Ivy pool’s tail whisked over the dam p leaf litter. “I didn’t mean to upset y ou.”
“It’s all right.” Twigpaw’s thoughts were whirling. “I just need to get back to camp.”
“Okay.” Ivy pool watched her anxiously.
Twigpaw hardly noticed her glistening gaze. She was already clim bing the rise and heading for the gorse barrier. She ducked through the tunnel and hurried into camp. Her thoughts raced ahead of her. Alderpaw would be in the medicine den. What would he say? Did he know about her mother? As she bounded across the clearing, Graystripe called from the fallen beech.
“What’s the hurry, Twigpaw?”
“Is som ething wrong?” Briarlight was beside the fresh-kill pile, sharing a mouse with Fernsong.
“I need to speak with Alderpaw!” Twigpaw burst through the trailing brambles into the medicine den.
Jayfeather snorted but didn’t look up from the m oss he was soaking in the water, which pooled beside the rock wall of the den. “I thought Alderpaw had lost his shadow once y ou’d been m ade an apprentice.” He shook water from his paws. “For a shadow, you make a lot of noise.”
Alderpaw was picking stale m oss out of Briarlight’s nest. He turned as Twigpaw scram bled to a halt beside him.
“Did Squirrelflight’s patrol find my mother?” she dem anded bluntly.
He blinked at her, confusion clouding his gaze. “Squirrelflight’s patrol?”
“The one Bramblestar sent to look for m y mother moons ago!” Frustration churned in Twigpaw’s belly. It turned to fear as she saw alarm flash in his eyes. He knew som ething!
“Let’s talk about this in private.” His gaze darted guiltily toward Jayfeather.
“Don’t worry about m e,” Jayfeather mewed sarcastically. “Stay as long as you like. It is only m y medicine den, after all.”
Twigpaw ignored the medicine cat. “You have to tell m e,” she begged Alderpaw. “Did they find m y mother?”
Alderpaw nudged her toward the entrance. “Come outside.”
Why? He must have something terrible to tell me! Suddenly light-headed, Twigpaw followed him through the trailing brambles.
Alderpaw guided her into the fern hollow beside the den. Out of sight of their Clanmates, he m et her gaze. “We don’t know what happened to y our mother,” he whispered.
She stared at him blankly. “Why hide here to tell m e that?”
Alderpaw seem ed to squirm beneath his pelt. Why was he being so weird?
“You can tell m e if she’s dead,” she pressed. “I’d rather know than spend m y life wondering.”
“I can’t tell y ou.” Alderpaw stared at her. “I don’t know.”
“So the patrol didn’t find her?” Twigpaw dem anded.
Alderpaw looked away. “The patrol wasn’t looking for her,” he mumbled.
“What?” Twigpaw could hardly believe her ears. What was he talking about? “Squirrelflight led a patrol to search for m y mother. That’s what Ivy pool told m e.”
Alderpaw shook his head. “That wasn’t who they were searching for.”
“Not m y mother? Then why does Ivy pool think that?” Twigpaw stared at him, anger surging in her chest as he looked back at her, not reply ing. “Did they ever look for her?”
Alderpaw stared at the ground guiltily. “No.” His mew was barely a whisper.
“Never?” Heat seared her pelt as she watched Alderpaw struggling for words.
“They were looking for som ething else,” he mumbled at last.
“Why does Ivy pool think they were looking for m y mother?”
“The whole Clan believed they were looking for y our mother.” Alderpaw was still avoiding her gaze. “They still do.”
“What were they searching for?” Twigpaw tried to think of som ething more im portant than her mother.
Alderpaw looked at her hopelessly. “I can’t tell y ou.”
“Why not?” I thought you told me everything! I trusted you! She curled her claws into the ground.
“It’s Clan business.”
Twigpaw’s pelt spiked. “So I’m not to know because I’m not part of the Clan!”
“Of course you are!” Alderpaw’s gaze rounded guiltily. “That’s not what I meant. Only a few cats know where the patrol went. It’s a secret I can’t share with y ou.”
Twigpaw hesitated, unsure whether to be hurt that he was keeping secrets from her or com forted that she wasn’t alone in being lied to. Irritation sparked through her pelt. “Why didn’t Bramblestar send out a patrol to look for m y mother?”
Sadness darkened Alderpaw’s gaze. “He didn’t think there was any point.”
“Didn’t he care what had happened to her?” Twigpaw’s heart twisted.
“I’m sure he did. But… A mother doesn’t abandon kits who are too young to take care of them selves unless…” Alderpaw’s mew trailed away.
“Unless… unless she’s dead?” Twigpaw lashed her tail. “That’s what you were going to say, isn’t it?” She tried to push the thought away, but it nagged at her. It would explain why she’d left them. But we can’t be sure. Until they checked, there was still the tiniest, sweetest chance she was still alive. She glared defiantly at Alderpaw. “May be som ething happened to stop her coming back. She might have returned and found us gone. She might be wondering where we went. She might still be looking for us!” She thrust her m uzzle close to Alderpaw’s. “If you hadn’t taken us, Violetkit and I might still be with her!”
Before Alderpaw could answer, Twigpaw pushed her way from the ferns and strode out of camp. She wouldn’t be in this dum b Clan if it weren’t for Alderpaw. She’d be with her sister. And her sister wouldn’t be with a gang of rogues. Burning with rage, she followed the trail that headed toward the ShadowClan border. She hadn’t seen Violetkit since Needlepaw had taken her from ShadowClan. But she was going to see her now. She was going to find her and tell her what she’d discovered.
Twigpaw had heard the Clan gossip, and words swirled in her thoughts as she pushed past the undergrowth. The rogues live beyond ShadowClan territory, near the border with ThunderClan. She headed that way now. I must speak with Violetkit. She had to tell her that the Clan cats had lied to her. What if our mother came back for us?
Birds called to one another overhead, warning and serenading, preparing their nests. The sun, glittering through the budding branches, dappled Twigpaw’s back with gentle warmth. She hardly felt it. She veered from the track as she neared the border and shadowed the scent line deeper into the forest, where the ground began to rise. She had never been this far before—even on her first day as an apprentice, when Ivy pool had shown her ThunderClan’s territory. She’d felt so proud that day, knowing that this was her land and that one day she’d be patrolling it, keeping it safe for kits and elders.
Who’s keeping my mother safe? She lifted her chin defiantly and pressed on. The ground grew softer beneath her paws, turning to m ud as the trees thinned. She reached the ThunderClan scent line and crossed it, her heart quickening as she set paw outside Clan territory.
The rogues must be near. She could sm ell strange scents. Tensing, she scanned the undergrowth. Darktail’s gang seem ed more like ghosts than real cats. They never came to Gatherings, and they lived on the outskirts of the territory, occasionally glim psed in the shadows by patrols. The Clan whispered about them in hushed mews, as though speaking of Dark Forest cats.