Realization swept over her like an icy wind. How could her mother still be alive? She’d had kits to feed. She’d had to hunt. She would have had to cross the Thunderpath countless tim es. She was probably hit, like that lifeless ball of fluff, by a m onster. Why else would she have not returned to their nest? Certainty sat in Twigpaw’s belly like a stone. Her mother was dead.
“Come on.” Alderpaw’s soft mew sounded in her ear. She felt his warm m uzzle nudging her forward. Num bly, she let him guide her out of the ditch and back up the slope.
She was dim ly aware of Ivy pool and Fernsong m oving beside them. Her heart ached with every paw step, and then shadow swallowed her. She blinked, realizing they were am ong the trees once more.
She m et Alderpaw’s gaze. “I know she’s dead now,” she m urm ured hoarsely. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 17
Violetpaw rolled over in her nest, half waking as fur brushed the door of the den. Through a m ist of sleep, she wondered if she’d slept late and Dawnpelt had come to wake her. She half opened her eyes and, seeing it was still dark, decided that she must have dream ed it.
She let sleep drag her into blackness once more.
“Violetpaw.”
A hiss beside her ear m ade her leap to her paws. “Who is it?” Shock pulsed through her as she sm elled unfam iliar scent. This wasn’t a ShadowClan cat. She could make out the shape of a young she-cat in the gloom.
“It’s m e,” the voice hissed again. “Twigpaw.”
Violetpaw froze. “What in StarClan are you doing here?”
“I had to see y ou.”
Violetpaw looked around, alarm spiking her pelt. Thank StarClan Whorlkit, Flowerkit, and Snakekit hadn’t been m ade apprentices y et. She had the den to herself. “You can’t be here!” she whispered anxiously. “If som eone finds y ou, we’ll both be in trouble.” Her Clan was just starting to accept her. She couldn’t be found with a ThunderClan cat. She nudged Twigpaw toward the entrance, her nose wrinkling as she sm elled ThunderClan scent on her sister’s pelt.
“But I have to talk to y ou!” Twigpaw dug her paws in.
Violetpaw shoved her harder. “Not here!” She bundled Twigpaw from the den and hurried toward the shadow at the edge of the clearing. “This way!” Her gaze darted nervously around the camp. Snores sounded from the dens. Nothing m oved apart from Twigpaw, pale in the moonlight.
“Hurry!” Violetpaw led the way quickly and quietly to the dirtplace tunnel.
She turned. Twigpaw wasn’t following. Her sister stood beside the camp wall, her eyes flashing in the darkness. “What are you doing?” Violetpaw dem anded. Did Twigpaw want to get into trouble?
“I went to find our mother,” Twigpaw hissed. “She’s gone. She’s dead. You were right.”
Violetpaw stared at her. “Of course she’s dead. Why else would she have abandoned us? Did y ou come just to tell m e that?”
She saw pain glitter in Twigpaw’s eyes. Frustration welled in her chest. What did Twigpaw want from her? “I’m sorry! But don’t expect m e to be surprised.” She glanced nervously around the camp. The stench of ThunderClan cat was bound to wake som eone soon. “Look,” she growled, “I know y ou’re upset, but y ou’ve got to get out of here.”
“Don’t you care?” Twigpaw stared at her, still not m oving.
Violetpaw’s pelt spiked. Were her dum b sister’s paws rooted to the ground? “What difference does it make?” she reasoned. “We’re not kits any more. We’re apprentices. We’re going to be warriors. We have homes and Clanmates.”
“But we don’t have kin,” Twigpaw whispered. “Only each other. We have to stick together.”
Twigpaw was m aking even less sense. “You want to j oin ShadowClan?”
“Of course not,” Twigpaw snapped. “I just wanted to see y ou. I wanted to know that y ou’re here for m e.”
Violetpaw narrowed her eyes, bewildered. “Of course I’m here for y ou. But you’re in ThunderClan.”
Paw steps brushed the earth nearby. “Who’s there?”
Violetpaw’s heart leaped into her throat as she recognized her m entor’s mew.
Dawnpelt was skirting the camp wall, m aking her way from the warriors’ den. Her cream pelt glowed in the moonlight.
“Quick!” Violetpaw m otioned Twigpaw toward the dirtplace tunnel with a flick of her nose.
But Twigpaw was staring at Dawnpelt, her eyes wide with fear. Violetpaw pressed back a growl.
Was Twigpaw totally m ouse-brained? Did she really think she could stand arguing in another Clan’s camp without being noticed?
Violetpaw hurried toward Dawnpelt. “Hi,” she mewed, try ing to sound innocent. Perhaps Dawnpelt hadn’t noticed Twigpaw.
But Dawnpelt looked past her, her ears flattening. “I sm ell ThunderClan,” she growled.
“Who’s there?” She pushed past Violetpaw and padded toward Twigpaw.
“It’s just m e.” Twigpaw’s mew sounded sm all. “I had to see Violetpaw. It wasn’t her fault. I sneaked in and woke her up. She was try ing to get rid of m e.” She shot a reproachful look at Violetpaw.
Violetpaw rolled her eyes. What else did she expect? Her Clanmates had been right all along: ThunderClan cats were frog-brained.
Dawnpelt paced around Twigpaw, her hackles lifting. “Did you come to spy on us?”
“No!” Twigpaw sounded offended. “I told y ou. I had to speak with Violetpaw.”
“What about?” Dawnpelt stopped a whisker from her nose and glared at her.
“About our mother,” Twigpaw told her. “She’s dead.”
Dawnpelt flashed a look at Violetpaw. “Is that news?”
Violetpaw padded forward, sighing. “It’s news to Twigpaw.” She stopped beside her m entor, feeling a sudden wave of pity for her littermate. “She was hoping our mother was still alive.”
Dawnpelt sniffed Twigpaw warily. “What changed y our m ind?”
“I went searching for her.” Twigpaw sounded forlorn. “I saw the Thunderpath where she’d m ade our nest. When I saw the m onsters, I knew one of them must have killed her.”
“Give her a break,” Violetpaw mewed softly. “She didn’t mean any harm.”
Dawnpelt narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “She can’t just come here every time she wants to tell you som ething.”
“It was som ething im portant!” Twigpaw lifted her chin.
“You thought it was im portant,” Dawnpelt growled. “That doesn’t mean every one agrees.
You’re as arrogant as y our Clanmates.”
Don’t criticize my sister! Violetpaw glared at Dawnpelt. “Just let her go home. No one need ever know she cam e.”
A voice sounded from the clearing. “It’s a bit late for that.”
Violetpaw stiffened. Tawny pelt was staring at them, the fur spiking along her spine. Scorchfur and Yarrowleaf padded sleepily from the warriors’ den. Snowbird and Tigerheart followed.
Kinkfur peeked from the elders’ den. Whorlkit and Flowerkit tum bled out of the nursery, their eyes widening as they saw Twigpaw.
“Invasion!” Whorlkit dashed across the clearing, y owling loudly.
Grassheart darted from her den, panic lighting her eyes. She wrapped her tail around
Flowerkit and stared at Whorlkit as he hared around the clearing, his fur fluffed out excitedly.
Violetpaw shrank inside her pelt as Crowfrost padded sleepily from his den.
“What’s happened?” He blinked in the moonlight, his gaze widening as it reached Twigpaw.
Dawnpelt lifted her tail. “A ThunderClan apprentice has found her way into our camp.”