Her heart pounded and she swerved to avoid the vigil, but as she m oved closer to the apprentices’ den, new worries invaded her m ind. What would Sleekpaw and the other apprentices say when she told them that Leafpool had sent her to sleep with them? They weren’t exactly friendly.
A soft mew sounded behind her. “Violetkit. I was just coming to find you.” Needlepaw padded from the shadows at the edge of the camp.
“Find m e?” Violetkit spun around, alarm ed. Had she done som ething wrong? Needlepaw had spoken to her a few tim es since Alderpaw’s visit, but before that she’d hardly paid her any attention.
“We have to go som ewhere.” Needlepaw halted, her green eyes shining in the moonlight.
“But Leafpool told m e to go to the apprentices’ den,” Violetkit told her. “Grassheart is having her kits.”
“So?” Needlepaw shrugged. “You can do that later.”
Beside Littlecloud’s body, Tawny pelt turned. Her eyes flashed with worry as she caught sight of Violetkit and Needlepaw. The tortoiseshell hurried toward them. “Violetkit, why are you out of the nursery? It’s late.”
Needlepaw answered for her. “Grassheart is kitting.” She j erked her nose toward the nursery.
“I’m supposed to take care of Violetkit.”
That’s a lie. Violetkit blinked at the apprentice, surprised.
“Make sure she gets a warm nest and som e sleep.” Tawny pelt turned back toward the nursery.
Violetkit was im pressed. Tawny pelt hadn’t doubted Needlepaw for a m om ent. I wish I were like Needlepaw. She’s so sure of herself.
Needlepaw glanced at her. “Are you ready?”
Ready for what? Violetkit stared at her. Tongue-tied, she could only nod.
“Then follow m e and keep quiet.” Needlepaw headed for the camp wall, slipping into the shadows where the brambles swallowed the moonlight. “We mustn’t be seen.”
“Why not?” Violetkit whispered. Butterflies fluttered in her belly.
“We’re going on an adventure.”
“Where?”
“Outside the camp.”
Violetkit hesitated. “Outside?”
Needlepaw turned and thrust her m uzzle close. “You’re not scared, are you?”
“No,” Violetkit lied. She didn’t want Needlepaw to think she was a scaredy -m ouse. “But I might get into trouble if I leave the camp.”
“Not if you’re with m e.” Needlepaw blinked at her.
Violetkit shifted her paws. Was that true? Was she allowed to leave the camp if she was with Needlepaw? Perhaps it was a special mission. Som ething to do with Littlecloud dy ing, or Grassheart having kits. Every thing had been strange all day. Perhaps leaving camp was okay now.
Needlepaw ran her tail along Violetkit’s spine. “Just stay close to m e and you will be safe.”
Needlepaw’s tail felt soothing. I will be safe. It sounded reassuring. Violetkit lifted her chin.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Needlepaw purred as she headed deeper into the shadows. As Violetkit trotted after her, she wondered where they were going. Then she sm elled the fam iliar scent of the dirtplace and realized they were heading for the narrow tunnel that led out of the back of the camp.
She ducked through it after Needlepaw, blinking as darkness pressed in with the brambles. A
m om ent later she was outside.
Needlepaw tasted the air. “Come on.” Her silver pelt shone as she padded through a strip of moonlight. “Follow m e.”
Violetkit tried to stay close behind Needlepaw, peering up at the trees. Their great trunks disappeared into shadow overhead, and specks of starlight glinted through gaps in the thick canopy.
She tripped over a root and landed on her chin. “Oof!”
“Be careful.” Needlepaw turned to look at her, her eyes shining in the dark.
“I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Violetkit confessed.
“You’d better start. The forest is a dangerous place at night. There could be foxes any where.”
Foxes? Fear sparked in Violetkit’s chest. She didn’t even know what a fox looked like, but from the nursery tales she’d heard, she knew they were fierce. She strained to see into the shadows.
Sniffing for strange sm ells, she hurried to catch up to Needlepaw. She was used to the warm cat scents of the camp. Out here countless odors filled her nose, and every thing was dank and strange. How would she know if a fox was nearby? She padded closer to Needlepaw, brushing her flank.
“Give m e som e space!” Needlepaw nudged her aside. “I don’t want to be tripping over you all the way there.”
“All the way where?” Violetkit glanced at her anxiously.
“It’s a surprise.” Needlepaw ducked beneath a low-hanging branch and j um ped across a ditch.
Violetkit halted at the edge, wondering if she could clear the deep rut in the forest floor. She could see water glim m ering at the bottom. It sm elled rank. She didn’t want to fall in. Bunching up her m uscles, she crouched and wiggled her haunches. Fixing her gaze on the far side, she leaped.
Her front paws reached the far side, but her back paws fell short. She hooked her claws into the needle-strewn earth and scrabbled desperately with her hind legs. Alarm flashing through her, she struggled to haul herself up.
Teeth clam ped down on her scruff, and she felt herself being swung through the air.
Needlepaw dropped her onto the ground. “This j ourney will take forever if you can’t j um p a sim ple ditch.”
An owl screeched. Violetkit ducked, her heart pounding. “What was that?”
Needlepaw snorted with am usem ent. “An owl, toad-brain! Haven’t you heard one before?”
“Yes, but I didn’t know they could fly!” She’d heard Lionkit and Birchkit talking about owls that stole kits in the night. She’d thought they were like foxes. She fought the urge to duck under Needlepaw’s belly. What if it cam e back? It could scoop her up and take her to its nest like fresh-kill.
“Don’t worry,” Needlepaw told her, as though reading her thoughts. “I can fight off an owl.
Here.” She crouched beside Violetkit. “Clim b onto m y back or we’ll never get there in tim e.”
“In time for what?” What was this m y sterious adventure about?
“Stop asking questions.”
Burning with curiosity, Violetkit forgot the owl and scram bled onto Needlepaw’s back. Clinging to the slender apprentice’s shoulders, she flattened herself against her spine. Needlepaw broke into a trot. “Is Pinenose feeding you enough?” Needlepaw teased. “A m ouse would be heavier.”
“She feeds m e plenty,” Violetkit told her, but she was worry ing that she was too sm all. What if she never grew as big as the Clan cats? Then they’d always think she didn’t belong.
Needlepaw was m oving quickly now. Violetkit had to grip on hard as the apprentice leaped a fallen tree, picked up speed as she ran down a slope, then cleared three ditches in a row. Watching the forest flash past, lit by strips of moonlight, m ade Violetkit dizzy. She closed her eyes and clung on like a tick. Where were they going?
Needlepaw was heading farther and farther from camp. What if som eone noticed they were gone? What if they got lost? As Violetkit’s thoughts whirled, the scents around her started to change. She opened her eyes and saw that the pines had been replaced by gnarled oaks and slender birch trees. The forest floor was littered with leaves, and their musty scent filled Violetkit’s nose. “Where are we?” she breathed.
“Can’t you tell by the stink?” Needlepaw slowed to a halt and sat down.
Violetkit slid from her shoulders, the leaves crunching beneath her paws as she landed. She took a deep breath. There was cat scent here, but it didn’t sm ell like ShadowClan scent. It was still fam iliar, though. She blinked, remembering. ThunderClan scent! “Are we on ThunderClan land?”