Parting his jaws, he inhaled deeply to draw their scent into his mouth, and he tasted something he had never encountered before.
Narrowing his eyes, Jayfeather strode up to Firestar. “What’s going on?” he demanded. “Who are those strange cats?”
“Greetings to you too, Jayfeather,” Firestar responded.
Jayfeather’s tail-tip twitched impatiently. “Well?”
Firestar cleared his throat and glanced at the other StarClan cats, who broke off their conversations to cluster around him.
“I suppose you can go ahead and speak for us all this time,” Leopardstar remarked drily to the flame-colored tom. “You’re obviously planning to anyway.”
The other medicine cats had drawn closer to Jayfeather, who saw Kestrelflight shifting his paws uneasily, as if he wanted to speak but was uncomfortable with this shared vision.
Jayfeather gave him a prod. “Spit it out,” he growled.
“Maybe each of us medicine cats should speak privately with our own Clanmates,” Kestrelflight suggested diffidently. “There might be things to discuss that are private to our Clans.”
“No,” Barkface meowed gently, touching his nose to Kestrelflight’s shoulder. “We have a prophecy for all of you—one that concerns all the Clans.”
Jayfeather felt his heart start to beat faster. Not another prophecy! he groaned inwardly. Does this mean our seasons of peace are coming to an end?
“A prophecy, and a promise too,” Firestar meowed. He was staring directly into Jayfeather’s eyes, as if he knew the words Jayfeather hadn’t spoken aloud. “A time of great change is coming for all the Clans. Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky.”
He stopped speaking, while the StarClan ancestors gazed impressively at the medicine cats.
When the silence had stretched out for several heartbeats, Jayfeather lashed his tail in frustration. “What does that mean?” he demanded, glaring at Firestar. Sarcasm filled his voice like a scratching claw as he added, “If you try really hard, do you think you could be a bit more obscure?”
Firestar gazed at Jayfeather with a mixture of affection and irritation. But the vision was already beginning to fade. The shapes of the StarClan cats shone out in a blaze of starlight, dazzling Jayfeather and the other medicine cats. The sky darkened as if clouds were racing to cover the sun.
But before his vision left him, Jayfeather spotted from the corner of his eye another cat he did not immediately recognize: a very young tom standing a pace or two back from the circle of medicine cats. As Jayfeather turned to face him, he bounded away, so that all Jayfeather saw clearly was the flick of a white-tipped tail.
Jayfeather took a breath to catch his scent. That’s a living cat! he realized. And he smells strongly of ThunderClan.
Chapter 1
Alderkit stood in front of the nursery, nervously shifting his weight. He unsheathed his claws, digging them into the beaten earth of the stone hollow, then sheathed them again and shook dust from his paws.
Now what happens? he asked himself, his belly churning as he thought about his apprentice ceremony, which was only moments away. What if there’s some sort of assessment before I can be an apprentice?
Alderkit thought he had heard something about an assessment once. Perhaps it had been a few moons ago when Hollytuft, Fernsong, and Sorrelstripe had been made warriors. But I can’t really remember… I was so little then.
His heart started to pound faster and faster. He tried to convince himself that some cat would have told him if he was supposed to prove that he was ready. Because I’m not sure that I am ready to become an apprentice. Not sure at all. What if I can’t do it?
Deep in his own thoughts, Alderkit jumped in surprise as a cat nudged him hard from behind. Spinning around, he saw his sister Sparkkit, her orange tabby fur bushing out in all directions.
“Aren’t you excited?” she asked with an enthusiastic bounce. “Don’t you want to know who your mentor will be? I hope I get someone fun! Not a bossy cat like Berrynose, or one like Whitewing. She sticks so close to the rules I think she must recite the warrior code in her sleep!”
“That’s enough.” The kits’ mother, Squirrelflight, emerged from the nursery in time to hear Sparkkit’s last words. “You’re not supposed to have fun with your mentors,” she added, licking one paw and smoothing it over Sparkkit’s pelt. “You’re supposed to learn from them. Berrynose and Whitewing are both fine warriors. You’d be very lucky to have either of them as your mentor.”
Though Squirrelflight’s voice was sharp, her green gaze shone with love for her kits. Alderkit knew how much his mother adored him and his sister. He was only a kit, but he understood that Squirrelflight was old to have her first litter, and he remembered their shared grief for his lost littermates: Juniperkit, who had barely taken a breath before he died, and Dandelionkit, who had never been strong, and who had slowly weakened until she also died two moons later.
Sparkkit and I have to be the best cats we can be for Squirrelflight and Bramblestar.
Sparkkit, meanwhile, wasn’t at all cowed by her mother’s scolding. She twitched her tail and cheerfully shook her pelt until her fur fluffed up again.
Alderkit wished he had her confidence. He hadn’t wondered until now who his mentor would be, and he gazed around the clearing at the other cats with new and curious eyes. Ivypool would be an okay mentor, he thought, spotting the silver-and-white tabby she-cat returning from a hunting patrol with Lionblaze and Blossomfall. She’s friendly and a good hunter. Lionblaze is a bit scary, though. Alderkit suppressed a shiver at the sight of the muscles rippling beneath the golden warrior’s pelt. And it won’t be Blossomfall, because she was just mentor for Hollytuft. Or Brackenfur or Rosepetal, because they mentored Sorrelstripe and Fernsong.
Lost in thought, Alderkit watched Thornclaw, who had paused in the middle of the clearing to give himself a good scratch behind one ear. He’d probably be okay, though he’s sort of short-tempered…
“Hey, wake up!” Sparkkit trod down hard on Alderkit’s paw. “It’s starting!”
Alderkit realized that Bramblestar had appeared on the Highledge outside his den, way above their heads on the wall of the stone hollow.
“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!” Bramblestar yowled.
As the cats in the clearing turned their attention to Bramblestar and began to gather together, Alderpaw thought that his father seemed to stand taller and stronger than all of them—even brave warriors like Lionblaze and Dovewing.
He’s so confident and strong. I’m lucky to be his son.
Bramblestar ran lightly down the tumbled rocks and took his place in the center of the ragged circle of cats that was forming at the foot of the rock wall. Graystripe, the Clan’s previous deputy, purred as the kits passed him, and Sorrelstripe, one of the youngest warriors, held her head high, as if proud to have finished her own apprenticeship. Squirrelflight gently nudged her two kits forward until they too stood in the circle.
Alderkit’s belly began to churn even harder, and he tightened all his muscles to stop himself from trembling. I can’t do this! he thought, struggling not to panic.