Chapter 14

“Swirlstem! Swirlstem!”

Swirlstem whirled around as a golden tabby tom skidded to a halt behind her. “What is it?” she asked, half annoyed. She had been going to the nursery to check on Rubykit and the others. What in StarClan did Sunclaw want? The patrols were out, seven cats in each of them, and every other cat in camp seemed just fine.

“Blacksky’s been acting strange lately,” Sunclaw reported.

What? Swirlstem thought. She hadn’t been expecting that. “Well, good for her!” she snapped at Sunclaw. “Maybe she’s just having a bad day!”

Sunclaw took a step back, surprise and hurt flashing in his amber eyes. “W-well, it’s not just today! She’s been acting weird for several days now!”

Swirlstem forced herself to relax. “I’m sorry.” She scratched the ground with her claws. “I guess I’m just still getting used to being deputy. It’s not like many cats get the chance.”

Sunclaw flashed a smile at her. “Yeah. We’re all just getting used to everything, I guess. Sorry for bothering you, go on and…um, keep doing whatever it was you were doing.” As Swirlstem started to turn around and head for the nursery again, Sunclaw added, “But would you mind keeping an eye out for my sister? Just in case?”

“Sure,” Swirlstem meowed, dismissing him with a flick of her tail. “I’ll do that.” It’s probably a minor thing, she thought. What could Blacksky possibly have done anyway? She paused. I’ll confront her later. I’ll be able to tell if she’s lying anyway. But that doesn’t mean I’ll get the truth out of her. I won’t know what the truth is until she says it out loud. She padded toward the nursery. Aargh. Deputy stuff! I’m beginning to wonder if I’m cut out to be in this position…

Rubykit seemed to be fully recovered from nearly drowning, and the other kits turned out to be playing a big game of tag, so Swirlstem decided not to bother any of them and headed back toward her den. The sun, sinking toward the horizon, warmed her back, casting dark shadows around camp. Now and then she wondered if Bubble was spying on them in camp, crouching in the shadows, but in her free time she’d checked every corner, so the camp should be secure.

A pelt brushed hers as Swirlstem paused at the entrance of her den. She turned to see Curlstar standing beside her.

“How was your day?” her sister purred.

Swirlstem shrugged. “The usual.”

“Nothing exciting?”

“Why would anything be exciting?” Swirlstem snorted. “This world is so dangerous now. Death is only one step away.”

Curlstar nudged her. “Not always.”

“Yes always for you,” Swirlstem argued. “You’ve lost, like, what? One, two…three lives already? That’s crazy! As deputy, I order you to not lose another life, not today, or tomorrow, or the next day, or the next, or the—”

Curlstar interrupted her. “I remember when we were apprentices, you used to be so excited for battles. You said you’d scar a SkyClan warrior, but I was the one who ended up doing that, hello? You had to stay in the medicine den for three days recovering from a wound they gave you.”

Swirlstem couldn’t resist a purr. “Yeah. Those were good days.” Happy memories flew through her mind. “But Curlstar, you have to promise you’ll be careful.”

“I will,” Curlstar whispered, touching her muzzle with Swirlstem’s.

“That’s exactly what I said to Nightstar,” a sad voice suddenly interjected.

Spiralpaw had padded up to them. Swirlstem turned to her. “What?”

“That’s what I told Nightstar,” the silver-and-white tabby apprentice repeated. “I told her to be careful, after she got killed by Bubble. She was on her last life. But…when we were on the Crystal Sun journey…” Spiralpaw closed her eyes. “She died again and I wasn’t there to protect her.”

“This time is different,” Curlstar murmured, licking her ears. “I’m not on my last life. I promise I’ll be careful. I promise I promise I’ll be careful.” Her voice dropped down to a whisper Swirlstem could barely hear. “I won’t end up like Nightstar. I don’t want you to suffer more pain.”

“Okay,” Spiralpaw mewed, but Swirlstem knew the young cat—and Curlstar—knew that wasn’t for sure. And that no one can stop a cat from dying, from suffering more.

Swirlstem was quiet for a moment. I’m so scared…what will happen next?

 

 

When Swirlstem finally fell asleep, she woke up to a rustling sound. She scrambled to her paws, expecting to feel moss beneath her, but her paws met dirt and grass. Wait, why am I in the forest…

It was so dark she could barely make out the trees that surrounded her. Swirlstem took a step forward wonderingly, and then suddenly, so abruptly she nearly fell off her paws, flowers sprouted out of nowhere next to the trees’ roots. They glowed softly in the darkness, their pink petals slowly starting to open up and bloom.

