Bristlefrost stepped forward. “The Sisters,” she mewed. “They called themselves Sisters.”
Around the camp, she saw her Clanmates shift nervously. Spotfur hooked her mouse closer, her tail twitching. Molewhisker glanced at the ground as though embarrassed for his leader.
Rootpaw looked relieved. “The Sisters. Of course. I thought you’d want to know they could still be hanging around.”
Bramblestar’s ears were flat. Hostility burned in his eyes. “Why not tell your own leader?” he snarled.
Rootpaw pricked his ears innocently, but his tail was still bushed. Bristlefrost could see he was scared. “I know how close Squirrelflight was to them,” he offered.
Bramblestar looked perplexed.
Rootpaw went on. “I thought I’d be doing you a favor.”
“Doing me a favor?” Bramblestar padded closer to Rootpaw, his hackles lifting. Bristlefrost held her breath. He looked like he might attack the SkyClan apprentice. “You trespass on my land and question me in my own camp, and then you tell me you’re doing me a favor?”
Rootpaw flinched away, alarm flashing in his eyes.
Molewhisker padded forward and stood beside the young tom. “He’s just making up stories to explain why he’s here.” He eyed Bramblestar nervously. The ThunderClan leader looked ready to fight. “It’s probably the same reason he came last time. Every cat knows he has a crush on Bristlefrost. He probably just wanted to see her.”
Shame seared Bristlefrost’s pelt. “That’s not true!” she meowed hotly.
Molewhisker stared at the SkyClan apprentice encouragingly. “Even if Bristlefrost knew nothing about it, you know what young cats are like when they like some cat. They act first and think later.”
Bramblestar’s hackles lowered a little. “Is it true?” he asked Rootpaw. “Did you come to see Bristlefrost?”
Rootpaw blinked at him as though he were staring into the eyes of a Thunderpath monster. “Y-yes,” he stammered. “That’s it. I just wanted to say hi to Bristlefrost.”
Bristlefrost stiffened with rage as her Clanmates’ gaze focused on her. She could see Finleap’s whiskers trembling with amusement. Bristlefrost felt so humiliated that she wanted to hide in her den. She glared at Rootpaw. Why did he have to embarrass her like this, and in front of her leader? Did he think a stunt like this would make her like him? Did he have bees in his brain?
Squirrelflight padded to Bramblestar’s side and ran her tail along his spiked pelt. “He’s just a foolish apprentice,” she told him. “We all do dumb stuff when we’re young. Go easy on him. Let’s just escort him off our territory and forget about it.”
Bramblestar growled softly, his expression still as dark as when he had punished Spotfur and Lionblaze. If he could be so hard on his own warriors, what would he do to a cat from another Clan?
“It’s not against the code to have feelings,” Squirrelflight pressed. “And that’s all it is. I’m sure Rootpaw and Bristlefrost haven’t done anything—”
“Of course not!” Bristlefrost snapped. “It’s his crush, not mine! And I’d never break the warrior code.” She looked earnestly at Bramblestar, ignoring Rootpaw’s tail as it drooped.
Bramblestar frowned, but his pelt was smoothing where Squirrelflight had stroked it. “Okay,” he grunted. “I’ll let him off this time. But Molewhisker and Finleap can go to the SkyClan border and get word to Leafstar that she’ll need to send a patrol to fetch him. I’m not letting him slink home. His Clanmates can come here and explain why they let an apprentice trespass on our land.”
Molewhisker blinked at Bramblestar. “We could just escort him home. I can tell Leafstar what he’s done while I’m there.”
“They can come here,” Bramblestar insisted. “I’m not making this easy on SkyClan. They should have more control over their apprentices.”
Molewhisker dipped his head and turned toward the entrance, beckoning Finleap to follow with a flick of his tail. As they disappeared, Bramblestar glared at Bristlefrost. “Since you brought him here, you can guard him until his Clanmates arrive.”
I didn’t bring him here! Bristlefrost puffed out her pelt, but she didn’t argue as Bramblestar stalked back to the shade of the Highledge, his tail flicking ominously. She looked at Rootpaw. “What were you thinking?” she hissed as she steered him toward the nursery. She nudged him into the shelter of its wall, where her Clanmates couldn’t hear them. “You can’t just wander onto another Clan’s territory. And why did you have to tell them that you came here because of me? Bramblestar was just starting to take me seriously. Now he’ll think I’m no better than a mouse-brained apprentice. Couldn’t you have lied?”
“I did.” Rootpaw blinked at her solemnly.
“What?” Had he just come here to embarrass her?
Rootpaw looked furtively around the camp. Then he fixed his gaze on her firmly as though making a decision. “I couldn’t tell them the real reason why I came.”
“What about the Sisters?” Bristlefrost demanded.
“That was a lie too.” He glanced to one side, as though he’d spotted prey again, then mewed pointedly, “And it was a mouse-brained one. Who reports rogues to another Clan? It was a really dumb idea.” His ears twitched irritably.
Bristlefrost stared at him. “So you didn’t come here to see me?”
“No,” he mewed, his gaze still distracted.
Bristlefrost tried to ignore the disappointment tugging in her belly. I don’t care, she told herself. I’m glad. And yet it had been reassuring after Stemleaf’s rejection to think that some cat liked her, even if it was a hare-brained apprentice from another Clan.
Rootpaw turned suddenly toward his invisible prey. “I’m really sorry,” he told it earnestly. “If there’d been another way to do it, I would have.”
“Do what?” She felt mystified. What was he going on about? Why was he talking to thin air?
Rootpaw turned back and stared at her for a moment as though trying to work out what to say.
“Well?” she prompted, her tail flicking sternly.
Determination hardened his gaze. “You know Tree can see dead cats,” he mewed.
“So I’ve heard.” What was he talking about now? “What does Tree have to do with this? Or dead cats?”
“I can see one as well.” Rootpaw glanced at his paws, his ears twitching uncomfortably. Then he sat down with a hopeless sigh. “He brought me here.”
“Who brought you here?”
“A dead cat,” Rootpaw told her. “He showed me the way.”
Rootpaw was even more hare-brained than she’d thought. “So a dead cat brought you to ThunderClan territory?” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“No,” Rootpaw mewed. “I don’t expect any cat to believe it. Why would they? And the dead cat’s not even dead. He’s alive. But I’m still seeing his ghost.”
Bristlefrost tried to understand. Rootpaw had never been this dumb. There had to be some sense in his story. She stared at him harder. “You’re seeing a living cat’s ghost?”
“Yes.” He sounded as though he believed it. He turned in a slow circle, looking toward the entrance to the nursery. Like he was making sure that no cat was nearby. Then he turned back to her. “Bramblestar’s ghost has been following me around the forest for a moon. No cat can see him but me, but I know he’s real. He’s the one who wanted me to come here. He says the Bramblestar who leads your Clan is an impostor. He stole his body when Bramblestar lost a life, and now the real Bramblestar can’t get back in.”
Bristlefrost’s gaze flitted toward the Highledge. Bramblestar was lying in the shade, Squirrelflight sitting stiffly beside him. Of course he wasn’t an impostor! Rootpaw must have had a bad dream. “That’s impossible.”