Chapter 18

Skypaw paused at the entrance to Breezestar’s den, still trying to think of something to say to her. ‘Hey, Breezestar, I went on a journey on the request of a ThunderClan apprentice who had a vision and got a gift from the Crystal Sun’?

“Skypaw.” Skypaw jumped as she heard Breezestar’s voice calling to her. She took a deep breath and padded inside.

The SkyClan leader was curled up inside her nest. She sat up and flicked her tail as Skypaw entered the den. “You must know that I lost a life while you were gone,” Breezestar mewed.

“Yes.” Skypaw kept her reply short.

Suddenly the Clan leader’s voice sharpened. “Where were you, Skypaw? The whole Clan was worried about you!”

Probably not Darkfur, Skypaw thought gloomily. He would probably just say, ‘Oh, it’s okay, she’ll come back eventually. She might have wandered off into the forest because her mentor punished her too hard.’ But, after seeing Darkfur’s grief when Nimblepaw died, Skypaw knew the dark gray warrior wasn’t all harsh.

“We sent out so many search parties,” Breezestar went on. “When we figured you weren’t in SkyClan territory, we went to ask ShadowClan. They told us they had lost a cat, too. An apprentice, a tom named Pinepaw.” Her eyes narrowed. “Please tell me you weren’t secretly padding after him!”

“No!” Skypaw gasped in disbelief. “Never!” She had never had any feelings for Pinepaw, though he was a good friend. His feelings for Spiralpaw were obvious, even though they chose to only be friends in the end.

Breezestar nodded curtly. “Good. So where were you, then?”

Skypaw took in a nervous breath. “I traveled with Pinepaw and two other ThunderClan apprentices to the Cave of Stars. The Crystal Sun was in there, and we all got different gifts.”

“Why did you even go in the first place?” Breezestar demanded.

“Because one of the ThunderClan apprentices had a vision from StarClan to go there,” Skypaw explained. “Don’t you remember that day I left, when Swirlpaw from ThunderClan came to fetch me?”

“So Swirlpaw had a vision, and then you went with complete strangers to an even stranger place?”

“No,” Skypaw corrected, “it was the other ThunderClan apprentice who had the vision, and Swirlpaw wasn’t a stranger!”

Breezestar leaned closer, her yellow eyes glinting. “Who was the other ThunderClan apprentice?” she hissed.

Skypaw flinched back. “Spiralpaw.”

Breezestar drew back, too. “Well, I guess that makes sense,” she growled, “that you went when StarClan called you. But I don’t believe that StarClan chose a couple of apprentices to go on the journey.”

Skypaw straightened up to full height and met her leader’s glare bravely. “It was true,” she insisted. “Really. If you want proof that badly, go to the Moonpool and ask StarClan yourself.”

Breezestar let out an annoyed hiss. “Okay, Skypaw, you win,” she grumbled. “I’ll believe you for now…thanks.” She dismissed her with a wave of her tail.

Skypaw gratefully backed out of the den and bounded over to where Cloudpaw was eating with Shadowleap and Treespring.

“Hi, Skypaw,” Cloudpaw yowled happily as she reached him. “Wanna go hunting? I want to prove I’m ready to be a warrior!”

Treespring cuffed him lightly over his ears. “You still have moons to go,” he told him gently. “You’ll be ready when it is time.”

“Still,” Cloudpaw insisted, “I want to go hunting with Skypaw. Please?”

“Didn’t you just go hunting yourself?” Treespring mewed.

“Yes, but I want to go with Skypaw, Treespring!”

Treespring sighed. “Fine, you can go. Be careful!”

Cloudpaw led Skypaw out of camp, talking about his amazing catch earlier. “I caught a big mouse!” he mewed. “It was almost half the size of me!”

“So where should we hunt?” Skypaw cut in.

Cloudpaw’s ears twitched as he thought. “Well, we could hunt by the ThunderClan border,” he suggested. “There are a lot of squirrels there.”

The ThunderClan border! Skypaw thought excitedly. Maybe I can see Spiralpaw! “Okay,” she agreed out loud.

