from Silverpaw’s gray pelt. “Pinepaw saw too. But I made her promise not

to tell.”

“Dawnpaw!” Silverpaw flattened her ears in shock. “You won’t tell Firestar,

will you? You can’t tell Firestar!”

“No, I can’t,” she hissed. “I know exactly how you feel. I just want you to know

that I’ll cover for you.”

Relief washed over Silverpaw. ”Thanks, Dawnpaw.”

“I knew you’d do the same for me,” she muttered, looking uncomfortable.

Silverpaw twitched her ears towards the white pelt of Snowpaw. “Are you talking

about him?”

“Yes! I’m so embarrassed! My whole reputation is built on my tom-hating

nature, but I can’t stop loving him.”

“Whatever!” Silverpaw grunted. “He’s a ThunderClan cat. You’re not breaking

the warrior code. Honestly, Dawnpaw. Everybody knows. You’ve been hunting

together and eating and sharing tongues. He even moved nests to be next to you.

Every cat can see that you stick to him like a burr.”

Dawnpaw shook her head. “How did that happen?”

*****

Dawnpaw and Silverpaw woke at midnight the next day to hear screeches

outside the camp.

“What’s that?” Silverpaw gasped. Dawnpaw shook her head. “I don’t know.

It’s not cats, though. The Gathering’s tonight! StarClan would be furious!”

They charged out and sighed in relief. It was only a badger, jumped on by

Sunpaw, Mistwing, and Stormheart. Dawnpaw dove into the fight with a screech.

Silverpaw scratched the badger’s eyes. The fight was going well, and the badger had

almost been driven out when another one blundered into the clearing and heaved a

huge paw, full of claws, in her direction. Silverpaw froze in terror and waited for

StarClan to claim her.

She yowled in shock as the lithe body of another feline hit her. “Get down!”

Sunpaw growled as the badger stopped, shaking its head in confusion, and looked

around for its prey. Silverpaw pressed her pelt against Sunpaw, trembling.

“You saved me,” she murmured, pressing her head against his. Sunpaw

purred.

“If I hadn’t, ThunderClan would have lost one of its bravest, most beautiful

apprentices,” he mewed. Silverpaw purred back until a yowl cracked the sky and the

badgers roared in triumph, tossing Mistwing off of their shoulders and blundering

across the clearing. Mistwing flew through the air and hit a rock with a sickening

crack.

“Mistwing!” yowled Silverpaw, and she dashed to her mentor’s side.

Mistwing’s head was bloody. Silverpaw thought that she was dead until she

coughed a bit and looked at Silverpaw. “My apprentice,” she sighed affectionately.

Silverpaw frantically pawed at her.

“I’ll find you some herbs,” she meowed quickly. “You can rest, and soon you’ll

be as good as new.”

“Relax, Silverpaw. I am old. I will go to StarClan in peace,” she purred. Lifting

her head to lick Silverpaw’s ear gently, she meowed, “I will never be far from you.”

Her head rested on the rock and she closed her eyes.

“Mistwing!” Silverpaw yowled desperately. “Mistwing!”

She glared at the badgers, red clouding her vision. Shoving Sunpaw out of the

way, she leapt at the badgers. Whipping around them with the speed of StarClan,

Silverpaw clawed at the animals with all of her strength. Even as the badgers

howled and stumbled away, Silverpaw’s grief and anger wasn’t spent. She leapt at

the last beast and bit its ear hard. The badgers loped away.

“Silverpaw!” Sunpaw pressed his muzzle to her pelt.

“What’s going on?” Silverpaw turned to see Firestar standing in front of the

patrol of cats that had gone to the Gathering.

Sunpaw padded over, his head bowed. “Firestar, two badgers attacked our

camp. We drove them off, but Mistwing sacrificed herself.”

Firestar’s ears flattened in shock. Mistwing was his deputy’s daughter, and

Firestar had been close to her. He lowered his muzzle to her fur and began to lap at

the blood on her fur. Silverpaw joined him, the rhythm of their tongues soothing

even as she knew that this was the last time that she would ever share tongues with

her mentor.

*****

Silverpaw heard Firestar call a Clan meeting. She padded out to sit

underneath the Highledge with Dawnpaw, Sunpaw, Snowpaw, and the two other

apprentices by her side.

“The Clan is strong,” Firestar began. “Just yesterday we drove off two badgers

who were harassing our warriors.”

Hisses and calls rose from the crowd of cats.

“However,” Firestar continued, straining to raise his voice over the noise,

”The making of new warriors will make our Clan even stronger, and will show the

other Clans that we will still defend our borders. I would like to make five- yes, five-

new warriors today.”

The Clan howled in approval.

“Rainsplash, Redspot, Ivypool, and Frostgaze, are you satisfied that your

apprentices are ready to become warriors?”

“Yes!’ the four warriors called.

Silverpaw leapt to her paws in delight. Firestar had just named Dawnpaw,

Snowpaw’s, Pinepaw’s, and Sunpaw’s mentors! She sensed Dawnpaw hurriedly

grooming her pelt and began doing the same. Suddenly, she remembered her own

mentor, lying dead in the clearing, and bent her head. Could she become a warrior if

her mentor were dead?

“Firestar,” called Redspot, Sunpaw’s mentor, “I also think that Silverpaw has

done well. She helped drive off the badgers as well.”

“I will stand as Silverpaw’s mentor,” Firestar said. “I, Firestar, leader of

ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices.

They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend

them to you as warriors in their turn.”

Firestar turned his gaze to the four apprentices. “Snowpaw, Sunpaw,

Dawnpaw, Pinepaw, and Silverpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and

to defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do!” Silverpaw gasped, and the others echoed her. Silverpaw wondered if

StarClan had ever received five warriors at once.

“Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior names. Sunpaw, you

will be known as Sunsplash. StarClan honors your courage and fierceness in battle.”

Firestar leapt from the ledge and rested his muzzle on Sunsplash’s head.

Sunsplash licked his shoulder and went to sit next to the other warriors.

“Pinepaw, you will be known as Pinewhisker. StarClan honors your loyalty

and knowledge, and we welcome you as a warrior of the Clan.”

Pinewhisker purred so loudly that Silverpaw saw the kits at the other end of

the clearing looking around to see what it was.

“Snowpaw, you will be known as Snowclaw. StarClan honors your forgiving

nature and your bravery.” Firestar repeated the movements, and then turned to

Dawnpaw.

“Dawnpaw, you will be known as Dawnfall. StarClan honors your swiftness

and compassion.”

Dawnfall padded over to her mate, and Firestar turned his piercing gaze to

Silverpaw.

“Silverpaw, you will be known as Silverpool. StarClan honors your confidence

and your knowledge of what is right.”

“You have done well,” murmured Firestar as he rested his muzzle on her

head. Silverpool licked him on the shoulder and purred back, “I have always done

my best.”

As Silverpool padded over to stand next to Sunsplash and the rest of the

warriors, her heart beat faster and she remembered Nightpaw. She knew now what

was right, just as Firestar said. I have to follow my heart. If Clan life isn’t right for me,

so be it. I won’t deny that.

“We welcome you as full warriors of the Clan!” Firestar finished. The other

cats crowded around them, calling their names. Silverpool blinked at Firestar. For a

moment, she thought that she saw something in his eyes, but then he turned and it

was gone.

She turned and padded to the edge of the camp to keep guard. Sunsplash

bounded over to join her. They sat together, keeping vigil together, pelts brushing.

After the long day, Silverpool wished only to fall asleep in her soft nest… as though

in answer, Sunsplash yawned and curled up beside her. Silverpool looked wearily up

at the stars in Silverpelt… surely she could rest… she slowly lay down next to

Sunsplash and closed her eyes.

*****

Silverpool and Pinewhisker patrolled the border with Dawnfall and

Snowclaw. Silverpool caught a mouse for them to share, but Pinewhisker stiffened,

her whiskers quivering.

“ShadowClan!” she whispered, and dashed off. The other three chased after

her, mouse forgotten.

They found Pinewhisker facing six ShadowClan warriors, all bristling.

Silverpool leapt, screeching, at the patrol and heard the others following.

“Stay off our territory!” she snarled, and sent her warrior hurtling back into

his own territory, yowling. Another cat jumped on her from behind, battering her

flanks with their hind paws. She twisted around and sank her teeth into the

attacker’s paw, but the cat twisted out of her grip and pinned her to the ground.

Panicking, Silverpool thrashed under the intruder’s grip, yowling angrily.

Suddenly the weight of the cat was gone from her shoulders. Pinewhisker

was standing above her, the cat running away with his companions.

“Are you okay?” asked Pinewhisker.

“Fine!” Silverpool gasped. She stood and leapt at one of the remaining

warriors, locking her in a battle fought on their hind legs. Suddenly the she-cat’s face

twisted in a snarl of glee. “Forget about someone?” she growled.

Silverpool raked the warrior’s belly fiercely and turned to see Pinewhisker

lying on the ground in a pool of blood, a ShadowClan warrior she didn’t recognize

standing over her. “No!” she wailed, and dove at the attacker. The ShadowClan

warrior fled, but Pinewhisker was still lying there, motionless.

“No,” Silverpool moaned. Two other warriors went screeching into the forest

and Dawnfall and Snowclaw padded up, shocked.

“She can’t be dead!” wailed Silverpool. “She can’t!”

Snowclaw’s tail whisked around to touch her flank. “She’s in StarClan now,”

he whispered. “She will always watch over you.”

*****

Silverpool woke half a moon later to a bellyache. She groaned as a cramp

seized her and managed to stumble into the medicine den.

“What’s going on?” Jayfeather grunted.

Silverpool groaned, “Bellyache.” Jayfeather sleepily stretched and chewed up

some juniper for her. He was checking with a paw to make sure that her belly wasn’t

swollen when he stopped, holding his paw stiff, his sightless eyes wide.

“Jayfeather?”

“A heartbeat,” he murmured. “No, three heartbeats… it can’t be… you can’t…

you’ve only been a warrior for a half-moon!”

“What is it, Jayfeather?” Silverpool asked.

“Silverpool, do you love Sunsplash?” he asked.

Silverpool was so caught off guard by this that she couldn’t answer. Did she?

Do you? Silverpool remembered his blazing yellow eyes, the feeling of his pelt

against her, the feeling that could only be duplicated by being with Nightpaw…

“Yes, Jayfeather,” she meowed. “I love him.”

“Do you love him enough?” he asked simply.

Silverpool was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I feel three heartbeats in your belly, Silverpool. You are going to have kits.

Whose are they? Are they Sunsplash’s?”

“Kits!” No! No, no, no, this can’t be happening!

“Kits. Whose? Are they Sunsplash’s?”

More than anything, Silverpool wanted to say yes. She closed her eyes tightly

and remembered how Jayfeather had been lied to by his own mother and hated by

his father. How can I make my kits feel like that?

“I don’t know, Jayfeather,” she whispered.

“Are they…” Jayfeather hesitated. “Are they…” He took a breath and burst out,

“Are they Nightpaw’s?”

“What?” Silverpool gasped. How could he know? What did he know? “I-I am a

loyal ThunderClan warrior!” she meowed frantically. “I don’t know what you’re

talking about!”

“If you didn’t,” Jayfeather meowed calmly, “you wouldn’t be acting like this.

You would be angry with me. You might even be so insulted that you wouldn’t speak

to me at all. But there certainly wouldn’t be feelings of guilt and panic rolling off of

you, and there definitely wouldn’t also be relief.”

Silverpool shivered. How many cats knew her secret?

“Whose are they, Silverpool?”

“I-I…” Silverpool’s eyes widened in panic. “I don’t know!” She narrowed her

eyes as Jayfeather’s tail lashed. “You won’t tell anybody,” she hissed desperately.

“Please!”

“No, I won’t,” Jayfeather said, and for an instant, Silverpool caught some

emotion in his eyes that he had never seen there before. Suddenly, he straightened

up. “You’re close to having the kits,” he explained. “Maybe a quarter-moon away.

Make sure you eat lots of juniper. It will make you stronger.”

Silverpool was glad for the change of subject. She sighed, ”Will I have to join

the queens?”

“Not yet,” Jayfeather meowed. “You can stay in the warriors den for another

couple days.”

“One more thing, Jayfeather,” Silverpool meowed. “Don’t tell anyone. I want

to tell them myself.”

“That’s easy,” he said. “You want Sunsplash to hear the news from his mate.”

Jayfeather’s eyes already were blank, as though there was no secret. Silverpool

padded out of the medicine den, blinking in the bright sunlight. Immediately she

spotted Sunsplash eating a squirrel. She bounded over but stopped, suddenly

unsure. What would he say? What would he do? She unsheathed her claws

nervously and sank them into the dirt. She was close enough to Sunsplash to know.

He would be delighted. Encouraged, Silverpool wove around him. “Hi, Sunsplash.”

Sunsplash looked up. “Silverpool!” The emotion in his eyes pushed Silverpool

forward.

“Sunsplash, I have something to tell you,” she meowed. Sunsplash’s eyes

were attentive. Suddenly, Silverpool was nervous again. She clawed at the ground.

“I-“

“What’s wrong, Silverpool?” Sunsplash meowed gently.

“I’m about to have your kits!” Silverpool burst out, and Sunsplash leapt to his

paws, delighted. “You are? Oh, Silverpool, that’s wonderful!” He wove around her,

licking her ear affectionately. Dawnfall shot to her feet. “You’re having kits?” she

asked. “That’s wonderful, Silverpool! You were getting so big, we were beginning to

think that Twolegs were feeding you mush!”

Snowclaw gazed up at Dawnfall. “Yeah, we were.”

For a single blissful day, Silverpool’s anxiety was swept away. She went on

hunting patrol with Sunsplash, shared tongues with him in the evening, and fell

asleep, exhausted and happy, at the end of the day. If only every day was like this,

Silverpool sighed to herself as she drowned in the blackness of sleep.

*****

“Kits! Kits! I found kits on the WindClan border!” Ferncloud’s voice broke

through Silverpool’s dreams like a claw through a bird’s egg. She yawned and

trotted out of the den, immediately opening her eyes wide as she saw two small kits

squirming on the ground. Ferncloud stood protectively over the tiny bundles.

“Hush!” Silverpool hissed. “You’ll wake up the whole forest!” The sky was still

dark. “You found them on the WindClan border?”

“Yes! I was just taking a walk and I found them! They’re less than a day old!

They’ll die, Silverpool, I just know that they’ll die.”

“No, they won’t. Your kits are coming soon, too. You can feed them with your

milk.”

Ferncloud stopped. “That’s right! Thank you, Silverpool. They’ll be my kits. I

can name them now.”

Silverpool jerked backwards as she saw a dark cat leap out from the bushes.

He pinned Ferncloud down to the ground. Silverpool strained to see him, but his pelt

color was disguised by mud and twigs.

“These kits are yours!” he hissed to Ferncloud. “No cat must know their

origins. And you!” He turned to Silverpool. “Don’t tell anybody. No one can know!”

Silverpool backed away. “O-okay,” she gasped. In a flash the cat leapt off of

Ferncloud, fleeing into the bushes.

“Oh, StarClan!” wailed Ferncloud, crouching on the ground. “What was that?”

Her eyes glittered as she glanced up at Silverpool. “No one can know now,” she

whispered. “That dark cat will kill us for sure!”

Silverpool shook her head. It had all happened so fast.

Sure enough, that night Ferncloud woke the entire camp, yowling as she

kitted. Dustpelt paced frantically. “She had two already!” he wailed. “Two kits, and

she didn’t wake me till the third!”

“It’s all right,” soothed Silverpool. “She’ll be okay.”

That night, two white kits and a red squirmed in the nest next to Ferncloud.

She licked the tufts of fur on their tiny heads and named them. “This red one will be

Foxkit. The white and gray one can be Frostkit. And the little one, the spotted one,

will be Icekit.”

*****

“The cats who will be going to the Gathering are Whitewing, Cloudtail,

Brightheart, Silverpool, Dawnfall, Cherrypaw, Molepaw, and Stormheart,”

announced Firestar.

Silverpool pricked her ears. Surely a queen shouldn’t go to a Gathering?

Firstar knew that she had been in the nursery for a quarter-moon.

“Hey, Silverpool,” Sunsplash whispered in her ear. “You should get some rest

before the Gathering so you can tell me everything when you get back!”

Silverpool purred. “Stupid furball. I’ll tell you everything even if I have to talk

in my sleep!” But she obliged and padded over to the nursery to rest.

Before too long it was time to leave. Silverpool bounded out of the den and

joined the others who were going. They leapt through the forest and into the hollow.

Silverpool immediately saw Nightpaw.

“Nightpaw!” she meowed to him, winding her tail around his. He eyed her.

“Who’s Nightpaw? There’s no Nightpaw in ShadowClan! I’m Nightfoot now,

Silverpaw!”

Silverpool batted his ears. “There’s no Silverpaw either, mousebrain! My

name is Silverpool.”

“Wow, Silverpool,” he purred. “That’s a good name! I got mine right after the

last- um, meeting.”

“Me too!” Silverpool purred. “Nightfoot, I have to tell you something-“

“Attention, all Clans!” Silverpool pricked her ears and looked up as Firestar

called the meeting. “I will start. ThunderClan is faring well. We drove off two

badgers who thought that they might make a nest of our fur. They went towards

your territory,” he said, dipping his head to Duskstar.

“Wonderful,” the dark tabby tom said wryly. “We needed another badger to

drive off.”

“We are also about to have a new litter of kits. Jayfeather, would you like to

tell the Clans about the kits?”

Jayfeather stepped forward and dipped his head. “Yes, Firestar. I would like

to tell the Clans that-“

“No!” Blackstar pushed in front of Firestar. “I will speak now! I am going to

announce a traitor to all of us!”

The cats flattened their ears. Silverpool’s eyes widened. Had Blackstar

discovered her secret?

“I am revealing a secret that has gone on for several moons now. As all of you

know, two cats from different Clans cannot have kits!”

Hisses rose from the Clans. Nightfoot’s frightened emerald eyes snapped over

to meet hers.

“You also know that medicine cats must not have kits!”

Silverpool’s fur rose in confusion. She wasn’t a medicine cat! She looked over

at Thrushwing, Jayfeather’s apprentice, whose eyes were widened in panic as she

watched Blackstar.

“When the warrior code is broken, we must act!” Blackstar was on his paws,

yowling to StarClan.

Thrushwing wasn’t looking at Blackstar, Silverpool realized. She was looking

at Duskstar, and he was looking back with terrified yellow eyes.

Oh no, oh no oh no oh no! Silverpool dodged through the cats and stood next

to Thrushwing. “No, Thrushwing, no!” she cried as Blackstar yowled, “Duskstar of

WindClan has been seen with Thrushwing of ThunderClan. Look at her now! Her

eyes are wide with fear! Her tail swishes back and forth! These two cats have been

meeting each other, and we must stop them before disaster is created between the

Clans!”

It hadn’t been them, Silverpool realized. Thrushwing’s gray pelt and her own

silver one looked the same in the moonlight. Duskstar and Nightfoot both had black

pelts. And because she and Nightfoot had met where the ThunderClan, WindClan,

and ShadowClan borders met, Blackstar thought that it was a WindClan cat.

“What?” Thrushwing yowled, on her paws. “I am a medicine cat! You must

have seen a rogue! Jayfeather can prove that I have been in the medicine den every

night!”

“No, Blackstar!” yowled Silverpool. “It was me! It was my fault! Don’t blame

Thrushwing!”

“What?” Firestar shot to his paws. “What are you talking about?”

Suddenly, Silverpool felt a wave of nausea spread through her. Choking back

a cry as a cramp seized her, she stumbled into the bushes, ignoring Dawnfall’s cry of

shock.

Silverpool felt all the muscles under her pelt tense. She felt an agonizing pain

in her belly.

“StarClan, help me!” she screamed.

Jayfeather appeared in the bushes, sightless eyes wide. “StarClan, no!’ he

yowled. “ She can’t have her kits this early!”

Nightfoot charged into the small circle of bushes. “Silverpool!” he howled in

shock. “You’re having kits?”

Silverpool let out a cry, and the pain lessened. She lay panting, exhausted by

the torture.

“Is that all?” she gasped. Jayfeather felt her belly, looking worried. Instead of

answering, he said, “You have a healthy she-cat.”

More pain came on in waves. Silverpool tried to yowl, but the breath

wouldn’t come to her and she could only wheeze. Something warm trickled through

her fur, and Nightfoot began desperately licking her ear. “Don’t worry, Silverpool.

I’m here for you.”

“You have a tom,” pronounced Jayfeather, the worry in his eyes turning to

panic.

Her ears were splitting in half- who was making that awful shrieking noise?

She squirmed around, pain piercing her, and realized it was her.

“Another she-cat,” Jayfeather panted, gently pressing his paw on her flank.

Dawnfall, Firestar, and Thrushwing crowded around her. “No!” Dawnfall

yowled. “StarClan, no!”

But there was still more. Silverpool could only fight for breath as the spasms

racked her body and the last kit was born. The agonizing pain stopped abruptly, and

Silverpool drifted into blackness…

*****

She became aware of herself lying in a puddle in the midst of a forest. Cats

were standing around her. She blinked once and instantly the features of the cat

closest to her became sharp and recognizable.

“Mistwing!” Silverpool cried out in joy, leaping up and wincing as soreness

gripped her muscles.

“Stay in the pool,” Mistwing said. “StarClan is not finished healing you.”

Silverpool’s eyes widened, and she looked at the ground. “Am I dead?” she

asked unhappily. She blinked in surprise as Mistwing shook her head. “Not yet.

StarClan is trying to decide whether you are dead or sleeping.” And for the first time

since opening her eyes, Silverpool became aware of an argument going on between

a blue-gray she-cat and a big red tom.

“She has them!” argued the big tom. “We can’t let the kits of legend grow up

without a mother!”

“Yet we can’t let her go back down there,” the she-cat retorted. “Lionheart,

she came here for a reason. Was the reason to tour our hunting grounds, or was it to

be one of us?”

“Come,” Mistwing murmured. “Let Bluestar and Lionheart decide. I will show

you your family.”

“You can do that?” Silverpool asked, wanting badly to see her mates and kits.

“We will send you down. Do you want to be visible to Nightfoot, Sunsplash, or

one of the kits?”

Silverpool was shocked at making such a decision. She closed her eyes. Not

her kits, she decided. Their eyes wouldn’t be open. Nightfoot had been with her

when she took her last breath.

“Sunsplash,” she meowed.

“Come with me,” mewed Mistwing, and she stepped on light, swift feet

through the pool and below the ground. Silverpool hesitated, but then followed.

She instantly saw her own body, surrounded by her friends and family. Well-

wishers shared tongues with her.

“I’m sorry, Silverpool,” whispered Dawnfall. “I couldn’t save you like

Pinewhisker did.”

Sunsplash was off to one side, meowing urgently to Jayfeather with a wild,

fierce gleam in his eye.

“You say that she might still be alive?” he wailed. “I thought that she was

dead! She has to be alive!”

“Only StarClan knows for sure,” Jayfeather said calmly. Silverpool twitched

one ear. Not even StarClan knows if I’m dead or not.

“I can’t believe that she would ever have two mates,” Sunsplash went on

miserably. “We’re the only two cats that know! I miss her.”

A shiver ran through her body as Sunsplash’s eyes pierced her. They widened

in shock as she stepped over to him and whispered, “I will always be with you,

Sunsplash.”

Suddenly she was whisked back up to StarClan. She rose from the pool and

Bluestar approached her. “The decision has been made,” she meowed quietly. “You

shall stay alive to take care of the kits. But there has been a prophecy.” Her voice

turned to a whisper. “Three to save three, two made into one. Go with the prophecy. It

has been given!”

And Silverpool awoke inside her body again.

*****

She opened her eyes. Herbs stuck to her pelt. She heaved herself to her paws

and stumbled into the nursery, where her mate looked up. The surprise in his eyes

gradually turned to one of shock, then relief.

“Silverpool! You’re alive!” yowled Sunsplash in joy and delight. “Look at our

wonderful kits! There are three she-cats and a tom. We have to name them!”

Silverpool looked down at her mewling kits. She slowly licked the smallest

one, a silvery-blue she-cat who looked like she had more fur than bones.

“Willowkit,” she whispered, and she was shocked to hear how weak her voice was.

“I like that,” said Sunsplash softly. “This one can be named Flamekit.” He

licked a tuft of orange striped fur that was sticking up off of Flamekit’s head.

She swept her tail wearily around to rest it on the head of a pure black she-

cat who looked shockingly like Nightfoot, but without the spots.

“Nightkit,” she meowed.

“And this one,” Silverpool gently pushed the last kit, a pure silver she-cat, into

the warmth of her belly, “can be Splashkit.”

The naming of the kits done, Silverpool lowered her head and let them

squirm into her belly, squeaking and mewling, and she fell asleep.

Chapter One

“Grahhh!” Nightstar leapt at the ShadowClan invader, baring her teeth. She

used her claws to slice his pelt. He yowled in shock and pain, but still managed to

grab a kit from the nursery.

