Feathertail agreed at once, obviously relieved, and after a pause Stormfur gave a small, reluctant nod.
“But only until the next Gathering,” Tawnypelt meowed.
“If we haven’t found out any more by then, I’ll have to tell Blackstar.” She gave a huge stretch, her back arched and her forepaws extended. “Right, I’m off.”
Brambleclaw touched noses with her in farewell, breathing in her familiar scent. “It must mean something that we were both chosen—brother and sister,” he murmured.
“Maybe.” Tawnypelt’s green eyes were unconvinced. “The other cats aren’t kin, though.” Her tongue rasped once over Brambleclaw’s ear in a rare gesture of affection. “StarClan willing, I’ll see you at the Gathering.”
Brambleclaw watched her bound across the clearing, before turning to Squirrelpaw. “Come on,” he meowed. “I’ve things I want to say to you.”
Squirrelpaw shrugged and padded away from him, toward ThunderClan territory.
Saying good night to Feathertail and Stormfur, Brambleclaw headed up the slope after her. When he emerged from the hollow a hot, clammy breeze was blowing into his face, ruffling his fur and turning back the leaves on the trees.
Clouds had begun to mass above his head, cutting off the light of Silverpelt. The forest was silent and the air felt heavier than ever. Brambleclaw guessed that the storm was on its way at last.
As he began trotting down toward the stream, Squirrelpaw paused to wait for him. Her fur was relaxed on her spine now, and her green eyes shone.
“That was exciting!” she exclaimed. “Brambleclaw, you have to let me come with you to the next meeting, please! I never thought I’d be part of a prophecy from StarClan.”
“You’re not part of it,” Brambleclaw meowed sternly.
“StarClan didn’t send you the dream.”
“But I know about it, don’t I? If StarClan didn’t want me involved, they would have kept me away from Fourtrees somehow.” Squirrelpaw faced him, forcing him to halt, and gazed at him with pleading eyes. “I could help. I’d do everything you told me.”
Brambleclaw couldn’t keep back a puff of laughter. “And hedgehogs might fly.”
“No, I will, I promise.” Her green eyes narrowed. “And I wouldn’t tell any cat. You can trust me on that, at least.”
For a few heartbeats Brambleclaw returned her gaze. He knew that if she told Firestar what had happened he would be in deep trouble. Her silence must be worth something.
“Okay,” he agreed at last. “I’ll let you know if anything else happens, but only if you keep your mouth shut.”
Squirrelpaw’s tail went straight up and her eyes blazed with delight. “Thank you, Brambleclaw!”
Brambleclaw sighed. Somehow he could sense that he would be in even deeper trouble because of the bargain he had just made. He followed Squirrelpaw into the shadows that lay thickly under the trees, feeling a shiver of fear at the thought of what might be watching them, unseen. But the forest around him was no darker or more threatening than the half-offered prophecy. If the trouble that was coming to the forest was as serious as Bluestar had said, then Brambleclaw was in great danger of making a fatal mistake simply because he did not know enough.
Chapter 6
All night Leafpaw’s sleep had been disturbed by strange, vivid dreams. At first she thought she was following a scent trail toward Fourtrees, running through the forest along the invisible path. Then the dream changed and she felt the fur on her neck and shoulders rise as if she confronted an enemy, with battle only a heartbeat away. The threat of danger faded, but now she grew colder and colder, until she jerked awake to find the clump of ferns where she slept heavy with raindrops, and rain drumming softly on the forest all around her.
Scrambling to her paws, she dashed across the small, fern-enclosed clearing and took shelter just inside Cinderpelt’s den. The medicine cat was sleeping soundly in her mossy nest beside the back wall and did not move when Leafpaw came in, shaking water from her pelt.
The young apprentice blinked and yawned as she gazed out into the clearing. Above her head she could just make out the black outlines of trees against a sky that was growing gray with the first light of dawn. Part of her rejoiced that the long, dry spell was coming to an end with this downpour that the forest needed so badly. The rest of her could not help feeling troubled about what her dreams might mean. Was StarClan sending her a sign? Or had she somehow picked up thoughts from Squirrelpaw? This would not be the first time she had known what her sister was doing without being told.
Leafpaw let out a long sigh. Little as she liked the idea, she was almost convinced that Squirrelpaw must have slipped out of camp to hunt by night, sending Leafpaw the images of running through the forest. There was no way she had been on an official patrol. What sort of trouble would Squirrelpaw be in if Firestar found out?
As Leafpaw crouched there, she realized that the rain was easing off and the clouds were turning pale yellow and thinning out. With a last glance at the sleeping Cinderpelt she slipped outside again, ignoring the water that soaked her fur as she pushed through the fern tunnel into the main clearing.
Perhaps if she could find Squirrelpaw quickly, she could help her hide whatever she had been up to.
But when she reached the clearing there was no sign of her sister. The other three apprentices had emerged from their den and were lapping eagerly at a shallow puddle that had pooled on the sun-scorched earth. Ferncloud’s three kits crept out of the nursery, their eyes huge as they examined this strange new water that had fallen from the sky. Ferncloud looked on with pride in her eyes as they dabbed at it, squealing with excitement as shining drops spun away from their paws.
Leafpaw watched them for a moment, then whirled around when she saw movement at the mouth of the gorse tunnel. An early hunting patrol, she wondered, caught out by the rain? Or could it be Squirrelpaw, returning after her illicit outing?
Then she realized that the newcomer did not have ThunderClan scent. She drew breath to yowl a warning to the Clan before she recognized the sleek black pelt: it was Ravenpaw, who had once been a ThunderClan apprentice but now lived as a loner in a Twoleg barn on the edge of WindClan territory. Leafpaw had met him once before, on her journey to Highstones with Cinderpelt. Living so close to Twolegs, Ravenpaw hunted mainly by night and was perfectly comfortable with traveling through the forest in pitch dark. He might be just the cat to tell Leafpaw if there had been a ThunderClan apprentice hunting in the forest before dawn.
The visitor crossed the clearing slowly, skirting the deep-est puddles and delicately picking up his paws to shake off the water. “Hi—it’s Leafpaw, isn’t it?” Ravenpaw meowed, pricking his ears toward her. “That was some storm! I’d have been soaked through if I hadn’t managed to shelter in a hollow tree. Still, the forest needs the rain.”
Leafpaw returned his greeting politely. She was trying to find the right words to ask him if he had seen Squirrelpaw on his way to the camp, when a cheerful yowl interrupted her.
“Hey, Ravenpaw!”
Whitepaw and Shrewpaw were bounding across the clearing toward them. Ferncloud’s kits abandoned their raindrop games and scuttled after them.
The biggest of the three kits skidded to a halt in front of Ravenpaw and took an enormous sniff. “New cat,” she growled. “New scent.”