Chapter 7

Swirlpaw was swirling in blackness. “Swirlpaw! Swirlpaw!” the voices called. But she ignored them. Were they calling for her to wake up? Or to go to the stars? She did not know. But she ignored them, just in case. Where was she? She’d fallen asleep with Curlpaw by her side, she knew. So where was she now?

“Swirlpaw!” The voices were screaming now. “Swirlpaw!”

Swirlpaw opened her eyes and found herself in warm, gray mist. The voices were calling to her, and she could hear them clearly now. “Swirlpaw! Wake up! You can do it! Swirlpaw!”

“No,” Swirlpaw meowed hoarsely. “I can’t! I can’t do it! I want to, but I can’t! I can’t find my way out!” She ran into the mist, but it immediately swallowed her up and threw her into blackness.

She seemed to be floating. Floating in thin air, floating upwards. Where am I going? She glanced up and glimpsed a mountain, looming in front of her as if it were a ShadowClan warrior about to attack. She suddenly shot up, up toward the clouds. Then she was falling. Swirlpaw opened her jaws to scream, but somehow they were tightly closed so she couldn’t open them, her voice blocked so she could barely make a sound. She landed and fell into blackness again.

 

“Curlpaw! Curlpaw!” Spiralkit’s voice broke into Swirlpaw’s mind. What’s happening? Swirlpaw thought. Why is Spiralkit calling for Curlpaw?

“What is it? Did you find her?” Curlpaw’s voice was frantic.

Find who? Swirlpaw wondered.

Spiralkit was panting. “Yes, Curlpaw, I did. And I got the herb.” She swallowed hard. “But…” She trailed off, then blurted, “Curlpaw, Ambercloud is dead!”

Curlpaw gasped in surprise. “Give me the herb,” she ordered. “I’ll treat Swirlpaw. You tell Nightstar.” She paused. Swirlpaw imagined her glancing at Spiralkit anxiously. “If you’re okay,” her sister mewed slowly.

“I’m okay,” Spiralkit replied firmly. “I’ll go tell her.” There was a patter of paw steps and Spiralkit was gone.

Curlpaw hurried to Swirlpaw’s nest. “Swirlpaw, are you okay? Please wake up, please, please.”

It took a mighty effort for Swirlpaw to finally open her eyes. “I’m awake,” she croaked. She winced as pain sparked behind her head, so unbearable that she nearly fell into unconsciousness again.

Curlpaw gasped and nudged something—a herb—toward her. “Here,” she meowed. “Eat this. Spiralkit said that it’ll help with your breathing.”

Swirlpaw obeyed and swallowed the plant up in a few mouthfuls. It tasted bitter, but it was the only thing she could eat right now, and she was hungry. “I’m hungry,” Swirlpaw meowed aloud.

Curlpaw quickly vanished out of the den and came back in a few heartbeats with a mouse in her jaws. “Here,” she meowed, setting it down in front of her.

Swirlpaw gulped the mouse down in several large bites and licked Curlpaw’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she breathed. “Thank you so much.”

Curlpaw licked her back. “Are you feeling better?” She sniffed at her pelt anxiously.

“I am,” Swirlpaw purred, then winced. It hurt her head. “Thanks to you.”

“Do you think the herb’s working? I mean, I don’t know much about herbs, or how fast they work, I’m not a medicine cat…”

“I don’t know,” Swirlpaw answered. “But the prey is working!”

Curlpaw snorted with laughter. “That’s good.”

Swirlpaw moved over in her nest. “Lie down with me,” she offered.

Curlpaw settled down in her nest. Swirlpaw pressed against her sister’s fluffy pelt. “I’m so grateful that you’re my sister,” she murmured. “And that you’re still here with me.” A pang of grief stabbed her as she mewed, “I just wish Rabbitpelt and Birdflight were still here with us.”

Curlpaw licked her cheek. “You’ve got to stop wishing, Swirlpaw,” she murmured. “We need to be strong warriors. We know that our parents died, and we grieve for them, but look, of course we’ll remember them! And we’ll meet in StarClan afterwards, too. We have to let go of the grief, Swirlpaw, so we can be strong warriors.” She nuzzled Swirlpaw’s shoulder. “Together.”

Swirlpaw nuzzled her back. She warmed at her sister’s wise and comforting words, and she knew she was right. They would get through everything, together.

But first, Swirlpaw needed to find out who the blue-gray cat in her dream was, and why she had been there.