“Let go of him,” yowled Nightstar, and she bit hard into the intruder’s ear.

The intruder wailed, but a giant paw came out of nowhere, begging her to calm

down as it cuffed her gently, rolling her over into a soft nest of moss, where she

landed on a thorn.

“Ouch!” Nightstar shook her head, blinked her indigo eyes, and became

Nightkit again. She glared at Flamekit, who looked innocently back at her through

wide green eyes.

“You put a thorn in my bed!” she yowled, and she leapt at him. He ducked and

instead of landing on the strong body of her brother, she stumbled and plopped

down in a nest full of mewling newborn kits.

“Sorry, Dawnfall!” she meowed, backing out of the nest of seven kits.

Dawnfall glared, but twitched her whiskers in amusement as one of the kits

squeaked in protest. “I’d hate to have six littermates,” Nightkit muttered to

Splashkit. She nodded in agreement.

Willowkit bounded in from where she had been looking for a mouse in the

fresh-kill pile. “Watch out,” she whispered. “Stinkhead’s coming.”

Foxpaw entered the den, as well as the foul stench of mouse bile and dog.

Foxpaw looked, smelled and acted like his namesake. He was only one moon older

than Nightkit, Flamekit, and Splashkit, but acted like StarClan had made him leader

already. He held a bundle of moss in his jaws.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if Firestar hadn’t made me,” he mumbled in his

slurred voice. He glared at Dawnfall’s kits. “First the elders, now this. I’m too cool to

replace bedding,” he added.

“Go away, Foxdung,” hissed Flamekit. Foxpaw dropped his moss. “You’re not

cool enough to order me around,” he complained.

They pricked their ears as Firestar called, ”Let all cats old enough to catch

their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a meeting!”

Silverpool leapt to her paws. “It’s your apprentice ceremony!” she cried. “I

completely forgot! Come here, Flamekit! You too, Willowkit!”

Flamekit rolled his eyes and padded over to his mother as Foxpaw bounded

away, complaining, “Now my mentor’s gonna make me do it later. Why can’t

Frostpaw do it?”

Willowkit reluctantly followed Flamekit over to their mother. Nightkit

smirked and began carefully washing herself. Splashkit did the same, and soon they

padded into the clearing.

“Splashkit, Flamekit, Willowkit, and Nightkit, please come up here.” Nightkit

walked up the rocks that led to the Highledge with her siblings. “By naming

apprentices, we show that ThunderClan will survive and remain strong. Splashkit,

from this day forward, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as

Splashpaw. Dovewing, you will mentor Splashpaw. StarClan honors your

compassion and skill in hunting, and I know that you will pass your warrior skills on

to Splashpaw.”

Splashpaw touched noses with Dovewing and they went over to sit with the

apprentices.

“Flamekit, from this day forward you will be known as Flamepaw. Lionblaze,

you will mentor Flamepaw. You have proved yourself as a good mentor with

Dovewing, and I hope that you will pass on your strength and courage to Flamepaw.

I am certain that Flamepaw will become a worthy warrior of ThunderClan.”

Flamepaw padded over to Lionblaze with an expression of awe on his face.

Nightkit knew that Lionblaze was known throughout all Clans for his fighting skill.

“Willowkit, you will be known as Willowpaw. Your mentor will be Ivypool.

Ivypool, you have shown yourself as a warrior of great cunning and forethought. I

trust you to pass on these skills to Willowpaw.”

Willowpaw shyly padded over to her new mentor.

“Nightkit, you will be known as Nightpaw. Your mentor will be Stormheart.

Stormheart, you have shown yourself to be an excellent warrior. I know that you

will pass on your confidence and agility to Nightpaw.”

The gray and white warrior stepped forward. Stormheart was usually

confident, but now Nightpaw caught a glimpse of fear in his eyes as he touched her

nose and took on the responsibility of an apprentice.

“Where will we go first?” asked Nightpaw, excited at finally being allowed

outside camp. She pricked her ears as Stormheart replied, “We’re going to patrol the

border. I’ll show you how to scent mark, and then maybe we’ll practice some

hunting.”

“Cool!” meowed Nightpaw. She bounded away towards the exit and

immediately tripped and fell down the rock pile, rolling until she hit the ground.

“Ow,” she groaned, pushing herself up and shaking her paws, one by one.

Stormheart bounded gracefully down. “Are you okay?” he asked, though his

whiskers were twitching with amusement.

Nightpaw hissed at him playfully. She liked her mentor.

A shiver passed through her spine as she glanced behind her and saw

Frostpaw, Foxpaw’s brother. The tom stared at her with icy blue eyes and flattened

his ears, trotting away. Nightpaw shook herself as Stormheart gently nudged her,

and she pushed the incident out of her mind.

Touring the territory was more boring than she thought. They scent-marked

every paw-length of the border and scared off a loner. Nightpaw groaned as they

padded back to the camp to practice fighting and hunting.

“The basics of fighting,” said Stormheart, “are very simple. Watch how I use

them as I-“

“Attack!” yowled Nightpaw, and she leapt onto Stormheart’s shoulders.

“Hey!” he protested. “I wasn’t ready!”

“Surprise is a warrior’s greatest weapon!” crowed Nightpaw, quoting

Lionblaze. She dug her paws into his pelt, careful not to let her claws come

unsheathed. Stormheart growled and threw her off, but Nightpaw landed on her

paws. Neatly using her paws to flip him over, she pinned him down with her teeth at

his throat.

“Wow! How did you do that?” Stormheart pushed her off of him. “Even

Lionblaze can’t do that!”

“You weren’t ready,” Nightpaw meowed awkwardly.

“Try again,” invited her mentor.

Nightpaw crouched. Stormheart leapt at her, but she launched herself

upward and crashed into his belly, knocking him down, and landed on top of him.

Again, she put her teeth near his throat.

Stormheart gasped and lay still. Nightpaw nipped his ear. “Stormheart?”

There was no reply.

“Stormheart? Wake up!”

“You filthy ShadowClan traitor!” yowled her mentor, and he bowled

Nightpaw over, pinning her down with a paw. Nightpaw struggled, but she finally

admitted defeat and Stormheart let her up. She shoved him playfully with a paw.

“I didn’t even see you,” gasped Stormheart, getting up and licking at his dusty

fur. He nipped her leg her playfully. “Race you to the fresh-kill pile.”

Nightpaw dashed over to the camp, scrambling up the rocks and over to the

pile. She grabbed a pigeon and had halfway finished eating it when Stormheart

hauled himself into view.

“You’re too fast for this old cat,” he panted, sitting next to her with a vole.

Nightpaw pushed him with a paw. “You’re not that old!”

Suddenly Icepaw caught her attention. “Come sit with me!” he purred.

Nightpaw looked at her mentor. His eyes sparkled, and he nodded his head towards

Icepaw with a teasing look in his eyes. Nightpaw joined him, feeling her mentor’s

gaze on her back.

“So, how are you?” asked Icepaw, shoving his half-finished sparrow in her

direction. “Would you like to share?” he muttered awkwardly.

“Sure,” Nightpaw said, catching a teasing glance from Willowpaw and

throwing back one of disdain. She could make friends with a tom if she wanted!

“I met your brother Frostpaw today,” she said in an awkward attempt to

make conversation.

“Pff,” snorted Icepaw. “Bit of an unfriendly cat, isn’t he?”

“Well… not so much unfriendly as… cold,” she defended him. Icepaw shoved

her playfully. “I guess it’s good he was named Frostpaw then, right?”

“Hey, Nightpaw! Time to go out again!” called Stormheart. Nightpaw looked

at Icepaw, flicked her ear in an apology, and bounded to her mentor.

*****

Nightpaw woke up and padded out into the clearing with her sister. She

immediately saw Stormheart and Dovewing eating together, and she bounded over

to join them. Soon Splashpaw emerged from the apprentice den and sleepily padded

over to join them.

“Splashpaw, come and eat with me!” yowled Foxpaw, his revolting stench

drifting over to Nightpaw’s nose.

Splashpaw pricked her ears, and to Nightpaw’s surprise and disgust, she

snatched up her vole and bounded over to Foxpaw. Nightpaw wrinkled her nose in

loathing. She joined Icepaw and had an enjoyable time hissing playful insults at

Foxpaw and Splashpaw.

“I can’t believe you ate with that arrogant piece of fox dung!” she exclaimed

as they leapt down the cascade of rocks to the training hollow. Splashpaw flattened

her ears in embarrassment. “He’s actually kind of nice.”

“No, he’s not,” sighed Nightpaw. “He’s a mouse-brain. Don’t listen to him!”

*****

Nightpaw went on hunting patrol the next day. Soon after they left,

Flamepaw caught a mouse.

“Good, Flamepaw,” Lionblaze praised him. “Let’s see what you can do,

Nightpaw.”

He gestured towards the ShadowClan border. “There’s always prey near the

old Twoleg den.”

He was right. As soon as they got there, Nightpaw smelled a squirrel. The

next moment, she saw it, perched on a tree root.

“Be careful,” Lionblaze breathed. “Place your paws down lightly.”

Nightpaw set a paw carefully on the ground, then another. She crept forward,

keeping her eyes on her prey.

Suddenly, a crackle split the air. The squirrel dashed for cover. Nightpaw

leapt forward and trapped the squirrel under her paws, biting its neck quickly.

“Great StarClan, Nightpaw!” Lionblaze cried. “That was the fastest I’ve ever

seen a cat move in my life!”

Nightpaw picked up the squirrel in her jaws. “My first catch!” she meowed

proudly, and the cats trekked back to camp.

*****

“Wake up, Nightpaw!” yowled Sunsplash, shaking her shoulder. Nightpaw

yawned and blinked at her father.

“You’ve been an apprentice for three moons, Nightpaw! You know when to

wake up!”

“We’re going on the border patrol,” explained Flamepaw, following Lionheart

down the cascade.

“May we hunt?” Nightpaw pleaded, looking desperately at her father. He

shook his head. “This is a border patrol. We can catch a mouse if we see one, but

we’ll probably mostly mark borders.”

“Please?” begged Nightpaw.

“No!” he snapped back, his tail flicking, irritated.

“Fine,” she fired back, wondering what made him so grumpy. “Don’t act so

nice, will you?”

Sunsplash’s tail swished back and forth, despite the hiss of exasperation from

Berrynose. “Why can’t you be more respectful?”

“I will when you earn it!”

Sunsplash spun around, hissing. “If you want to hunt, go and do it yourself!”

When Nightpaw didn’t move, he cuffed her ears. “Well? Go!”

Nightpaw spun around and plunged into the bushes. She raced on until she

saw a mouse.

I’ll show him. Nightpaw crouched as she had seen the older apprentices do

outside their den and quietly crept up on the mouse. She had almost reached it

when a crackle snapped the air and she smelled a disgusting scent. She blinked as a

white, deformed paw stepped into view.

Slowly, Nightpaw looked up into the crazed brown eyes of a large, skinny fox.

For a moment, the two just stood there, looking at each other.

“Great StarClan!” yowled Nightpaw, and the fox shook its thin head and

sprang.

Nightpaw ducked and ran her unsheathed claws over the fox’s pelt. It yipped

in pain and slashed a paw full of blunt claws at her face. Nightpaw screamed in pain

as the claws slashed across her eye, and she crouched, momentarily stunned.

She slashed out at the fox and drove it back into the brambles. I’m going to

win!

She wailed in shock as a second fox stepped out of the bushes, much larger

than the first one. It snarled, and the other fox ran off.

Closing her cut eye, Nightpaw slashed out at the new fox, grabbing its scruff

in her teeth and gripping onto its back with all of her claws. The fox bit the paw

nearest to its head and flung her off. Nightpaw flew through the air and cracked her

head sharply on a stone. She gasped for breath as the fox came over to sniff her.

Nightpaw lashed out with her back legs, scoring a cut in its white belly. The fox

growled. Nightpaw leapt to her paws, still dizzy and disoriented from hitting her

head, and dove in to bite the fox’s ear, but before she got there the fox scored its

claws across her face and bit her ear hard, throwing her back against the rock.

Nightpaw’s head was splitting with pain as the fox raked her face with its claws over

and over again…

Nightpaw’s last thought before sinking into blackness was of Icepaw.

*****

Splashpaw went on hunting patrol with Icepaw and their mentors.

Splashpaw had discovered yesterday that she was a natural at hunting, and she was

eager to show off her skills to her friends.

She immediately spotted a mouse and began stalking it, creeping up on it

with light feet. She didn’t notice the body in the shadows until she put her paw in a

pool of blood.

“Ugh!” she groaned, and, pulling it out, began to lick it. “Some mouse-brained

cat forgot to bring back their prey!”

Suddenly a familiar smell washed over her.

“Nightpaw!” she yowled, seeing the black pelt of her sister. For a moment, she

stood, staring at her sister with a shocked expression on her face. Splashpaw shook

her head, cursing herself. How could I not have known? She dragged the body into

the clearing, where Icepaw and the others were waiting for her.

Icepaw saw Nightpaw immediately. “No!” he wailed. “Not her!” He crouched

next to her and began licking the side of her face that showed, the side with a long,

bloody scar that stretched from her ear to her tail.

“Icepaw,” meowed Dovewing, obviously trying to remain calm. Icepaw

looked up with wild eyes. “I won’t leave her!”

Dovewing sighed in pain and sympathy. She placed her tail around his

shoulders and tore him away, reassuring him.

Splashpaw fastened her teeth in her sister’s scruff, numb with disbelief. It

couldn’t be happening! She gasped in shock as Nightpaw lolled her head and the

worst part of the injury was revealed.

Nightpaw’s entire right ear was ripped away. Claw marks scored her face,

and the eye socket, though closed tightly, wept tears of blood. Icepaw’s mentor,

Berrynose, gasped in shock at the terrible sight.

They gently carried Splashpaw’s sister back to the cascade, and Berrynose

raced in to get Jayfeather.

Jayfeather’s eyes were wide as he padded out of the camp with marigold in

his jaws. He slowly began sniffing Nightpaw’s unmoving body. He stopped at one

place, sniffing over and over again. “Fox,” he declared. “She was attacked by a fox.”

*****

Splashpaw paced around the clearing. Nightpaw’s last spoken wish was for

her to stay away from Foxpaw, and she would respect that.

As if her thoughts had drawn him over, Foxpaw appeared next to her. At first

he looked uncomfortable as Splashpaw turned away and refused to look at him.

“Sorry about your sister,” he murmured. “I know that she doesn’t like me. I

acted a bit like a mousebrain.”

Splashpaw didn’t answer. Her heart was breaking.

“She’ll live. I know it.”

Splashpaw shook her head.

“Please answer me, Splashpaw! Don’t let her tell you who to love.”

Splashpaw slowly turned and looked into his warm brown eyes. She couldn’t

bear the thought of losing him, too. She turned away again. She bent her head, away

from Foxpaw.

“I wish that it was easier,” she wailed. Foxpaw pressed against her. “I know,

Splashpaw. I know.”

*****

Jayfeather groaned in exasperation. Kestrelflight’s new apprentice,

Cedarpaw, was chattering nonstop. He rolled his eyes as her noisy twittering went

on. He couldn’t think!

“Would somebody shut her up? I can’t hear a thing!” he muttered to

Mothwing. Suddenly, his paws landed in water.

“Ugh!” he cried, swiftly licking the water off of his paw.

“Time to drink from the pool,” Mothwing meowed. Jayfeather crouched down

next to the others and lapped up a mouthful of water. Immediately everything burst

into color. He looked around himself. He was in the hollow where they held

Gatherings.

Jayfeather meowed in shock as a cat appeared out of the shadows.

“Longtail?”

Jayfeather cried out in joy as the tabby warrior greeted him. “Hello,

Jayfeather. I have a prophecy to make.”

“A prophecy?”

Jayfeather’s eyes widened as the tabby spoke. “Three to save the three, two

to become one.” Longtail gave Jayfeather a swift lick behind the ear and faded.

“Wait!” he cried. “What do you mean?”

But Longtail was gone, and Jayfeather woke in darkness again.

*****

Nightpaw became slowly aware of herself. She sniffed the air. She could smell

Jayfeather, Flamepaw, and Splashpaw. They seemed to be talking.

Nightpaw opened her eyes. She could see her siblings and her medicine cat,

arguing about something. They hadn’t noticed her yet.

She felt a little bit wobbly, but managed to push herself up onto her paws.

She padded over to the pool and drank thirstily. Then Nightpaw stretched, blinked,

and gasped.

Her reflection showed her, but horrifically altered. Her ear was almost

completely torn off. One of her eyes had scars over it, and more scars ripped down

her neck and to her shoulder. On her flank, bare skin stretched from her other eye to

the base of her tail. One of her paws had no fur on it. Her full ear had nicks and

scratches in it. She winked one eye and realized that she could only see out of one of

them.

“No! It’s not me! It can’t be me!”

She swished her tail in panic, and her breathing rasped in her throat. What

was she?

Flamepaw’s voice grew louder and louder. She spun around as she heard a

cry of shock. “Nightpaw!”

She was immediately pounced on and licked by her worried brother.

“Nightpaw! You’re alive! You’re okay! I’m so glad that you’re up. Wait until I tell

Icepaw!”

Nightpaw was immediately worried. Would Icepaw want to see her?

“Don’t!” she wailed. “I’m not Nightpaw anymore. I’m horrible!” She lashed her

tail in anguish.

Flamepaw’s eyes widened. “You’re not horrible! You’re beautiful, Nightpaw!

If Icepaw finds out that I didn’t fetch you when you woke up, he’ll- he’ll-“

Flamepaw bounded out, lost for words, and came back a moment later with

Icepaw. His eyes were shining with relief. “Nightpaw!”

“Icepaw!” Nightpaw was overcome with joy to see him.

He pressed himself into her. “You’re still beautiful,” he murmured into her

ear. Nightpaw purred. He still thought that she was pretty. Nightpaw pressed her

muzzle into his pelt. Icepaw purred and whispered, “You’re still going to be a

warrior. I know it. I can train you to fight and hunt like Lionblaze! You’re just like

Brightheart. She learned to fight, and you can too!”

Nightpaw purred harder. She bounded out to the fresh-kill pile and grabbed a

squirrel. “Come eat, Icepaw,” she meowed. Icepaw shared the squirrel with her, their

tails twining together.

Splashpaw padded over with Foxpaw, their pelts brushing. Nightpaw drew

back and hissed, and Foxpaw stopped, flattening his ears. He didn’t smell nearly as

bad as Nightpaw remembered.

“Sorry about your injuries,” he muttered, and his voice was becoming less

squeaky and more mature. Nightpaw looked at Splashpaw, impressed. Splashpaw

glared back as Foxpaw went to fetch her a vole from the fresh-kill pile.

“See? He’s not all that bad,” she hissed. Nightpaw nodded in agreement.

“When he’s with you, it’s almost like he’s a cat and not a smelly, cheating fox,” she

whispered back.

“He is a cat!” muttered Splashpaw indignantly. “At least, now he is.”

Nightpaw purred in agreement, and the two sisters pressed against each

other for a moment.

“You were sleeping for half a moon!” Splashpaw wailed suddenly. “I thought

that you would die and I would be left alone with old Flamepaw. Why did Sunsplash

have to get all mad at you?”

“Why is Sunsplash so grumpy?” asked Nightpaw.

Splashpaw’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “Don’t ask that out here.

He’ll get so mad at you!”

“Why? What happened?”

Splashpaw looked around nervously. “Every cat knows that Silverpool and

Sunsplash are fighting,” she muttered at last. “A fight actually broke out a couple

days ago. They were accusing each other of breaking the warrior code!”

“Why?” gasped Nightpaw, and Icepaw uncomfortably shifted his paws.

“I’ll just go and- um, use Dirtplace now,” he mumbled, and raced off.

Nightpaw gazed after him. “Splashpaw, what happened?”

“Well, first it was just a border dispute with ShadowClan. There were five

ShadowClan warriors and only four of us, and Silverpool had a giant thorn in her

pad, so she couldn’t fight. But when Jayfeather looked at her pad, there wasn’t any

thorn or cut, so Sunsplash got really angry. We actually had to move the border over

because ShadowClan defeated us. It was right before the accident, and Firestar

would have told everyone, but then you got hurt, and he had to wait until he was

sure you would live. Sunsplash blamed Silverpool for losing that chunk of territory.

They moved their nests. Silverpool won’t speak to him.

“Then there was a bout of greencough in ShadowClan, and Nightfoot came

over asking for herbs. But we had whitecough, so we couldn’t. Silverpool got really

awkward and really wanted to give him herbs. Sunsplash seemed really angry after

that. You know how he was grumpy before. Well, now, he’s furious. He probably

won’t even notice that you’re awake.”

Nightpaw was shocked. Her father was usually a gentle, good-natured cat.

Why was he being like this?

“He also said…” Splashpaw hesitated. “He also called her a rogue, and he said

that we weren’t his kits.”

Nightpaw’s eyes widened, and her tail lashed back and forth. She leapt to her

paws, but Bluekit, one of Snowclaw and Dawnfall’s six moon old kits, trotted over at

that moment. She pressed herself up against Nightpaw. “Hi, Nightpaw. You were so

brave, attacking that fox! I can’t believe that you’re still alive! You must be really

strong.”

Nightpaw gave Bluekit a swift lick on her head, trying to calm the anger in

her heart. “Thanks, Bluekit. You should be a medicine cat. You can heal cats with

words as well as herbs!”

Bluekit purred. “I was actually going to ask Jayfeather that. I’m not sure if he

can have two apprentices, but our Clan needs all the paws it can get.”

“Really? You’ll make a great medicine cat, Bluekit. ThunderClan will be lucky

to have you.”

Bluekit purred and picked up a starling to share with her six siblings.

Nightpaw turned to Splashpaw. “What? He did that? How could he? Does he

have no shame?”

“It was in the heat of the moment,” Splashpaw said, looking at her paws. “But

that’s why he is so mad.”

Nightpaw leapt to her feet, ignoring Splashpaw’s meow of protest, and strode

over to her father.

“What’s all this fox dung?” she demanded. Sunsplash looked up.

“I don’t see any fox dung. All I see is an apprentice, hideously scarred to the

point of being a monster, whose mother is a traitor!”

Nightpaw’s eyes widened in hurt, surprise, and shock.

“I’m not the one who’s a monster!” she hissed, and her tail fluffed out to its

full extent. “I’m not the one who’s horrifically altered!”

“No, you’re not.” He growled. “Silverpool is!”

“How could you do that to my mother!” she yowled. Wind whipped through

the clearing and lifted her fur, and the sun glowed on it and made it burn like fire.

She bared her teeth. “I thought that you loved her!”

“I did!” hissed Sunsplash. “She lied to me, she lied to all of us! I am disgraced

to call her my mate!”

Shock iced Nightpaw’s fur. “You think that about her? Well, I’m her kit! And

you are not my father!” she screamed over the icy gale that blew leaves around

them. Every cat was staring at them. Nightpaw’s single ear was flattened, and her

eyes gleamed with loathing. “A real father supports his daughter! I almost died! You

are no father to me!”

“You wouldn’t have been injured if it hadn’t been for your arrogance and

stupidity!” Sunsplash snarled, and he lashed out at her with unsheathed claws.

Nightpaw screeched in rage and zipped around to scratch her father’s flanks.

He hissed.

“That was clumsy, Nightpaw. Try doing it like this!” He whipped around and

scratched Nightpaw down her freshly healed scar.

Nightpaw was driven past control. She didn’t know how her claws whipped

around Sunsplash’s body so fast, or how her teeth clamped on his ear before he

could blink. All that she knew was that before she could even begin to check herself,

she was standing on top of the warrior who used to be her father, her paws covered

in blood, and Sunsplash was covered in scratches and scars.

Firestar appeared next to them. “What’s going on? Fighting among ourselves

only makes our Clan weaker.”

Nightpaw leapt off of Sunsplash and turned to her leader. “Tell this traitor to

leave the Clan!” she yowled.

Firestar’s face remained impassive, but one ear twitched. “Why do you ask

that? Sunsplash is a loyal ThunderClan warrior.”

“He thinks that my mother is a liar. He thinks that she betrayed us! Make him

leave! Make him go! He’s not my father, and he never was!”

“Sunsplash, you are obviously making Nightpaw very distressed. Please leave

her alone.”

Though Firestar’s tone was calm, something in his eyes made Sunsplash look

away, but not before curling his lip weakly at Nightpaw. Nightpaw hissed back at

him and reluctantly sheathed her claws. Firestar sniffed at Nightpaw’s scar, which

was swelling with blood.

“You’d better go ask Jayfeather to put something on that,” he meowed.

Nightpaw nodded and dashed off towards the medicine den, leaving Firestar looking

worriedly after her and Sunsplash lying on the ground.

“So you said that your own father attacked you?” Jayfeather said.

“He’s not my father!” Nightpaw reminded him angrily, licking so fiercely at

her wound that it started to sting. “He may share my blood, but he can only be my

true father in my mind!”

