I didn't even try to rush over to the white body. Everyone else thought it was a good idea to try and see if he was still alive, even though the medicine cats told otherwise. Next to me, Hollypaw gasped, but didn't really sound like she was actually surprised. I thought I saw a small smile creep onto her face, but I couldn't get a good look with all the cats panicking. I decided I had imagined it.

"ThunderClan, we're heading home!" A voice rose over the clamor, Bramblestar's deep yowl. I followed the voice and soon came upon my Clan, leaving through the bushes. I bounded after them, relieved to escape the crowd of confused cats, but also worried. Why had Blackstar died so suddenly? I thought what Bumblestripe had told me, a couple of days before when he was teaching me about the other Clans. He said Blackstar was an older leader, but last ThunderClan had heard from him, he was strong and healthy. Obviously he had changed dramatically in the last moon. But one thought kept entering my mind, despite me trying to block it out: If Blackstar was killed by it, who would it strike next?

🐾🐾

I woke with a start to a sight I recognized, but at the same time I had no idea where I was. A great cone of darkness reaching from cloud to ground was tearing up a twoleg place, and a bright orange cat and a gray tabby were running across a muddy field in front of me. Both had curled ears like me.

I knew what would happen next. The tabby looked over, his green eyes blazing with fear, and saw a flying piece of debris. He shoved the bigger cat out of the way, causing the large thing to crash into him with such force it knocked him off his paws. There was a crunch and a crack, then he disappeared into the trees, body limp as a piece of fresh-kill. "Tabby!" I screeched the name unwillingly, and the sound coming from my mouth sounded. . . off. Not like me.

"Curl, get back in the woods!" The orange cat yelled. I was about to obey, when a great gust swept me off my paws, and threw me several tree lengths into the air. I didn't try to struggle, or flail my paws about as if it would help, I just stayed still, and waited for the end. Through the rainy fog, I saw the ground approaching fast. I was heading towards a swollen river that had long since burst its banks, faster and faster.

Just as I was one mouse-length from the brown water, I jerked awake, panting, to a lightening apprentice den. I sighed in relief. I had had this dream multiple times since I joined the Clan, and every time I woke up later in the dream, which meant closer to the river. I shivered wondering what would happen when I actually hit.

But there was something else about the dream, something else I couldn't explain. It was kind of as if StarClan was trying to send me a message through a dream, but I couldn't believe that. Only medicine cats and every once in a while a leader got dreams from StarClan.

The next day, I tried explaining it to my brother, but he wouldn't listen. He dismissed the idea as a crazy dream. I didn't even get to tell him it came almost every night before he sent me away. These days, Stormpaw was very busy with Lionblaze, training, hunting, patrolling borders. When I went to Hollypaw, she had almost the identical reaction, but a bit more aggressive. She thought that there might be something wrong with me, but I ignored this. She had been increasingly more aggressive the farther her training went on.

The days past by in a sort of blur. Training, patrolling the WindClan border, the ShadowClan border, hunting. Stormpaw was already as big as Honeypaw and Seedpaw, even though they were a whole moon older than him. Cinderheart moved into the nursery with Lionblaze's kits, expecting them to come a moon later, but this didn't make Lionblaze take time off from Stormpaw. If anything, he trained my brother harder. Bramblestar was a fair and tough leader at the same time. He was patient and kind when I got something wrong and praised me when I did something correctly.

About half a moon after Blackstar's death, something happened. I was walking into the Apprentice's den, and Honeypaw, Stormpaw, and Hollypaw were already there, in their nests. I had just about reached my own when Honeypaw got up. "Hey Curlpaw!" She had acted like we were long lost friends, who hadn't seen each other in a moon. Honeypaw touched her muzzle to mine, then sat down in the nest next to mine. This surprised me, because in the last few days, Stormpaw and Honeypaw were spending more and more time together. I looked to Stormpaw with questioning eyes, but he was just as puzzled. I reluctantly lay down next to her, and she started to groom me. Hollypaw was scowling at me, like usual, as if I was doing something wrong. The last thing I saw before sleep took me, was Stormpaw's envious eyes staring at me and Honeypaw.

When I woke, in the middle of the night though, I felt something was wrong. Beside me, Honeypaw's body heat kept me warm, but when I looked up, there was only two other apprentices in the den. Hollypaw was gone. Maybe she just went to the dirt place, I thought. I'll wait a little longer before I worry. I glanced at the half moon, that was almost at its peak, then lay my head down on my paws and waited.

When the moon was at its peak, I decided to go and look for my sister. Perhaps she went for a night hunt and got injured. The thought jerked me awake. I got up and, careful not to wake the sleeping Honeypaw curled up right next to me, and left the den.

The night was cool, but not cold. Leafbare had already arrived, and it was unusually warm. It was easy to track my sisters sent that lead to the entrance of the camp. I arrived at the entrance, and felt something was out of place. Finally, it struck me. No one was guarding the camp! I looked down to see a dark trail of a liquid. I leaned down to smell it.

Blood.

Birchfall's scent was mixed with the scent of Hollypaw's guilt. She knew she was doing wrong, yet she didn't stop. The scent was fairly fresh, probably from when I was just waking up. I followed the trail, and came to the source of the smell. A body was lying underneath a withered bush, a brown tabby body. Birchfall was still breathing, to my relief, but it was shallow. I was reaching down to grab his scruff to heave him out from under the bush when a meow sounded from behind me.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"