“I’m your father, Twigpaw,” Hawkwing meowed, and ran forward to nuzzle her close.
With Twigpaw in the lead, along with Leafstar and Hawkwing, the cats of SkyClan straggled along the bank of a narrow stream that wound its way through dense forest. They were traveling toward a high hill Twigpaw could see in the distance—a hill, she hoped and believed, that was one of the same ones she could see from the lake. At last the trees were thinning out, and ahead Twigpaw could see open country, with hills rising in the distance. Three sunrises had passed since she had found SkyClan, and sometimes she was afraid that they would never find the lake again.
Paw steps sounded behind her, and Twigpaw glanced back to see the pale gray tom, Sagenose, hurrying to catch up.
“Are you sure of where you’re going?” the SkyClan tom demanded, falling into step beside Twigpaw. “We’ve been traveling so long I think my paws are going to fall off!”
Twigpaw halted, suppressing a sigh. How many times have they asked me that question? “No, I’m not completely sure,” she replied. “But I think we’re heading in the right direction.” As Sagenose let out a disbelieving snort, she added, “You see that hill up ahead? I’m sure I see that on the horizon when I hunt! So we must be getting closer.”
Sagenose flicked his ears dismissively. “Is any other cat concerned,” he meowed, turning to Leafstar, “that ThunderClan hasn’t invited us? This one apprentice came looking for us, but she admits she wasn’t exactly sent.”
Twigpaw flinched, looking helplessly at Hawkwing. Could I possibly have come all this way to find my father, only to have his Clan refuse to follow me home?
Hawkwing moved closer to her until their pelts brushed. “Sagenose, we’ve discussed this,” Hawkwing responded. “Twigpaw will take us to Bramblestar. When we talk to him, we’ll know more about what the future holds.”
More cats crowded around as they heard the beginning of the argument.
Sparrowpelt shouldered his way forward and rested his tabby tail for a moment on Twigpaw’s shoulder. “Sagenose, we’ve been wandering for moons, trying to find the right home,” he meowed. “And before Echosong died, she told us to follow the blood trail in the sky, and that led us straight to Twigpaw! Echosong even said she’d had visions of a ThunderClan cat. Surely that means—”
“We still don’t know that we’ll be welcome,” Sagenose interrupted, glaring at Sparrowpelt.
“I believe it was meant to be this way,” Hawkwing cut in. “This is how we were meant to find ThunderClan.”
“Of course you feel that way,” Sagenose snapped. “She’s your kit.”
“That’s enough!” Leafstar thrust her way into the center of the group, her tail raised for silence. “Enough debating! I am your leader, and I’ve decided that we will follow Twigpaw back to ThunderClan. And that’s the end of it! Sagenose, do you want to be part of SkyClan or not?”
“Of course I do!” Sagenose blinked, sounding a little hurt. “Well, obviously I do. I’ve been through enough with you!”
“Fine,” Leafstar mewed evenly. “Then no further arguments.”
She set out again, striding determinedly along the bank of the stream, and the rest of the Clan followed.
During the argument—and even now that it was over—Twigpaw had been squirming uncomfortably. I hope I can even find ThunderClan. And that they’re willing to take me back… not to mention an entire new Clan… Lilyheart’s words echoed in her mind, from the Clan meeting just before she’d run off. This isn’t the right time to find your kin.
But surely things had improved since Twigpaw had left?
Leaving the last of the trees behind them, the cats struck out into open country, drawing nearer to the hill Twigpaw thought was close to the Clans’ territory. Sunhigh was long past by the time they reached it and trudged up the slope to the top.
As she crested the rise and looked out across the land ahead, Twigpaw halted as if she had just run into a tree. “Oh!” she exclaimed. She had expected to see the Thunderpath and the tunnel where she and Violetpaw had been born. Instead the ground sloped gently away in front of her, covered with bushes and clumps of fern. Down in the bottom of the valley the bushes gave way to dense woodland; here and there Violetpaw caught the glimmer of water.
“Is everything okay?” Leafstar asked, padding up to stand beside her.
“Oh—uh—yes,” Twigpaw stammered. She didn’t want to tell the SkyClan leader that, once again, she had no idea where she was.
Bracing herself resolutely, she led the way down into the trees.
A narrow stream trickled through the undergrowth, and Leafstar decided that they should hunt and camp there for the night. Twigpaw found it difficult to sleep, shifting restlessly in the nest she had made under an elder bush. She was too worried about the next day’s journey.
How long will SkyClan go on following me, if I can’t lead them to the lake soon?
Not long after the cats set off the following morning, they emerged from a thick bank of fern onto a strip of grass that bordered the hard black surface of a Thunderpath. Monsters were roaring up and down it in both directions, their bright colors glittering in the sunlight. Twigpaw’s belly churned as she remembered the monster that had struck her when she fell from the tree.
“Do we have to cross here?” Hawkwing asked.
Twigpaw nodded. She knew that a Thunderpath lay between the lake and the place where she had found SkyClan; she could only hope that this was the same one. It looked very different from the area where the tunnel was.
But it must be the right one, she told herself. How many Thunderpaths do Twolegs need?
Twigpaw waited with the SkyClan cats in a line along the grass verge until Leafstar gave the order to cross. Twigpaw could hear the growl of an approaching monster as her paws skimmed across the Thunderpath, but every cat had reached safety on the other side before it swept past on its round black paws.
“Now where do we go?” Tinycloud asked. The pregnant white she-cat was leaning on Sparrowpelt’s shoulder, and she looked exhausted. “Is it much farther?”
I hope it isn’t, Twigpaw thought, gesturing into the trees with her tail. “This way.”
Sunhigh was still some way off when Twigpaw rounded a bramble thicket and halted at the edge of a clearing. In the middle was a cluster of weird rocks made out of flat pieces of wood. Tasting the air, she picked up the faint scent of Twolegs.
“Oh, I don’t believe it!” Plumwillow exclaimed as she followed Twigpaw around the bramble thicket. “You have Twolegs near your territory, too?”
“Twolegs are everywhere,” Sandynose responded, touching his mate’s shoulder with his tail-tip. “We’re not staying here, are we?” he asked Twigpaw.
Memories were scrambling into Twigpaw’s head. She had never seen this place before, but she remembered Alderheart telling her about his journey to the gorge, and how he had his companions had stopped at a greenleaf Twolegplace and eaten delicious Twoleg food. This must be the very place!
“No,” she replied to Sandynose, “but it means we don’t have much farther to go.”
As they left the greenleaf Twolegplace behind, the trees began to thin out. Soon Twigpaw and the SkyClan cats were faced with a steep slope covered with wiry grass and gorse thickets; here and there outcrops of rock poked through the turf. A stiff breeze swept down from the ridge; Twigpaw’s whiskers twitched with excitement at the familiar scents it brought with it.