“Yes, yes, calm down, Nightpaw. You’re making the wound bleed.” Jayfeather

gently pressed cobwebs against Nightpaw’s flank, and the blood flow slowed.

Nightpaw blinked, and immediately the rage was gone from her face. The red

faded from her vision and she flinched.

Immediately she rushed to the entrance and peered out. Sunsplash was

gingerly licking his wounds, spitting the blood onto the ground. Fear engulfed

Nightpaw. Had she done that? How had she inflicted such serious wounds on an

experienced warrior?

She bounded out of the medicine den, forgetting in her terror about their

fight.

“I’m sorry, Sunsplash!”

The warrior eyed her coldly. “For what? For being the daughter of a traitor?”

“I’m sorry I hurt you!”

“I’m not as scarred as you are!”

Anger rekindled in Nightpaw. “I’m sorry that you, a seasoned warrior, was

beaten by an apprentice who can’t even see out of one eye!”

She spun around and marched away, brushing Frostpaw out of her way.

Jayfeather was waiting by the herb store. “You need to learn to control your

temper,” he meowed.

Nightpaw hissed in exasperation. “Blame Sunsplash.”

Jayfeather looked troubled, but he turned away. “Please go. I have to talk to

Lionblaze.”

“All right, all right,” she meowed. She trudged out the entrance.

*****

Jayfeather listened to the fading of Nightpaw’s pawsteps, and then he

bounded over to the warriors den.

“Lionblaze!”

“Huh?” Lionblaze was passed out after a long day of patrolling.

“Wake up,” he hissed, and when Lionblaze didn’t respond, he bit him on the

scruff.

“Ouch!” Lionblaze shot to his paws. He looked around wildly until his eyes

fell on Jayfeather.

“What was that for?” he protested. Jayfeather laid his tail across Lionblaze’s

mouth. “Shut up!”

Lionblaze looked down at the sleeping cats. “Oops.”

Jayfeather groaned. “Come with me!” he demanded in a fierce whisper. “I

have to tell you something!”

“What?” Lionblaze groaned as he and Jayfeather squeezed behind the spot

that had been their old hiding place behind the nursery. It had become much bigger

when the camp was rebuilt after the tree fell.

“This had better be good,” grumbled Lionblaze, licking at a rough spot on his

fur. “I was having a really good dream about-“ He stopped, staring into the trees.

“What?” Jayfeather asked.

“Nothing.” Lionblaze bent his head and licked his chest in embarrassment. “It

was nothing.”

“Fine.” Whatever problems Lionblaze might have, Jayfeather wasn’t going to

pry into his dreams- yet. He changed the subject to a more important matter.

“I think that I’ve found them.”

“Really?” Lionblaze’s ears pricked, and his eyes widened. Jayfeather had

informed him about the dream as soon as he had come back from the Moonpool. He

rather thought that they needed help, he thought. They hadn’t achieved very much

yet.

“I think that they’re Silverpool kits.”

“You mean Flamepaw? And Splashpaw and Nightpaw?”

“Yes. You should’ve seen Nightpaw attack Sunsplash. She’s so fast, she’s a

blur. At least, when she’s fighting, she is. I couldn’t hear or smell her either. She

became… invisible.”

“That’s cool. What about the others?”

“Lionblaze, you mousebrain! It’s more than cool! She one of us! As for the

others, I have no idea. Splashpaw does seem to be inflicting a big change in Foxpaw,

though. He fed the elders without complaining yesterday.”

Lionblaze stopped licking his paw. “What?”

“I know! She’s really changed him. I’m worried about Flamepaw, though. He’s

really quiet, and it doesn’t look like he’s got any powers. Willowpaw… well, she’s so

shy, I barely see her. She’s always out on patrol.“

“I hope he’s not like-”

Lionblaze stopped again, looking at his paws as though ashamed. Jayfeather

didn’t ask what he was thinking this time. He was remembering their sister,

Hollyleaf, who had been crushed by both falling rock and despair for the shattered

warrior code.

*****

That night, Firestar told her quietly that she wouldn’t be going to this

Gathering.

“You need to rest,” he informed her. “Orders from your leader. Now go and

sleep in your nest.”

“I’ll tell you everything,” promised Icepaw, and they bounded off into the

trees.

*****

Nightpaw awoke to see Splashpaw and Foxpaw talking. Disgust filled her

throat like bile, and she had to choke it down. No matter how much Foxpaw had

changed, she still felt sick when she saw him with her sister.

“I’m worried about my siblings,” Splashpaw muttered to the red apprentice.

“Flamepaw is so shy, he’s barely made any friends. And Nightpaw almost killed

Sunsplash yesterday! She’s got such a hot temper-“

“I do not!” Nightpaw leapt to her paws. “You just feel bad for that piece of

foxdung!”

“No, Nightpaw,” Foxpaw said. “She hates him, too. I’ve heard her rant about

him. She thinks that he deserves to be thrown out of ThunderClan.”

Nightpaw blinked slowly, taking in the fact that Foxpaw had defended her

sister from her own actions. She hung her head. “Sorry, Splashpaw,” she mumbled.

“It’s okay,” Splashpaw replied, batting her sister’s remaining ear gently.

“We’re all under so much pressure right now, what with Sunsplash and Silverpool

and- you know…“

She stopped, shifting on her paws uncomfortably, and Nightpaw twitched her

ear nervously.

“Nightpaw? Are you feeling up to training?”

Nightpaw leapt to her paws. “Finally! Yes!” She bounded outside to her

mentor. “Can we go to the hollow? I want to learn fighting moves!”

Stormheart purred. “Not today. We’re going on a hunting patrol.”

Nightpaw shuffled her paws. “Okay. Let’s go!” She hadn’t been out of camp for

several moons and felt restless and eager to go.

She and Stormheart hunted for what seemed like a day before she finally

spotted a rabbit. She glanced over at her mentor, who flicked his ear to tell her that

it was hers. She immediately dropped into the hunting crouch. The squirrel began to

eat something that it had picked up off of the ground. She slid forward and leaped.

But at that moment, she brushed against some ferns that she hadn’t seen through

her blind eye, and the squirrel dashed away. Nightpaw hissed in exasperation and

leapt after it, blundering through the undergrowth.

“Nightpaw!” called her mentor. “You’ll scare away all the prey in the forest

with that noise!”

Nightpaw checked herself and tried to run more silently. The squirrel dashed

for a tree, but before Nightpaw could jump on it, something collided with her. A

blinding pain seared her head and she stumbled back, gasping. Dazed, she blinked

and recognized Petalpaw, an apprentice from ShadowClan. The apprentice was

glaring at her. “Mousebrain! I would’ve had that squirrel if you hadn’t crossed the

border!”

“This is ThunderClan territory!” hissed Nightpaw. Petalpaw snarled. “Not

anymore, it’s not. ShadowClan needs more territory, and ThunderClan is too weak to

defend it.”

“Petalpaw!” yowled another ShadowClan cat. “Stop talking to whoever’s over

there and get over here!”

Four large ShadowClan warriors appeared out of the bushes. “What’s this?”

sneered one. “It’s a ThunderClan kit! My, kit, you need to grow some fur!”

Nightpaw hissed as the other cats jeered.

“What’s going on?” asked her mentor as he slid out of the shadows. The rest

of the patrol appeared behind him, silent and tense. Stormheart dipped his head to

the largest, ShadowClan’s deputy. Flamepaw stepped in front of Nightpaw, showing

no trace of shyness. Nightpaw was impressed, even through her anger, that he was

being so brave. Even so, she hissed in his ear, “You don’t need to take care of me!”

“Darkwhisker. What are you doing on our territory? Do you need to talk to

Firestar?” Stormheart’s ears went back as Darkwhisker ran a claw over Flamepaw’s

flank.

“Do you need to learn what a border marker is?” hissed the ShadowClan

deputy, pinning Flamepaw down. “This is our side of the border, Stormheart. Get off

our territory unless you want this apprentice’s fur clawed off.”

“This isn’t your territory, Darkwhisker,” the gray warrior replied coolly. “It’s

ours, and we’ll fight for it.”

“Then I will inform Blackstar that you wish to fight. Tell your kittypet leader

that he wants us to meet here at sunhigh.”

The ShadowClan patrol vanished into the bushes. Stormheart stared gravely

at the group of cats. “Let’s get back so that we can tell Firestar,” he meowed, and

leapt through the undergrowth back to the camp.

“You say that they marked a new border? It was ten tail-lengths over the

agreed one?” Firestar growled. “I hate to send my warriors into battle, but I’m sure

that they’ll agree that it’s something worth fighting for.”

He padded out of his den with Stormheart and the rest of the patrol trailing

after him. Leaping up onto the Highledge, Firestar called to the Clan. “Let all cats old

enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting.”

“What’s going on?” Splashpaw yawned, padding out of the den with Foxpaw.

Nightpaw narrowed her eyes. “Trouble with ShadowClan.”

“Our dawn patrol encountered some ShadowClan cats,” Firestar growled.

“Stormheart says that they marked a new border several fox-lengths inside of our

old one. Stormheart, please tell the Clan what these mouse-brained cats deluded

themselves that they could do.”

As the cats all listened to Stormheart give the report, Nightpaw watched

dissent spread through her Clan like a disease. Foxpaw’s tail was lashing back and

forth, and he was muttering under his breath. Flamepaw was licking at the scratch

that Darkwhisker had given him, claws unsheathed and ripping at the ground.

Willowpaw’s eyes were round and frightened, but her claws were unsheathed. The

queens milled around at the edge of the clearing, each gathered around Dawnfall’s

kits. Whitekit, one of Dawnfall’s kits, was puffing out his chest. “Let me fight them!”

he meowed to his mother. “I’ll tear them limb from limb!”

Redkit, his brother, pounced on him. “You can’t get me!” he squeaked. “I’m

Blackstar, the leader of ShadowClan. I have nine lives! Die, Whitekit, die!” He

pummeled at his brother with tiny paws. Dawnfall leaned down and lifted him by

the scruff. “Hush,” she scolded. “Stormheart is trying to give a report.”

“Humph!” Redkit said.

Even the kits are preparing for battle! Nightpaw thought.

“The cats who will fight are Cloudtail, Lionblaze, Dovewing, Brightheart,

Sunsplash, Mousepelt, Silverpool, Coldgaze, Stormheart, Foxpaw, Willowpaw,

Flamepaw, Icepaw, Cherrypaw, Nightpaw, Frostpaw, and, of course, myself,” Firestar

meowed. “The named cats will join me in the hollow for some extra battle training.

The rest of you, get some rest. Thrushwing, come with us so that you can treat badly

hurt cats. Jayfeather, stock up on herbs. Cats are going to be injured. “

Nightpaw gathered in the training hollow with the other apprentices.

Coldgaze, Stormheart, and Cloudtail were near them, talking amongst themselves.

Finally the three toms seemed to reach an agreement and Stormheart walked over

to the seven apprentices. “Okay, we’re three ShadowClan warriors and you’re

trapped in bramble bushes. What are you going to do…”

The extra battle training went by in a flash. Nightpaw felt clumsy and

uncoordinated as she tumbled through fights. Finally Firestar assigned them jobs.

“We can meet at the new border. Most of us will hide in the trees. I will be

there with Stormheart and Cloudtail and try to convince Blackstar to back down

without a fight.”

“He won’t listen,” yowled Foxpaw.

“Of course he won’t. That’s why you’ll be waiting in the trees. As soon as he

tries to attack, Dovewing, Brightheart, Mousepelt, Silverpool, Coldgaze, Flamepaw,

Icepaw, and Cherrypaw will jump down. After the ShadowClan warriors get over

that surprise, I’ll yowl and the rest of you will come down. Nightpaw and Flamepaw,

if you two are too frightened to fight, your job will be to take injured cats to

Thrushwing. Is that clear?”

The cats dipped their heads. Nightpaw glanced at Flamepaw. He didn’t look

too scared to fight. If anything, he looked as though he would rip off a ShadowClan

pelt for a couple of mousetails.

Before she could blink, Splashpaw was saying goodbye to her den- and

littermates, and Nightpaw and the rest were leaping through the trees. After a while,

they slowed down and moved silently, stealthily so that the ShadowClan cats

wouldn’t hear them. Firestar and Stormheart approached the entire Clan of cats that

silently waited for them, Cloudtail trailing behind.

“Do you expect to fight with three warriors?” jeered Blackstar.

“I have come to ask you to retreat in peace,” Firestar replied, and Nightpaw

could see that he was forcing his fur to lay flat. “There is no need to fight. Remember

what happened last time? Two lives were lost for nothing.”

“This time, if lives are lost, there will be a reason!” hissed Blackstar.

Willowpaw flinched away from the leader’s sharp words, her silver-green eyes wide.

Nightpaw’s paws ached to warn her leader as Blackstar’s tail twitched slowly three

times. Instantly ShadowClan was on top of the leader and his small patrol.

Firestar’s yowl of fake shock and anger was disguised well. The ShadowClan

cats didn’t even get to look up before ThunderClan landed on top of them. The other

Clan recovered quickly, though. Nightpaw watched in horror as Cloudtail was

tossed, bleeding, off of Darkwhisker’s shoulders. Furious yowls rang out as fur flew

everywhere. Nightpaw closed her eyes and prepared to leap as the second yowl rang

out.

When she opened her eyes, she was still standing on the bough. Fear pulsed

through her in an icy wave as she saw ShadowClan’s warriors rip through her

friends as though they were fresh-kill. She gasped as she saw Frostpaw’s ear

shredded by a warrior much bigger than him. The warrior raked his claws down

Frostpaw’s face. Suddenly, Lionblaze, battling fiercely with another cat, crashed into

the ShadowClan warrior, who fell on top of Frostpaw’s hind legs, crushing them.

Frostpaw screeched in pain. Nightpaw wailed out loud, pain coursing through her in

his behalf. She leapt down and crouched next to the blue-white apprentice,

forgetting in an instant her former wariness of him. “Don’t worry, Frostpaw,” she

whispered as she dragged him into the bushes. Thrushwing was waiting there with

tangy herbs and sweet berries to soothe scratches and stop bleeding. She instantly

spread a chervil poultice on his scratches and gave him a juniper berry to calm his

wailing. “Thanks,” he managed to pant to Nightpaw.

Nightpaw dashed out and saw Icepaw, fiercely fighting a warrior twice his

size. His eyes widened as he looked over at Nightpaw and the warrior scratched his

flank.

Nightpaw dashed in as the ShadowClan cat leapt on top of Icepaw and began

raking his claws down his back. Nightpaw bit hard on the cat’s ear and he reeled

back in shock.

Icepaw leapt on the warrior, pinning him down and biting down hard on the

paw closest to him. Yowling, the warrior fled.

“Thanks!” Icepaw meowed, but Nightpaw dashed off as she heard a yowl. She

skidded to a halt, watching in horror as her sister fought off a dark brown warrior.

She gasped as Tigerheart ripped into Willowpaw’s flank, tearing the life out of the

apprentice.

“Willowpaw! No!” screeched Nightpaw. Tigerheart looked at the gaping cut in

Willowpaw’s side and backed away, ears back as he realized what he had done.

“No!” gasped Nightpaw, but her sister flattened her ears as she tried to drag

the apprentice to Thrushwing. “Don’t,” she begged. “It’ll only open the wound more.”

“No, Willowpaw! I’ll get you some herbs and water and you’ll be as good as

new.”

“Thrushwing,” gasped Willowpaw. Nightpaw turned to see the medicine cat

apprentice bounding towards them, carrying a bundle of herbs in her jaws. She

immediately set to work bandaging the awful cut.

Nightpaw whisked around and pinned Tigerheart to the ground. The tabby

cat struggled and spat in her face.

“It's against the warrior code to kill!”

He hissed at her scornfully. She dug her claws into his ear and ripped, hard.

The tabby yowled as blood sprayed Nightpaw’s paw.

Suddenly the most excruciating yowl flattened Nightpaw’s ears.

“Silverpool!” she cried, and Flamepaw bounded after her. “What’s wrong with

our mother?”

Blackstar himself was attacking her mother. Nightpaw crouched to help her,

but suddenly a streak of yellow knocked Blackstar over. Nightpaw recognized

Sunsplash, knocking Blackstar aside. Stormheart, who was bleeding heavily from his

front paw, immediately pounced on the ShadowClan leader.

Nightpaw turned back to the battle and watched as Silverpool crouched to

pounce on Rainpelt, another ShadowClan warrior. A yowl of warning and shock

froze in Nightpaw’s throat as Sunsplash crept up behind her mother and leapt.

“Sunsplash!” cried Silverpool. “What are you doing?”

“Cutting a weakness to the Clan,” snarled the orange warrior. Silverpool

pushed at him with weak silver paws, but Sunsplash merely snarled. “Weaknesses

come from traitors, and traitors come from warriors who love the wrong cats. You

are a weakness, and you must be removed!” Sunsplash raised his paw, claws

unsheathed.

Flamepaw and Nightpaw attacked at the same time. Nightpaw pinned her

father down while her brother shoved Silverpool aside. Nightpaw and Sunsplash

briefly fought, but Sunsplash’s paws were surprisingly slow, and Nightpaw soon

held him down with one claw at his throat, just like the day she had wrestled

Stormheart.

“Why, Sunsplash?” Nightpaw gasped. “Why did you try to kill her? She’s your

mate. I’m your kit!”

“She is not my mate!” snarled Sunsplash. “I am not your father! Your father is

a traitor, and so is your mother!”

“You are not my father,” whispered Nightpaw. She slid aside, unresisting, as

Sunsplash pushed her off of him and strode away.

“You are not- you are not MY FATHER!” she screamed after him. Silverpool

stared after him, hissing halfheartedly. Flamepaw’s tail swished back and forth.

Firestar’s last warning screech as ShadowClan cats fled sliced through the air.

Nightpaw stared, unseeing, at the ground.

Icepaw approached and hissed in surprise at the blood-covered Silverpool

and the tufts of gray hair littering the ground. “What happened?”

Silverpool pushed herself up on weary paws. “Go tell Firestar that Sunsplash

does not belong in ThunderClan.”

Icepaw’s ears flattened. “He what?”

“Just go and tell him, please,” Nightpaw begged. Icepaw looked at her with an

expression in his eyes that betrayed shock and sorrow. “All right, Nightpaw.” He

bounded off.

Frostpaw dragged himself up behind her, Thrushwing worriedly trailing

after him. “What just happened with your father?” he whispered. Nightpaw bared

her teeth. “He’s no father of mine, Frostpaw.”

“But-“ The blue-white apprentice broke off, wincing as Thrushwing gently

began wrapping his legs in cobwebs.

“It’s okay, Frostpaw. You can go now. I just need to be alone.”

“But-“

“Come on, mousebrain!” Thrushwing snapped. “Do you think that I can fix

your legs with you lugging yourself all over like that?”

Frostpaw dragged himself reluctantly off. Nightpaw watched him go. “I hope

that Thrushwing and Jayfeather fix him up,” her mother sighed. “He’s a nice

apprentice, once you get to know him.”

“I guess so,” Nightpaw replied.

*****

“Cats of ThunderClan!” Firestar yowled gravely. “Gather here beneath the

Highledge so that you can hear what I have to tell you!”

“Great!” Silverpaw growled. “Now we’ll have to wait until he’s done reporting

until you can tell me everything.”

“My Clan,” Firestar began. “I am so proud of you. The fresh-kill pile is

heaping, herbs grow in clumps bigger than our biggest kit, Redkit-“

“Hey!” interrupted Redkit.

“-and we haven’t lost a single cat in seasons. But now, I must announce a

good ThunderClan cat’s departure.”

Gasps and murmurs spread through the Clan. Splashpaw looked stricken.

“They’re terrified! Who died, Nightpaw? Who-” She broke off, searching the crowd.

“Wait- where’s Sunsplash?”

Her high-pitched mew rang through the Clan. Mutters broke out.

“Today, Sunsplash proved to us that he is every bit worthy of the Dark

Forest,” Firestar hissed. “During the fight, he jumped on Silverpool and would have

killed her if Nightpaw and Flamepaw hadn’t stopped him. He is no longer a

ThunderClan cat. If you see him in our territory, drive him out as you would any

rogue.”

Firestar’s speech left cats shocked and speechless, too dumbstruck to even

gossip. Splashpaw sank onto her belly.

“On a happier note, I would like to make three new warriors today. Icepaw,

Foxpaw, and Frostpaw, please come up.”

“Icepaw!” Nightpaw whispered in delight. She glanced at Splashpaw, who

was nuzzling Foxpaw happily. “Go up there,” she murmured to the reddish

apprentice. “You deserve it.”

“I, Firestar, call upon StarClan to look down on these apprentices. They have

worked hard to understand your noble code, and I commend them to you as

warriors in their turn. Icepaw, Foxpaw, Frostpaw, do you promise to uphold the

warrior code and to protect your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do!” called Frostpaw. “Yes, I do,” whispered Icepaw.

“Foxpaw?” Firestar gazed down at Foxpaw, curiosity in his eyes. Foxpaw was

standing at the edge of the clearing, mouth open. Splashpaw nudged him and he

stumbled forwards.

“I DO!” yowled Foxpaw.

“Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior names. Icepaw, from

this moment, your name will be Icewhisker. StarClan honors your calmness and

sense of duty. We welcome you as a full warrior of the Clan.”

“Icewhisker! Icewhisker!” yowled Nightpaw.

“Frostpaw, from this moment on your name will be Frostclaw. StarClan

honors your bravery and fighting skill, and we welcome you as a full warrior of

ThunderClan.”

Frostclaw limped up to Firestar. His wounds were healing slowly, but the

bone in one of his hind legs would never be the same.

Firestar rested his muzzle on the heads of the two warriors, and then turned

to the third. Foxpaw, from this moment on, your name will be Foxwhisker. StarClan

honors your compassion and your willingness, and we welcome you as a full warrior

of the Clan.”

“Frostclaw! Foxwhisker! Icewhisker! Frostclaw! Foxwhisker!” Nightpaw

yowled along with the rest of her Clan. Splashpaw raced up to Foxwhisker and

began to wash his shoulders, which were dusty.

“Mrrp- get off- ack!” Foxwhisker mumbled. “You’re like an old she-cat,

Splashpaw.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” purred Splashpaw. Foxwhisker pushed her

playfully away. “Last one to catch a squirrel is fresh-kill!” The two cats raced off

together.

“They’re like two kits,” Flamepaw muttered. Nightpaw snickered and

Flamepaw went off to join a border patrol.

Frostclaw limped up. “Hey, Nightpaw.”

“Hi,” Nightpaw said warily. Frostclaw blinked slowly.

“Foxpaw- oops, Foxwhisker doesn’t seem to care about your injuries,”

Nightpaw said.

“I’m kind of troubled about my brother. He’s not at all the same type of cat I

am. It’s like he’s not related to me!”

Nightpaw blinked, confused at this sudden burden of information. “You mean

Foxpaw- I mean, Foxwhisker?”

“Yeah! I mean, obviously his pelt color, but he also likes completely different

things, has completely different feelings about everything, and acts completely

different from Icewhisker and me. Siblings have at least something alike, right?”

“Yeah, like, they like the same piece of fresh-kill. Seriously, I think that you’re

overreacting.”

“No! It’s really starting to bother me. Sometimes Ferncloud acts like she’s not

even my mother. It’s really weird.”

Some nervous twinge awoke in Nightpaw’s belly. She felt the same way about

Sunsplash. She stepped forward. “I know how you feel, Frostclaw.”

“Thank you, Nightpaw.” Frostclaw purred. His whiskers twitched. Nightpaw

flinched as a whisker brushed against her face. He stepped back. “Sorry!”

Nightpaw stumbled back. “It’s all right. I don’t mind.” The touch had startled

her, mostly because Frostclaw didn’t seem the type of cat who liked to touch others,

even his own Clanmates.

Shaking her head, Nightpaw bounded away, ignoring Frostclaw’s confused

cry behind her.

*****

Nightpaw settled down to sleep that night, missing the warmth of the three

new warriors in their nests near her. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep.

Sparks exploded in her mind. She was whisked away to a star- filled sky,

feeling the brush of a white pelt against hers. She could hear a whispering voice. “It

is not a hard choice to make.” Was it Icewhisker? Nightpaw woke up. Compared to

the blinding white of her dream, the night was unusually black. A twig cracking

broke the moment. She turned with a flash of surprise and- was that guilt?

Frostclaw was standing at the entrance of the apprentice den. She stood.

“Frostclaw? Shouldn’t you be sitting vigil?”

He nodded but then beckoned with his tail for her to follow her.

She followed him. They walked around the Highrock. Nightpaw looked

curiously at the white warrior. He kept walking, and finally they came to where the

Highrock met the cliff wall. They sat in the little alcove, Nightpaw staring at him. He

pointed at the sky with his tail. She looked up and gasped.

“That’s beautiful!”

Stars littered the sky in a long, glittering pelt. The moon curved like a claw in

the corner, and trees stood black against the light. They sat under the alcove for a

long time, staring at the sky.

A hiss startled them and they looked quickly around.