Cloudpaw bounced happily through the trees, and before long they stopped near the border. Skypaw gasped as she spotted a silver-and-white tabby standing on the ThunderClan side.

“Spiralpaw!” Skypaw yowled, racing over to the border. Cloudpaw followed hesitantly, a confused look on his face.

Spiralpaw glanced at her in surprise. “Skypaw!” she mewed.

“What are you doing here?” Skypaw asked.

“I don’t know,” Spiralpaw told her. “I just had this feeling…like I needed to meet you here.”

Skypaw nodded excitedly. “Me, too! I forgot when…oh, right!” She turned to Cloudpaw. “Cloudpaw, you were telling me you saw Bubble with a strange black cat.” The white tom nodded.

Spiralpaw stiffened with a gasp. Skypaw’s ears twitched. “Do you know something?” she asked the ThunderClan apprentice.

Spiralpaw nodded. “I don’t know if I should tell you…I might be wrong…”

“I know!” Cloudpaw yowled. “Shadowleap or Rockheart! They were Bubble’s littermates.” He stopped abruptly and glanced at Skypaw, his eyes wide.

“Don’t worry,” Skypaw assured him. “She already knows everything. We’ll get Shadowleap,” she told Spiralpaw. “Wait here.”

Skypaw bounded toward camp again, Cloudpaw on her tail. She burst into camp with him, panting, but didn’t slow the pace until she reached her mentor. “Shadowleap!” she gasped. “You’ve got to come!”

Shadowleap leaped to her paws. She must have detected the urgency in her voice because she glanced around wildly and asked, “What is it, Skypaw? Is our camp being attacked?”

Skypaw shook her head. “No, it’s nothing like that. You’ve got to come with us. We’ve got to talk. Please,” she added as Shadowleap opened her mouth to protest.

“Fine,” the black cat meowed. Skypaw and Cloudpaw headed out of camp again with Shadowleap. “Where are we going?” Shadowleap asked.

“To the ThunderClan border,” Skypaw replied.

“Why can’t we just discuss it here?”

“Spiralpaw needs to know.”

“But she’s from ThunderClan!” Shadowleap protested.

“All the same, she needs to know.” Skypaw padded on determinedly. “She’s my friend.”

“Would you choose your friend over your Clan?” Shadowleap snarled.

Skypaw stopped and whirled around, glaring furiously at her mentor. “I’m not choosing her over SkyClan!” she spat. “Are you calling me disloyal?”

Shadowleap’s fur bristled, then lay flat again. “No, I would never call you disloyal, Skypaw,” she meowed sincerely.

Skypaw turned around and broke into a run as the ThunderClan border came into sight. Spiralpaw was still waiting, her tail flicking back and forth impatiently.

“Finally!” she mewed as Skypaw, Cloudpaw, and Shadowleap sat down with her at the border. “I guess I can tell you now,” the silver-and-white tabby went on. “When I was hunting with Swirlpaw on the way back from the journey, we saw a black cat. She was sleek and glossy and muscular and had yellow eyes, and she…she warned us to stay away from her.”

“So?” Shadowleap meowed in confusion.

“Cloudpaw said he saw a strange black cat with Bubble when he was out hunting with Treespring one day,” Spiralpaw explained.

Shadowleap stiffened and turned to Cloudpaw. “Was he bigger than Bubble?” Cloudpaw nodded. “Did he have blue eyes?”

Cloudpaw nodded again. “Do you know something?”

“That must have been my father, Black,” Shadowleap hissed. “It’s either he’s working with her, or Bubble was going to kill him.” Shudders ran through her body, and Skypaw pressed herself against her mentor’s side.

“So it wasn’t the cat I described?” Spiralpaw asked anxiously.

“No,” Shadowleap confirmed. “Definitely not.”

“Good,” Spiralpaw sighed. She pushed herself to her paws. “Well, I guess that’s it, then. Bye, Skypaw, Cloudpaw. Bye, Shadowleap.” She turned and bounded away into the trees.

As Skypaw headed home with her Clanmates, she couldn’t help feeling worried. If Shadowleap is right, Bubble may have another cat on her side.