Lost Stars

Chapter 24

Rootpaw had just finished carrying in fresh bedding for Fallowfern in the elders’ den when he heard his sister, Needlepaw, calling for him from outside in the camp. Dipping his head to Fallowfern, he padded out of the den. “What’s the matter?” he asked Needlepaw.

“Violetshine and Tree want to talk to us,” Needlepaw replied. “Tree says it’s important.”

Rootpaw glanced around, but he couldn’t see either of his parents. At the same moment, Needlepaw gave him a shove.

“Out in the forest,” she mewed. “Tree doesn’t want any cat to overhear what he has to say.”

Rootpaw rolled his eyes. What now? It was just like Tree, he reflected, trying not to show his irritation as he followed his sister through the fern barrier. So many cats had come back from the Gathering relieved that Bramblestar was alive again, but Tree couldn’t just let cats be happy. He had to be weird and find some way to bring every cat down.

When he and his sister found Tree and Violetshine under a tree just outside the camp, Rootpaw noticed that his mother was looking bemused at Tree’s serious look. His eyes were troubled as he gestured with his tail for the two apprentices to come closer.

“I was unsettled by the Gathering last night,” Tree announced, when Rootpaw and Needlepaw had burrowed into the pine needles by his side.

“Why?” Violetshine asked. “Everything seemed fine to me. Bramblestar is back!”

Tree gave her a stunned look, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Didn’t you hear what Bramblestar was calling for?” he asked. “He said cats should start accusing one another of crimes that could get them expelled from their Clans.”

Violetshine still looked bewildered. “Why are you afraid? You follow the warrior code, don’t you?”

Tree’s whiskers arched in shock. “I can’t believe you said that!” he exclaimed. “Have you forgotten Darktail? Didn’t you tell me that he would manipulate the rules to punish cats he was unhappy with?” He hesitated, then added, “Like Needletail?”

Violetshine’s expression was suddenly flooded with horror, and though she was clearly struggling to speak, no words came. What just happened? Rootpaw thought, seeing how upset his mother looked, and he wondered who Needletail was. Is that where Needlepaw’s name comes from? And why does mentioning Needletail make my mother look so devastated?

Rootpaw had heard stories about Darktail and his Kin, and how they had nearly destroyed ShadowClan. And he knew that for a while his mother had been part of the Kin, and that she had eventually helped to destroy it. But Violetshine had always refused to talk about it.

Too raw, too painful, Tree had explained to him and Needlepaw.

“That was Darktail’s Kin,” Violetshine responded eventually to Tree. “It had nothing to do with the Clans.”

“Not then,” Tree meowed. “Not yet.”

Violetshine turned her head away, unable to meet his gaze.

Tree reached out with his tail and gently laid the tip on her shoulder. “I just need you to understand why I’m suggesting this,” he told her. “Should we go and be rogues again? I know how to find food wherever we go. I would keep you safe.”

Rootpaw exchanged a shocked glance with Needlepaw. He felt every hair on his pelt prick with apprehension at the thought of setting out into the unknown.

“Leave the Clans?” Needlepaw asked, a dubious look on her face. “You can’t be serious!”

A wave of relief surged through Rootpaw as his mother shook her head. “I can’t do it,” she meowed. “I worked too hard to find my kin. I could never leave Hawkwing.”

Though Rootpaw could see regret in Tree’s eyes, his father nodded understandingly. “I was afraid you would say that, so I have another idea. Maybe we should try to persuade Leafstar to go back to the gorge. SkyClan could live on its own again, like we planned before the big storm.”

Rootpaw’s relief was swallowed up in anger. Trust Tree to make things difficult! “The gorge?” he exclaimed. “But Needlepaw and I have never even been there! And I like having the other Clans around.”

And it would mean leaving Bristlefrost.

Immediately Rootpaw pushed that thought away. The ThunderClan she-cat had made it clear that she didn’t feel the same way about him. And maybe it’s just as well. The last thing the Clans need just now is another pair of mates breaking the code!

Again Violetshine shook her head. “I would never go so far away from my sister, Twigbranch.”

“I don’t want to leave the other Clans, either!” Needlepaw put in. “And StarClan wants us all to live together.”

Tree flicked his ears in irritation at the mention of StarClan. “Okay,” he sighed. “I accept that I’ve been outvoted. But can we promise, as a family, that we’ll keep our eyes open? If things get bad in the Clans, we’ll go—with SkyClan or without them.”

“Okay,” Needlepaw mewed.

Rootpaw nodded in reluctant agreement with his sister, but he still didn’t understand what his father was meowing about. Surely it’s a good thing if cats obey the warrior code?

“Very well,” Violetshine murmured, still clearly unhappy about the decision. “But we have to make the decision together. That’s only fair.”

Tree heaved an even deeper sigh. “Fine.”

The meeting over, Rootpaw didn’t return to the camp. Instead he headed out into the forest. Even though he knew he was due to meet Dewspring for hunting practice, he needed some time alone to clear his head.

Snow still covered the forest floor, and icicles hung from the trees. Rootpaw was so used to his paws being numb from cold and the chilly wind that probed into his fur that he had almost forgotten what it was like to be warm. But he still loved the forest, liked to feel that he was learning every paw step of it. He didn’t feel that anywhere else could really be his home.

My apprenticeship is going really well now, he thought. He was eager for the day when Dewspring would decide that he was ready for his assessment. Why would I want to leave? I might never become a warrior. Seriously, what’s wrong with Tree?

Rootpaw wondered what it would be like to have normal parents. Violetshine was pretty normal, he supposed, always calm and collected—except over Needletail. What was all that about? When Tree had mentioned that name, Violetshine had reacted as if he had clawed out her heart.

Lost in his thoughts, Rootpaw jumped, startled, when he spotted a dark brown tabby tom standing at the other side of a clearing. “Oh—sorry!” he gasped, hoping that he hadn’t disturbed him.

The tabby tom looked up when he heard Rootpaw, angling his ears toward him. Rootpaw let out a gasp as he recognized him. “Bramblestar!” But what is he doing on SkyClan territory? And why didn’t I scent him?

Rootpaw opened his jaws to taste the air, but he still couldn’t pick up the least trace of ThunderClan. What kind of cat has no scent?

Bramblestar began to pad toward Rootpaw, who let out another gasp of mingled disbelief and terror. Rootpaw could see the trees at the other side of the clearing through Bramblestar’s body. It reminded Rootpaw of all his father’s stories of seeing dead cats.

But I don’t have that power. And Bramblestar isn’t dead!

Whatever the Bramblestar thing was, it was still coming toward Rootpaw. Gripped by claws of pure panic, Rootpaw whipped around and raced back to the camp, his belly fur brushing the snow and his tail streaming out in the wind of his passing.

Behind him, he could hear a fading voice, calling out to him. “Wait! You have to help me! Please!”