“Look!” Kestrelflight lifted his tail excitedly.
An owl was swooping across the lake. The water was so still it reflected the great outstretched wings along with the moonlight. The owl glided above the water for the length of the lake before sweeping into the air and circling around the island. Its cry echoed around the hills as it disappeared among the trees.
“Was that a sign from StarClan?” Kestrelflight gasped. “Owls rarely go near the water.”
Jayfeather pulled his paws in tighter. “What do you think they’re trying to tell us?” he grunted. “That an owl will save us?”
Kestrelflight turned on him crossly. “Why wouldn’t it be a sign?”
“We’ve had plenty of signs already,” Jayfeather gazed at him blindly. “We don’t need any more.”
Alderheart padded between them. “I would like to solve one prophecy before we get another one,” he conceded. He felt frustrated that he’d made no progress on finding the six-toed cat—if it even was a six-toed cat they were meant to find. The rockslide had left him little time to search beyond Clan borders.
The undergrowth at the top of the shore shivered. Four shadows moved in the moonlight.
“Leafpool!” Alderheart recognized her scent before he could make her out clearly. Puddleshine was with her, and two more cats he’d never seen before.
They padded down the shore and stopped in front of him.
Leafpool dipped her head. “Thank you for coming.”
Jayfeather’s nose twitched. “Who are they?” His blind blue gaze pointed straight at the two cats standing behind Leafpool.
Puddleshine whisked his tail happily. “They are SkyClan’s medicine cats.”
The mottled brown she-cat padded forward, her eyes shining. “I’m Frecklewish.” She nodded to the black-and-white tom behind her. “This is my apprentice, Fidgetpaw.”
“Hello.” Fidgetpaw sounded nervous.
“SkyClan has three medicine cats now!” Kestrelflight sounded surprised. “WindClan is the only Clan left with one. I think it’s time I found myself an apprentice.”
Alderheart caught Puddleshine’s eye. Kestrelflight had included the ShadowClan tom among SkyClan’s medicine cats. How could he concede so easily that ShadowClan no longer existed? He looked away quickly. “Twigpaw said that the patrol had returned, but she didn’t say they’d brought back your medicine cats.”
Jayfeather flicked his tail toward Leafpool. “You can come home now that SkyClan no longer needs you.”
“I will,” she promised. “As soon as Frecklewish and Fidgetpaw have settled in, and I’ve shown them where the best herbs can be gathered.”
“Let’s worry about herbs later!” Frecklewish shifted impatiently. “There’s more to tell. Hawkwing’s patrol brought back more than just Clanmates.”
There was excitement in her mew. Alderheart blinked at her.
Kestrelflight pricked his ears. “What else did they bring?”
Leafpool turned her muzzle toward the forest. A fifth shadow emerged from the undergrowth.
Jayfeather’s nose wrinkled. “A loner?”
Alderheart detected the scent of a tom, and stiffened nervously. The loner looked sleek and well-muscled, his yellow pelt glowing in the moonlight as he padded toward them.
As he reached Leafpool, he dipped his head to the medicine cats. “I’m Tree.”
Jayfeather’s gaze narrowed. “You’re the six-toed cat.”
“How did you guess?” Alderheart turned to the blind medicine cat in surprise.
Jayfeather padded forward and sniffed the tom. “Why else would Leafpool make so much drama out of bringing us out?”
Leafpool sniffed. “There’s another reason I asked you here. Didn’t you think it was strange I wanted to meet on this stretch of shore?”
“I thought you wanted to save us the trek to the Moonpool,” Jayfeather grunted.
Alderheart wasn’t listening. He was staring at Tree’s paws. Which one had six toes? It was hard to see in the moonlight. Suddenly, he saw it—an extra claw among the toes on his hind leg, just as StarClan had predicted. He wished Willowshine could be here to see it for herself.
Kestrelflight blinked at Leafpool. “Is there something special about this place?”
Frecklewish and Leafpool exchanged glances.
“Yes.” Frecklewish answered. “We’ve had a chance to talk with Tree. He has a power that might help us.”
“I hope he does,” Jayfeather sniffed. “Why else would StarClan ask us to find him?”
Kestrelflight flicked his tail. “What is it?”
“How’s it connected to this piece of shore?” Alderheart’s ears twitched. How was the six-toed cat going to help?
Paw steps sounded at the edge of the forest. Cats were padding from the trees, slinking onto the shore. The scents of ShadowClan filled the air. Scorchfur and Juniperclaw led their Clanmates across the pebbles. Tawnypelt walked beside Rowanstar. The ShadowClan leader gazed ahead blankly as Tawnypelt guided him forward. Violetshine followed behind. She looked nervous, as though she was self-conscious about being the only SkyClan cat.
Jayfeather bristled. “Why are they here?” he demanded.
Kestrelflight blinked at Puddleshine. “Did you know they were coming?”
“They have to be here,” Puddleshine explained. “They need to see what Tree can show us.”
Alderheart’s thoughts swam. What was the six-toed cat going to show them? And what did ShadowClan have to do with it? His heart quickened. Did Tree know how to keep ShadowClan from disappearing?
“Is this close to the place?” Leafpool gazed at Violetshine as the young warrior neared the water’s edge.
Violetshine’s eyes flashed with fear as she gazed across the border. “Close enough,” she breathed.
Jayfeather lashed his tail. “What’s going on?”
“We have to be close to where Needletail died,” Leafpool meowed softly.
“And the others.” Juniperclaw padded forward, his eyes dark. His Clanmates shifted nervously around him.
“Tree has the power to bring dead cats from the darkness so we can see them,” Leafpool explained.
See the dead? Alderheart’s pelt prickled uneasily. “How?”
Leafpool blinked at him. “I don’t know. Nor does he. It was a gift he was born with.”
Tree padded to the border. “The dead are all around us, all the time,” he meowed. “I can sense them, and sometimes I can make them appear.”
Alderheart glanced over his shoulder, shivering. Unease wormed beneath his pelt. Are we being watched by more than StarClan? Was Needletail ever close by when he was missing her?
“I can’t make all dead cats appear,” Tree went on. “Needletail told me about StarClan. I’ve never seen a StarClan cat. I think I can only sense cats who are still tied to the living. They’ve stuck close to us. They can’t move on until they’ve done what they feel they need to do. Like Needletail.” The loner glanced at Violetshine. “She will only find her way to StarClan when she has finished what she started here.”
Violetshine’s eyes glistened with emotion as Tree went on.
Puddleshine’s eyes were wide with excitement. “He says he might be able to make our lost Clanmates appear,” he mewed breathlessly. “So many are gone. And we don’t know whether they died or got lost or left with the rogues.”
Jayfeather fur ruffled. “Is that all you want to know? Which of your Clanmates are dead?”
Kestrelflight padded closer to the loner and followed his gaze across the border. “How will seeing the dead help fend off a storm? That’s what the six-toed cat was for, right?”