As the medicine cats’ yowls faded into echoes, Willowshine hurried toward Shadowsight. “Do you feel any different?”
“I don’t know.” Shadowsight shook out his pelt, wondering if he did feel different. The rock still felt icy beneath his paws, and his tail still felt feathery and light. His anxiousness was gone. “I think I’m just pleased to be a medicine cat.”
Willowshine’s eyes sparkled. “It feels great, doesn’t it? Wait till you get home. The older cats will start treating you with respect. And when you’re busy in your den, apprentices will bring you prey.” She purred. “There’s more responsibility, of course, but Puddleshine will still help you. And learning new things is half the fun.”
“Congratulations.” Alderheart wove around him.
“StarClan will be pleased,” Kestrelflight mewed, his gaze sparkling with approval.
Puddleshine blinked at Shadowsight. “Do you feel ready now?”
“I think so.” As Shadowsight blinked at him happily, Jayfeather crouched at the edge of the Moonpool, where a clear stretch of water rippled against the stone. Alderheart ducked down beside him, and Kestrelflight padded to a patch on the far edge where the ice had thawed. Willowshine hurried to settle on his other side, fluffing out her pelt as she stretched her nose toward the water.
“Come on.” Puddleshine nosed Shadowsight to the water’s edge and crouched down. Shadowsight crouched next to him, closing his eyes as he stretched his muzzle forward and touched his nose to the surface of the Moonpool. Would StarClan greet him warmly? Would they tell him if he was supposed to share his vision about the codebreakers with the other medicine cats? He could ask them whether his loyalty should be to them or to his Clan leader. Hope flickered in his chest, and he squeezed his eyes tightly shut as the searing cold of the Moonpool stung his nose. He held it to the water as it grew colder and colder, wondering how long before StarClan would appear.
He willed them to come. Please talk to me. Was he doing it wrong? Perhaps StarClan didn’t want to speak to him because he hadn’t earned his medicine-cat name after all. He dipped his nose lower, holding his breath as the icy water engulfed his muzzle. Nothing happened. His heart lurched. Where was StarClan? Lifting his head, he shook the water from his nose. The other medicine cats were sitting up, gazing at one another with wide, frightened eyes.
“They didn’t come.” Willowshine was the first to speak. She looked hopefully around at the others, as though she thought they might explain. No cat spoke. Jayfeather’s blind blue gaze was dark. Kestrelflight’s pelt pricked nervously along his spine as Puddleshine glanced at the sky. Shadowsight forced his paws not to tremble. StarClan was still silent. The thawing of the Moonpool hadn’t brought them back. Where were they? Why were they silent?
“Did they speak to you?” Puddleshine whispered.
“No.” As Shadowsight answered, he saw Frecklewish staring at him. Her gaze seemed to burn in the darkness. Was that an accusation in her eyes?
Shadowsight shrank beneath his fur. He had been so sure that StarClan would return now that the Moonpool was thawing—they all had been. But their ancestors had stayed silent, not speaking to any cat. Not even me. Dizzy with fear, he tucked his paws closer beneath him. Is this my fault?
Chapter 4
“What are you staring at, Rootpaw?” Needlepaw sounded exasperated as she stared at her brother. “It’s like you’re somewhere else. This is a Gathering, remember? We should be honored Leafstar let us come. Look!”
Rootpaw followed Needlepaw’s gaze as it flashed around the island clearing, trying hard to focus his thoughts. Cats from every Clan crowded around them. Hawkwing and Macgyver were chatting with Cloverfoot. Violetshine had found Twigbranch and seemed to be peppering her with questions while her ThunderClan littermate blinked back at her, happily. Tree was deep in conversation with two RiverClan warriors. Rootpaw’s tail twitched. His sister was right. He should be paying attention. Gatherings were meant to be exciting. But Rootpaw couldn’t help scanning the clearing. Had Bramblestar’s ghost come here too?
The apparition had plagued him for a half-moon, flitting into view every few days. Nowhere was safe. It would appear in the camp clearing while Rootpaw was trying to eat. Its shimmering pelt would catch Rootpaw’s eye while he was hunting in the forest, glimmering between bushes as though tracking Rootpaw’s patrol. One night, Rootpaw had woken up to find Bramblestar’s ghost sitting silently beside his nest. Rootpaw’s pelt prickled at the memory. Seeing the real Bramblestar beneath the Great Oak only unnerved Rootpaw more. How could the ThunderClan leader be dead and alive at the same time?
“Rootpaw!” Needlepaw nudged him. “Look over there.” Her bright eyes were fixed on a group of young cats showing battle moves to one another at the edge of the clearing. Rootpaw stared at them mutely. He was still thinking about the ghost. What if it appeared here? Would any other cats see it? “You go talk to them.” He nudged Needlepaw away. “You can tell me about them later.”
Needlepaw narrowed her eyes. “What’s wrong with you? You’re acting weird again.”
“Am I?” Rootpaw blinked at her innocently. He couldn’t let her find out what was unnerving him. She’d think he had bees in his brain. Or worse. She’d think he was like Tree. “I guess I’m just worried about my assessment.”
“You don’t even know when it is. Why bother—” Needlepaw hesitated. She was staring at Bristlefrost moving toward them through the crowd. She gave Rootpaw a knowing look. “I understand now,” she purred. “You want to talk to Bristlefrost.” She shrugged and began to head toward the ThunderClan apprentices. “I’ll leave you in peace,” she teased. “But don’t let Leafstar see. She doesn’t approve of cats having mates in other Clans.”
“She’s not my mate!” Rootpaw’s pelt felt hot as he yowled after his sister.
“Hey, Rootpaw.” Bristlefrost’s friendly mew made him jump. She had reached him already.
“Hi, Bristlefrost,” he mewed quickly. “How’s ThunderClan?”
“Good, I guess.” She blinked at him. “How’s your training going?” She tipped her head to one side kindly, as though asking a kit if they liked playing moss-ball.
“Fine.” Rootpaw fluffed out his fur. “I’ll probably be assessed soon.”
“Really?” she looked surprised. “I thought you’d be training for moons yet.”
“It might be any day.” Rootpaw’s pelt ruffled hotly along his spine. Did she think he was too young to become a warrior, or just mouse-brained?
She shifted her paws. “I mean,” she corrected herself, suddenly self-conscious, “it seems so quick. I feel like I’ve only just gotten my warrior name.”
“Maybe other Clans train their apprentices differently,” he suggested. “But in SkyClan you don’t have to be an apprentice to learn. Warriors learn new skills all the time.”
“I guess.” She looked at him thoughtfully. “Like, the other day, Blossomfall taught me how to track birds from the forest floor. I’d never tried it before. Have you?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she began to explain. “You have to choose a bird and keep your eye on it. You can’t stop watching for a moment. One blink and you could lose it among the leaves.”
Rootpaw guessed she was just trying to be nice, but he didn’t like being told something he knew already. “We track birds a lot in SkyClan.”
“Really?” Bristlefrost didn’t seem to hear him. Her attention had flitted to the Great Oak, where the leaders were scrambling onto the lowest branch. “I’d better go,” she mewed. “Bramblestar’s announcing Thriftear’s and Flipclaw’s warrior names. I want to be the first to yowl them out.” Before he could say good-bye, she slipped into the crowd and disappeared.