“What?”
“Climb over the trunk and go do something.”
“Like what?”
“Anything.” Dovepaw blinked at her. “Throw a snowball; climb a tree. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure I can’t hear you or see you.”
Puzzled, Ivypaw scrambled onto the trunk and bounded away through the snow. She looked back and saw nothing, then headed farther away. Once she knew Dovepaw wouldn’t be able to hear her, she slid behind a tree and dug a hole in the snow. Then she filled it in and hurried back to her sister.
“Well?” she panted.
“You dug a hole, and then you filled it in,” Dovepaw told her.
Ivypaw felt dizzy. “Did you follow me?”
“Did you see my paw prints?”
Ivypaw shook her head. “Then how did you know?”
Her sister was silent for a moment, gazing at her with wet blue eyes. “I can hear everything,” she blurted out. “I can smell everything too, if I set my mind to it.”
Ivypaw snorted. “Shut up! You’re just showing off again! No cat can smell and hear everything.”
Dovepaw lashed her tail. “I’m not showing off. Sometimes I wish that I were. I have special powers. I’m part of a prophecy that says three cats will have more power than the stars in their paws. Jayfeather and Lionblaze are the other two cats. That’s why they listen to me. That’s why Firestar listens to me.”
“Firestar listened to me when I told him about my dream!” Ivypaw pointed out.
“But you made it up!” Dovepaw thrust her muzzle in Ivypaw’s face. “This is real! Right now I can hear Hollowpaw getting lectured for not getting the ticks out of Pouncetail’s pelt yesterday. I can hear Dewkit and Mistkit fighting in their nest over who gets first bite of the stinky old sparrow Crowfrost brought them. I can hear Heathertail showing Harespring a new route through the thickest patch of gorse, and Onestar is washing—”
“Stop!” Ivypaw struggled to keep up. “You can really hear all that?”
Dovepaw nodded. “Everything. I heard the beavers.”
“That’s how you knew they were stopping the water!” Things that had puzzled Ivypaw for a long time were starting to make a strange kind of sense. “That’s why Firestar sent you on the mission, even though you were only an apprentice.” Her head was spinning. “So Firestar knows, too?”
“Yes, but only Firestar.”
Ivypaw’s pelt felt hot and prickly. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” She didn’t give Dovepaw a chance to reply. “Didn’t you realize how much it hurt to see you being singled out like some kind of super apprentice?”
Dovepaw shuffled her paws. “I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. No cat knows about Jayfeather and Lionblaze, except Firestar.”
“But they knew about each other, right? And I bet Hollyleaf knew!” Ivypaw was starting to seethe. “It’s your fault I went to the Dark Forest!!”
Dovepaw stared at her. “Wha-what do you mean?”
“The first time I met Hawkfrost, it wasn’t in the Place of No Stars; it was in a field with flowers and sunshine and stuff like that. He… he flattered me; he seemed interested in what I could do, not what my sister could do. No cat has ever treated me like that in this Clan. I’m just your shadow here.”
“That’s not true!” Dovepaw hissed.
“But that’s how it felt! You can’t blame me for listening to Hawkfrost, for wanting to learn all the moves that he taught me.”
“No cat is blaming you.” Dovepaw sighed.
Ivypaw narrowed her eyes to slits. “Are you sure? Lionblaze and Jayfeather don’t trust me. Maybe they want me to go back to the Dark Forest and stay there!”
Dovepaw flattened her ears. “Don’t be ridiculous! Can’t you see that we need you? Without knowing exactly what’s going on in the Dark Forest, the prophecy is useless. You got your wish: You’re the special one now.”
Ivypaw blinked. “I wish I weren’t,” she whispered. “I’m scared.”
Her sister rested her tail on Ivypaw’s shoulders. “I know,” she mewed softly. “We all are, even the cats in StarClan. I think that we could be all that stands between the Dark Forest and the end of the Clans.” Suddenly she looked tiny, huddled into a crouch with the snow banked around her.
“I’ll help you if I can,” Ivypaw promised in a rush. This wasn’t just about her now—in fact, it wasn’t about her at all. It was about every cat who lived beside the lake.
“Tell Jayfeather and Lionblaze that I’ll go back. I’ll pretend I’m still one of them, and I’ll find out everything I can about their plans.”
Chapter 24
Flametail folded the catmint in an ivy leaf and pushed it into his store among the brambles. He began to lay the tansy stems side by side, ready to bundle. They blurred in front of his eyes. A yawn overtook him.
“Flametail.”
Far away someone was calling his name.
“Flametail!” Kinkfur nudged him with her nose. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“Sorry.” Flametail turned, blinking. “Did you want something?” Inwardly he sighed. He didn’t know if he had energy left to help any more cats.
“Please, come and check on Mistkit. She’s lost her voice.”
“I’ll be there in a moment,” Flametail promised. “I have to put these away first.”
As the queen ducked out of the medicine den, Littlecloud’s nest rustled. The tabby’s brown nose appeared over the edge. “You should get some rest,” he advised. His voice was still thick, but there was more life in it than before. “Did you sleep last night?”
Flametail padded heavily over to his mentor’s nest. “A bit.”
Littlecloud’s eyes were brighter, and though his pelt was still clumped, it was freshly groomed. “I thought so.” Slowly he sat up. “You were tossing and turning.”
“Bad dream,” Flametail admitted.
“The same one?” Littlecloud prompted.
“Yes.” For the last quarter moon Flametail hadn’t had a moment’s sleep undisturbed by the same vision of falling far, far down into endless darkness while around him cats shrieked and yowled in terror.
“But no details?”
Flametail turned back to the tansy. “StarClan just sends the darkness,” he murmured. “They don’t send any clues. I don’t know who’ll strike first or how we should prepare.”
Littlecloud leaned forward. “Our warrior ancestors are with us,” he soothed. “Otherwise they wouldn’t be warning you. Perhaps they don’t know either. They’ll share it with you when they do.”
“Or with you,” Flametail countered.
A purr caught in Littlecloud’s throat. The first in a while. “Don’t worry,” he rasped. “I don’t plan to be joining our ancestors for a long time.” A cough shook him.
Flametail tensed. “Do you want more catmint?”
Littlecloud shook his head. “I’m getting better,” he assured Flametail.
“I want to be sure of that.” Flametail began to reach into his store.
“My fever has gone, and my chest is loosening. Save the catmint. Leaf-bare always drags on longer than you think.”
Flametail turned his gaze toward his denmate. “I’m glad we didn’t lose you.”
“You and me both.” Littlecloud’s eyes glowed. “Now go check on Mistkit.”
Flametail gathered the tansy stems together, putting one aside, and pushed them into the store with the catmint.
“Check Cedarheart, too,” Littlecloud went on. “I heard coughing from the elders’ den last night.”
“Okay.” Flametail picked up the tansy stem and headed for the entrance.