“Icewhisker!” Nightpaw bounded eagerly forward. “I’m so proud of you.

You’re a warrior at last!”

“What are you two doing?” Icewhisker demanded accusingly. Nightpaw

detected the subtlest hint of an emotion that she had felt in herself, too- but before

she could ponder it further, Frostclaw spoke. “We’re just talking about Foxwhisker.”

Icewhisker’s face darkened. “Oh. Him.”

“Look, what’s wrong? You guys shouldn’t be talking. You just broke your

vigil!” Nightpaw burst out. Icewhisker flattened his ears. “Last night, we heard

Silverpool and Ferncloud talking. They were just discussing the next deputy. Every

cat knows that Firestar is on his last life.”

“He is?”

“Oh. Yes. He lost one in battle against ShadowClan while you were… um…”

“Go on.” Nightpaw didn’t feel like talking about what had happened to

Silverpool and Sunsplash.

“Well, Silverpool said that she fully expects her sister to become deputy. Then

Ferncloud got all shaky, and Silverpool asked what was wrong. And she said- she

said-“

“What?” Nightpaw asked.

“She said that she knows where those two kits that they found came from.

She said they came from WindClan, and she said that she knew that their father was

a WindClan cat.”

“But that could be any cat!” Nightpaw protested. “Any cat with a littermate

could be from WindClan.”

“But not every cat with a littermate is Ferncloud’s kit. It’s us; I just know that

it’s us! We’re half WindClan!”

“No, you’re not!” Nightpaw cried. “Ferncloud loves Dustpelt. She wouldn’t

just go running off with a WindClan cat.”

“She might not, but that doesn’t mean another cat wouldn’t,” replied

Icewhisker. A hush spread over their little group.

“You’re saying you’re not Ferncloud’s kit?” gasped Nightpaw.

“I don’t know,” whispered Icewhisker.

A twig cracked behind them and Foxwhisker appeared. His eyes widened in

surprise. He beckoned to his littermates with his tail.

“Yes, I know, we broke our vigil,” snapped Icewhisker. “Fine. We’ll go back to

it. We can talk about it later,” he said to Nightpaw.

“Hey! Mousebrain!” Thrushwing yowled. “You stupid cat. You’ll never heal if

you keep wandering out of the medicine den all the time. I have enough to deal with

already, what with Willowpaw and Silverpool’s injuries, without you wandering off!

You’re aware you’ve also broken your vigil, right?”

Her words were stern, but Nightpaw caught a flash of affection as she turned

away. Frostclaw looked back apologetically before limping after her. Foxwhisker

shot a glance back at them, twitched his whiskers in silent amusement, and went

back to his post at the camp entrance.

“Well-“ Nightpaw said. She felt awkward. She had never felt this

uncomfortable with Icewhisker in her life. He glared at her. “What were you really

doing with Frostclaw?”

Nightpaw flinched. “I was just talking about Foxwhisker!” she protested, fur

growing hot at the lie. Icewhisker relaxed. “Okay, then,” he meowed. “Good.” He

leaned forward and brushed his nose against her fur before padding away.

Nightpaw sighed. Why was Icewhisker so aggressive all the time?

*****

Two sunhighs later, Firestar called a summons to the Clan. “Let all cats old

enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!”

Nightpaw joined her siblings in the clearing below the ledge that overlooked

their camp. Firestar looked solemnly down at his Clan.

“It’s time to appoint two new warriors,” he began. “Flamepaw and

Splashpaw, please come up to the rock.”

Nightpaw’s belly churned with suppressed emotions. They’re going to be

warriors! She silently cheered for her siblings. But at the same time, a dark, envious

thought bubbled up in her mind and burst on the surface. Why can’t I go up there

with them?

Stormheart came up from behind. She turned, and he must have seen the hint

of jealousy in her violet-blue eyes. He bowed his head. “Nightpaw, they’re so much

farther ahead in their training than you. Firestar offered, but I had to decline. You’re

ahead of any apprentices who’ve had the same amount of training as you, but not

ahead enough to be a warrior.”

She lowered her eyes, shame replacing envy. “I understand, Stormheart.”

“Splashpaw, from this day forward, your warrior name will be Splashfoot.

StarClan honors your truthfulness and honor, and we welcome you as a full warrior

of the Clan.”

Splashfoot, barely keeping in her excitement, ran to lick Firestar’s shoulder,

and then she bounded to Foxwhisker, nuzzled his flank, and seemed to burst. She

put her muzzle to the sky and yowled, “Yes!”

“Flamepaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Flamestep. StarClan

honors your loyalty and your willingness to do anything, and we welcome you, too,

as a full warrior of ThunderClan.”

Flamestep’s eyes glowed. He licked Firestar’s shoulder and padded away to

sit by himself at the edge of the clearing. He looked modest, although Nightpaw

caught him exchanging a glance with Blossomfall.

She sighed. She was proud of her siblings, but why couldn’t she join them in

their vigil?

*****

Nightpaw awoke in the middle of the night to hear a terrible screech.

“Willowpaw!”

Immediately awake, Nightpaw stumbled into the medicine den and watched

in horror as blood gushed out of her sister’s wounds. Thrushwing crouched next to

her, wailing. “I can’t stop the bleeding! Oh, StarClan, no!”

Willowpaw twisted in her nest and Nightpaw grabbed a pawful of moss,

frantically stuffing it on the wound. The blood gradually slowed, and Thrushwing

hunched over, licking Willowpaw’s cheek. “I’m sorry, Willowpaw,” she murmured as

Nightpaw crept out of the den.

*****

She had a fitful sleep afterwards. She dreamed that she was running, running

forever. She looked down and her paws were glowing with silver starlight. Words

whispered in her mind. There will be three… who hold the power of the stars in their

paws… three to save the three… two becoming one…

“Nightpaw! Nightpaw!”

Her shoulders shook as though a cat was clawing at them. She shuddered and

opened her eyes.

“Lionblaze!” It was a cat shaking her shoulder. The orange warrior was

shaking her as though she would never get up.

“I’m awake, I’m awake,” she grumbled as Lionblaze continued shaking. He

stopped and hissed, “Shh!”

“What?”

“Don’t wake anybody else up!”

“Keep your fur on,” she muttered, and she stumbled out of the den.

Splashfoot and Flamestep already waited for her, grooming the sleep out of their

ruffled pelts and looking annoyed. Jayfeather and Dovewing were there, too. The

gray she-cat jerked her head towards the forest. “Coming?”

They walked for a long time, until they arrived at a small clearing. Nightpaw

grunted. “Why are we here?”

“We’re testing you,” Jayfeather explained.

“Is this training?”

“Sort of,” he mumbled. Splashfoot grunted. “We’re warriors now, in case you

hadn’t noticed.”

Jayfeather coolly met her gaze. Nightpaw found herself shuddering as his

blue eyes scanned them, staying with hers for a moment longer before they swept

away. She didn’t understand how those blind eyes knew where they were going.

“A long time ago,” he began, “StarClan gave Firestar a prophecy in his

dreams.”

Nightpaw snorted. He sounded like an elder telling a nursery tale! “How do

you even know about Firestar’s dreams? You can’t read minds!”

“Who says I can’t?” Jayfeather murmured, silencing her. He continued as

though Nightpaw hadn’t said anything. “They told him that there would be three, kin

of his kin, who held the power of the stars in his paws.”

Her dream! Nightpaw shivered ever so slightly as Jayfeather pierced her

again with those bright, unseeing eyes.

“So we were born. Lionblaze, Dovewing and I, we all have special powers.

They were given to us by cats older than even StarClan.”

“StarClan!” gasped Nightpaw. “Nothing’s as old as StarClan!”

“You don’t know that, Nightpaw,” said Jayfeather calmly. He waved his tail at

Dovewing, who took up the story.

“Lionblaze can’t be hurt in battle. Jayfeather walks in other cats’ dreams. I

have senses that reach farther than the territories of all four Clans.”

“That’s not right,” whispered Flamestep.

Dovewing glared at him. “Then, they gave another prophecy. Three to help

the three, two becoming one.”

“We haven’t figured out that last bit yet,” Lionblaze admitted. “But we’re

pretty sure that we understand the first part. You’re three cats, kin of Dovewing’s

kin. Dovewing is kin of Firestar’s kin. You’re the cats who will help us in this

prophecy.”

“What? That’s impossible!” Flamestep gasped.

“It seemed like that to me, too,” admitted Dovewing. “I was angry at first. I

was scared. I had to lie to my whole Clan. It wasn’t easy, being special.”

“Why?” asked Splashfoot. “Why do we have these powers?”

“Have you ever heard of Tigerstar?”

Nightpaw searched her memory for any tales that the elders had told. She

tried desperately to remember the story of Tigerstar.

“He was… the leader of ShadowClan.”

“Yes.” Jayfeather said patiently. “He was a very bad cat. He killed to get what

he wanted. He holds a grudge against Firestar, still.”

“Don’t tell me he went to StarClan!”

“No. He went to a different place. The Dark Forest. And now he’s training cats

from the Clans to kill. He’s making a whole Clan of warriors, using them to take over

and obliterate all of the Clans. Ivypool is our spy there.”

Nightpaw opened her mouth and searched her brain for words. She closed it

again.

“But… surely cats wouldn’t hurt their own Clans!” protested Splashfoot.

“They don’t understand,” explained Lionblaze. “They think that they’re being

trained in these skills to help their Clan, not hurt them.”

“Now, we will test you for your powers. Whether you have them or not, never

tell any cat what we just told you.”

“But what if-“

“No.”

“Now we can test you,” Lionblaze broke in, glaring at Jayfeather.

“Now. Splashfoot. Can you tell me what’s going on back at camp?” Dovewing

asked.

Splashfoot’s eyes glazed. “They’re all a little scared. They must be worrying

about Willowpaw.” Her body tensed as she spoke her sister’s name. “Redkit and

Whitekit are making Berrynose pretty frustrated. Maybe they’re asking for another

piece of fresh-kill!” She purred. “Thornclaw’s startled. Firestar and Sandstorm are

talking about something that makes them both confused.”

“You know all that?” Dovewing said. Splashfoot shifted her paws. “I’ve known

it since I was a kit. I thought every cat could sense other cats’ feelings.”

“I thought that too, about my power. But they can’t, at least not as well as

you,” Dovewing meowed.

“Nightpaw,” Lionblaze said. Was that a hint of hesitation in his voice? “I’ll

race you to the camp and back.”

Jayfeather purred with amusement as Nightpaw shot off. The forest blurred

as she ran. She glanced back and saw Lionblaze, a tiny speck in the distance.

Adrenaline pumped through her, and the forest vanished. A starry field took its

place. Her fur whipped in the draft and she stretched her mouth wide open, her

yowl of euphoria lost in the wind rushing past.

She reached the camp and turned so fast that she sprayed dirt and pebbles

into the air. Then she raced back to Jayfeather.

The blind medicine cat was still purring when Nightpaw arrived. He stopped

purring, then stumbled back in shock. “Great StarClan! I didn’t expect you to be that

fast!”

“What?” Nightpaw looked behind her.

“I didn’t see you until you stopped running!”

Lionblaze stumbled into view, panting. “She’s… fast. I didn’t make it to the

camp! I had to turn back!”

“Um, yes, she is fast, mousebrain!”

“I just ran,” she meowed in confusion.

The two cats looked at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding? You were so fast, I

couldn’t see you.” Lionblaze said.

“I thought you were joking,” she confessed. But now that she had proved it,

she could feel the hidden power bubbling up through her paws. She had to fight the

urge to yowl in ecstasy. I have the power of the stars in my paws!

“Flamestep,” Lionblaze said. “Did you know that Blossomfall has been

meeting a RiverClan warrior?”

“What!” shrieked Flamestep. He launched himself at Lionblaze. “Who told you

that?”

“Um… Bumblestripe let it slip.”

Flamestep growled, studying Lionblaze’s face. Then he leapt off of the

warrior, shaking his head. “Why are you lying to me?”

Nightpaw and Splashfoot exchanged a glance. Flamestep was making it very

transparent how much he cared about the tortoiseshell warrior.

“I’m not lying,” Lionblaze meowed smoothly. Flamestep glanced at Jayfeather.

“Yes, you are. He knows you’re lying, too.”

Lionblaze relaxed. “You’re right,” he said quietly. “I’m testing you. Jayfeather,

we’ve found them. We’ve found the Three.”

“Now,” Jayfeather meowed briskly. “You can’t tell any cat this. The only other

cats who know are Firestar, Cinderheart and Ivypool. Don’t tell any cat, or the Clan

will panic- they’ll ruin everything we’ve built.”

“Why does Cinderheart know?” Nightpaw challenged, not ready to believe

the tales. Jayfeather broke off. “Oh- um…”

Lionblaze was staring at his paws. Splashfoot started to tremble. “Lionblaze-

you-you-“ She broke off, unsheathing her claws and sinking them into the dirt. Her

tail lashed and she stared at the stars, eyes watering.

“Splashfoot! What’s wrong?” Nightpaw yowled.

“He-“

“He has experienced pain like very few cats ever have before,” interrupted

Jayfeather, and he led them away, leaving Lionblaze in the forest, alone.

*****

“Hey, Nightpaw!” called Stormheart. She looked up. Ever since the night

Jayfeather had told them about their powers, she couldn’t concentrate on anything.

“What’s wrong? You can barely hit me, let alone fight me anymore!

Remember the first day of your apprenticeship? You beat me twice!”

“Yeah, Nightpaw,” Icewhisker snapped. “You want to do the move more like

this.” He swept his paw under her feet, causing her to fall on her side. Icewhisker

leapt on her and began to pummel her sides. Her scar burned. She leapt to her feet.

“Fine. Let’s try it again.”

Stormheart charged at her, and Nightpaw, instead of flashing a paw out to

trip him, leapt into the air. Stormheart, who had jumped to avoid the swipe he

expected, let out a yowl of surprise as Nightpaw tackled him. He shoved her off with

his hind legs and pinned her down.

“That was much better!” he meowed.

Icewhisker snorted, purring at Nightpaw teasingly. “Come on. Let’s go get

some fresh-kill.”

Nightpaw followed him into the clearing and watched as he sat down.

Eagerly she bounded over to the fresh-kill pile, wincing as she tripped over

something long and skinny, like a tree root.

“Ow!” Icewhisker snapped behind her. She turned quickly. “Sorry,

Icewhisker!”

“Why are you so clumsy?” He flattened his ears and went back to his vole,

drawing his tail protectively around his paws.

“Icewhisk-“ She stopped and turned away, trudging towards the fresh-kill

pile.

Nightpaw grabbed a vole from the pile and began eating it hungrily.

Icewhisker finished his sparrow quickly. “Hurry up, Nightpaw!” he ordered. “You

have to come on sunhigh patrol with us!”

“I just went on dawn patrol,” Nightpaw protested.

“Do as you’re told,” Icewhisker retorted. “Apprentices listen to warriors.”

Nightpaw flattened her ears. “You’re only a moon older than me!”

“Deal with it,” the warrior growled.

“No!” Nightpaw unsheathed her claws and sank them into the dirt angrily.

Icewhisker launched himself at her and swiped her paws from under her,

planting his paws on her shoulders and leaning in close. Nightpaw shrank away. The

tom was bigger and stronger than her, looming over like a shadow. She pushed him

away angrily.

“You’re coming on patrol!” he yowled, baring his teeth. Nightpaw backed

away, lashing her tail defiantly. “You have no control over me, foxdung!”

Icewhisker’s eyes narrowed into chips of blue ice. His claws slid out from

their protective sheaths, and he lashed out at her. Nightpaw dodged quickly and slid

around him, nipping his haunches quickly. He snarled and chased her, but Nightpaw

dodged.

“Nightpaw! Frostclaw! What are you doing?” Firestar padded up behind

Nightpaw. “Firestar, Nightpaw was disobeying orders,” Icewhisker told the flame-

colored tom.

“Nightpaw, please do what Icewhisker tells you. I know he isn’t much older

than you, but I trust him to do what he thinks is best for the Clan., and I expect you

to, too.”

Ashamed, Nightpaw dipped her head. “Sorry.”

Instead of replying, Icewhisker narrowed his eyes and flicked his tail,

padding towards the rest of the patrol.

“I hate patrolling the ShadowClan border,” grumbled Nightpaw.

“I know,” meowed Frostclaw sympathetically. The patrol was just padding

away from another barrage of taunts, teasing, and jeers about her scars.

“Gonna go scare off some foxes with that ugly face of yours?” yowled

Wetpaw. Nightpaw stopped and half-turned around as Wetpaw’s mentor shushed

her. “She earned those scars in a great battle,” the ShadowClan cat said, casting an

apologetic glance at Nightpaw.

“Yeah,” Nightpaw hissed back. “Greater than you ever fought, Wetpaw. The

harshest battle you’ve ever been in is with your littermates, fighting over the best

piece of fresh-kill.”

Wetpaw growled, but her mentor stopped her from leaping over the border

with her tail. “Don’t start fights that you can’t win,” the mentor growled at his

apprentice. “You can clean the elders bed for the next moon for such reckless

behavior.”

Nightpaw drew back her lips smugly at the ShadowClan apprentice. “Bye,

Wetkit,” she called over her shoulder, giving her tail a last lash of disrespect before

bounding after her patrol.

“You’re not ugly, Nightpaw,” murmured Icewhisker. He pressed himself into

Nightpaw’s pelt. “They’re just provoking you.”

“I know!” she snapped, Icewhisker’s taunts from earlier still crawling in her

pelt.

“What’s your problem?” he asked gently.

“I’m so worried about Willowpaw!” confessed Nightpaw. “Ever since her cut

opened up again, she’s been asleep. She won’t wake up. She breathes so slow…”

Icewhisker leaned over and brushed her whiskers with his nose. “Don’t

worry. Thrushwing will find some way to heal her.”

Nightpaw pulled uneasily away. She wasn’t sure if she completely trusted

Icewhisker. The incident where she had accidentally stepped on his tail was fresh on

her mind.

“Wait! Wait!” The call stopped the patrol in their tracks. Flamestep bounded

up to them, panting. “Is Splashfoot with you?”

“No,” replied Icewhisker. “I thought she went on the dawn patrol.”

“She did. They saw a bird and Splashfoot told them she would catch up with

them. She tracked the bird. But now we can’t find her. Foxwhisker is going out of his

mind!”

“We’ll keep an eye out,” promised Nightpaw, ignoring the cold feeling of

panic that seeped down her belly. Flamestep nodded gratefully. “I’ll go then.

Firestar’s making me clean out the elders’ den, because Cherrypaw and Molepaw

had hunting patrol.” Sniffing in annoyance, he bounded off.

Icewhisker stiffened suddenly. “What’s that smell?”

Nightpaw opened her mouth to let the rich scents of the forests flood in. “It’s

Splashfoot!”

They tracked the scent. It wove all around the border, sometimes weaving

around tree trunks, sometimes wading through the stream. “What in StarClan’s

name was she doing?” muttered Nightpaw.

“She must have been tracking a grouse,” replied Frostclaw. “I smell one of

those, too.”

They continued following the scent. It strayed over to the WindClan border.

Suddenly, the scent vanished into a wall of thick brambles.

“What happened?” wailed Nightpaw.

“Maybe a WindClan patrol stole her!” gasped Berrynose.

“Then there would at least be signs of a fight,” Icewhisker reasoned calmly.

“She can’t have just disappeared. Does the scent go to either side?”

“No,” replied Nightpaw, trying to calm herself.

“Look!” called Frostclaw, who had been nosing around the wall.

Nightpaw pushed her nose into the spot where Frostclaw had shouted. “It’s a

tunnel!”

The brambles trembled slightly when they were disturbed. Nightpaw pushed

her head into the small hole, wincing as a thorn pierced her pad, and pulled herself

through. “I think you can fit,” she called to the rest of the cats. She licked her pad

fiercely as Frostclaw, Berrynose, and finally Icewhisker pushed through the small

hole to join her.

“Great StarClan!” Frostclaw meowed. He bounded off to the other side of the

enclosed bush. “It’s like a secret camp!”

“But not big enough,” added Nightpaw. “Look. There’s a hole in the-“

She gasped as she looked into the gaping hole in the center of the clearing at

a broken body below. “Splashfoot!”

The young warrior must have just leapt to catch the grouse when the ground

collapsed. The silver cat’s fur was dirty and matted, and blood coated her paws

where she must have swatted the grouse. The large bird that she had hunted was

clutched in her mouth.

“No, no, no! Splashfoot!” Nightpaw wailed. Icewhisker’s eyes were wide.

“Don’t-“

But Nightpaw jumped down into the hole. It was a hard landing, but she

managed to stay on her paws. She pressed her muzzle into her sister’s flank. “Don’t

be dead, Splashfoot, please don’t be dead,” she begged. She felt for the silver cat’s

heartbeat. Nightpaw stiffened. “She’s alive!” There was a faint thump of a heart

behind the coat of dust and mud on her sister’s fur.

Frostclaw jumped down with a thump. “You mousebrain!” he scolded. “You

could have tripped and fallen like Splashfoot. Then what would we do?”

“Hey, dumb cats,” called Berrynose from above them. “How are we going to

get you out of there? You can’t jump out!”

They looked up. Icewhisker’s white and gray head poked out over ten tail-

lengths above them. “Well?” he snapped. “How do you expect to escape?”

Nightpaw glanced wildly about. “Look!” she cried. “It’s a tunnel!”

Another hole poked out of the side of the dirt. Icewhisker peered over at

them. “Foxdung,” he muttered. “You two are not going that way. You’ll get lost. You’ll

die down there!”

“It’s got to lead upward eventually,” reasoned Nightpaw. Icewhisker growled.

“When you get an idea in your head…”

“Let’s go!” Nightpaw bounded towards the tunnel.

“I’ll go get a patrol to help!” called Berrynose.

“Wait.” A thud sounded, and Icewhisker shook each of his paws in turn as

Nightpaw scuttled away like a frightened squirrel. “You’re trapped now, too,” she

pointed out.

“Shut up,” growled Icewhisker, scooping up Splashfoot on his back. Nightpaw

reeled back in shock. She had never heard such harsh words coming out of his

mouth.

“What’s wrong with you?” she cried. “You think that I’ll still forgive you, no

matter what you say.”

“Why do you always have to be such an annoying piece of foxdung?” snarled

Icewhisker. “You’re not the only one suffering, you know. You think you’re so

special-“

Nightpaw spat in his face. “You think you can just say anything to me,” she

growled, her voice icy cold. “Well, maybe you can after you learn how to be nice to a

cat!”

Icewhisker’s eyes widened as he realized what he had said. “Nightpaw, I’m

sorry-“

Nightpaw silenced him with a cold glare and turned her back.

“Let’s go,” she meowed to Frostclaw. She bounded ahead, not caring whether

he joined her or not.

A moment later the light began to gradually fade. She padded on in darkness,

letting her whiskers guide her. She was just getting used to walking in the dark

when something sharp lodged between her pads. “Ow!” she cried out. Immediately

pawsteps approached her. She flinched away from the white shape that passed her,

afraid that it might be Icewhisker. But he’s carrying Splashfoot. It was Frostclaw, and

he was carrying some plants in his mouth.

“Look! I found these in a cave. They were growing underground!” Frostclaw

set down the herbs and sniffed at her pad. “Looks like they’ll be useful.” He chewed a

leaf of the herb and gently rubbed it into Nightpaw’s pad. She stiffened. The juice

stung.

“Are you all right?” Frostclaw asked her gently, and Nightpaw knew that he

was referring to more than her paw. He was talking about everything. He was

talking about her injuries and the ShadowClan battles and Sunsplash. He was talking

about Icewhisker and Splashfoot. He was even asking about himself. Nightpaw

hesitated. He’s prickly as a hedgehog! But her sense of truth was stronger than her

guilt. She twined her tail with his. “I’m okay, Frostclaw. I’m fine.”

She let the dim light in her mind show the way as the two padded down the

tunnel, tails entwined, pelts brushing, their pawsteps echoing through the hollow

space under the earth.

*****

They opened their eyes wide with hope as a speck of light appeared in the

distance. “Look!” cried Nightpaw. “It’s a way out!” She ran back through the tunnel

to tell Icewhisker.

“Icewhisker?” There was no sign of the cat. She sighed. “Icewhisker, stop

moping. We’ve found a way out!” She lifted her chin and sniffed, but she couldn’t

smell him.

A shiver ran down her spine. She sniffed again. There was still no trace of the

white warrior.

“Icewhisker?” She raced up and down the tunnel, calling his name. He had

her sister. He couldn’t just disappear! “Icewhisker, come out right now or else!” she

threatened.

She returned to Frostclaw. “He’s gone!”

“No! He can’t! He’ll get lost!”

Nightpaw unsheathed her claws and dug them into the ground. As grumpy as

the white warrior had been, she was still worried about him. And he’s got my sister!

She scraped at the ground with her claws. If Icewhisker had dragged her sister into

unknown tunnels without her…

“We can still wait for them in the open,” Frostclaw said. “Maybe Splashfoot

woke up and she made him let her walk. They’ll probably pop out in a couple of

moments.”

