“Puddleshine is eating,” Twigpaw told her gently.
“What about Birchpaw?” Panic flashed in the queen’s glassy gaze.
“Is he y our kit too?”
“Yes.” Pinenose pushed herself weakly to her paws. “Is he okay? He’s not sick, is he?”
“He’s fine,” Twigpaw soothed, easing Pinenose back onto her belly.
“What about y ou, Lionpaw?” Pinenose blinked at her. “Are you sick?”
“No.” Twigpaw wondered whether to tell Pinenose that she wasn’t Lionpaw. But Pinenose was staring at her so desperately that she hesitated. She couldn’t remember any one looking at her like that before.
“I want Birchpaw,” Pinenose rasped. “I want him here. With you and Puddleshine.”
“He’s out training.”
“But I need him.” Desperation filled Pinenose’s eyes.
“I’m here.” Twigpaw’s throat tightened. Did Lionpaw realize how much her mother loved her?
“Pinenose?” Puddleshine padded into the den.
Pinenose’s gaze softened, as though just seeing another of her kits eased her pain.
Twigpaw m oved aside as Pinenose crouched in her place. “We’re giving all the cats water,” she told him. “Then we’ll fetch fresh bracken for their nests.”
Puddleshine blinked at her wearily. “They need more herbs.”
“Have you got any?” Twigpaw scanned the den.
Puddleshine nodded to a pile of shredded leaves. “There’s tansy, coltsfoot, and borage.”
Tiredness slurred his words. “I need to chew it into a pulp so that they can swallow it.”
“I can do that,” Twigpaw told him.
Puddleshine stared at her. “You’re not a medicine cat.”
“I used to help Jayfeather and Alderpaw.” Twigpaw padded to the herbs. “You need to rest.
You’ll be no help to y our Clanmates if you collapse from exhaustion.”
Puddleshine’s tail drooped. “I might close m y eyes for a m om ent.” He rested his chin on his mother’s nest. Pinenose relaxed beside him, her wheezing breath ruffling his fur.
As Puddleshine’s eyes slowly closed and his breath deepened into sleep, Twigpaw crouched over the herb pile. She took a m outhful as she’d seen Alderpaw do and began chewing the leaves to a pulp.
Violetpaw trotted into the den, dripping m oss dangling from her jaws.
Twigpaw nodded toward the sleeping medicine cat, hoping Violetpaw wouldn’t wake him.
Violetpaw blinked at Puddleshine, her gaze softening as she saw him. She placed the wet m oss beside Oakfur and hurried to Twigpaw’s side. “What are you doing?” she whispered.
“I’m giving herbs to the sick cats while Puddleshine rests.” Twigpaw padded to Oakfur’s nest and spat pulp onto her paw. As she sm eared it around the sick tom’s lips, she felt his rough tongue graze her pad. He was licking the herbs. “When y ou’ve given the others water, can you gather bracken so that we can make them clean nests?”
“Of course.” Violetpaw headed out of the den.
Twigpaw watched her leave, relief washing her pelt. Violetpaw did want to help her Clanmates. Growing up here hadn’t m ade her like Birchpaw and Lionpaw. In fact, she hardly seem ed like a ShadowClan cat at all.
Stiff with tiredness, Twigpaw curled into the nest beside Violetpaw. Birchpaw and Lionpaw had fallen asleep ages ago, their bellies full of the prey the sick cats couldn’t eat. Her sister sat up, washing.
“I’m too tired to wash,” Twigpaw whispered.
“I want to get the stench of herbs out of m y fur,” Violetpaw answered between licks.
Twigpaw had already cleaned the pulp from her paws, although the taste lingered in her m outh despite the two shrews she’d gulped down at sunset. Worry still worm ed in her belly.
Oakfur was so sick. Snakekit too. And the others were fighting hard against the illness. What if one of them died during the night?
At least Puddleshine was rested now. He’d slept the day away while she and Violetpaw had tended to the sick cats. It was Pinenose who had finally roused him. She’d woken, her eyes a little brighter, and broken into a purr when she’d found him still sleeping beside her nest.
A thorn seem ed to j ab Twigpaw’s heart as she remembered the fondness in the she-cat’s gaze.
“Do you think our mother loved us as much as Pinenose loves Puddleshine, Birchpaw, and Lionpaw?”
Violetpaw stopped washing. “I’ve never thought about it.”
Twigpaw frowned. “Why not?” She wondered why Violetpaw seem ed so detached.
Violetpaw lowered the paw she’d been licking. “I suppose I just assum ed that since she was gone, there was no point thinking about her.”
“But didn’t you miss her?”
“I had Pinenose.”
“But Pinenose didn’t ask for you today,” Twigpaw pointed out softly. “She only asked for her own kits.” She searched Violetpaw’s gaze for a reaction, but Violetpaw seem ed unm oved. Pity swam ped her. When had Violetpaw stopped expecting to be loved?
“I guess I decided that Pinenose was better than nothing,” Violetpaw mewed sim ply.
Twigpaw gazed wistfully into space. She’d had Lily heart, at least. The ThunderClan queen had been fond of her, and kind. But Twigpaw had always been aware that they weren’t real kin. “Just im agine if there was a cat who loved us as much as Pinenose loves her kits.”
“Oh, Twigpaw.” Sy m pathy flooded Violetpaw’s gaze. “You always want to be close to som e cat.”
“Don’t y ou?” Twigpaw frowned, puzzled.
“I guess I just didn’t think it was possible.” She touched her m uzzle to Twigpaw’s cheek. “But I’m glad I’ve got a sister.”
Affection swelled Twigpaw’s heart. “So am I.” She m et Violetpaw’s gaze. “I guess being here has given us a chance to get to know each other again.” She searched Violetpaw’s gaze, hoping that her sister felt the sam e way.
Violetpaw’s eyes clouded. She purred and snuggled down beside Twigpaw. “Let’s never forget we have each other. We’re kin, and that’s stronger than being Clanmates or denmates. We’ll always be close. Nothing will ever change that.”
“Do you prom ise?” Anxiety pricked Twigpaw’s belly.
“I prom ise.”
Chapter 20
Two sunups later, Violetpaw opened her eyes and blinked through the darkness. Voices in the clearing had woken her. Her breath warm ed her paws as she listened.
A growl m ade her stiffen.
She j erked up her head as a snarl rang through the night air. “Twigpaw! Wake up!” She prodded Twigpaw sharply.
Twigpaw lifted her m uzzle, her eyes hardly opening. “What?” Her mew was slurred with sleep.
“Listen!” Violetpaw strained her ears.
“You can’t come in here!” Scorchfur’s growl sounded bey ond the den walls.
“We have come to take our Clanmate home!” Bramblestar’s mew cut across the growling of ShadowClan warriors.
Twigpaw opened her eyes wide. “Bramblestar!”
Birchpaw and Lionpaw were stirring in their nests.
“What’s all that noise?” Birchpaw sounded half-asleep.
Violetpaw’s heart lurched. “Quick!” She nosed Twigpaw from the nest. “Let’s hide.”
Twigpaw dug her paws deep into the bracken, refusing to be pushed. “Hide? Why? He’s come to rescue m e.”
Violetpaw hardly heard her. “We can tunnel under the brambles at the back of the den and slip out past the dirtplace. If we run fast, we can hide so deep in the forest they’ll never be able to find us!”
Twigpaw stared at her. “But I want to be found.”
Violetpaw froze. “What?” She didn’t understand. Twigpaw had said she wanted to be close to her. They’d talked about being sisters—how that was more im portant than any thing. You made me trust you! “You prom ised we’d always be close.”