Swirlstem stared at them, amazed. Wow, this is such a cool dream! Though…it felt too real to be a dream. Could this be…a vision?

When the flowers were nearly fully bloomed, only a tiny step away, they slammed close again. Swirlstem let out a gasp as their stems went weak, flopping down to the forest floor and shriveling up.

A shape of a cat flickered into appearance in front of her, and a voice boomed, earsplitting but somehow soft at the same time, “The flowers curl tightly closed, and their stems swirl back into the darkness…”

Swirlstem staggered back in shock, just as blackness swept over her again. Her last thoughts were, That was Nightstar…

 

 

Swirlstem blinked open her eyes. Her body felt hot all over, and she was trembling. She sat up, trying to slow her breathing. That was so…so… She didn’t even know how to describe what she’d seen. And she could barely remember what the former ThunderClan leader had said. Something about the flowers curling…and stems swirling WAIT. Her heart sped up again, and she took deep breaths to try to calm herself. That’s Swirlstem. And Curlflower. So basically just Curlstar, right? It’s not some weird really hard riddle that connects back to when she was a warrior? Right, StarClan? Hello? Can you hear me?

She sighed. She really wished StarClan could hear her right this moment. She wished StarClan could answer all her questions, fix all her problems, but they would probably just answer with even more riddles. So useless! And irritating!

Scrrrrape.

Swirlstem tensed, frozen, too afraid to breathe. What was that?

Something was outside, in the night, creeping in the darkness, in the camp.

Her heart hammering in her throat, Swirlstem crept to the den entrance and peeked outside. Moonlight dappled the floor of the camp, and everything seemed peaceful, until suddenly a shadow moved.

A scent, so familiar now and so unsettling and so scary, washed over her nose. Swirlstem let out a loud shriek to alert the other warriors and leaped toward the shadows.

Black leaped out first, his claws outstretched toward her. Swirlstem barely dodged his blow and swept underneath him, sinking her teeth into his leg. The black tom growled and wrenched his leg away from her and knocked her down onto the ground.

Lightningtail was the first cat to shoot out from the warriors’ den. The older warrior let out a screech and flung herself onto a brown tabby rogue. She was followed by Lilyflame and Cinderlight, then Berrypelt, Goldenclaw, and Snowfern, and soon nearly the whole Clan was fighting in the clearing.

When realization hit Swirlstem, she already knew she could be too late, and she already knew she could be risking her life, and she already knew she might be wrong and she might be doing this for nothing and all could be lost. But a feeling bubbled up inside her, a feeling too strong she couldn’t ignore and she knew it was the right thing to do.

In a flash she fled toward the leader’s den, where the cat missing from the fight was, and Swirlstem’s suspicions were confirmed when Bubble’s scent hit her nose. A swirling river of thoughts sped through her mind.

Ugh, Bubble! No, Curlstar, no no no, please, don’t let me be too late, of course I’m too late, what if there’s a chance…better protect my Clanmates…Curlstar, no… Grief and shock and anger and fear and energy rushed up inside her all at once. Curlstar. Bubble.

Swirlstem screeched and leaped toward Bubble, who was standing over Curlstar. The gray-and-white she-cat’s fur was torn, trails of blood seeping across her pelt already. But her yellow eyes were still blazing, still alive, and she struggled wildly under Bubble’s firm grip.

Swirlstem slammed into Bubble, and the force sent both of them rolling across the den in a ball of flailing claws and teeth. Pain shot through her as Bubble’s hind claws slashed the tip of her ear, and she felt it tear. She kicked out as hard as she could, and she felt flesh rip as her claws caught on Bubble’s side.

The rogue let out a screech of pain and anger and sent Swirlstem flying with a powerful kick. By the time Swirlstem had scrambled to her paws, Bubble was gone, and the shrieks of battle had faded from the camp. The rogues had left.

Horror pulsed through her veins as Swirlstem rushed to her sister. Curlstar was lying awkwardly on the floor, her pelt soaked in red and a fresh wound torn across her throat.

No.

Bubble must have sliced her somehow, before I knocked her off.

As Swirlstem let out a wail and buried her nose into Curlstar’s fur, the words of a prophecy rang in her mind.

The flowers curl tightly closed, and their stems swirl back into the darkness…