“Of course we can!” Thistlekit flicked her tail.
Jaypaw sniffed each kit in turn. “They need herbs,” he mewed doubtfully. Then he lifted his chin. “But it can wait a while.”
“Walking will warm them up,” Heatherpaw pointed out.
Hollypaw led the way up the beach. She scrambled up the bank and pushed aside a swath of ferns, holding back the fronds to let the others pass. Heatherpaw nudged Swallowkit up the slope while Breezepaw followed Thistlekit, pressing his muzzle against her flank to stop her stumbling. Lionpaw grabbed Sedgekit by the scruff and swung him up the steep bank, letting him drop beside Hollypaw. She pressed the ferns back as the kit padded past. He was staring up at the branches, eyes wide as though he’d never walked beneath trees before.
“What’s Jaypaw doing?” Lionpaw was staring at his brother on the shore.
Hollypaw narrowed her eyes. Jaypaw was crouched beside a stick.
“You stay with the others,” she told Lionpaw. “We’ll catch up with you.”
She darted back onto the beach. “Are you okay?” she called to Jaypaw.
He didn’t seem to hear her. He was staring at the stick, eyes closed like he was asleep. She padded closer, feeling as if she were intruding.
“All safe, just as you promised,” Jaypaw was murmuring, his muzzle pressed against the smooth, pale wood. “Thank you.”
“We have to go!” Hollypaw urged.
Jaypaw didn’t stir. “Go carefully, Fallen Leaves,” he whispered. “I hope you find your own way out one day.”
“Come on, Jaypaw!” They must hurry. The yowls from the border were growing fiercer.
Jaypaw lifted his head. “I’m coming.” He left the stick and padded to her side.
“What were you doing?”
“It’s not important,” Jaypaw replied, turning his sightless eyes on her. Hollypaw knew him well enough to guess that it was. Sometimes she wished she understood Jaypaw better.
Lionpaw was easy. His friendship with Heatherpaw had broken the warrior code, but there was no mystery in his liking the pretty WindClan cat. But Jaypaw seemed to be guided by invisible paws, as though he walked in a secret world she could never be part of.
They caught up with the others. Hollypaw’s chest ached and her paws felt raw after the journey through the tunnels.
How soft the forest floor felt on her pads after so much rough stone. Breezepaw pushed the pace harder and the kits had to scurry to keep up. Thistlekit tripped over a root. Lionpaw instantly scooped her up and she didn’t complain, hanging limp from his jaws, her eyes glazed with exhaustion.
Sedgekit was panting hard.
“I can carry you,” Hollypaw offered. The kit shook his head, too breathless to speak.
Suddenly, Swallowkit squealed. A bramble had snagged her fur. Jaypaw plucked it free with his teeth. Hollypaw’s chest tightened. It was cruel to make the kits travel so quickly through the forest. But they had to stop the battle.
“We’re nearly there,” she mewed.
The ground sloped down and Breezepaw broke into a run.
Sedgekit and Swallowkit skittered after him.
An angry yowl echoed from the forest ahead. “I told you, we don’t have your kits!”
It was Firestar.
“Then where are they?” Onestar spat back. “RiverClan swears they don’t have them either. But they must be somewhere and we mean to find them.”
“Put one paw across the border and we’ll shred you!”
Hollypaw strained to see her Clanmates. Through the trees, she could make out Brambleclaw squaring up to Ashfoot on the WindClan side of the gully. Firestar stood shoulder to shoulder with his deputy. Thornclaw, Whitewing, Spiderleg, and Berrypaw were bristling behind them as the WindClan cats faced them, fur on end, lips drawn back in threatening snarls. Crowfeather was tearing at the ground beside Onestar and Ashfoot, claws unsheathed, while Owlwhisker and Tornear paced up and down behind them.
Heart pounding, Hollypaw swerved past the kits and chased after Breezepaw. Brambles sprang back in his wake, lashing her muzzle. She burst from the undergrowth just in time to see Breezepaw leap across the gully.
“Stop! We found the kits,” he yowled.
“There’s no need to fight!” Hollypaw stared anxiously over her shoulder, willing the others to hurry.
“Where are they?” Onestar demanded.
“They’re coming,” Hollypaw promised.
The warriors stared in astonishment as the undergrowth shivered and Heatherpaw nosed Sedgekit and Swallowkit out into the open. The kits stumbled to a halt and stood blinking in the moonlight. Lionpaw padded out of the brambles, Jaypaw following, and placed Thistlekit gently beside them.
“Where in StarClan did you find them?” Onestar’s eyes stretched wide.
Lionpaw’s fur was prickling along his spine. He glanced at Heatherpaw and stepped forward. “They found their way into—”
Hollypaw cut him off. “They were down on the shore,” she mewed. “They’d made themselves a camp to shelter from the rain.”
What was the point in giving away Lionpaw’s secret? The tunnels between the two Clans were blocked now. Any tactical advantage was lost and it would only get Lionpaw into trouble.
She glanced at the others, silently praying that they would agree.
Heatherpaw nodded. “They were just inside the ThunderClan border, right down on the beach.” Her gaze fixed on Breezepaw. “Lionpaw, Hollypaw, and Jaypaw saw us looking for them and called us over when they picked up their scent.”
“What scent?” Onestar meowed. “We didn’t find one.”
Breezepaw blinked. “The rain must have washed it away,” he mewed.
Onestar beckoned the kits toward him with his tail.
“Come here!”
Gingerly, Sedgekit, Thistlekit, and Swallowkit approached the border, ears flattened and tails down, and stopped at the edge of the gully.
“Why did you leave camp without permission?” Onestar growled across the gap.
Sedgekit lifted his chin. “We were exploring.”
“Exploring?” Onestar echoed. “We’ve almost fought battles with RiverClan and ThunderClan looking for you.”
Swallowkit hung her head. “We’re sorry.”
“We didn’t think,” Thistlekit added.
“It seemed like fun to build our own camp on the beach.”
Sedgekit’s gaze darted toward Hollypaw with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He had no idea how important it was that the tunnels remain a secret.
Lionpaw padded to the scent-line. “You said almost fought RiverClan?” he mewed to Onestar.
Hollypaw’s pelt rippled with hope. “There hasn’t been a battle yet?”
“We gave RiverClan till dawn to return the kits.” Onestar gave an exasperated sigh. “But now it looks like we need to apologize for falsely accusing them.”
“Apologize?” Tornear lashed his tail. “Don’t forget they crossed our border!”
“They were chased by a dog,” Onestar reminded him.
“That’s what they said last time,” Crowfeather growled.
“I smelled the dog scent myself,” Onestar snapped. “We have to trust what our eyes and ears tell us.”
Crowfeather bristled. “But they still might invade.”
Onestar narrowed his eyes. “Or they might return to their old camp as they’ve promised. We’ll find out at the next Gathering. Until then we patrol our borders as usual. And if we see that dog, we’ll teach it to stay on its own land.”
Hollypaw felt weak with relief. The threat of battle was over. The WindClan kits were safe. She noticed Firestar staring at her.
“It looks like you were right, Hollypaw,” he meowed.