Lionpaw pawed the ground. Why wait to find out if their ancestors knew the answer? This wasn’t the time for questions. This was the time for action! There was a battle to be fought. A betrayal to avenge. “Why can’t we just—”

He stopped.

He’d interrupted Sandstorm. She was staring at him with her mouth open.

“Sorry.” Lionpaw backed away, suddenly conscious that he was only an apprentice.

“Perhaps you should rest,” Firestar suggested gently.

Lionpaw nodded and turned away, leaving the circle of warriors to fret and worry without his interruptions. He kicked sand out behind him with every paw step. One day they’d listen to him.

Hollypaw and Squirrelflight were sleeping. He stopped beside them, watching their flanks rise and fall together as though they shared a single breath. Jaypaw had gone. The ferns beside Squirrelflight were crumpled where he’d slept.

As though summoned by Lionpaw’s thoughts, Jaypaw emerged from the medicine cat’s den. He was carrying dripping moss. Lionpaw watched him pick his way from the den to his mother’s side and press the wet moss to Squirrelflight’s lips.

“Will she live?” Lionpaw whispered.

“I think so.” Jaypaw didn’t look up. “There’s no sign of infection.”

“Did StarClan warn you she’d be injured?” Did they warn you about any of this? Lionpaw’s heart quickened as he waited for an answer.

Jaypaw put down the moss. “No.” He smoothed down a frond of fern curling near Squirrelflight’s nose. “And before you ask, they said nothing about the vanishing sun or the battle, either.”

Lionpaw narrowed his eyes. He knew when his brother had something on his mind. “You don’t think this has anything to do with StarClan, do you?”

Jaypaw sat down. “No.”

Well? Why did Jaypaw have to be so mysterious about everything?

“I think…” Jaypaw began tentatively.

“What?”

He looked up. “I think I know someone who can give us answers.”

The fur along Lionpaw’s spine lifted. Jaypaw’s pale blue eyes seemed to be watching him, as though he could actually see.

“We need to find Sol,” Jaypaw meowed. “He predicted that the sun would vanish. He told Leafpool a great darkness was coming, and the sun would disappear. I think he would have told us more, but Firestar sent him away.”

Disappointment flooded Lionpaw. Jaypaw was no better than the warriors. “Why are you all obsessing over the sun?” He lashed his tail. “It doesn’t matter. It’s back now, and we’re okay. But we still have to deal with WindClan. They’re going to come back if we don’t show them they can’t—”

Jaypaw cut him off. “It does matter,” he growled. “WindClan are nothing more than a thorn in our flesh. We can pull it out anytime we want. But the sun disappeared, and Sol knew it would happen. StarClan didn’t! Don’t you realize what that means?”