He quickened his pace, crossing a wide, dirt path onto a stretch of stone that led to the barn. Violetpaw saw Molewhisker glance doubtfully at Blossomheart.
“You’ll like Barley,” Blossomheart promised him.
As she spoke, a happy yowl echoed over the stone. “Hawkwing? Is that you?” A black-and-white tom was staring at Hawkwing.
Hawkwing broke into a run. “Barley!” He moved toward the tom, purring loudly. Violetpaw followed Blossomheart and Hawkwing to meet Barley, feeling suddenly nervous.
Barley broke away from Hawkwing and wove around Blossomheart. “It’s good to see you again.” He stopped and stared at Violetpaw. “Hawkwing! Is this your kit?”
Hawkwing lifted his chin proudly. “One of them. This is Violetpaw. Twigpaw stayed in camp. How did you know she’s mine?”
Barley’s whiskers twitched happily. “You have the same eyes,” he mewed. “And the same thoughtful expression.”
Violetpaw’s chest swelled with pride.
Something moved near the corner of the barn. A tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat was squeezing out through a gap in the wood. She padded, blinking, into the sunshine. “Barley?” She tipped her head. “What’s going on?” Her eyes widened as she spotted the visitors. Joy sparked like fire in their green depths. “Hawkwing!”
“Cherrytail!” Hawkwing hurried to meet his mother, his tail fluffed with joy. He rubbed muzzles with her roughly, a purr rumbling in his throat. Then he paused and drew back. His eyes clouded with unease. “Where’s Cloudmist? Is she okay?”
Violetpaw heard fear in his mew. He had lost so many cats; he clearly worried about losing another.
“She’s fine!” Cherrytail popped her head back through the gap in the wood and called. “Cloudmist! Hawkwing has come at last!”
As she ducked out, a white she-cat pushed past her, her ears pricked with excitement.
“What are you doing here?” She rubbed her cheek against Hawkwing’s. “What happened to all of you? Where is everyone? Did you find the hunting lands Echosong dreamed of?”
“There’s so much to tell you—” Hawkwing didn’t have time to finish. Cherrytail’s ecstatic gaze had flitted to Blossomheart.
“It’s so good to see you!” She raced to greet her other kit, then blinked happily at Hawkwing.
Hawkwing had clearly decided explanations could wait, despite Cherrytail’s barrage of questions. The cats were too excited. The stone beneath Violetpaw’s pads seemed to echo with purring. She hung back beside Molewhisker while her Clanmates greeted one another.
Cherrytail caught her eye. “Who’s this?” she asked eagerly.
Barley puffed out his chest. “Hawkwing has kits now. This is Violetpaw.”
“Kits?” Cherrytail’s eyes shone. “They must be Pebbleshine’s! Do you have littermates?”
“I have a sister called Twigpaw.” Violetpaw was suddenly nervous. She didn’t like being the center of attention. “But she stayed at home.” I wish you were here, she wailed silently to her sister, wondering how to explain why Twigpaw hadn’t come. Everyone liked Twigpaw. She always knew exactly what to say. Violetpaw stared at Cherrytail, desperately searching for words.
“Come and meet Violetpaw!” Cherrytail beckoned Cloudmist with her tail.
The white she-cat hurried over, her yellow eyes wide. “I didn’t know Pebbleshine was expecting kits!” She turned to Hawkwing. “Where is she?”
“Did she stay behind with Twigpaw?” Cherrytail asked.
Violetpaw stiffened. She looked at her father. Grief sharpened his gaze.
Cherrytail read his expression at once. “Hawkwing?” Concern edged her mew. “Did something happen?”
Hawkwing seemed to shrink inside his pelt. “Pebbleshine got separated from us on the journey,” he murmured. “We climbed onto a monster to steal prey, and it ran away with her. She couldn’t jump off in time. The monster carried her off, and she had Twigpaw and Violetpaw alone beside a Thunderpath. Then she disappeared. I wish . . .” He broke off, his mew thick.
Claws jabbed Violetpaw’s heart and she heard herself mumbling, “We think she was killed on the Thunderpath.”
“Oh, you poor things!” Cherrytail rubbed her muzzle against Violetpaw’s cheek.
Hawkwing blinked the grief from his eyes. “She and Twigpaw had hardly opened their eyes when Pebbleshine disappeared.”
Cloudmist’s eyes were round. “How did they survive?”
“They were found by Clan cats.” Hawkwing looked fondly at Violetpaw.
“You found the other Clans!” Cherrytail blinked at him eagerly.
“They found us.” Hawkwing shifted his paws. “Eventually. We wandered so far and so long. And we lost so many cats on the way.” His yellow eyes looked suddenly haunted. Violetpaw pressed against him, her heart aching for his grief.
Cherrytail’s gaze darkened. “Leafstar?”
“She’s well. But Echosong died.”
“No!” Cherrytail’s eyes glittered with sorrow. “How?”
Blossomheart padded forward, touched her muzzle to her mother’s cheek. “There’s so much to tell. So many deaths. Let us tell it slowly.”
Hawkwing nodded. “First, let’s share good news.”
“We have our own territory among the old Clans beside their lake,” Blossomheart told her.
Rabbitleap joined in. “Macgyver and Sandynose are there. And Tinycloud has had a new litter of kits. . . .”
As her mentor listed their Clanmates, Violetpaw stared at Cherrytail and Cloudmist. For so long she’d believed Twigpaw was her only kin. And now she had more kin than she could ever have imagined. She looked at their tortoiseshell-and-white pelts and saw nothing of herself in them. Was she like them at all?
“. . . and Plumwillow had her kits along the journey. They’re apprentices in the new camp now . . .”
As Rabbitleap went on, Barley whispered in Violetpaw’s ear. “Have you eaten today?”
Violetpaw shook her head.
Barley nodded at Molewhisker. “You don’t look familiar. Are you a new member of SkyClan?”
“I’m ThunderClan,” Molewhisker explained. “I came with the patrol to show them the way.”
Barley’s eyes flashed warmly. “How’d you like to help me hunt while they share their news? You look like you’d make a good ratter.”
Molewhisker blinked happily at the farm cat. “I’ll do my best.”
Violetpaw watched them head toward the barn before turning her attention back to Hawkwing. She suddenly didn’t mind being shy. Everyone was talking so fast that there wasn’t a chance for her to speak. But they kept glancing at her with an acceptance she’d never seen in any cat besides Twigpaw and Hawkwing. She purred quietly to herself, relishing the feeling of belonging.
Outside the barn, the sun had lifted high into the sky. Inside, its bright rays flashed through holes in the high roof. Violetpaw lay on the warm, sheltered ground, stretched in a pool of sunlight, her belly full.
Between them, Molewhisker and Barley had caught enough fat, juicy rats to feed them all. It was the best meal Violetpaw had eaten in days. She half-closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth and comfort.
Barley dozed a few tail-lengths away. Molewhisker was exploring the shadows at the back of the barn. Cloudmist sat nearby, washing her face with a paw, while Blossomheart lay in the shadows beside Cherrytail. Their fluffy pelts looked so similar in the half-light that Violetpaw could hardly tell them apart.
Hawkwing finished off the rat Molewhisker had brought him and, licking his lips, blinked at his mother. “We didn’t just come to visit,” he mewed softly.
Cherrytail got to her paws, nodding as though she knew what he was about to say. “You want us to return to the lake with you,” she guessed.