“Thanks!” Gray Wing gasped. “It must have been waiting out of sight, ready to pounce.”
Another gap followed the last monster, and Gray Wing heard Shaded Moss’s voice calling through the bushes. “What can you see? Are you okay?”
“Hang on!” Clear Sky replied, and added to Gray Wing, “Keep watch. Tell me if there are any more monsters lying in wait.”
Gray Wing held his breath as Clear Sky padded all the way to the center of the Thunderpath. It was marked by a straight white line.
“Is that snow?” Gray Wing asked, wondering why it would be lying there and nowhere else.
Clear Sky bent his head to sniff the line. “No,” he replied. “I don’t know what it is.”
As he spoke Gray Wing heard another faint rumble that swiftly grew into a roar. “Monster!” he yowled.
Clear Sky leaped back to safety as a shining scarlet creature roared past on round black paws.
“We’ll never get across if they’re waiting for us,” Gray Wing meowed.
“They obviously can’t see that well,” Clear Sky responded thoughtfully. “It rushed straight past us. And I had enough time to get all the way across before it spotted me. I think we’ll be able to cross if we’re careful.”
Gray Wing couldn’t share his brother’s confidence. “What if that last monster was old and slow?” he asked. “Faster, younger monsters might catch us before we even reach the white line!”
Clear Sky gave him a somber glance. “This journey was never going to be easy,” he mewed. “We can’t give up now.”
Gray Wing murmured agreement. “We’d better report back.”
Pushing their way back through the bushes, they described what they had seen to Shaded Moss and the others.
“What are we going to do?” Jackdaw’s Cry asked, his eyes wide with dismay. “Those things will eat us!”
Tall Shadow let out a snort. “What good are we if we can’t outwit them? They may be huge and stinking, but it sounds like they’re pretty stupid.”
“Stoneteller told us that they don’t seem able to leave the Thunderpath,” Rainswept Flower meowed thoughtfully. “It looks as if she’s right—we haven’t seen any of them on the grass beside the river. As long as we can cross the black stone, we should be safe.”
“Good thinking.” Shaded Moss gave his daughter an approving nod. “We’ll cross in twos. Clear Sky and Gray Wing, you’ve seen what these creatures are like, so you can supervise.”
“I’ll go first,” Dappled Pelt volunteered instantly. “I want to get it over with.”
“I’ll come with you,” Rainswept Flower mewed.
Shaded Moss dipped his head. “Good luck.”
Gray Wing and Clear Sky led the two she-cats to the line of bushes. When they arrived by the side of the Thunderpath, everything was quiet.
Dappled Pelt worked her claws impatiently in the grass. “What are we waiting for?”
Gray Wing held up his tail for silence and crouched beside the black stone, his ears pricked. A distant rumble swelled in his ears, from both directions.
Monsters were coming.
All four cats flinched back into the bushes as the noise and stench rolled over them.
“They’re huge!” Rainswept Flower exclaimed.
More nervously this time, she and Dappled Pelt approached the edge again. “We have to do this,” Dappled Pelt muttered determinedly.
“I’ll come with you and keep watch from the other side,” Clear Sky announced.
Standing side by side, the three cats waited, their ears alert and their eyes watchful. A monster growled past more slowly, the sun dazzling off its shiny pelt.
“Is it looking for us?” Rainswept Flower asked, crouching down in the long, tickly grass.
The others flattened themselves beside her, and the monster went by without stopping.
“It missed us.” Dappled Pelt puffed out her breath in a massive sigh. “Come on, Rainswept Flower!”
The two she-cats dashed out onto the black stone. Clear Sky bounded after them. Gray Wing yowled a warning as he heard the roars of approaching monsters, but his friends were safely on the other side before two more of the huge creatures flashed past.
“So it can be done,” he murmured, trembling with relief. “They’re fine!” he called out to the others on the far side of the bushes. “Send the next pair through.”
Cloud Spots and Quick Water appeared and stood by the side of the black stone. Everything was quiet.
“Is your side clear?” Gray Wing called out to Clear Sky.
Clear Sky waved his tail. “Fine! Come on!”
Cloud Spots and Quick Water raced across safely. Everything was still quiet, and Gray Wing began to wonder if the monsters had given up hunting and gone back to their dens.
But as Jackdaw’s Cry and Falling Feather appeared from the bushes, yet another monster roared past, and Gray Wing realized they weren’t out of danger yet. At least with that reek they leave behind, they won’t be able to scent us.
As silence fell again he glanced both ways along the Thunderpath, then called out to Clear Sky, who waved his tail again to signal that it was safe to cross. Jackdaw’s Cry and Falling Feather crossed without trouble. Shattered Ice and Hawk Swoop took their places at the edge of the black stone.
When Gray Wing and Clear Sky had checked, they began bounding across; but, as they reached the middle white line, Clear Sky suddenly screeched, “Monster!”
Shattered Ice and Hawk Swoop ducked back toward Gray Wing, but he spotted a monster too, approaching faster than the one on Clear Sky’s side.
Now they’re hunting us in pairs!
“No! Keep going!” he yowled.
Hawk Swoop froze in panic, scrabbling at the black stone as if she was trying to bury herself. Shattered Ice leaped toward her and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. Gray Wing lost sight of them as the fierce monster roared past.
Then the dust cleared. Gray Wing felt limp with relief as he saw both cats collapse, panting—but uninjured—on the far side.
“The monsters seem to know we’re here.”
Gray Wing started at the sound of Shaded Moss’s voice and turned to see the black-and-white tom standing behind him. “The rest of us will cross together,” he added.
Shaded Moss called the other cats through the bushes and lined them up beside the Thunderpath, hidden in the long grass. Gray Wing made sure to stand next to Jagged Peak, where he could keep an eye on the young cat. “Do not move until we tell you!” he warned.
Turtle Tail sneezed as a grass stem brushed her nose.
“Quiet! You’ll bring all the monsters running!” Moon Shadow hissed.
But there was still silence from the black stone. “I think it’s okay,” Gray Wing meowed. “Clear Sky?”
Clear Sky waved his tail from the opposite side. “Fine! Do it!”
The remaining cats bounded forward. Gray Wing felt his paws scorched on the hot, smooth surface of the Thunderpath. Then he plunged into the undergrowth on the far side, thankful to be surrounded by the scents of the others.
Working together with Clear Sky had felt good, but when he turned to his brother he saw that Clear Sky’s gaze was cold again, fixed on the trees ahead.
“Is every cat okay?” Shaded Moss asked.
“I’m a bit worried about Hawk Swoop,” Dappled Pelt replied. “She had a nasty shock back there.”
“It was my own fault,” Hawk Swoop replied, giving her chest fur an embarrassed lick. “I’m fine now.”
“It’s great to be under the trees,” Turtle Tail remarked as they set out again. “The monsters can’t see us here.”
“And with all this thick stuff, we don’t have to hear them,” Jackdaw’s Cry agreed.
But Gray Wing felt uneasy as he made his way through the undergrowth. Plants seemed to be grabbing at his paws, as if trying to trip him. And there were noises all around him: birds calling, branches creaking, prey scuffling in the undergrowth. He longed for the silence and clear air of the mountains.