They padded ahead. The light grew brighter, but not as bright as she had

expected. Her pad scraped on a rock as the tunnel opened up.

“Oh, wow!” She didn’t know whether to be excited or dismayed. The tunnel

didn’t lead to the outside, after all. But it did open up into a cave- the most beautiful

cave she had ever seen.

The clearing in the cave was overgrown with plants. Trees grew out of the

dense undergrowth. A small spring trickled through the center. Nightpaw squeaked

like a kit as she saw the brown pelt of a mouse. They were in an underground forest.

Towers of rock loomed over them. She looked up and flinched. There were

vines crisscrossing the roof of the cave, and the top opened up to a small hole, where

sunlight was shining through. She looked over and saw a tiny waterfall, just big

enough for small fish to splash underneath.

“How is this possible?” gasped Nightpaw. Frostclaw gazed up at the trees. “It-

it’s not-“

“Icewhisker!” called Nightpaw. “Icewhisker, are you in here?”

“Rahh! My territory! Get out!”

Nightpaw spun around and found herself facing a full-grown black cat. “Get

out! My space!”

“Aaah!” Nightpaw screeched as the cat leapt at her, screeching. Instinctively,

she leapt towards the black cat’s paws. The cat moved to intercept her, but she

moved unusually slowly. Nightpaw dodged and leapt, landing on the cat’s back. The

angry cat howled in rage and flipped over, squashing Nightpaw. Nightpaw gasped as

the air was crushed out of her.

“Get off!” she screeched. She dug her teeth deep into the other cat’s scruff.

The cat yowled in anger and leapt onto her paws. Without leaving her time to think,

the cat charged her. Nightpaw leapt into the air, timing it so that when the cat was

underneath her, she crashed on top. Even though the cat was full-grown, stronger

and heavier than her, it took quite a bit of work for it to shake her off. Nightpaw

stood, half-crouching and hissing, as the other cat shook itself off and prepared to

leap.

Suddenly, the cat sprang. Nightpaw tried to dodge, but she was tiring, and the

cat pushed her hard into the rock wall of the cave.

“Mrrp! Ouch! Stop!” cried Nightpaw in panic. She could feel the life flowing

out of her slowly. Blood seeped out of her wounds. If this cat was a rogue, it

wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. She closed her eyes.

The cat’s paw disappeared from around her throat. She slid down the rock,

gasping for air. A silvery cat approached her. Was this cat from StarClan?

She opened her eyes wider. It wasn’t a StarClan cat. It was Frostclaw. He was

bounding towards her, wide-eyed. Nightpaw looked around and saw the cat who

had attacked her, crouching near the stream.

With a yowl, Nightpaw sprang at the offender, clawing its ears hard. The cat

gave a shriek. Nightpaw wrestled it to the ground. The cat struggled. Nightpaw held

her claws at its throat. The cat’s eyes widened. “Don’t kill me!”

“You would have killed me!”

“No I wouldn’t! I haven’t killed a cat since-“ The cat stopped. It flattened its

ears. ”Let me up. Now!”

Nightpaw sheathed her claws, but kept sitting on the cat. She studied it more

closely and realized it was a she-cat. Her fur was dark and sleek. Her eyes glowed a

hostile green. A terrible scar divided the fur on her shoulder.

“How did you get here?”

“That’s none of your business, snooper. StarClan forbid you take over my

territory.”

“You know about StarClan?”

The cat shook its head and snorted. “It’s all you mousebrains talk about!

'StarClan be with you.’ ‘May StarClan light your path.’ ‘Great StarClan! I’m going to

die!’ You’re obsessed. They’re just a bunch of dead cats. They don’t send prophecies.

They don’t guide our paws. You’ve got to live your own life, not let them live it for

you.”

“StarClan wouldn’t do that!”

“Look, apprentice. If you were a dead cat living in the sky, would you rather

be dead or alive?”

“I-“

Frostclaw stepped forward. “Okay, cat, I don’t know what this territory is, I

don’t know where I am, and I don’t know who you are. Who are you? What’s your

name?”

“My name…” the cat said breathlessly. She gazed of into the distance.

Nightpaw caught a flicker of sadness in her green gaze. Then she shook her head,

and the hardness returned. “Call me Leafstar. How about you?”

That’s a Clan name! thought Nightpaw, but she shook off the thought. “I’m

Nightpaw.”

“I’m Frostclaw.”

“All right. You’re lost. Fine, stay here. There’s a den over there. You’ll have to

share a nest. It’s not very big. Catch prey. Use my herbs. Pray to StarClan.”

Leafstar padded away. Frostclaw glanced at Nightpaw. “I’m starving. Let’s

hunt.”

Nightpaw was distracted through the whole session of hunting. She managed

to catch a squirrel and padded back to Frostclaw, who had been much more

successful. He laid a mouse and two voles at her feet. “Nice squirrel,” he commented.

“It’s bigger than your head!”

“You caught more,” Nightpaw pointed out.

“These? They’re the size of Dustpelt’s brain. Can you imagine the complaints

the elders would give me?” Frostclaw adopted a snotty voice. “’Do you expect me to

eat this fox dung, you lazy apprentice? It’s hardly big enough for a kit. Berrynose

was just like you when he was an apprentice, and look how he turned out! Too lazy

to give us elders decent fresh-kill!’”

Nightpaw stifled a purr, choking it into a growl of exasperation. She didn’t

know what Frostclaw was doing. Toms are so confusing! She turned her back and

began eating her squirrel. Icewhisker is the one I’m loyal to! Why does Frostclaw have

to make it so hard for me?

She was too immersed in her thoughts that night to see the silver cat

approaching her until it stuck its muzzle in her face.

“Willowpaw!” shrieked Nightpaw. Willowpaw bowed her head. “Yes.

Thrushwing and Jayfeather were both out collecting herbs when my wound opened

again. No cat could get to me in time.”

“No!” she wailed. “Why, Willowpaw? Why did you have to die as an

apprentice?”

“But I’m not,” the silvery-blue she-cat whispered. “Firestar gave me my name

before I died. My name is not Willowpaw. StarClan has received me as a warrior. My

name is Willowfall.”

Grief filled Nightpaw like a flood. Her sister had died without knowing the joy

of being a warrior. The only experience she had as warrior was her name.

“Why?” whispered Nightpaw. “Why did you have to die?”

“This is not why I have come,” her sister replied, pressing her fur into

Nightpaw’s. “You have a mission here. I don’t know what it is, or how you will

achieve it. I just know that it will make our Clan stronger.”

The beautiful she-cat began to fade from view. “No!” cried Nightpaw. “No!

Willowfall! Don’t die!”

“What are you talking about? I’m just going hunting.”

Nightpaw jerked awake. Frostclaw was standing over her, looking concerned.

“Do you want to come, too? You can hunt with me.” Was he looking hopeful?

Nightpaw shook her head in disgust. “No. No, that’s okay. I’ll hunt on my own.”

“Oh. Okay.” Frostclaw padded away, looking uncertainly over his shoulder,

before bounding away.

“Mousebrained fool,” muttered Leafstar, padding out of the shadows. She

yawned and began to wash herself. “Toms,” she added. “You can’t rely on them at all.

Like my brothers.“

“So,” she continued through a mouthful of fur. “What are you doing here?”

“We were looking for the exit,” Nightpaw meowed indignantly. “We just got

lost. How did you end up down here?”

The dark she-cat hissed. “I was trapped down here in the old territory. I

heard you cats talking through thin parts of the tunnel. When you left, I followed

you.”

“You mean, on the Second Great Journey?”

“Yes.”

“But how did you get trapped in the first place?” Nightpaw shivered,

imagining tunnels collapsing, leaving a cat nowhere to run except for deeper into the

earth…

Leafstar bared her teeth. “My brothers. They thought that I had done wrong.

They drove me down here, and then the tunnels collapsed. A rock gave me this scar.”

She shrugged her shoulder. “As if I would do anything without thinking! I considered

him long enough. My family was doomed from the start. He could have ripped us

apart.”

What? This cat makes no sense. Nightpaw twitched an ear in confusion. “Who

are you talking about?”

“A cat who could have ruined your precious Clan and the whole warrior code!

Don’t you hear nursery tales about him? His heart was dark with envy. He deserved

to die!”

“Tigerstar?”

“No! Mousebrain!” Leafstar started to quiver. “If he had lived, he would have

torn into us like fresh-kill and left us to rot like crowfood. It’s lucky he died. They

found him on the WindClan border…”

She shivered. Nightpaw crouched on the ground. This cat was making her

nervous. “So… were you the leader of a Clan?”

“No!” The cat’s hiss made Nightpaw jump backwards. “I am the leader down

here. I live with my own Clan. My kits…”

Leafstar stopped and closed her mouth. Her whiskers twitched nervously as

Nightpaw jumped in delight. “You have kits? Oh, may I see them? Please?”

Leafstar licked her chest fur. “Oh, fine,” she meowed, her voice softer and

filled with pride. “You’re barely a kit yourself. You can come and see them. There are

two. I’m training them. Their father…” Leafstar coughed. Her voice held sadness

now. “Their father was killed by a fox.”

“Oh,” Nightpaw meowed softly. “I’m sorry.”

“Come on,” the dark she-cat growled, brisk once again. “It’s just about time

for me to wake them anyway.”

They padded softly through a small, pathlike tunnel in the side of the wall.

They emerged in a little cave that held and two sleeping kits. One was a lithe, light

brown tabby, and the other was more muscled, dark like his mother, with ginger

paws. As they snuggled into each other in their sleep, Leafstar leaned in close to

them.

“Larkkit, Emberkit, time to wake up,” Leafstar whispered in their ears.

Immediately, the ginger and black cat leapt to his paws. His eyes glowed a hostile

orange in the dark. “Who’s this? She’s scary looking!” He glared at Nightpaw,

relaxing a little as his mother ran her tail over his back. “Don’t be a mousebrain,

Emberkit,” Leafstar meowed. “She got lost, and so she stayed here for the night.”

Emberkit’s fur flattened slowly. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right.” Nightpaw studied the kit. He couldn’t be more than one moon

old, yet he was as big as a three moon old kit. He looked like a born warrior.

“I’ve been teaching them to hunt,” Leafstar explained as Larkkit slowly

dragged herself out of the nest. “They started eating fresh-kill a few days ago. They

catch mice that I’ve stunned already. They aren’t allowed out of the main cave. Not

until they’re six moons old.” She raised a paw, knocking Emberkit down as he tried

to dash out of the tunnel. “Not so fast, mousebrain. Wait for Larkkit. You should

wash yourself every day, like your sister.”

Larkkit finished licking her tail and bounded to the entrance of the tunnel,

her yellow eyes glowing. “Can we fight yet?”

“No! Not until you’re six moons.”

“I’m gonna be the best warrior TunnelClan’s ever seen!”

“I know, Emberkit. You’ll be the bravest, fiercest, wisest warriors in the Clan.”

Leafstar led them out of the tunnel and they emerged in the main cave.

“Come with me to catch them a mouse,” murmured Leafstar to Nightpaw. She

raised her voice. “We’re going hunting, kits. You can play in the clearing. Catch a

couple of moths. If you see a mouse, maybe you can catch it and add it to the pile.”

The kits nodded. Larkkit squeaked as Emberkit leapt on top of her.

They padded away. The cave was huge. Nightpaw spotted a nest of mice in a

corner. They made a few kills. Nightpaw spotted a fleeing squirrel and began to

creep up on it, but Leafstar stopped her with her tail. “No. Watch me.”

The dark she-cat stalked the squirrel. The prey’s ears twitched, and Leafstar

froze. After a long moment, the squirrel began to nibble on something that it had

found on the ground.

Leafstar acted fast. She pounced and trapped the squirrel underneath her

paws, hitting it hard on the head. At first, Nightpaw thought it was dead, but it made

a frightened chittering noise and tried to run. It stumbled and fell. Leafstar grasped

it gently in her jaws. “This way,” she meowed, “it will still be alive for the kits to

catch.”

They walked back to the clearing and Leafstar dropped the squirrel. It

stumbled towards the kits, who had frozen, their eyes fixed on the dazed piece of

prey. Leafstar dropped her fresh-kill quietly on the pile, and they settled down to

watch the kits at work.

Larkkit crept up on the squirrel from behind. Nightpaw stiffened in

anticipation when she bumped against a dead leaf, making a loud crackling noise.

But the noise was clearly deliberate after the squirrel streaked towards the nearest

tree and began to scramble up it. Emberkit leapt at it, but missed by a claw-length.

The squirrel sat, dazed, on the lowest limb. Leafstar caught her breath audibly as her

kit crouched, then made a massive leap towards the branch. He soared into the air

and caught the surprised prey’s tail, dragging it down and killing it in midair.

“Yay!” cheered Larkkit. “We caught it!”

“Good job!” congratulated Leafstar, rushing into the clearing. Emberkit

beamed with pride. “Did you see me leap? That squirrel didn’t stand a chance!”

Frostclaw came up behind her. “Come on,” he meowed quietly. “I’ve found a

way out.”

*****

“Leafstar, we’ve found the way out!” announced Nightpaw. Leafstar pricked

her ears. “Well, that means you can go. Goodbye. StarClan be with you!”

“No,” Nightpaw continued. “That’s not what I meant. I wanted to ask you if

you will come with us.”

“To the Clans?” Leafstar shied away from Nightpaw. “No! No! I can’t go

there!”

“But your kits! Think of them. It’s their destiny,” promised Nightpaw. “They

have the opportunity to be raised as warriors, with respect for StarClan, the warrior

code, and their own Clan. They’ll be trained in the way of the warrior!”

“No! I can’t go up there! They won’t understand…”

“Leave her alone,” Frostclaw muttered. “She’s so weird. Who cares if she

doesn’t come up with us?”

They started padding away, but stopped when they heard the thud of

pawsteps behind them.

The dark she-cat let out her breath. “It’s been so long since I followed the

warrior code… Fine. I’ll bring my kits to ThunderClan.”

*****

Finally a weak ray of sunlight beamed against the floor of the tunnel.

Frostclaw led them around so many twists and turns. Finally, he stopped. “I smell

fresh air!”

“Mother, where are we going?” cried Larkkit.

And they burst out of the ground. Emberkit and Larkkit squeaked as fresh-

kill rained down on them like snow. Nightpaw looked around. “We’re in the middle

of the fresh-kill pile!”

“Nightpaw?” gasped Firestar from the Highledge. He jumped down. “What

are you doing in our fresh-kill?” While Frostclaw explained to Firestar, Nightpaw

showed Leafstar and her kits to the nursery. Nightpaw immediately rushed to

Poppyfrost and Ferncloud. Poppyfrost was fast asleep, two tiny kits curled at her

belly, but Ferncloud’s ears were pricked.

“Ferncloud, is it true? Is Willowfall really…” The gray she-cat nodded,

bending her head. “I’m so sorry, Nightpaw. She would have made a great warrior.”

The she-cat’s gaze leapt to Leafstar. “What’s she doing in here?”

“Ferncloud, is it okay if Leafstar stays in here with her kits?”

Ferncloud looked down at the tiny kits and her gaze softened. “Of course she

can.” The gray she-cat turned to Leafstar. “You can have Dawnfall’s nest. She moved

out just yesterday.”

“She did?” gasped Nightpaw. “Who are her kits apprenticed to?”

“Well, for the first time in Clan history, Jayfeather has two medicine cat

apprentices,” said Ferncloud. Nightpaw sat with a thud. “He’s taken on Bluepaw?”

“Yes. He said they’d need all the medicine cats they’ll get.” She grunted. “I

don’t think I was supposed to hear him say that.

“Redpaw is mentored by Flamestep,” she continued, and Nightpaw squeaked

in excitement. Her brother was a mentor!

“Ivypool is mentoring Whitepaw. Dawnfall asked to mentor one of her own,

so Firestar gave her Streampaw. Lionblaze took on Sweetpaw. I don’t know why

they call her Sweetpaw. They should have called her Spicypaw.”

Nightpaw purred in agreement.

“Squirrelflight chose to mentor Stonepaw, and Silverpool is mentoring

Wavepaw.”

“She is?” Nightpaw jumped in delight. Her mother had an apprentice! “When

did they start training?”

“This morning, when the dawn patrol went out,” Ferncloud purred. “She

wasn’t happy about that. We heard her grumbling all the way to the border. Did you

know that Poppyfrost had two new kits?”

Nightpaw purred down at the two tiny furballs. “Did she have them

yesterday?”

“The night before, actually. She named them Berrykit and Honeykit. Both she-

cats.”

Berrykit, a dark red, sleek kit, looked up at Nightpaw with big yellow eyes.

She blinked, her face filling with wonder. “Who are they?”

Honeykit shook out her pale, creamy fur and shook a dark tan paw, her

greenish yellow eyes blinking at Emberkit and Larkkit. “They smell weird!” she

added, gazing at her sister, who nodded in agreement.

“Ahem. I’m still here!” announced Emberkit. “I’m hungry! What’s that bright

glowing thing, and why is it above our heads? Why is the stuff above us blue? It goes

up forever! What are those yummy-smelling things that fly on the blue? What are

the white things that float above our heads? What’s this tickly green stuff under me?

What are trees? Why can’t I go home?”

“Oh dear,” murmured Ferncloud as Leafstar comforted her kit. “They really

haven’t ever been above ground?”

“No,” replied Nightpaw. She watched as Larkkit and Emberkit buried their

heads in their mother’s soft black pelt, wailing for home. “And I’m afraid they will

never get used to it.”

*****

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the

Highledge for a Clan meeting,” called Firestar. Nightpaw and Leafstar pricked their

ears and padded out of the den with Larkkit and Emberkit in tow.

“Yesterday, Nightpaw and Frostclaw brought us these cats from the tunnels

below our territories. I would like the Clan to welcome them as if they were born

into the Clan.”

Leafstar and her kits hopped up onto a ledge lower than Firestar’s. “Hello,

ThunderClan,” began Leafstar. “I was trapped in the tunnels in a rockslide. When

Nightpaw and Frostclaw found me, they convinced me to come up to the Clans, for

the sake of my kits. I had heard of the Clans and the warrior code, so I agreed to join

ThunderClan and let my kits give their strengths to the cats up here.”

She flicked her ears in awkward acknowledgement as cheers rose from the

Clan. Nightpaw felt Flamestep tense beside her. “I don’t trust her,” he hissed, curling

his tail around his apprentice, Redpaw. Nightpaw flattened her ears. She had

forgotten entirely about the powers given to them. She trusted her brother’s

judgment, but she flicked off his nervous hiss and continued to listen to Leafstar

introduce herself.

“These are my kits,” she said. Larkkit pushed ahead of her mother. “Hi!” she

called. “I’m Larkkit. I like to hunt. Can I eat those things in the sky? They’re white,

and fluffy, and they look yummy!”

Laughter spread through the Clan. Leafstar hushed her kit and reassured her

that she could not eat clouds.

Emberkit, not to be outdone, leapt onto Firestar’s ledge and cried, “I’m

Emberkit! I want to fight ShadowClan cats!”

The rumble of laughter in the Clan swept through Nightpaw's ears. She

purred in amusement as Leafstar grabbed Emberkit and placed him swiftly on the

rock below.

“My name is Leafstar,” she continued, glaring at Emberkit. “I was the leader

of my own Clan in the tunnels, TunnelClan, but now I suppose I’ll need a new name.”

“No!” cried Flamestep. “You can use your old name, the one you had before

you were a leader. Can’t you?”

“Um…” Leafstar hesitated. “Yes, my name was… um… Leafclaw, and I-“

“No!” Flamestep said. “I know who you really are. I mean-“ he looked around

at the Clan. “Haven’t you heard nursery stories about her? She was the one who died

for her Clan… or at least, they said she died for her Clan…” He glared at Leafstar.

“Your name isn’t Leafclaw,” he yowled. “Your name is Hollyleaf!”

Next to Nightpaw, Jayfeather made a strange choking noise. She looked over

at him just in time to see him falling against Lionblaze, sending them both collapsing

slowly to the ground.

Hollyleaf, the Clan whispered. The name echoed through them like leaves

rustling on branches. Hollyleaf, Hollyleaf.

“Oh, no… Hollyleaf, Leafstar…“ muttered Firestar, looking down at the

shocked she-cat.

The Hollyleaf, Nightpaw realized. The one that had given her life chasing a

squirrel into the tunnels in the old territory. “Oh, StarClan,” she gasped. “She’s come

back from the dead!”

“An honorable warrior,” gasped Berrynose.

“What are you talking about?” Flamestep growled to the other cats. “She

didn’t give up her life honorably. She’s a killer!”

Lionblaze stood. “Hollyleaf,” he gasped. “Hollyleaf!”

And then he was running through the crowd, leaping to Hollyleaf. “Oh,

sister!” he cried. “I missed you so much!”

“I can’t say the same for you, Lionblaze,” growled Hollyleaf. The golden

warrior reeled back, hurt blinking in his eyes. “Hollyleaf-“

“She’s a murderer!” cried Flamestep. “Firestar, don’t let her join the Clan!”

“What?” hissed Hollyleaf. “How can he know?”

“Know what?” Firestar turned to the dark she-cat. “What is he talking about?”

“I had to do it!” cried Hollyleaf. “He would have torn us apart! I always had to

take care of them, my dysfunctional family. They couldn’t do it themselves- they’d

have done it wrong! It was his fault- I had to kill him- the warrior code would have

torn us apart otherwise! He was the one who attacked me!”

“Kill him?” Firestar growled. “I can’t allow a murderer into my Clan, Hollyleaf.

Perhaps you would like to explain this.”

“She killed Ashfur!” screeched Flamestep.

“No!” wailed Hollyleaf. “He attacked me first!”

“Ashfur?” gasped Ferncloud.

“Ashfur! How did you…” The dark she-cat gasped and stared at Stonepaw.

Stonepaw’s gray-flecked fur bristled as he arched his back. His eyes glared blue at

Hollyleaf. “Stop staring at me!”

“She thinks he’s Ashfur,” whispered Lionblaze.

“Ashfur!” gasped Hollyleaf. “No- Ashfur- I didn’t mean it- I…” she trailed off,

staring into the sky. “ I-“

She snatched up Larkkit and Emberkit and dashed into the woods.

“Ashfur,” gasped Ferncloud. “She killed Ashfur-“ The words trailed off into a

soundless wail of agony. “My brother- no!”

*****

Nightpaw padded through a silver forest. She looked up at the leaves and

pricked her ears, listening to the sound of birds chirping in the trees. She felt the

leaves under her paws.

“Hello, Nightpaw,” purred a voice behind her. Nightpaw pricked her ears and

turned, blinking in surprise to see a silvery cat standing behind her.

“Greetings,” meowed the strange cat. “I am Bluestar. I led ThunderClan

before Firestar.”

Nightpaw dipped her head respectfully. “Greetings, Bluestar,” she said.

“Welcome to my territory,” the blue-gray cat purred. “Feel free to hunt. Eat,

rest. You have a long way to go yet.”

“Thank you,” said Nightpaw, puzzled. When Bluestar left, she turned.

Nightpaw pricked her ears, pleased, when she saw a squirrel at the base of a tree.

She crept slowly up on the prey, feeling her claws slide stealthily out.

Nightpaw leapt and killed the squirrel with one blow of her paw.

Immediately blood seeped out of the slits that she had made. Nightpaw

stared in horror. The cuts made on fresh-kill were clean, and killed without blood.

But dark sticky liquid was pooling around her paws, covering the black in red. The

cloying stench of fear stifled her, and she turned, terrified, to flee. She ran until she

reached a river. Hesitatingly, Nightpaw turned to look. The puddle of blood was

slowly growing, moving towards her. She turned, ready to cross the river, but it was

flowing with blood too.

Horrified, Nightpaw spun around and ran. Blood seeped through cracks in

trees, rising from the grass and dripping from the sky. Nightpaw sped up, but the

blood washed around her in waves, belly-deep, until she could no longer touch the

ground. She floundered with a wail in the tide of red and heard Bluestar’s voice like

thunder in her ears.

“No matter how fast you run, destruction can follow. Never forget; those with

power also carry death on their shoulders.”

Nightpaw flailed in her nest, gasping for air, and opened her eyes. “Oh,

StarClan!” she gasped. She stood, her heart racing, and forced herself to walk out of

the den.

“Hey, Nightpaw! You’re awake!”

Foxwhisker trotted up to her. “Hey, I wanted to ask; do you want to come on

a patrol with us…”

Nightpaw nodded absently, but the image of the blood rose in her mind, and

she knew that no matter how fast she ran, it would follow her.

*****

“The night of the Gathering has come,” announced Firestar. “The cats coming

with me will be Stormheart, Berrynose, Bumblestripe, Silverpool, Frostclaw,

Flamestep, Dovewing, Foxleap, Ivypool, Lionblaze, Redpaw, Nightpaw, and

Wavepaw. Jayfeather, stay here.”

“But-“

“No. You were out all the last two days looking for juniper berries for

Ferncloud’s shock. You must have walked to StarClan and back. Stay here and rest.

