Forcing her grief to the back of her mind, Pebbleshine headed back to where she had left the kittypets. Their eyes gleamed in the gathering darkness as they spotted the prey she was carrying.
“Wow, that’s huge!” Milo exclaimed. “You really just caught that?”
“You must be a brilliant hunter,” Olive added.
Not bad, Pebbleshine thought, a bit ashamed of herself for enjoying the kittypets’ praise. “Let’s share it,” she meowed, dropping her prey at her friends’ paws.
Both Olive and Milo sniffed dubiously at the squirrel; Pebbleshine had to encourage them by tearing off a mouthful of the flesh. “Try it; it’s really good,” she mumbled as she gulped the prey down. Imagine, not wanting to eat fresh-kill!
First Milo, then Olive, tasted the squirrel and took a few tiny bites. “It’s … er … very nice,” Olive murmured politely.
“I don’t think you like it,” Pebbleshine responded, hiding her surprise. I’ve never met a cat who didn’t like a nice, juicy squirrel!She suddenly felt very alone again … just as she’d felt while hunting. She was the only Clan cat here. Possibly she was the only Clan cat anywhere around here. “I’m sorry.”
“We’re sorry, too,” Milo told her. “Especially after you went to all the trouble of catching it. But we really prefer the food pellets our housefolk give us. They’re not quite so … furry.”
When they had eaten what they could, the two kittypets curled up together in the shelter of the bushes and went to sleep. Pebbleshine stayed awake for a long time, staring up at the warriors of StarClan glittering above her. If I can see them, they can see me, she decided. They were the same stars that she had always known, ever since she was a kit in the gorge.
As long as they’re there, I’m not alone. Surely StarClan will help me and my kits find SkyClan again.
Pebbleshine slept at last, and woke at sunrise to find Olive and Milo grooming themselves beside her.
“We have to head home now,” Milo meowed. “You can come with us if you like.”
“I’m sure our housefolk would welcome you,” Olive added.
Pebbleshine shook her head. “Thank you, but no. I have to go on looking for my Clan.”
“Then just come for a little while,” Olive urged her, reaching out to touch the tip of her tail to Pebbleshine’s shoulder. “So that your kits will be born somewhere safe.”
For a heartbeat Pebbleshine was tempted. Olive and Milo would make good daylight warriors someday. Perhaps she could stay with them, only until her kits were born, like they said, and then she could seek out SkyClan… . They could even come with me. But then she realized how impossible that would be. She was so far from the Clans—Milo and Olive would never leave their housefolk to travel that far. And her kits, if they were born as kittypets, might not want to leave. If she was even allowed to stay with her kits. She remembered tales the daylight warriors had told, of Twolegs taking kits away from their mothers, who never saw them again. No. My kits will be Clan cats, she vowed.
“I can’t,” she mewed firmly. “It’s kind of you, but I need my kits to be born in a Clan. I’m more grateful than I can say for everything you’ve done.”
The two young cats were clearly reluctant to leave her, but finally they said good-bye, inviting her to visit them if she ever returned this way. Pebbleshine stood at the crest of the hill, watching them race down the slope. At the edge of the Twolegplace they turned back, waving their tails in a last farewell, then vanished among the Twoleg dens. Pebbleshine let out a little sigh as she saw them go.
When they were gone, Pebbleshine finished up the remains of the squirrel and sat for a while as the sun rose above the Twolegplace. She knew she would have to move on, but first she had to decide where to go. While she sat there, she felt a strange stirring in her belly, and drew in a wondering breath as she realized her kits were moving for the first time.
From out of nowhere, a strong feeling swept over her: the certainty that her kits would be all right. They are the future ofSkyClan. They have a destiny, and StarClan will make sure they will find their way to their Clan.
But Pebbleshine realized that her chances of finding SkyClan now were next to none. Even if she could somehow find her way back to the place where she had lost them, they wouldn’t still be there. Leafstar would have made the decision to move on, for the good of the entire Clan.
Pebbleshine knew that she had only one choice. She didn’t know where SkyClan was now, but she knew where they were going to be.
I have to find the water—the place where the other Clans live.
Exhaustion overwhelmed her at the thought. But as she drew to her feet, she glanced up at the sky, knowing that her ancestors were still there, watching her from behind the brightness of daylight.
I’ve made it this far on my own, she thought. I’m stronger than I ever knew. And I will find them!
Chapter 5
Pebbleshine halted and opened her jaws to taste the air. She stood in a copse of thin trees, on the edge of another Twolegplace, and though her senses were almost swamped by the scents of Twolegs and monsters, she could just make out the smell of nearby birds.
Almost a moon had passed since Pebbleshine had said good-bye to Olive and Milo, and her belly was heavy with her kits. Their weight made hunting harder, but at the same time she had gotten more practiced at hunting alone.
Determined now, she dropped into the hunter’s crouch and began to slink in the direction of the scent. Soon she spotted a plump pigeon sitting at the end of a branch, seemingly unaware that Pebbleshine was creeping up on it. Pebbleshine paused to test the breeze and realized it was blowing in the right direction, keeping her downwind of the pigeon.
If I time this just right, and keep quiet, my kits and I should have a good meal.
The squirrel she had caught near the second monster camp had been the last time Pebbleshine had felt full-fed. Since then she had kept going on mice and shrews, but she desperately needed something more substantial.
If I were still with SkyClan, Hawkwing and the other warriors would make sure I had enough to eat. But they aren’t here, so I have to depend on myself. I can do this!
Pebbleshine reached the foot of the tree without alerting the pigeon. She knew that her days of amazing leaps were over until after her kits were born. Instead she began to climb up the trunk of the tree, careful to stay on the opposite side from the pigeon. When she reached the level of the branch where the pigeon was sitting, she realized that it might be too thin. If she landed on it, weighed down as she was by her kits, the branch could easily break before she had the chance to pounce.
Glancing upward, Pebbleshine spotted a branch above that was sturdier. She clambered up and ventured out onto it, planning to leap down to strike at her prey. But just as she reached the spot above her quarry, the branch dipped under her weight, and the shadows of the leaves swept across the pigeon.
With a cry of alarm, the pigeon unfolded its wings. Pebbleshine instinctively leaped after it as it took off, sailing over the roof of a small Twoleg den nearby. Her claws brushed the pigeon’s wing feathers, but before she could get a grip she and the bird thumped down together onto the roof. The impact drove the breath out of Pebbleshine. She rolled over, grasping for her prey, only to feel the roof give way under her weight. She let out a yowl of dismay, paws flailing, as she crashed through the flimsy covering and fell.
For a few heartbeats, Pebbleshine was too stunned to be sure of what had happened or where she had ended up. She crouched where she had fallen, her eyes tight shut and her breath coming in shallow gasps.