Chapter 11

Pinepaw padded beside Spiralpaw as they followed the path. “Do you think we’ll find the Crystal Sun here?” he wondered aloud.

Spiralpaw shrugged. “Maybe. It feels like we’re close, though.”

Pinepaw concentrated on the path in front of him and realized it was getting darker, and colder. He shivered and Spiralpaw moved closer to him. “Now you’re feeling cold?” she teased.

“Speaking of that,” Skypaw cut in from behind, “how do you feel now, Spiralpaw? Any more of that warm trail?”

Spiralpaw shook her head. “No, everything feels normal again. It could mean that we’re nearly there and we don’t need help anymore.”

“Or it could mean we’re not close at all,” Skypaw muttered skeptically.

“The warmth ended on that patch of ground where I fell,” Spiralpaw reminded her. “Surely that means we were supposed to come down here.”

“What if we weren’t?” Pinepaw asked suddenly, his belly tightening with fear. “What if we’re stuck down here forever?”

Swirlpaw, who was in the lead, glanced back at him. “We won’t be,” she reassured him. “StarClan will guide our paws.”

“I hope,” Pinepaw muttered.

The path began to widen as they walked on, so Skypaw and Swirlpaw were able to fall in beside Spiralpaw and Pinepaw. Pinepaw thought the ground was sloping downward. Oh, no, he groaned inwardly. We’re going to have to climb even higher to get back up!

“This path seems so long,” Spiralpaw murmured.

“While we’re walking, we should discuss everything together,” Swirlpaw suggested.

“No more secrets,” Pinepaw added eagerly.

“Well,” Skypaw mewed, “I guess I’ll just tell you about everything we found about Bubble.”

“Yes!” Spiralpaw exclaimed eagerly. “Tell us! I don’t even know who that is!”

Skypaw took a deep breath. “When I was a kit,” she began, “I spied on a few cats coming back from patrol. They reported to Breezestar that they scented a strange cat in their territory. So I went out to investigate, and that was when I had my first vision of Swirlpaw,” she added, glancing at the gray-and-white tabby warmly.

“Oh, wow,” Swirlpaw murmured. “That was brave.”

Skypaw shrugged. “Well, then one night I found my mother dead.” Her eyes flashed with grief, and Pinepaw felt a pang of sympathy for her. “Later, Nimblepaw”–she cast a quick glance at Pinepaw–“was also murdered.

“When I was out hunting one day, I first encountered Bubble.” Skypaw shivered. “And then I took her to the camp and she joined SkyClan. Later, though…I found out Shadowleap was Bubble’s sister.”

“Why?” Spiralpaw gasped. Pinepaw leaned forward eagerly.

“Well,” Skypaw mewed hesitantly, “I guess I could tell you…Shadowleap’s mother was called Fireclaw, and Breezestar banished her from the Clan for falling in love with a rogue. Fireclaw had her kits away from the Clan: Shadow, Rock, and Bubble. Shadow and Rock came back to SkyClan and became Shadowleap and Rockheart, but Bubble stayed.”

“And now she’s come back,” Pinepaw finished.

“Yes,” Skypaw confirmed, “but we drove her out.”

“I don’t doubt that she’ll come back looking for more trouble,” Swirlpaw growled. “I’m pretty sure she was the one who killed Ambercloud and Nightstar and Violetblaze!”

Pinepaw stumbled over a stone jutting out of the ground, overwhelmed by all the information.

“Well, that’s enough about me and SkyClan,” Skypaw meowed briskly, “what about you, Pinepaw?”

“Um,” Pinepaw stammered, searching for something to say. He thought for a moment. “I don’t think I have any secrets, Skypaw,” he mewed slowly.

Spiralpaw shot a look at him. “Really,” she hissed, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “What about your involvement with SkyClan, huh?”

“Oh,” Pinepaw mewed, embarrased, and added truthfully, “I forgot about that.”

Skypaw gaze at him with glowing eyes. “Can you tell us?”

Pinepaw glanced up. They had been walking a long way. We might be walking below Twolegplace right now, he observed. “Well,” he mewed hesitantly, “you see, one day–it was my first day as an apprentice–my littermates and I, and our mentors, were walking at the border, and we met some SkyClan cats and…let’s just say, um, I kind of…fell in love with one?”

Swirlpaw let out a huff of laughter. “You are so unpredictable, Pinepaw,” she mewed.

“Well, somehow we met again one night,” Pinepaw continued, “and we spent time together. It was the best night of my life,” he added wistfully with a sharp pang of grief. He missed Nimblepaw.

“One night,” he went on, “her brother Glidepaw came to meet me instead and told me she was busy. We went to the camp when we heard her shriek and found her dead.” Pinepaw dropped his gaze and stared at his paws as he walked.

Skypaw’s eyes widened. “Oh,” she muttered. “Oh. You’re talking about Nimblepaw then? Is that why you asked Spiralpaw to have a vision about her?”

Pinepaw glared at her. “I didn’t ask her!” he growled. “It was the other way around! She asked me if I wanted her to see how she died!”

Swirlpaw’s gaze was soft. “I’m sorry that happened,” she whispered.

“Do you have something you want to share?” Pinepaw asked. Before Swirlpaw could answer, light flashed ahead. The four cats glanced up in surprise.

They had reached the end of the path, and it widened into a large cave. Light shone in from above and fell upon a mysterious large crystal object at the back of the cave.

As the cats stepped into the cave, gazing around in amazement, the air seemed to shift and ripple like water. Suddenly there were cats standing in the cave with them, their half-transparent pelts sparkling with stars. One of them threw his head back and let out a yowl.

“Welcome to the Cave of Stars.”