Thrushwing and Bluepaw can manage perfectly fine by themselves.”

Jayfeather sank onto his haunches. “Thanks, Firestar.”

“Come on, then,” the leader said, and he sprang into the trees.

Nightpaw followed, excitement bubbling in her paws. This was her first time

to a Gathering since- since-

Immediately she felt nauseated as a squirrel dashed in front of her,

reminding her of her dream. Waves of red lapped at her paws, and she gasped,

trying to run-

And she blinked, and the vision was gone.

“Beat you there!” called Frostclaw, and he brushed past her. Forgetting all

her worries about her dream immediately, she raced after him, following his white

fur through the trees and into the hollow where they held the Gatherings.

“We’re the first ones here!” Nightpaw yowled in delight.

“Look at me!” crowed Frostclaw, leaping into the boulder where the leaders

sat. “Hey, y’all, I’m Froststar, the leader of all those cats down there on that ground,

and I must really say, we did have a darned pretty green-leaf,” he drawled. Nightpaw

felt her whiskers twitch and had to jump up and join him. “I’m Nightstar, leader of

ShadowClan, and I command you to give us your fresh-kill piles and feed us until we

burst, because we’re starving and we can’t catch our own prey.”

“Hey! I want to be the ShadowClan leader!” purred Frostclaw. He shoved her

aside. “I’m Froststar, leader of ShadowClan, and I command you to give me all the

territories and make the Twolegs my slaves!”

“I’m Blackstar, the real leader of ShadowClan, and I command you to get

down from the Great Tree and stop acting like mouse-brained kits!” yowled another

voice from the bushes, and ShadowClan cats burst from the edges of the clearing.

“Whoops,” Nightpaw whispered, and they climbed down.

“He’s just an old grump,” Frostclaw declared. “If we did anything really

wrong, StarClan would send a sign.”

Nightpaw glanced up at the sky. It was clear, apart from some wisps of cloud

drifting across the stars.

Soon the rest of ThunderClan caught up with them. Foxleap immediately

headed towards some ShadowClan senior warriors who were telling a story about a

fox to their apprentices. Whitepaw bounded over and started to play-wrestle with

two ShadowClan apprentices. Nightpaw heard a rustling in the bushes, and

WindClan burst through.

“I thought I smelled some WindClan stink on the air,” remarked Frostclaw

playfully, returning a glare sent by Breezepelt with a sniff. “Where’s RiverClan?”

“There they are!” Nightpaw saw Mistystar burst through the bushes with her

patrol close by her side. Streaming behind her was a familiar face- Hollyleaf?

Nightpaw blinked and choked as she saw the cat stop and score a mark in the

ground, out of which welled a swell of blood-

Nightpaw shrieked with disgust and surprise as the dark she-cat neared her.

Hollyleaf veered away and headed towards Frostclaw instead. The white warrior

bared his teeth. “Murderer!”

Hollyleaf spat back, “It was for the good of the Clans!”

“How did you even get in RiverClan?” spat Nightpaw.

“I told Mistystar that their father was a RiverClan warrior,” she retorted. Her

face softened. “Pebblefoot. Oh, how I loved him. But a fox killed him just before I was

trapped in the tunnels. Larkkit looks like him, you know.” She drew back her lips

and snarled, “Leave me alone. You don’t understand!”

Nightpaw seethed as Hollyleaf left.

“Cats of all Clans!” Blackstar called. “ShadowClan is faring well. A new litter

of kits was born to Dawnpelt a few days ago, and Pinepaw passed his warrior

assessment and is now a warrior, Pineclaw. “

“Pineclaw! Pineclaw!” cheered the warriors.

“The Twolegs have gone and the prey is running well once more,” concluded

Blackstar.

“Thank you, Blackstar,” said Firestar. “ThunderClan would like to report a

traitor,” he called. The Clans gasped. “Just after the last Gathering, Sunsplash

attacked Silverpool and threatened Nightpaw. If you see this cat, don’t hesitate to

drive him out.”

Murmurs washed around the Clan like water onto the shore.

“Besides this, ThunderClan is doing excellently. We have made five new

warriors. Foxwhisker, Frostclaw, Icewhisker, Flamestep, and Splashfoot, and

Berrynose and Poppyfrost have had two healthy kits, named Berrykit after their

father and Honeykit after their mother’s sister.”

Cheers rose from the cats, tempered by the sad memory of Honeyfern, the

gentle she-cat who had died of snakebite.

“Icewhisker and Splashfoot were lost in the tunnels shortly after their

warrior ceremony, but we are sure they are recovered. They are resourceful

warriors.”

Firestar was carefully avoiding the fact that they were still lost. Nightpaw

glanced at Frostclaw, who seemed to read her thoughts. “Losing two new warriors

will make our Clan seem weak,” he explained. “Best he doesn’t let on they’re still

gone, don’t you think?”

“Dawnfall’s kits have also been made into apprentices. Redpaw, Bluepaw, and

Wavepaw are all here tonight. Unfortunately, her other kits had to stay home. Our

patrol can only be so big!” He purred along with the rest of the Clans. “We have had

a busy moon. I hope all of the Clans have fared as well as us.”

Firestar dipped his head politely to Mistystar. “RiverClan?”

“A cat named Hollyleaf has made her way to us, with her kits, Larkkit and

Emberkit,” announced Mistystar. ThunderClan cats twitched their ears and shuffled

their paws uncomfortably. “She brought us her kits in the hopes that we would

provide them with food and shelter, and in return, she has given us the strengths of

her family to sustain us.”

“Now RiverClan is taking on rogues as well?” challenged a ShadowClan

warrior. “You’re almost as bad as ThunderClan!”

“RiverClan believes that all cats, no matter what their beliefs and laws may

be, deserve a good home and fresh-kill in their bellies. If you were a loner, would

you rather be turned out from a good home because you had never heard of

StarClan?” challenged Mistystar. “These kits are half- RiverClan. Their father was

brave Pebblefoot, who died chasing a fox off of our territory just a few moons ago.”

Murmurs of agreement rose in every direction. The ShadowClan cat who had

called out looked around and flattened his ears.

“We are also lucky enough to have two new apprentices. Leopardpaw and

Ripplepaw are skilled in training, and are here tonight.” Mistystar purred. A brown-

and-black spotted tom and a small dark gray tabby stood as the Clans purred a

welcome. “RiverClan is faring well,” she finished, and stepped back.

“Beware!” called Duskstar. The cats in the clearing jumped at his sharp voice.

“For WindClan has a new warrior and four new apprentices to fight any cat who

thinks they can take us on.”

The cats began to purr as they realized that Duskstar was joking.

“Please welcome Swiftcloud, Runningpaw, Harepaw, Berrypaw, and

Sagepaw.”

“Swiftcloud! Runningpaw! Harepaw! Berrypaw! Sagepaw!” yowled the cats.

Three gray apprentices stood, the only obvious difference between them their eye

colors- one had yellow, one green, and one amber. Next to them stood a red-furred

tom; one of his eyes was blue and one was amber. A pretty tortoiseshell-and-white

she-cat stood near them, dipping her head to her leader.

The WindClan deputy, Snowflower, hissed and added, “We are also strong

enough to take on a dog and a badger who thought they could fight us.” She glared at

the two RiverClan apprentices Dogpaw and Badgerpaw and they hung their heads.

Duskstar glared at his deputy. The white and red she-cat dipped her head

apologetically to him, but her eyes still glowed an indignant amber. “Also, please

welcome Shadepaw. Shadepaw has chosen to follow the path of the medicine cat,

and is now apprenticed to Littlecloud.”

“Shadepaw! Shadepaw!” yowled the Clans. A small black she-cat with gray

bands of fur around her paws and tail dipped her head politely to Littlecloud. “That

must be Shadepaw,” whispered Frostclaw in her ear.

“WindClan has nothing more to report. StarClan go with you.” He dipped his

head as the cats yowled.

“Duskstar is funny,” Nightpaw said. “I like him.”

Thrushwing turned around. “He’s the WindClan leader!” she spat. “You must

be loyal to only ThunderClan!”

“Okay, okay,” muttered Nightpaw. “Who put ants in your fur?”

The Gathering began to break apart, and cats started to drift over to other

Clans. Nightpaw pressed closer to Frostclaw as she saw Silverpool chatting with a

RiverClan cat.

“ThunderClan, come on,” Firestar called. Silverpool pricked her ears and said

goodbye to the RiverClan she-cat as they bounded towards camp. Nightpaw and

Frostclaw followed last, watching the other Clans gather and sprint away. They

turned to dash into the trees. Nightpaw froze as a familiar orange pelt caught her

eye. Sunsplash?

“No,” she gasped, and dashed away into the forest.

*****

She was padding in the forest again. She looked down at the leaves and

purred with appreciation as she saw that they were thick on the forest floor- that

meant there would be lots of prey.

She raised her paw to lick it absentmindedly and shrieked when she tasted

blood. Nightpaw choked and coughed, trying to get rid of the taste, but-

“Hey, Nightpaw?”

Nightpaw raised her head groggily. Silverpool was looking down at her. She

blinked and stretched. “What?”

“Do you want to go and catch something for the fresh-kill pile?”

“Hunting patrol?”

Silverpool’s whiskers twitched. “No. Just mother-daughter. I’ve barely seen

you since you were made an apprentice. I need to catch up with you.”

“Oh.” Nightpaw got up and stretched. “I guess so.”

The guard that morning was Berrynose. Silverpool and Nightpaw nodded to

him and went out in search of prey.

The forest was yellow and orange and speckled with brown, like the big

tawny eyes of Emberkit. Nightpaw felt so shocked that it was leaf-fall already.

Silverpool glanced down at her. “It was the end of leaf-bare when you were born,”

she commented. “You’re getting so big…” Nightpaw snorted. She pressed herself

against her mother. “I’m still the same kit,” she assured her.

“Still, I don’t understand how you grew up so fast.” Silverpool stopped talking

and laid her tail over Nightpaw’s mouth as a water vole emerged from under a pile

of leaves. “I’ve got this,” she whispered, and shot forward towards the vole. She

picked up speed, silently drawing closer and closer to the tiny prey. She was only a

mouse-length away when-

“Ha!” A caterwaul shrieked through Nightpaw’s ears. Silverpool was knocked

onto her back as a yellow streak shot past Nightpaw and pinned down the silver

tabby, raising a claw and placing it at her throat.

“Sunsplash, let me go!” shrieked Silverpool, writhing under the tabby’s grasp.

But Sunsplash had the advantage of weight and size, and soon Silverpool was pinned

to the ground with no chance of getting up again.

“No, Sunsplash!” screeched Nightpaw. She leapt onto Sunsplash’s shoulders

and tried to pry him off, forgetting in her desperation that her speed had no effect

on his strength. She pulled back on his shoulders and gripped his scruff in her teeth,

shaking from fear and the effort of holding him back.

A streak of white and a yowl both startled Nightpaw into leaping off of the

orange tabby. She bustled Silverpool into the bushes as a familiar white and gray

pelt flashed past her face.

Frostclaw dove onto Sunsplash. The two cats wrestled, screeching and

yowling in a furious, deadly whirl of fur, teeth, and claws. Sunsplash was going to

win! Nightpaw growled as he slit Frostclaw’s ear open. Time slowed down as

Frostclaw and Sunsplash crouched to leap. The two cats were diving at each other’s

throats, blood from Frostclaw’s ear spraying in a glittering red arc of tiny droplets

from Sunsplash’s unsheathed claws. Frostclaw’s mouth was open in a silent snarl of

defiance, teeth stained pink. Sunsplash’s paw swept around slowly to bite into the

soft skin around Frostclaw’s neck.

“No!” shrieked Nightpaw, diving between the two cats. The blow that was

meant for Frostclaw instead cut deep into her flank, and she yowled with pain,

landing in the dirt as the two fighting toms hissed in surprise. Frostclaw recovered

first, feinting low to the ground, then springing up as Sunsplash lashed out at him.

The orange tabby looked up in first surprise, then shock, then fear as all four of

Frostclaw’s paws swept down. Then the white and gray cat crumpled on top of

Sunsplash, claws cutting neat gashes all over his striped pelt, and Frostclaw bit

down hard on Sunsplash’s neck.

Time crashed back down on Nightpaw like a wave. She watched in horror as

Frostclaw spat out blood onto the forest floor and gazed down at his enemy.

“You never would have let me win,” Sunsplash snarled weakly, paws slipping

on the uneven ground as he struggled to stand.

Frostclaw glanced at Nightpaw, his blue eyes wide and scared. He backed

slowly into the bushes, where Silverpool still lay, recovering.

Sunsplash’s eyes closed. Nightpaw’s tail swished. Was he dead? But her

hopes- and fears- were dashed as he coughed, blinked, and looked up at her.

“Nightpaw?” he rasped.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. They had to lean in to hear the words. “Sorry, so

sorry…” His voice trailed off. His tail swept around once to touch Silverpool’s flank

before dropping to the ground to lie still, forever.

“Come on,” Silverpool’s voice cracked. “Let’s get him back to camp.”

*****

None of them mentioned it when they finally got back to camp. They only

stared into the distance as Firestar reported that they had found the body of

Sunsplash in the woods. Dawnfall leaned against Silverpool the whole time. “I know

that you believed that he was good in his heart,” Dawnfall murmured. Silverpool

sighed. “We’ll never know if he really regretted it,” she whispered. Nightpaw gazed

at the two she-cats as they both began to walk back to the den. She looked across the

clearing at Frostclaw. She didn’t know if she could meet his gaze after all that had

happened. But that night, as she fell asleep, she noticed that he had moved his nest.

Moved it from where he and Icewhisker had lain in the warriors’ den to the very

entrance, where he could be nearer to her apprentice’s nest.

*****

“Wake up! Wake up! Icewhisker and Splashfoot are back!”

The call from Silverpool’s spot on guard that night roused the whole camp,

including the kits. Nightpaw heard their excited cries from her nest, where she had

awoken.

“Are we being invaded?” Honeykit’s squeak was excited rather than

frightened.

“Is it ShadowClan?” Berrykit’s voice was rougher, and Nightpaw imagined the

tiny kit baring her teeth comically. “I’ll show them!”

“Don’t go rushing out there,” Poppyfrost soothed. “It’s probably just a mouse

that strayed into the camp.”

“A mouse would have to be pretty mouse-brained to come into our camp,”

muttered Berrykit. Honeykit’s purr was audible through the rock. “Stupid! All mice

are mouse-brained.”

“It’s Icewhisker!” called Silverpool. “And Splashfoot! They’re back!”

Nightpaw rushed out into the clearing, followed by Whitepaw, Redpaw,

Streampaw, Sweetpaw, Stonepaw, and Wavepaw, all grumbling, half asleep.

Nightpaw purred. “You sound like angry badgers!”

Wavepaw shoved her. “Like when you snore!”

Nightpaw didn’t really believe Silverpool’s cries until out of the darkness,

both a sight and a smell floated to her. She smelled the rabbity tang of WindClan, but

underneath was the forest scent of ThunderClan. She saw a striped, spotted pelt,

floating through the shadows like a cloud, or a ghost. Nightpaw tensed as the smells

of WindClan cleared away and she smelled something much more familiar.

“Icewhisker! Splashfoot!” She hurled herself into Icewhisker’s flank, rubbing

herself all over him to get rid of the scent of WindClan and overlay it with

ThunderClan squirrels, mice, and birds.

Frostclaw came trotting out of the den. His ear had been washed, but a deep

V shape still cut through the skin.

Nightpaw pressed closer to Icewhisker, feeling his fur on the raw flesh of

where Sunsplash’s claws had sliced deep into it. Icewhisker looked slightly

uncomfortable, but he leaned into her, touching her nose with his. “I missed you,

Nightpaw.”

“Nightpaw!” cried Splashfoot. She was limping badly, but she seemed well

enough. “You should have seen. We popped out in WindClan territory ages after you

disappeared. Then Icewhisker saw the WindClan medicine cat, and we had to stay

for a while to recover from the tunnels. And then we had an escort. Breezepelt was

so mean, but I clawed off his face!” She purred. “Not really. But we said some pretty

mean things to each other. Oh well,” she continued. “It was so cool, but I’m so glad I

can see you again.”

She froze as her eyes focused on something behind Nightpaw, then exploded

into action. “Oh, Foxwhisker, I’ve missed you so much!”

The red cat licked Splashfoot behind the ear. “I missed you too, sweet

Splashfoot.”

She gazed at the two cats and her heart beat faster. She heard Bluestar’s

ominous voice. Fight if you want them to live. Fight for the Clans.

*****

“No, no, no!” Nightpaw bolted upright as a familiar voice shattered her

dreams. “It can’t be true, Icewhisker. It can’t!”

“What?” Nightpaw jumped out of her nest and saw Frostclaw crouching on

the ground. Icewhisker was sitting nearby, looking shocked.

“What’s going on, Icewhisker?”

Icewhisker looked at her with eyes older than anything Nightpaw had ever

seen. “It’s our father,” he said. “He’s a WindClan cat.”

“No!”

“I smelled ThunderClan on him,” Icewhisker said. “One night, I saw StarClan

in a dream. I don’t understand it. They showed me the moor at sundown, and I

smelled WindClan and ThunderClan. I looked in the trees and saw little grey birds

everywhere. They were all flying around, and one came down…” He shuddered. “It

had the eyes of a cat. They were yellow. They stared at me… And then the sun went

down. I was looking at the birds at dusk…”

Dusk… “No!”

Icewhisker looked up at the sky. “Yes. I think that my father is Duskstar.”

“Oh, Icewhisker…”

The two cats jumped as Dustpelt stomped out of the elders’ den. “For

StarClan’s sake!” he complained. “Does every cat have to be out here? The moon is

still out.”

“The sun’s rising,” Nightpaw pointed out, pressing close to Icewhisker to

calm him down. “We can come out here if we like.”

Dustpelt squinted at Icewhisker. “Who’s that with you? Dawnfall?”

“No! Icewhisker and Frostclaw!” Was the old cat going blind? Nightpaw

huffed as the brown tom spat, “What’re you doing out here right now?”

“We were, um…” Her imagination faltered. “Discussing the dawn patrol.”

“Sure.” Dustpelt grunted. He began to walk towards the rock pile, but stopped

and cursed as he stepped on a large, pointy rock. Hopping on three paws, he howled,

“StarClan’s kits! Can’t a cat walk to get fresh kill without stepping on something

sharp?”

Nightpaw rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “Go to bed. We can

talk more later.”

*****

“Dawn patrol!”

Stormheart’s cheery mew brought Sweetpaw and Nightpaw groaning out of

their nests. Sweetpaw stretched her long legs and sat with a thump to wash her

tortoiseshell tail. Nightpaw licked a paw and rubbed it over her ears, trying to get

rid of an itch on the base of her neck. Stormheart flicked his tail in her direction.

“Come on, Nightpaw. Firestar’s coming on this patrol. He’ll make you a warrior if

you do well.”

“Really?” Nightpaw sat up. “I’m coming!” She gave her paw one last cleansing

and ran out of her den into the clearing.

Firestar was sitting in the clearing, eating a sparrow. He purred. “A good

apprentice will patrol when she’s told and not when she has the chance to become a

warrior,” he teased her.

She picked up a vole. “I was going to stop washing eventually!”

She pricked her ears as Icewhisker and Frostclaw came out of the warriors

den. Frostclaw yawned and absently started eating a mouse. Icewhisker joined

Nightpaw, Firestar, and Stormheart near the rock pile.

“Dawn patrol?” he yawned. Firestar nodded agreement. “You want to come?”

Icewhisker stretched. “Not really. But I will. I need something to wake me

up.”

Icewhisker must be tired after that long journey from the farthest edge of

WindClan to here, Nightpaw thought.

Firestar seemed to read his thoughts. “Go and sleep,” he said. “You must be

exhausted from yesterday.”

Something flashed through Icewhisker’s eyes. Was that relief? Nightpaw

wished that Splashfoot was here to tell her what the white cat was feeling as he

went back to the den. Unfortunately, her sister was resting in the medicine den.

Kestrelflight and Cedarpaw might have set her broken leg and given her juniper for

the shock, but she was still limping and she had a fever. Jayfeather and Thrushwing

were both in the den soothing her.

Nightpaw glanced worriedly back at the medicine den. The biggest pile of

moss was below the entrance, creating a soft, springy floor for the cats. The top

layer of moss was replaced every quarter moon by Dawnfall’s complaining kits.

Nightpaw remembered when she was in there, and the floor had been nothing but

hard, cold rock. Oh, well. She sighed as Sweetpaw finally came bounding out of the

den.

“Where are we going?” Sweetpaw asked breathlessly, her calico fur bristling

excitedly.

“This patrol is a mixture of a hunting and border. We’ll look for prey, but

keep an eye out for any intruders. We’ll go along the WindClan border,” Firestar

explained as they bounded into the woods.

“Wait!” yowled Thrushwing’s voice as she leapt out of the medicine den.

“Mind if I come with?” she asked. “I need to collect some juniper for Ivypool’s

bellyache.”

“Okay,” Firestar agreed. “Where’s Bluepaw?”

“With Jayfeather, learning how to cool a fever,” she replied. “She’s great.

Splashfoot will be better in no time.”

Before long, Thrushwing stopped them. “I see some juniper over there on the

WindClan border,” she meowed.

Firestar nodded at her. “Go ahead.”

She walked straight up to the border and began to collect them. Nightpaw

watched in awe. How did she manage not to puncture a single one of those berries?

Shaking her head, she was about to catch up with the rest of the patrol when

she smelled the fresh rabbity tang of WindClan.

“Thrushwing!” cried Duskstar, trotting up to the border. “What-“ He looked

around and spotted Nightpaw. His eyes widened. “What- what are you d-doing on

our territory?”

Thrushwing sat calmly, narrowing her eyes. “I was collecting juniper. And I’m

on our side of the border,” she added smoothly. Duskstar looked embarrassed. “Of

course you are.” He dashed away. “Um… see you later,” he called back.

Snorting, Thrushwing walked back to Nightpaw. She glared. “Whadd’re yoo

lukin’ at?” she mumbled through a mouthful of juniper.

“Nothing.”

Were Thrushwing’s eyes wary? Nightpaw glanced back at the medicine cat as

she raced ahead to join her mentor, Firestar, and Sweetpaw.

Nightpaw ran ahead of the rest of the patrol, making sure to run silently. She

spotted a squirrel escaping up a tree and lunged for it, making a spectacular leap

and catching it by the tail, dragging it down and killing it instantly with a sharp bite.

“Well caught,” observed Firestar. He turned to Stormheart. “You’ve mentored

her well.”

Stormheart bent his head. “I didn’t have to work too hard,” he meowed.

“Nightpaw is clever and quick-witted. She’s the smartest apprentice I’ve had so far.”

Embarrassed, Nightpaw bent her head to lick her chest fur. Firestar nodded

at them. “Come on,” he said.

“Well done,” murmured Stormheart as the rest of the patrol bounded into the

trees. “You’ll be a warrior soon.”

Nightpaw caught a glimpse of sadness in his eyes and realized that she was

probably going to be his last apprentice. Stormheart had mentored both Cherryfur

and Molewhisker, and even when they had both been killed in battle, he continued

to be a great mentor to all apprentices, even the ones that weren’t his own. He

would probably retire to the elders’ den with Mousefur and Dustpelt. Stormheart

gazed into her eyes and raced ahead.

She stopped short as hissing bit through her thoughts and she saw that she

had disturbed a nest of rats. “Ahh!” she yowled, whipping around as a sharp sting in

her tail betrayed the position of a rat. With a hard blow on the head from her paw,

the creature crumpled.

“Nightpaw? Nightpaw, what’s going on?” The voice was slightly familiar, but

Nightpaw didn’t bother to think too much about it.

“Rats!” she spat, struggling to keep away from the angry animals. A white pelt

flashed in front of her face. She struggled back as a high-pitched shriek rang through

the air. Oh no! Not more of them!

Struggling and spitting defiantly, she pushed at the black mass of paws and

greasy, disgusting fur, choking as the mass of rats bit her and pushed her down.

Yowling in rage, she pushed against the rats, but they were slowly forcing her to the

ground. She cried out in pain as sharp teeth pierced her neck- and silence. Nightpaw

opened her eyes a slit, just catching a glimpse of something silvery white, with stars

gleaming at its paws- Is it over? Has StarClan come to save me?

No. But a cat worthy of StarClan’s honor has.

Sound came roaring back to her ears. A rat fell with a thud in front of her

face. She felt precious life dripping crimson out of her neck. Her legs went limp. Her

head thudded to the ground. Give up, Nightpaw. Give up.

No! Nightpaw pushed open one eye. She saw him then. Icy fur, spotted with

red and brown. Splashed with dirt and blood. She sat bolt upright as Frostclaw’s

claws bit deep into the neck of a rat. “No!”

He had come to save her! The thought flashed through her mind. “They’ll kill

you,” she whispered. She meant to shout, but all that came out was a hoarse groan.

