Amazement and disbelief flooded through Leafstar as she gazed at the starlit warriors. We did this? My Clan?
“We won’t always be in the same place like this,” Skywatcher warned, as if he guessed she was about to question what was happening. “Our Clans are in different places, and the skies are not always open to us. So let us enjoy the moment while we can.”
“Yes—oh, yes!” Leafstar breathed out, feeling that happiness was about to well up inside her and spill over like rain from an upturned leaf. She felt as if she could stand there forever, basking in the whispering, starlit warmth.
“Let’s hunt!” one cat yowled.
Immediately the cats of StarClan gathered and shifted like a shoal of glittering fish before flowing smoothly toward the forest, their belly fur brushing the grass and their tails streaming out behind them. Leafstar was swept along with them. Energy crackled through her like a bolt of lightning.
There’s nothing better than this! Being among warriors, running through the trees, searching for prey…
She basked in the strength and speed and skill she could feel sparking in her legs. She had lost sight of the cat who had made the prophecy, and his Clanmate, but Spottedleaf raced briefly at her side. “Seize the moment!” she urged. The glow in her eyes told Leafstar that the words had special meaning for her. “Destiny will arrive, whether we seek for it or not.”
Leafstar felt comforted, the worries of her waking life melting away like icicles in the sun. These cats seemed to be telling her to celebrate being part of the Clan as it was now, that the future was hidden and they must live in the present.
But she wished she had been able to talk to the cat she had dreamed of at the bottom of the gorge.
Skywatcher and Spottedleaf said nothing about storms lying ahead. Does that mean the storm will never come?
Leafstar wasn’t ready to discount the prophecy, yet the visit tonight had reassured her. She knew that her Clan had to be prepared, with training and battle practice, but that was all they could do. As her paws flew over the shining grass of the dream forest, Leafstar knew she must not try to see the future that was hidden from her.
Chapter 17
Paw steps on the rock outside her den woke Leafstar. Blinking in the sunlight, she made out Billystorm’s head and shoulders as he looked in. Anxiety flooded through her as she realized how late she had slept.
“I’m sorry, Leafstar!” Billystorm exclaimed, his forepaws scrabbling at the floor of the den in embarrassment. “I didn’t realize you were still asleep.”
“It’s okay,” Leafstar mumbled around a huge yawn. She sat up, wincing at the ache in her muscles. Any cat would think I had been racing through the forest all last night! “Come in.”
She felt as embarrassed as Billystorm as she shook moss out of her pelt and tried to give herself a quick grooming. “What can I do for you?” she asked.
“I’m worried about Snookpaw,” Billystorm meowed, sitting in the entrance to the den. “He’s still shut up in his housefolk’s nest. I’d like to make sure that he’s okay, and that they’re not keeping him there against his will.”
Every hair on Leafstar’s pelt prickled, and she stopped washing to face the daylight-warrior. “That’s not good,” she commented. “You’re right, you should do everything you can to find out what’s going on.”
Billystorm looked down, examining his paws. “Actually, I was hoping you would come with me.”
Leafstar’s heart began to beat faster with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. “I don’t belong in the Twolegplace!”
“I’d look after you,” Billystorm assured her. “And I know exactly where we’re going.”
Leafstar, you’re being a fox-heart! Leafstar told herself, remembering her dream of the night before. The joy she had felt then in being a cat, the energy that had flowed through her body as she hunted with the warriors of StarClan, gave courage to her heart and paws.
“All right,” she mewed. “I’ll come. I’ll just let Sharpclaw know.”
Down in the gorge, Sharpclaw was organizing the hunting patrols. “Shorty, you lead this one, with Patchfoot, Petalnose, and Sagepaw,” he ordered. “Stick, you can lead the other; take Ebonyclaw, Frecklepaw, and Cherrytail.”
Leafstar couldn’t help noticing that Ebonyclaw flicked her tail with annoyance as she fell in behind Stick, while Sagepaw padded up to his mother and muttered into her ear, “I don’t want to take orders from him!” with a glare at Shorty.
StarClan, please let them get used to it in a few days.
Sharpclaw blinked in surprise when Leafstar told him she was going to the Twolegplace with Billystorm. “You’ll need to take care,” he meowed. “And listen, about Billystorm—”
“What?” Leafstar interrupted sharply.
Sharpclaw hesitated, then gave his fur a shake. “Nothing. Don’t worry, Leafstar. I’ll look after everything here.”
Leafstar watched him closely to see if he gave any flicker of knowing more about Twolegplace than he should—she hadn’t forgotten about Billystorm’s accusation of Sharpclaw’s secret night patrols—but her deputy’s gaze showed nothing but concern for her, and confidence that he could take care of the Clan while she was gone. With a sigh, Leafstar pushed Billystorm’s report to the back of her mind. He was the very last cat she could imagine lying to her, but she couldn’t believe that Sharpclaw would keep anything from her that threatened the safety of their Clan.
A stiff breeze was blowing, flattening the grass, as Leafstar rejoined Billystorm and they climbed to the top of the gorge. The sun shone brightly from a clear blue sky with only a few wisps of cloud. Leafstar was cast back into her dream, and the starlit cats who had surrounded her the night before seemed to be there once more, scenting the air with the history of countless moons; the memory was so vivid that she was surprised to realize that only Billystorm was running beside her.
He slowed down as they crossed the border and drew closer to Twolegplace. “We’ll have to cross a Thunderpath soon,” he told her. “They can be pretty scary, but it should be quiet at this time of day. And just beyond that there’s a Twoleg nest with a dog that barks its stupid head off every time I go past. But you don’t need to worry; it can’t get at us. Then there’s another Thunderpath, and after that we have to crawl underneath some really thick shrubs—”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine, Billystorm,” Leafstar interrupted.
But her confidence began to ebb away as they crossed the Thunderpath, with anxious glances at a sleeping monster a few fox-lengths away. What if it wakes up? she wondered, ready to flee if it let out a roar and leaped toward her.
Billystorm led her along a fence; she could smell the dog on the other side and her heart thumped at the sound of its high-pitched yapping, but Billystorm was right; the dog scrabbled frantically against the fence, but it couldn’t get through to attack them. They crossed the second Thunderpath; the black surface felt sticky under Leafstar’s paws, and she wrinkled her nose at the acrid scent. Then she followed Billystorm through a gap in a fence and emerged in a tangle of thick bushes. They squirmed underneath the lowest branches, their belly fur brushing the soft, moist earth.
Billystorm raised a paw to halt Leafstar as they emerged from the shrubs. A stretch of smooth Twoleg grass separated them from the nest. On the far side a couple of Twoleg kits were tossing something round and brightly colored between them, squealing happily as they jumped up to catch it.