“You don’t know that.”
Morning Whisker’s gaze hardened. “We share three things, Moth Flight.”
“What?” How could she share anything with these dead kits?
“Isn’t it obvious?” Emberkit pushed in front, fur spiking.
“We share a history, a future, and—”
Morning Whisker interrupted her brother. “Let Moth Flight tell us the third thing.”
Moth Flight frowned, trying to guess. “I don’t kno—” Then she realized. “A mother!” She paused, breathless with anguish.
She’d never wondered before about her brother who’d died.
And yet, here he was, as bright and strong as a living kit. Their sister stood beside him. She hadn’t thought about Morning Whisker for moons. Her pelt pricked along her spine. Wind Runner was their mother too! Moth Flight was used to sharing Wind Runner with Dust Muzzle, but Dust Muzzle had always seemed independent; he’d never worried about Wind Runner’s approval. He’d never had to; everything came naturally to him.
But these kits had been Wind Runner’s too, before they’d been taken from her. Did Wind Runner still think about them? Of course she did! She must miss them! Is Wind Runner missing me too? With a pang, she remembered her mother’s angry words as they’d parted. “I just wish I could please her,” she murmured sadly.
“You will,” Morning Whisker mewed.
“Of course you will!” Emberkit’s tail was twitching excitedly. “In time she will understand everything. Until then, she will support you because you are her kit.”
Moth Flight wasn’t convinced. “She thinks I’m useless.”
“She can be harsh,” Morning Whisker conceded. “But are you surprised? The moor is a harsh place. She lost us there. If she’s strict, it’s because she worries about you, not because she thinks you’re useless.”
Emberkit stepped forward and lifted his muzzle close to Moth Flight’s. His breath felt warm on her nose. “She just wants to protect you. It’s a mother’s strongest instinct. When you’re medicine cat and your Clanmates are relying on you, you will feel the same way.”
Moth Flight’s ear twitched uneasily. Will I have to be mother to the whole Clan?
Around her, the starry cats began to fade, becoming so translucent that she could only see the stars in their pelts.
Emberkit was no more than shimmering light before her.
“Don’t go!” Panic blazed beneath her pelt. She called to Half Moon, whose green gaze was growing pale. “You haven’t told me how I can convince the Clans to listen to me! Won’t you come to the full moon Gathering and tell them yourself?”
“No.” Half Moon’s mew was barely an echo. “But we will send a sign when you tell them, to let them know that we speak through you now.”
“A sign?” How would she know it? What should she look for? The cats were disappearing one by one. “What sign?” she mewed desperately as the moon passed out of sight and the cave was swallowed by shadow.
A voice echoed from the blackness. “We will split the sky.
And later, stars will rise.”
Split the sky? What did that mean? Moth Flight struggled for breath. The darkness seemed suddenly suffocating. Later, stars will rise…
What could it possibly mean?
Chapter 13
Moth Flight followed the tunnel upward, her paws trembling.
Was she really going to be responsible for any sick cats in her Clan? How would she explain it all to Wind Runner? Why did the spirit-cats want to speak through her?
Your curiosity, your dreams, your openness to the world around you.
She remembered Half Moon’s words.
The spirit-cats believe in me… Joy surged beneath her pelt, pushing her doubts away. Suddenly, the cold stone beneath her paws felt like it belonged to her. This was her place. She’d found it. Determination hardened in her belly. I won’t let you down, she promised silently.
Starlight showed through the darkness ahead, seeping like water into the tunnel. Moth Flight quickened her pace, breaking into a run as she neared the opening. She leaped from the ledge, sending stones clattering down the steep slope.
Micah, sitting on the wide stone below, turned, his eyes flashing in the moonlight. “What happened?” He bounded toward her and met her, breathless, halfway up the slope.
She skidded to a halt and stared into his starlit eyes. “It was amazing,” she breathed.
“I was worried. You were gone so long.” His gaze flitted over her pelt, as though he was checking that she wasn’t hurt.
“I’m fine,” she reassured him. She shuddered, realizing how cold she was. The dampness of the tunnel had reached to her bones. She fluffed out her pelt.
Micah began to steer her gently down the slope. “There’s still a little warmth from the sun left in the rock.” Nudging her up onto the wide stone where he’d been waiting, he joined her.
A dead mouse was lying in the middle. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“Thanks.” Moth Flight blinked at him gratefully. “But I don’t think I could eat anything right now. I’m too excited.” She could feel faint warmth beneath her paws and crouched, pressing her belly to the rock. Micah crouched beside her, his fur barely brushing hers, just close enough for her to feel the heat from his pelt.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Micah asked softly.
Moth Flight stared at him. “Of course. It was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me!”
Micah gazed at her eagerly.
“There was a cave at the end of the tunnel. Just like the one I saw in my dream. It has a big rock at the center and a hole in the roof and when the moonlight hit the rock, it blazed like a fire!
And then the spirit-cats appeared.”
“You saw them for real?” Micah widened his eyes.
Moth Flight nodded. “Even Gray Wing this time.”
Micah gazed at her blankly.
“He was part of our Clan until he died a moon ago,” she explained. “It was good to see him again.”
“Were all these spirit-cats once alive?” Micah asked.
“Yes!” Moth Flight could still hardly believe she’d spoken with them. “I didn’t recognize many.” The memory of Morning Whisker and Emberkit burned brightly in her mind. “I saw my dead littermates.”
Micah blinked. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know you’d lost—”
Moth Flight interrupted him. She didn’t need sympathy.
“I’m glad I saw them. They were so wise. They looked like kits still but they acted like grown cats.”
“You spoke to them?”
“They told me not to be scared of Wind Runner. She’s only stern because she cares about me.”
Micah’s breath stirred her cheek fur. “Didn’t you know that already?”
Moth Flight hunched her shoulders. “I always thought she was disappointed in me because I couldn’t hunt as well as Dust
Muzzle.”
Micah’s eyes flashed teasingly. “I guess she wishes you’d bring prey home instead of plants,” he joked. “But how could she not love you?”
Moth Flight shifted self-consciously. Micah’s stare seemed suddenly too intense to bear. Was he just humoring her? Did he think she was crazy? She was talking about dead cats! “You believe me, don’t you?”
“I’ve dreamed about you since I was a kit.” Micah’s ears twitched. “Now that I’ve met you for real, I can believe anything.”
Moth Flight felt relief sweep over her. She was lucky to have someone to share this with, someone who believed her.