“No…”

The image of blood rose in her mind like bile, but she forced it down. She had

to help Frostclaw.

A rat three times as big as the others leapt strong and heavy onto the white

cat’s neck. Frostclaw whipped around, a dying rat clenched in his jaws. He struggled

to claw at the rat and just barely managed to scrape its flank before sliding to the

ground, a snarl of defiance still on his face.

“He fought to the end.”

“Willowfall?” rasped Nightpaw, still blanketed in brown and black by the rats.

Then she opened her eyes wide just in time to see Frostclaw’s eyes close.

“No!” she whispered, crawling over to him. She sank her muzzle into his fur. I

never got to tell you what you meant to me.

Then she stiffened as a faint, slow throb of a pulse vibrated in her ears. He’s

alive!

“G-ahh!” The shriek from her mouth scared even Nightpaw as she leapt,

throwing frightened rats off of her in vengeful rage. Twisting in midair, she caught

one on her paw and sank the sharp ends of her claws into its neck. Squealing in

anger, the rats converged on her.

She kicked and bit and sliced with her claws. A rat leapt from behind, but she

raised a hind leg and knocked it senseless with a kick. She bit furiously on the neck

of one, sending a spurt of red onto the grass.

“Keep- away- from- me-“ she spat, leaving a trail of dead or stunned rats

behind.

“Yahh!” She screamed as a huge weight fell onto her neck, crushing her. She

felt two sharp thorns sink into her neck. Gasping, she looked back and saw the

enormous rat, spitting at her in rage. It was almost as big as her, and twice as deadly.

Nightpaw crouched.

“Nightpaw? What’s going on?” shrieked Firestar’s voice. He was rushing into

the clearing now, running to help her-

“Ow!” he yowled, stumbling, then falling. He howled in pain, licking

desperately at his paw. Nightpaw could see red squirting from his pad. Sweetpaw

and Thrushwing gasped and stopped to help him. Nightpaw looked ahead and saw a

splash of white- Icewhisker?

She yowled as the rat leapt onto her neck. “Ah! Get off!” She arched her back

and tried to claw the rat from her, but it dug in its teeth and hung on. She looked

desperately at Icewhisker. “Help!”

The white cat was frozen.

“Ice- aaahh!” Nightpaw crumpled to the ground. Agony pierced her as the rat

bit down hard. Furious at her Clanmate for standing there, she stood, glared at him,

and bucked off the rat, twisting so that she bit down hard on the rat’s neck. The

animal screamed in agony, but Nightpaw didn’t let go until her teeth connected and

the rat went limp. She tossed the rat at Icewhisker’s paws, spitting in contempt, and

turned her back.

“Frostclaw-“ began the spotted cat, taking a step towards them. Nightpaw

froze him with her eyes, wild with fury and desperation, and stepped towards the

cats who had risked his life for her.

“Frostclaw.” She put every ounce of feeling she had for him into his name.

“Wake up.”

He was still.

Desperation coursed through her like a river, cleansing her of anger.

“Frostclaw, please! Wake up! Please!”

There was no sound but her own breath as she waited, hope and terror

battling inside, for him to live.

*****

“Ah!”

The smallest noise.

The tom lying in the starry clearing gasped.

To move, to breathe, to even open one eye was pure agony.

He tried once more, forcing an eyelid to open the width of a whisker.

Holding in a gasp from the pain, he looked.

Just one glimpse.

But it was enough.

Am I dead?

The field was starry, silver, glowing.

Cold.

Like frost.

Frost.

Dark, like night.

Nightpaw!

With the memory of his beloved, more flooded back.

Nightpaw.

She could never love him back.

Oh, Nightpaw.

Let me come back to you, Nightpaw.

Let me feel your fur, smell the mint in your breath.

Let me see your ear flick as you laugh.

Let me watch your whiskers twitch.

I miss your purr.

I miss your voice.

Let me come back.

He struggled.

Strained.

He felt himself break through the bonds holding him.

Twitch.

Just one twitch of the tail.

So, so small.

Yet he knew that somehow, Nightpaw would see it.

*****

She saw his tail twitch.

Just a little.

But she knew he was alive.

Nightpaw stopped her pleading. Exhaustion overwhelmed her in a black

wave. Roaring filled her ears. She could barely hear Icewhisker whisper.

“Nightpaw?”

And her legs buckled under her, his eyes- deep, dark blue- swirled before her

own; she choked with horror as the eyes turned red, and she had time for one last

thought before everything went black.

Here I come to join you, Frostclaw.

*****

Nightpaw joined Splashfoot in the warrior den that day.

After a long rest and a few healing herbs for her exhaustion, she felt well

enough to sit up. She yawned and began to clean her face.

Thrushwing approached her. Nightpaw stood, blinking beseechingly. “Can I

see Frostclaw now?”

“Fine,” sighed Thrushwing. She led him into the darkest corner of the den.

“Quietly,” she warned. “He’s not fully healed yet.”

Nightpaw couldn’t suppress a little cry of joy at the sight of his face, though.

She gazed at him, taking in his scars, scrapes and cuts. Then she saw his ear.

Or his lack of one.

She could barely stifle a purr of amusement, putting her head next to his.

They might have been opposites when it came to fur color, but they had one thing in

common now.

They were both missing an ear.

*****

Frostclaw awoke to a voice.

“Thrushwing, may I talk to you?”

It was Flamestep’s voice. He could hear three sets of breathing, smell the

earthy scent of Flamestep, the mint of Nightpaw, and the herbs on the medicine cat.

He closed his eyes tightly. He didn’t want to be fussed over quite yet, especially by

Ferncloud. She would be a nightmare. He twitched an ear as a fly landed on it,

listening for Nightpaw’s voice.

“Thrushwing, how well do you know Duskstar?”

Frostclaw’s eyes flew wide open with shock. His heart pounded in his chest

so loud he was sure she would hear it. Oh, StarClan, no! Not the medicine cat…Not my

mother…

“What- what are you talking about?” Thrushwing’s paws scuffled over the

ground uncomfortably.

“We know…”

“Flamestep. Oh, Nightpaw,” whispered Thrushwing. “How did you know?”

“Thrushwing,” the black cat gasped. “It’s true? It must have been so hard to

keep it a secret for so long…”

“Which ones?” interrupted Thrushwing. “Which ones are my kits?”

“Him,” whispered Nightpaw. Frostclaw felt her tail-tip flick his flank. He

trembled. “And his brother.”

“Oh,” breathed Thrushwing. “Oh, my.”

Nightpaw was nuzzling Frostclaw’s cheek now, and he opened his eyes and

gazed at his mother. “Oh, StarClan,” he gasped, and very slowly, he leaned forwards

to touch noses with the medicine cat.

*****

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the

Highledge for a Clan meeting!”

Nightpaw pricked her ears and padded out of the medicine den, sitting neatly

with all four paws tucked underneath her. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the night’s

darkness, and she blinked as she saw a white shape flit through the crowd of

warriors and flee through the entrance.

“Nightpaw’s warrior ceremony is long overdue,” began the leader.

At first, she thought her ears had fallen off. “Oh, yes!” squeaked Nightpaw.

She felt soft breath on her ear and smelled the sweet tang of berries. “You deserve it,

Nightpaw.”

“I, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon StarClan to look down on this

apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I

commend her to you as a warrior in her turn.”

He turned to Nightpaw, who gulped in a big breath of air, feeling she would

never get enough.

“Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect your Clanmates,

even at the cost of your life?”

“Oh, yes, I do!” yowled Nightpaw, throwing her head back and gazing at the

stars. She blinked as a cat’s face appeared in the stars, and Willowfall whispered in

her ear, “Good job, sister. Now you just have one more choice to make.”

She gazed at Firestar as he straightened and declared, “Then by the powers

of StarClan I give you your warrior name. Nightpaw, from this moment on you will

be known as Nightpool. StarClan honors your determination and your loyalty, and

we welcome you as a full warrior of the Clan.”

“Oh, yes, yes, yes!”

Frostclaw pressed in close, and this time Nightpool leaned into his sweet-

smelling fur, letting the sparks in her mind lead her way as they headed towards her

new nest in the warriors’ den.

*****

Nightpool made her new nest right next to Icewhisker and Frostclaw’s. She

lay down, exhausted. Icewhisker came in later that evening, waking her up. He

smelled of moss.

“Oh, hi Nightpaw,” he meowed quickly. “What are you doing in the warriors’

den?”

“It’s Nightpool now,” she sniffed. “Weren’t you even here for my warrior

ceremony?”

“Um…”

“You weren’t? Oh, Icewhisker!” Nightpool flattened her ears in dismay.

“I can’t be in camp every single moment of the day!”

“You could have at least told me where you were going!”

“It’s none of your smelly foxdung business!”

Nightpool couldn’t believe her ears. “You worthless piece of foxdung! I

thought I saw you slipping out of the camp like a sneaky fox! Don’t you even care

about me?”

Icewhisker laid down with his back to her. Nightpool sniffed and leaned her

head against Frostclaw, taking comfort in the warmth of his fur.

That night, at a time that must have been past moonhigh, Nightpool heard

Icewhisker rustle in his nest, then get up, stretch, and leave the den. She waited

awhile for him to go, then got up quietly and followed.

He headed towards the abandoned Twoleg nest on the WindClan border.

Glancing nervously around, he bounded ahead. Nightpool was exhausted. She

managed to stagger a few steps forwards, sit with a bump, and gasp as a silvery-blue

she-cat came towards her, stars glowing like icy fire in her paws and eyes.

“Willowfall,” she purred, and stepped forward to touch her sister’s nose. “You

came.”

“Of course I did, Nightpool,” purred her sister. Nightpaw caught a glimpse of

her sister’s fiery heart in the silver-green eyes. “You must rest. Dawn patrol

tomorrow!”

Suddenly Willowfall turned and began to run. Nightpool dashed after her.

“Wait! Wait for me!”

Willowfall stopped in the middle of the camp. She sat near the fresh-kill pile,

waiting for Nightpool to come in. Then she stood, waved her tail, and meowed,

“Beware, Nightpool, for all things will change here tomorrow. And do not forget

your power.”

“What? What do you mean?” begged Nightpool, but her sister vanished.

Nightpool waited for what seemed like ages, but finally she had to accept that

her sister was gone. She choked back a wail of grief. It seemed as though she had

lost her sister once more.

Curling up tight in her nest, she tucked her nose under her tail and pressed

close to one of the white brothers, no longer caring which one it was.

*****

“Nightpool! Dawn patrol!”

The mew broke through Nightpool’s dreams. She opened her eyes and was

nearly blinded by a blast of white sunlight. Blinking, she struggled to focus on

something slightly less disorienting and painful.

Half of her wish came true. Her gaze landed on Icewhisker. He looked

horrible. His fur was tangled, and his tail thrashed restlessly. His eyes were red and

bloodshot. Nightpool dashed up to him. “What happened, Icewhisker?”

Icewhisker blinked at her and grunted. “Nothing,” he grumbled, and sat with

a thump to wash his fur.

Frostclaw and Flamestep padded up behind her. “What’s going on?”

“Dawn patrol,” muttered Icewhisker. Frostclaw groaned in pleasure as he

stretched. “Looks like frost,” he observed.

Nightpool glanced around. She had been too preoccupied to notice the thin

layer of frost blanketing the ground, or the cool crispness of the air as she breathed.

“Like you!” she teased Frostclaw. He shoved her playfully. Nightpool

stumbled, caught her balance and leapt at Frostclaw, slipping and falling on top of

him. Frostclaw steadied her with his shoulder, gently propping her up. “Whoa, there,

clumsy,” he murmured. “Don’t make me save you again!”

“Yaaaaah!” yowled Flamestep, leaping at them and bowling them both over.

The trio went over in an orange, black and white flurry of fur.

Icewhisker snorted and smoothed his chest fur with a paw, even though it

was already as fluffy and downy as goose feathers. “Are we going on patrol, or are

we playing like kits?” he sniffed. Nightpool flicked him lightly on the shoulder with

her tail. “Don’t be such a grumpy old elder!” she teased him.

Exhaling through her nose, she headed towards the exit.

“Come on,” she beckoned. The three toms stretched and followed her.

“Wait! Flamestep!” They looked around to see Bluepaw bounding up to them.

She looked at Flamestep. “Thrushwing needs your help with something.”

“Aw, can’t it wait?” he complained. “I was going to patrol!”

“She needs your help. Now!” Bluepaw flicked her tail up at the camp. “Please-

I think she needs more herbs.”

“Fine,” the orange tabby grunted. “See you,” he said to the patrol. “You’ll be

fine with just three cats…?”

“Don’t worry; I’ll take care of them,” Frostclaw purred. Nightpool bumped

her shoulder against him. “I can take care of myself, mousebrain!”

As they walked along in the green and white of the crisp, leaf-bare forest,

Nightpool met Frostclaw’s gaze. His eyes were asking something. She studied them

more closely. What a beautiful, deep blue they were. Like the sky at moonhigh. Like

the very depths of a deep, dark pool of crystal-clear water.

She sighed and tore her gaze away. Sniffing the air for any hint of prey, she

stiffened. “Hey. I smell WindClan!”

“WindClan?” growled Frostclaw. “Where?”

She drew in another breath, trying to pinpoint the location of the scent. “I

think… they’re invading the old Twoleg nest!”

She hissed. Icewhisker stiffened and said quietly, “Then we have to drive

them off. If we don’t, they’ll steal Jayfeather’s herbs!”

“Let’s be sneaky,” Nightpool said. “They’re too fast. We’ll never catch them if

we blunder up to them like badgers.”

“Let’s skirt around the edge of the nest. Icewhisker, you can go around where

that rotting beam from the nest is. Nightpool and I can go the other way, through

that square opening,” Frostclaw ordered. “You pretend to be alone. Confront them,

and while their backs are turned, we’ll jump on them!”

They approached the nest, and Icewhisker turned at the rotting beam. As he

padded unsteadily out of sight, Nightpool nudged Frostclaw. “What’s wrong with

him?”

“Slept badly,” he replied.

Nightpool shrugged and followed him around the edge of the nest. She heard

WindClan voices.

“Do you think those ThunderClan cats will even notice we’re taking their

herbs?” snorted the voice of Snowflower.

“Nah. They’re too fat and slow,” Breezepelt’s voice was aggressive.

“Wait! Shush. I smell ThunderClan.” This voice belonged to someone she had

never heard before.

“It’s that new warrior we saw at the Gathering, Swift- Swift-something,”

Frostclaw said. “Swiftcloud. She looked sneaky.”

“Of course you smell ThunderClan!” yowled Snowflower. “You’re in their

Twoleg nest! But don’t make them angry- they might make you eat kittypet food!”

“Soon the herbs will be ours, though,” Breezepelt snarled.

“They think they can take over ThunderClan with three cats?” snorted

Nightpool. “Three, skinny, stick-cats who only eat rabbits? Don’t make me laugh!”

She heard rustling, a surprised yowl, and Icewhisker’s voice. “What are you

doing in our herbs, Snowflower?” he said politely. “If you needed medicine,

Littlecloud can come ask Jayfeather at any time he likes. You don’t have to intrude.”

“Well, we were rather afraid of you sitting on us,” Breezepelt retorted. “You

might have squashed us, you see.”

“Get out!” hissed Icewhisker.

“How are you going to make us?” taunted Breezepelt. “There’s just one of

you!”

“If I concentrate hard enough, I can get them to come help me,” Icewhisker

said. Snowfeather snorted. “Right. Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here!”

“You’re not leaving until I say so,” snarled Icewhisker.

“Let’s go,” whispered Frostclaw.

“Let’s just drive him off and get it over with!” snorted Breezepelt.

“I swear- they’re coming to help me right now,” Icewhisker protested.

“Right- like you could-“

They burst into the opening, yowling. Snowflower turned, shocked. “Icewhi-“

she said, but Frostclaw jumped on her and began to claw her. Nightpool attacked

Breezepelt, darting quick as a bird around him to nip at his hind legs. Breezepelt

hissed in exasperation.

“Slower than a ThunderClan cat, Breezekit?” Nightpool taunted as the black

tom growled and tried to get a blow in. “Never! Can’t grow your own herbs? Then go

steal some from a Twoleg garden- not one Jayfeather grew himself!”

“…and stay out!” yowled Frostclaw, shoving Snowflower out of the nest.

Nightpool kicked at Breezepelt and he fled. “You too!” she told Swiftcloud. Nightpool

heard a stifled gasp from behind her and looked around, but it was only Icewhisker,

narrowing his eyes at Swiftcloud. The tortoiseshell dipped her head. “I didn’t want

to invade,” she whispered. “It was their idea. Snowflower ordered me.” She backed

away, then turned and dashed off after her deputy.

“Hey! You guys!”

Nightpool looked around for the source of the yowl. She saw Flamestep

bounding towards that. “I saw those WindClan warriors running!” he yowled. “They

looked like prey being chased!”

“I can summon my Clanmates to come and attack you- from the camp! I can’t

believe they fell for that!” snorted Icewhisker. Nightpool purred in amusement.

“What are you doing out here?” asked Frostclaw, padding up to the tabby.

“Thrushwing made me go get herbs,” meowed Flamestep. “But Bluepaw

caught up with me just back there and told me they had actually sent Foxwhisker

and Splashfoot before me and forgotten. So I figured I would patrol with you.”

“You want to lead? Nobody really was leading before,” Nightpool invited. Her

brother agreed. “Yes, definitely! I haven’t hunted in days!”

“Come on, guys. Let’s keep hunting,” said Frostclaw, licking a scratch on his

paws. Icewhisker padded, exhausted, after them. Nightpool watched the frost

glittering on the ground. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” whispered Willowfall’s voice in her

head. She spun around, but there was no one behind her.

“Nightpool,” hissed Frostclaw, breaking the spell. He cocked his ears at

Icewhisker, who was blearily padding behind them, yawning and looking as though

he hadn’t slept for a moon. Nightpool looked back at Frostclaw. His expression was

clearly asking, When should we tell him?

“Oh, Frostclaw,” she murmured. “I don’t know.”

“You’re talking about them, aren’t you,” whispered Flamestep.

“What?” Icewhisker caught up with them. “Don’t know what? Them what?”

Nightpool glanced, panicked, in Frostclaw’s direction. “Um…” There was no

going back now. She opened her mouth and let the story out. Frostclaw joined her.

Their voices jumbled and mixed together, chattering like a bird, and-

“Wait! Can you go a bit slower?” pleaded Icewhisker. “I just woke up, you

know.”

Nightpool sighed. “We’ve found out the mystery,” she explained. “Duskstar is

your father. Thrushwing is your mother.”

Icewhisker didn’t seem to absorb these words for a few moments. Then he

jumped, stared at the two cats, and shrieked, “Are you two crazy cats mad?”

He spun around and dashed into the forest.

“That went well,” Frostclaw sighed. “I’ll go find him. You keep patrolling with

Flamestep.”

“What? I don’t want to stay here!”

“He’s my brother!”

“He’s my mate!” hissed Nightpool, leaning towards him and drawing back her

lips. Frostclaw shrank back, hurt glimmering in his eyes. His eyes flitted down to the

ground, then looked back at her fleetingly. “Okay,” he whispered. “You go ahead.”

Nightpool spun around and marched away.

“Icewhisker!” she called. “Come back here now! It’s not as bad as you think.

Icewhisker? Icewhisker!” Snorting in disgust, she marched on, quieter this time.

“Come here right now, Icewhisker!”

Sighing, she stealthily ran in the direction his scent headed. Casting her gaze

into a shadowy corner of the forest, Nightpool saw something furry and white

vanish up a tree. Nightpool immediately unsheathed her claws and dashed after it.

“I’m done with you, Icewhisker,” she warned, clinging to the branch. “Stop

being a jerk or I’ll jump on you!”

There was a rumbling noise that might have been a purr. Nightpool jumped

at the white thing in outrage. “Why you-“

She buried her teeth in its scruff and picked it up. It was a squirrel. The end of

the squirrel’s bushy tail was white. Nightpool dropped the fresh-kill in defeat. Then,

she stopped. Picking it up, Nightpool climbed down the tree and buried it. Might as

well bring back some fresh-kill for the Clan, she thought bitterly.

She pressed on, following his scent. She was nearing the catnip nest!

Nightpool flattened his ears. Maybe after Icewhisker had calmed down, he had

decided to bring some herbs to his mother. Yes, that must be it. Nightpaw drew

closer and pricked her ears as she heard muffled giggling.

She bounded closer, then, thinking better of it, approached stealthily. Oh,

StarClan, don’t let that be Icewhisker!

She peeked around the rotting opening of the nest. Inside was dark, but as

her eyes slowly adjusted, she recognized the brown-and-white pelt of Swiftcloud

from WindClan. She looked nervous as she peeked around a huge mound of dried

grass.

“Yaaaah!” A flash of white barreled down from the heap and bowled

Swiftcloud over. Nightpool drew back in shock. Icewhisker had attacked the

WindClan warrior! Looking back, she expected to see Icewhisker driving Swiftcloud

away, but instead she gasped as she spotted them twining their tails around each

other’s, rubbing their heads together. She looked down, sure that she would see a

pool of blood where her heart had cracked. But there was only the filthy-smelling

dirt between her toes. Nightpool looked up and nearly jumped out of her fur.

Icewhisker was standing over Swiftcloud, his teeth bared and his eyes glowing red.

He looked up at her and hissed. Nightpool looked at Swiftcloud and silently shrieked

when she saw her own body under Icewhisker’s claws, lying lifeless on the ground.

Stifling a screech, Nightpool blinked furiously and the vision faded, showing the real

Icewhisker playfully wrestling with Swiftcloud. Nightpool bared her teeth and

snarled quietly. They still hadn’t noticed her. As they tumbled closer, Nightpool

crouched, then leapt.

Swiftcloud shrieked as Nightpool landed in front of her and swiped her claws

across her nose. “Intruder!” she yowled. “This is ThunderClan territory!” Swiftcloud

hissed. “I was invited,” she retorted.

“I see that!” Nightpool dove into battle. She swiped her claws over

Swiftcloud’s flank, making her hiss in fury. Swiftcloud tried to spin and catch her

paws, but Nightpool slid neatly under her belly and came up face to face. Swiftcloud

leapt at her and wrestled to the ground. Panting, Nightpool, dug her claws into

Swiftcloud’s belly and flung her off. The WindClan warrior flew into the dried grass

at the other end of the nest. Swiftcloud stood, but Nightpool leapt on top of her back

and Swiftcloud collapsed.

“Please, don’t hurt her!” begged Icewhisker.

“She’s intruding,” Nightpool hissed as Swiftcloud sprang up. She disarmed

Nightpool with a neat swipe of her paw and stood over her. Nightpool kicked her in

the belly and knocked her down. Swiftcloud stood and backed away as Nightpool

approached, then turned suddenly and leapt at Icewhisker.

Icewhisker’s screech cut through the silence like a shard of ice as Nightpool

knocked him over, pinning him down, putting her hind paws on his so he couldn’t

rake her belly in retaliation.

“You let her into our territory?” she meowed quietly.

“I-I am a loyal warrior!” he spat.

“A loyal warrior?” she hissed in his ear. “But loyal warriors don’t go flirting

around with WindClan she-cats!”

Icewhisker feebly pummeled her belly. “Let me up!”

Nightpool leapt off Icewhisker and began cleaning her paws, making sure

that Icewhisker could see her claws, still unsheathed.

“Maybe,” she growled between licks, “you’ll be more loyal if I… tell Firestar?”

“You wouldn’t!” begged Icewhisker, opening his blue eyes wider. “Please,

Nightpool? I thought you loved me!”

For a second Nightpool felt a flash of pity, but she pushed it down. “I thought

so, too. It helps, if you want someone to love you, to love them back!”

She turned. “And you…” Swiftcloud bared her teeth. “You don’t belong in

ThunderClan territory! Get out!” Swiftcloud hesitated for a second, but then, looking

at Icewhisker with disgust, she fled.

Nightpool’s snarl faded and she stared at her paws. A single tear splattered

the ground. She heard the patter of white paws behind her. “Nightpool? Are you…

okay?”

“You’re right, Willowfall,” muttered Nightpaw. “The decision wasn’t hard to

make.” She whirled around and struck Icewhisker with all the force she possessed,

sending a splatter of crimson into the air. Then she fled the nest.

*****

Icewhisker returned to camp almost half a day after her, dropping three

small mice and a shrew onto the fresh-kill pile. Firestar jumped down from his den.

“Icewhisker you’ve been busy!”

“I decided the Clan needs some fresh-kill,” Icewhisker muttered.

“Why do you have blood on you?” asked Nightpool innocently. Icewhisker

glared at her, and suddenly she was afraid that she had made a mistake in goading

him. If he revealed to the Clan that she had attacked a Clanmate, who knew what

would happen to her?

But Icewhisker only gazed coolly at her before saying, “Chasing off an

intruder,” with his usual unruffled air. Firestar sniffed him. “What Clan?”

Icewhisker stiffened just a tiny bit before replying, “WindClan. Thought she’d

help herself to a squirrel.”

