All the cats shook their heads. “I dreamed about our old home in the gorge,” Frecklewish meowed. “But I’m sure it was only a dream, not a vision.”
No cat had anything to add. Shadowpaw knew that this was the time when they should be approaching the Moonpool to share dreams with StarClan, but he could see that every one of them was reluctant to make the first move.
Finally, though no cat spoke, they began to creep closer to the water’s edge, their bellies flattened to the ground as if they were stalking prey. Shadowpaw watched carefully as they touched their noses to the eerie blue surface, then followed their lead. He’d always thought he was learning the ways of medicine cats quickly, but now doubt plagued him. What if I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time? he wondered. What if that’s why StarClan isn’t meeting with us?
Shadowpaw stretched his neck out and touched his nose to the ice. He closed his eyes, waiting to catch glimpses of his warrior ancestors, or to find himself in lush grassland lit by stars, but nothing happened. When he drew back, the sky remained dark and empty. There was no sign of StarClan.
The medicine cats exchanged glances with one another, their eyes wide with dismay.
“I’m afraid this isn’t just ice,” Willowshine meowed. “StarClan has never abandoned us for this long.”
Frecklewish nodded grimly. “We have to do something.”
“We’ll have to tell the Clan leaders what is happening,” Alderheart meowed. “They have to understand how we all sense that StarClan has turned away from us. Jayfeather, I know you’ve had a bad feeling about this, and I’m beginning to think you’re right. What if we’ve angered StarClan somehow? So they don’t want us to be close to them anymore?”
Gasps and murmurs of surprise came from the other cats, and Jayfeather rolled his sightless eyes. “At last! It took you long enough.”
Alderheart ignored his Clanmate’s harsh tone. “What if our connection to StarClan is lost forever?” he mewed somberly.
Shadowpaw felt a twinge in his chest at the ThunderClan cats’ words. What if they’re right?
The twinge spread throughout his body and became a tingling feeling; Shadowpaw sensed that a nearby presence was trying to signal to him. He turned in a circle, looking for it, but he could see nothing except darkness and the cascade of icicles above the frozen Moonpool.
“What are you doing?” Puddleshine asked.
Shadowpaw looked up at his mentor. “I’m not sure,” he replied, “but I think we should wait. I sense there’s some kind of power here—something trying to get through.”
“What?” Fidgetflake exclaimed.
Willowshine lashed her tail. “What do you mean, ‘some kind of power’? Have you got bees in your brain?”
“This is ridiculous,” Jayfeather snorted. “Why should we listen to this ShadowClan apprentice? His so-called visions are nothing like the way StarClan usually makes contact with us. Does anyone find it suspicious that only ShadowClan is getting visions?”
Shadowpaw’s first reaction was to take offense at the cranky ThunderClan cat’s dismissive tone. But then he started to ask himself if Jayfeather might be right.
Then, to his surprise, Puddleshine spoke up. “Shadowpaw may be only a ShadowClan cat,” he meowed somewhat sarcastically, “as am I, but he has received important visions since he was a kit. Visions that we’ve all seen come to pass. I’m inclined to trust his instincts.”
While Puddleshine was speaking, a light snow began to fall, drifting over the cats’ fur. Jayfeather gave his pelt an irritable shake. “Snow!” he spat. “Just what the Moonpool needs!” Then he turned back to Puddleshine. “If we run after this foolish cat’s flight of fancy, where will that bring us?” he demanded. “Nowhere good, that’s for sure.”
“But we have nothing else to go on,” Puddleshine pointed out calmly. “StarClan isn’t here to guide us.”
More protests broke out at Puddleshine’s words. Shadowpaw found it hard to listen, as the familiar pressure began to build up in his head. But he sensed that the medicine cats didn’t want to argue with one another. They’re just unnerved because their connection with StarClan has been broken.
At last Frecklewish’s voice cut through the clamor. “Maybe we don’t need to see StarClan to get messages from them,” she suggested.
“What do you mean?” Alderheart asked, sounding just as confused as Shadowpaw felt.
“StarClan’s messages are all around us, in everything we see,” Frecklewish explained. “Look at the patterns in the frost as they spread across the pool. The ice is thick at the edges, but thinner as you look out toward the center. That must mean that times are hard for the Clans right now, but this leaf-bare will be over soon, and things will get back to normal.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Mothwing commented, nodding understandingly.
Jayfeather gave a disdainful sniff. “If we start thinking like that, we’ll end up seeing signs everywhere and making up what we would like them to mean.”
Shadowpaw was inclined to agree with Jayfeather, even though he would have preferred to believe what Frecklewish said. He heard Kestrelflight break in with a heated objection, but he couldn’t go on listening, because the pressure in his head was building up until he couldn’t bear it anymore. The tingling in his body intensified. He forced his head back to gaze upward; the sky was still dark and starless, but when he closed his eyes, a series of bright images began to flash through his mind: one cat after another, as clear as if they were standing right in front of him.
As images of Twigbranch and Lionblaze flashed before him, a voice echoed inside Shadowpaw’s head. “The Clans have forgotten the code,” the voice whispered. “It has been broken time and time again, and because of the codebreakers, every Clan must pay a price. They must suffer.”
The images continued to flash through Shadowpaw’s mind, faster than before. He saw Crowfeather, Squirrelflight, Mothwing, Tree, Jayfeather . . . Each face tightened Shadowpaw’s chest and made it harder for him to breathe, until one image stopped his breath completely.
Dovewing?
His mother’s face loomed large in Shadowpaw’s mind, but he couldn’t understand why she was being shown to him. She can’t be one of the codebreakers—can she?
As swiftly as the images had come, they were gone, and Shadowpaw became aware of Puddleshine prodding him in the side. “Shadowpaw, are you listening?” his mentor demanded.
Shadowpaw shook his pelt, trying to pull himself together quickly so that none of the other cats would realize that he had just had a vision. He wasn’t even sure that was what it had been.
If StarClan isn’t communicating with the experienced medicine cats, why would they send a vision to me?
Besides, some of the cats he had seen were standing here with him now. Shadowpaw was afraid that if he told them what he had seen and heard, they would think he was accusing them of something. They already think I’m a stupid furball. What will they say if I call them out as codebreakers? It certainly won’t help!
“Yes, I—I’m listening,” he stammered. “I’ll do whatever the rest of you think is best.”
Alderheart nodded kindly at his words, while Jayfeather merely grunted, but Puddleshine gave Shadowpaw a long look from narrowed eyes. He seemed to realize that Shadowpaw wasn’t telling the whole truth, but he said nothing to challenge him.
The rest of the medicine cats didn’t make it easy for Shadowpaw either. He saw the uneasy glances they exchanged, as if they knew that something was wrong.
“You’re here to learn,” Fidgetflake pointed out, “and yet you were staring up into the sky as if you know something the rest of us don’t. What are you hiding?”