Cloudtail snarled. “WindClan has invaded too many times. We have to fight

back! Prove to them that they can’t just take prey whenever they want. Since when

have they hunted rabbits?”

“There will be no fighting until we can confront WindClan,” Firestar replied

calmly.

“There’s a Gathering tonight, mousebrain! Do you want to fight under the full

moon?” spat Blossomfall, emerging from the warriors’ den. Flamestep followed,

flicking his ears in contempt at Cloudtail. “What would StarClan think of that?”

“Speaking of the Gathering, I must tell you who’s coming with me.” Firestar

broke up the argument.

“Who?” asked Flamestep, eyes shining. Blossomfall quieted him with a flick of

her tail. The other cats began streaming around, listening to Firestar.

“Stormheart, Dawnfall, Lionblaze, Brightheart, Dovewing, Ivypool, Nightpool,

Frostclaw, Splashfoot, Flamestep, Foxwhisker, Icewhisker, Streampaw, Wavepaw,

Sweetpaw, and Stonepaw, you will all come with me to the Gathering.”

“Tell me everything once you get back,” Bluepaw told Nightpool and

Foxwhisker. Nightpool flicked her tail over the apprentice’s ears. “Of course we

will!”

Nightpool ran ahead of the rest of the patrol, letting her fur stream out

behind her and her tail wave in the light breeze. It was warm for leaf-fall, and

Nightpool enjoyed the sensation of light whiskers touching her pelt as the leaves fell

around her. She heard a noise behind her and saw that Frostclaw had caught up.

“Hi,” he purred. “Mind if I run with you?”

“Not at all!” she said.

“It’s beautiful,” he said, angling his tail at the white glittering trees.

“Yes,” she replied.

After a while, she asked him, “Did you tell Firestar about the intruders?”

“The entire Clan knows now,” sighed Frostclaw. “Most of them want to attack

WindClan at once- including your sister.”

“Her?” Nightpool tried to sound interested, but the truth was that the worry

about Icewhisker had risen again and she wanted desperately to tell Frostclaw

before his brother could.

“Bet I beat you to the hollow!” Frostclaw said, breaking her bubble of worry.

“No way! I’m faster than you!”

“Never!” Frostclaw sped up until his tail was at her shoulder. Nightpool

purred and dashed ahead of him.

She saw the edge of the hollow too late. Screeching, she shot over the edge

and landed hard on the ground.

“Oof,” she groaned. Frostclaw came up. “Nightpool! Are you hurt?” The

concern in his blue eyes made Nightpool purr. “No, I’m fine.” She stood up stiffly.

“Ow!” she exclaimed as she tried to put her weight on her paw.

“What’s wrong?” Frostclaw looked behind them, making sure no one would

come over the edge and run into them.

“Nothing-I-agh!” Nightpool fell. Frostclaw propped her up. “Come on. You’ve

hurt it!”

“I-“ Nightpool, furious, lapsed into silence. Frostclaw sighed. “Here. I’ll help

you walk. Lean on me.”

Nightpool leaned against Frostclaw, feeling his soft pelt. Her paw ached, but

the pain dulled if she didn’t think about it. It was hard to think of anything besides

the fact that she was leaning against Frostclaw, feeling his pelt, smelling his sweet

scent.

Then an image of Frostclaw dragging himself across the hollow, covered in

blood, came into her mind. She gasped, but Frostclaw’s gentle touch brought her

back from the image.

The rest of the Clan poured over the edge of the hollow. Firestar immediately

bounded over. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Nightpool said. “I just slipped and twisted my paw.”

“I’ll get Jayfeather to make you a leaf wrap,” promised Firestar. Nightpool

sighed in relief. Her paw did hurt, a lot.

“Where are the rest of the Clans?” whispered Splashfoot.

Suddenly, screeching burst out from behind them. Nightpool turned,

forgetting about her paw immediately as all three of the other Clans shot over the

edge of the hollow.

“Attack!” screeched Onestar. “Attack!”

“The Dark Forest!” yowled Bluestar. “They’re attacking!”

“Help!” screeched Spottedleaf, carrying a bundle in herbs in her jaws.

“No!” screeched Nightpool. “Not tonight! Tonight is the night of a Gathering!”

All of a sudden, she felt Frostclaw vanish. His warm body and soft fur

disappeared, and she stumbled, looking for him. “Frostclaw!” Cats all around were

screeching, cuts appearing in their flanks and legs before they, too, disappeared.

“What’s happening?” screamed Nightpool. Icewhisker, then Cloudtail vanished from

view. A few puddles of blood were left on the forest floor.

Then Nightpool felt a searing pain in her flank, and everything was gone. The

shadows merged and shifted into a new scene. The forest was still there, but trees

surrounded them too closely, too tall and forbidding. Everything was a shade of

gray.

“Where are we?” she whispered. She turned and felt relief pour over her as

she saw Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Dovewing, and her siblings standing there. She

bounded up to them. “What is this place? Are we stuck here forever?”

“I know what it is,” said Lionblaze in a horse whisper. “We’re in the Dark

Forest.”

Cats began to appear around them. Nightpool recognized Frostclaw,

Duskstar, Swiftcloud. She rushed up to Frostclaw. “Help!” But the white and gray

tom stared through her.

Cats emerged from the bushes, snarling. Lionblaze tensed behind her.

“Tigerstar,” he said stiffly.

Nightpool spun around. A dark tabby stood behind her, amber eyes glinting

in the gloom.

“Greetings, cats from all Clans,” he purred silkily. He spoke politely, but

Nightpool saw his claws unsheathe as Lionblaze snarled.

“We have been talking, my Clan and I,” purred Tigerstar pleasantly. “We used

to belong to the Clans, did we not?”

“Not when you had no hearts,” hissed Dovewing, looking terrified but defiant.

“Silence!” yowled Tigerstar. “We are all in this together,” he continued. “We

are all… Clanmates.” The word twisted in his jaws.

“We have decided that, since we all have the same goal… we need life to

achieve that goal. Therefore, by taking your lives, we will have gained the ability to

lead the Clans. Instead of sitting there and wasting your time with StarClan, you will

pray to us. You are now asked cordially to give us your Clanmates’ lives in exchange

for, well… the continued existence of StarClan.”

“Never!” yowled Lionblaze. Nightpool felt sick. She glanced at her littermates,

who looked the same way.

“No? Then maybe… we’ll have to make you,” snarled Tigerstar. Blood rose

around his paws and lapped at Nightpool’s pelt. “You have a moon to decide… fight,

or surrender…” he growled. She shrieked, but couldn’t run. Tigerstar padded

towards her, slashed through Nightpool’s vision and she fell…

*****

Bluepaw padded through the silvery forests of StarClan, her pads tingling as

she stepped through meadows and forest. She sniffed the air, but couldn’t smell any

tang of the icy scent of StarClan cats. She only smelled emptiness and the sweet

breeze.

Suddenly she jumped as a tiny shot of pain pierced her paw. She cursed as

she hopped on three paws, trying to pull the thorn out, then spat in annoyance as

she lost her balance and rolled over.

Are there even thorns in StarClan? She studied her paw, but there was no sign

of a thorn or any swelling. She snorted. Maybe it had been her imagination.

She kept walking. She saw no sign of any other thorns. Shaking her head in

exasperation, she sat down and began licking her pad.

Suddenly a faint yowl pierced the air. Bluepaw looked up, ear pricked, eyes

alert.

Another screech reached her. “Help!” Bluepaw flattened her ears and ran

towards the voice, urgent to save the cat whose voice called for her. As she ran, she

heard more screeches.

The noise came from the edge of the meadow, where the grass melted into

trees and bushes. Bluepaw stretched her paws as far as they would go, but the forest

didn’t seem to get any closer.

She started in pain and stumbled as another thorn pierced her paw, sending

her tumbling into the grass. The meadow, which had been soft, lush and green when

she had first set foot in it, was turning prickly and painful to walk on. She leapt up

onto her toughened pads before the grass could scrape her skin and tugged at the

thorn in her paw. She felt her teeth clack together above her pad and flattened her

ears in confusion. The thorn was gone.

Another yowl, closer now, reached Bluepaw and she stumbled into a run

again. This time the forest seemed to get closer, but before she could get into the

rhythm of the run another sharp thing dug into her pad. Gritting her teeth, she kept

running, determined to reach the source of the yowling.

As she ran, she felt more and more thorns lodge themselves in her pads and

the grass grew pricklier and sharper until she felt like she was running on a

hedgehog. “I’m coming,” she grunted through clenched teeth, but the pain made her

voice high and shrill. “I’m coming!” she yowled, louder this time. Finally she stopped

at the scene. A beautiful tortoiseshell she-cat lay on the ground, leg clenched in the

teeth of a horrible, shiny beast.

“No… trap…” groaned the StarClan cat, looking up and seeing Bluepaw.

“Who are you? What is that thing?” gasped Bluepaw, trying to pull the thorns

out of her paw.

“Fox trap…” grunted the cat. “Name… is Spottedleaf…” she gasped and

thrashed her tail in a feeble attempt to ward off Bluepaw’s efforts to get closer. Go…

away…” She twisted her head around so she could face Bluepaw. “It’s a… a trap…”

Bluepaw thought this statement rather obvious; now she could remember

Jayfeather’s tales about fox traps at the old lake.

“How do fox traps get in StarClan?” she gasped, and before Spottedleaf could

protest Bluepaw began digging at the base of the trap, trying to free the sharp stick

so that the trap’s jaws would loosen.

“Wait!” Spottedleaf’s sharp command stopped Bluepaw. The StarClan warrior

let her head flop to the ground. “All my Clanmates… trapped… only me… and

Ashfur…”

“Ashfur?” growled Bluepaw. “Ashfur is in StarClan?”

“He found… his way to… StarClan. We know only… he was…forgiven.” The

tortoiseshell narrowed her eyes. “Run! Go away!”

“No! I have to help you!” Bluepaw darted forward and, before the StarClan

warrior could stop her, she clenched her teeth around the chain holding the StarClan

warrior’s leg. The chain snapped, and Spottedleaf struggled to get to her paws.

Immediately the air grew cold. Bluepaw raised her hackles as the grass froze

over and the trees turned frosty. “Spottedleaf?” The apprentice’s breath whooshed

out of her lungs in a sparkling cloud. “What’s happening?” She tried to bound

towards the StarClan warrior, but before she could reach her a glistening wall of ice

erupted before her, sending her tripping backwards. She leapt sideways and caught

a glimpse of Spottedleaf. Spottedleaf’s eyes glittered. “No, Bluepaw!”

Walls of ice erupted all around Bluepaw, sending her stumbling into the

snow. She struggled to her feet and lashed her tail around to keep her balance. Ice

was bursting from the snow, causing it to shift and tumble Bluepaw over in a

backwards flip. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to get her balance in the ever-

shifting mass of snow. Suddenly she felt the ground below her grow still and hard.

She stood on the flat surface. Bluepaw looked down and her claws slid out, fastening

her paws to the ice. She was on top of an ice wall, and there, frozen in the ice, was a

cat.

Bluepaw shrieked and slid backwards away from the cat. At first, she thought

it was her. It had the same shade of pelt and the same bright blue eyes. But this cat

had a silver- streaked muzzle and looked much older, and as Bluepaw looked closer

she saw the faint outline of a star on her forehead. As she peered at the cat, she

heard a hoarse, faint whisper. “Get me out! Get me out!”

Bluepaw frantically began to claw at the ice. She dug her claws in, and the ice

parted easily- like fur. Bluepaw shrieked as red began to spread across the ice.

“Bluepaw!” shrieked a voice from below her. Spottedleaf was leaping towards

her, and fast behind her was a dark tabby tom with glowing yellow eyes. The tom

snarled savagely and clawed at the tortoiseshell’s flanks, and Spottedleaf began to

fade. She shrieked and fought the tom, but he only growled and viciously swiped at

her until she was gone.

“No!” screeched Bluepaw as the ice below her disintegrated and she fell into

nothingness…

Bluepaw sat upright in her nest, panting. She looked frantically around her.

Have to tell Jayfeather! Got to get to Jayfeather! She scrambled to her paws, feeling as

though she had just fought in a battle. Then she sank to her haunches. Oh no! He’s at

the Gathering!

She jumped up again. Thrushwing, then. Thrushwing has to be here!

But she saw no sign of the she-cat, either. Sinking into her nest, she curled

her tail around her paws. Visions of ice and blood rose in her mind like bile. She

forced them down, shutting her eyes.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open. All her muscles tensed. I have to get out of

here!

Struggling to her paws, she bolted out of the entrance. Her heart pounded

against her chest. She gazed up at the moon. Oh, StarClan! Show me what will

happen!

*****

“Is she dead?”

“What just happened?”

“Is she sleeping?”

Nightpool opened her eyes. First she saw the concerned faces of Firestar,

Blossomfall, and Sweetpaw. Then she looked around and saw Frostclaw, looking

frightened. She twisted around and felt a soft pelt brush against her, and smelled her

siblings. “What happened?” she grunted. She heard Flamestep’s voice. “I think that

was a vision!”

“Move over, move over,” snarled a voice, and Jayfeather came into view.

“Well? Go away! These cats need room!”

As the cats wandered away, Jayfeather bent over them and, pretending to

sniff their flanks, hissed, “What happened? Did you see that vision too?”

“Yeah- what-“ Splashfoot was twisting around, looking frightened. She gazed

at Nightpool.

“Lionblaze and I saw it too, but we didn’t collapse…” Jayfeather bustled

about, muttering to himself. “Lionblaze!” he called. “Come help me with these

herbs!”

“’Kay,” Lionblaze replied. He bounded over. “You collapsed. Did you see it,

too? The others didn’t seem to see it.”

“What happened?” asked Nightpool, squirming in her spot. A shot of pain ran

through her leg.

“They want to fight us. They don’t just want revenge now. They want life. To

take over. To rule.”

“Let all Clans join here!” yowled Blackstar. Nightpool staggered up and

braced her paws on the ground. “ShadowClan is faring well. Two new kits have been

born, and the prey is running well, especially for leaf-fall.”

“Do you need help?” asked Lionblaze. Nightpool shook her head. “It’ll be fine.”

She limped over to the crowd of cats gathered around them. Frostclaw approached

her. “Nightpool! Are you all right? I just saw you collapse- what happened? Are you

hurt? What‘s wrong?”

“I was just- tired,” she muttered. She leaned against Frostclaw. His pelt was

soft and comforting. Her legs were still shaking, and she sat. Lionblaze bent low over

her and hissed, “I’ll go get your sister and brother.” Nightpool nodded.

“Seriously,” whispered Frostclaw. “What’s wrong? You and them- whispering

all the time. I know something’s up.”

Nightpool looked into his eyes and her heart ached. “Frostclaw, I- can’t. You

have to trust me. I’ll tell you when I can. I’m sorry-” She turned her head away. She

hated keeping her power a secret.

Still, Frostclaw looked dubious. “You don’t have to tell me,” he said. “I

understand.”

Purring gratefully, Nightpool leaned her head against Frostclaw. Splashfoot

and Foxwhisker came up behind them with Lionblaze and Jayfeather. The orange

tabby shot Nightpool a glance that she understood at once. She licked Frostclaw

once behind the ears and said, “You have to go now.”

Frostclaw sighed and stared into her eyes. He opened his mouth once, closed

it, and looked away. “Fine.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again as he padded away.

Nightpool turned her gaze to Lionblaze. “What?”

“This is it,” hissed Jayfeather in their ears. He pricked his ears warily as

Blackstar finished his report and Duskstar stepped up. “A new warrior has chased a

fox off our territory,” he called. “Please congratulate Swiftcloud!”

A chorus of meows rang out as the tortoiseshell stood up. Nightpool hissed at

the WindClan warrior.

“This is it!” Jayfeather growled. “We have to tell the Clans!”

“What?” Nightpool hissed. “I can’t tell them! The time isn’t right!”

A crack of thunder and a flash of lightning drowned out her words and made

her fur stand on end. Nightpool screeched in shock as the lightning faded, leaving a

blurry streak across her vision. She looked wildly around, but the other cats were

standing just as before, listening to Mistystar report about two apprentices who had

been made warriors.

“That was a sign!” hissed Jayfeather. “We have to!”

“How do you know it’s a sign?” Nightpool growled.

“I don’t know, it might be the fact that I’m a medicine cat, mousebrain! Do you

have to be so dumb?”

Nightpool hissed, but Lionblaze stepped in between her and Jayfeather.

“Stop!” he ordered. “Jayfeather, apologize. You can’t insult her like that. And

Nightpool, he’s right. We have to tell them.”

“I can’t! Frostclaw- Frostclaw will think I lied to him.”

“Has he ever asked you about the Dark Forest?” Lionblaze challenged her.

“Have you ever told him you don’t have powers given to you by StarClan? Does he

know, for sure, that Ivypool is secretly spying on Tigerstar, Flamestep can read

minds, and we have to fight an entire Clan of evil cats within a moon?”

“No, but-“

“Then you’re not lying to him. You just aren’t telling him everything. Now,

stop being a mouse and come up with us!”

“ThunderClan is faring well!” yowled Firestar. “However, we wish to inform

you that any prey-stealers-“ he glanced sideways at Duskstar, “-will not be

tolerated!”

Nightpool glared at Lionblaze. He hissed at her, “Come on!” before

approaching the Boulder.

“Overall, ThunderClan is doing well!” Firestar stepped down. “If no one has

anything else to say, this Gathering is over!”

“No!” yowled Lionblaze, leaping onto a boulder lower than Firestar’s. “This

Gathering is not over!”

Whispers rose around them, broken by the ShadowClan deputy standing and

yowling, “You disrespect the leaders by interrupting!”

“They had nothing else to say,” Lionblaze replied coolly. He gazed at

Jayfeather, Nightpool, and her siblings. Sighing, Nightpool guided Jayfeather up the

rock with her tail. Splashfoot and Flamestep followed.

“Cats of all Clans!” began Lionblaze. “Things are not all as they seem. For as

you all report peace and plentiful prey, StarClan- and our lives- are in danger.”

Murmurs rose from below them. Nightpool felt so tall, standing up there above all

the cats. The ground swooped below her. Flamestep put a steadying tail on her

shoulder. “Easy.”

“A long time ago, the evil ShadowClan leader, Tigerstar, was killed. As you

know, when cats die, they go to StarClan.”

“No! Tigerstar didn’t go to StarClan!” yowled Frostclaw, shocked.

“No, he didn’t. He went to the Place Of No Stars, the Dark Forest. He and all of

the evil cats instead went there when they died. These cats wanted revenge on their

killers, so they began manipulating cats from the clans. Some of these cats are here

now, shocked that we know this. But they won’t tell you it was them, because they

are afraid. Tigerstar deceived these cats into thinking that they were doing good for

their Clans. Through these cats, they would attack the Clans and get revenge. But

after a while, they decided that they wanted more. They want new life, and to take

over the Clans. So the Dark Forest plans to take us over and use our lives to make

their vision of the warrior code.”

Gasps and murmurs of disbelief rose from the crowd of cats below them. One

cat stood and challenged, “How do we know this is true? How can we be sure you’re

not lying?”

“I believe him,” said Willowshine, standing.

“As do I,” agreed Kestrelflight.

Shadepaw stood, looking terrified, ears pressed flat to her head. “I do too.

And so does my mentor, Littlecloud.”

“How?” gasped Duskstar, glancing at Firestar.

“A long time ago, I received a prophecy from StarClan. There will be three, kin

of your kin, that hold the power of the stars in their paws.”

“My prophecy was like that,” Kestrelflight said. “Three will rise, who hold

StarClan’s power in their paws.”

“Mine too,” yowled Willowshine. “Two shadows stretch over StarClan, tall

enough to hold the stars.”

“And the prophecy I received when I became an apprentice,” said Shadepaw.

“One with no fear will heal the stars.”

“But StarClan must have found out that this was not enough. They sent

another prophecy. Three will save three, two made into one. Shortly after, we

discovered the powers of Nightpaw, Flamepaw, and Splashpaw.”

Willowshine arced her tail over her back. “Our prophecy led me to discover

the powers of the apprentices Leopardpaw and his sister Ripplepaw.”

“Soon after the last Gathering, Wildfire, Sparrowflight, and Pebblestep

received their warrior names,” called Kestrelflight. “Wildfire can leap any distance,

no matter how far. Sparrowflight can see through the forest to any Clan she wants.

Pebblestep can emerge from any river dry.”

“My apprentice Shadepaw is the only cat with power in ShadowClan. But she

is powerful,” yowled Littlecloud. “No cat can see her when she doesn’t want to be

seen. She can slip into places unnoticed and spy.”

“ThunderClan has not three, but six cats with these powers. Splashfoot can

read emotions and even change them. Flamestep can tell whether cats are telling the

truth. Nightpool,” Lionblaze glanced at her, “can run through the forest faster than

eyes can see.”

“Not possible!” yowled a cat from below, and with a pang Nightpool

recognized Frostclaw.

“Dovewing’s senses stretch to the farthest Clan borders. Jayfeather can walk

in the dreams of cats. And I can beat any enemy in battle.”

Jayfeather stepped in front of Lionblaze. “Cats from your own Clans have

been training with these evil cats.”

Suddenly Nightpool heard Willowfall’s voice whisper in her ear. “You can

speak now. Give them your words.”

She stood, looking questioningly at Lionblaze. He looked surprised, but

dipped his head, stepping back.

“I just want to say that learning of this new enemy- you’re probably as

shocked as I was when I was an apprentice. Some of these cats you probably knew

personally, or thought you did. I promise you, you still do. This is just something that

they had to keep from you- from all of you.” She glanced down at Frostclaw, but

couldn’t read his expression from so high up.

“And the cats who fought for the Dark Forest- They thought they were doing

the right thing- helping become better fighters. They were tricked.

“Us six- the cats of the prophecies- just had a vision- that’s why we collapsed.

Tigerstar brought us to the Dark Forest and- and- he told us-“ Suddenly the cats

below her blurred and spun as the full force of what she was doing hit her. She was

talking to all four Clans like she was their leader!

Immediately Willowfall was beside her, weaving around her to help her keep

her balance. “Don’t lose your courage, sister.”

Nightpool drew in a deep breath and continued. “He told us that we have-

have one moon.”

Instantly everything was silenced. Cats were murmuring to each other,

glaring up at the cats on the boulder.

“I promise you this is true,” said Nightpool. “Look-“ She leapt down from the

rock and began to run in circles, as fast as she could. The clearing blurred around

her and she enjoyed the sensation of running, leaving everything behind.

She skidded to a stop. Cats were watching her, their eyes wide and their tails

stiff and fluffed out.

“Cats of all Clans, this is it!” yowled Duskstar, making everyone jump. “We

must fight! We must fight for our lives and our homes!” WindClan cats glanced at

each other, then raised their muzzles and yowled agreement.

“I agree with Duskstar,” said Firestar quietly. “ThunderClan will fight

alongside WindClan to save our home.” The ThunderClan cats cheered wildly.

“We must! I agree,” said Mistystar. RiverClan murmured their support. The

cats all turned to look at Blackstar.

The white tom glared down at ShadowClan. Darkwhisker, his deputy,

nodded, raising his tail to show authority. He jumped up onto the Highrock and the

two cats had a whispered conversation. Dovewing’s ears twitched as she tried not to

listen.

Finally Darkwhisker drew back and Blackstar yowled, “ShadowClan will

fight, too!” ShadowClan cats yowled in fierce agreement with him and Blackstar

stepped down.

“I have one more thing to confess,” Firestar called, dipping his head to

Blackstar. “When we left our home at the lake, it wasn’t because of the Twolegs.”

“Not more secrets!” yowled Tigerheart.

“Well, the Twolegs helped me decide- but I thought we could escape

Tigerstar- leave him behind. I was a mouse-brain.”

“Firestar-“ Lionblaze began.

“The leaders of each Clan must designate a time and place to meet,” said

Firestar. “Why don’t the leaders meet here in two days’ time, at sunhigh? Then we

can decide how we will train our warriors to fight together.”

“I agree,” said Mistystar. The other two leaders murmured their assent.

“Then this Gathering is over!” yowled Firestar. “And StarClan be with you

until the end!”

*****

As she raced through the forest that night, she wondered what the other

Clans would tell the cats that hadn’t gone to the Gathering. She hoped that the Clans-

and more importantly, the cats in her own Clan- would believe them. The leaders

and most of the RiverClan and ShadowClan cats had seemed shocked but believing,

but a lot of the WindClan cats had gone home whispering in each other’s ears and

casting skeptical looks at Nightpool, Lionblaze, and Firestar.

The camp appeared ahead of her and she realized that she had sped up to full

speed, leaving her Clanmates behind. She slowed, coming to a stop in front of the

boulder pile that kept cats from entering the camp. Climbing the path to the hidden

entrance, Nightpool poked her head through the bush and was surprised to see

Bluepaw, sitting with her back to the entrance.

“Bluepaw?” she said, approaching the apprentice and raising one paw. The

blue-gray she-cat turned. “Oh- Nightpool!”