Hollypaw stretched her eyes wide. No cat knew about the prophecy except Firestar—and he didn’t know that they knew. Beside her, Lionpaw’s ears were twitching. Why was Jaypaw sharing their deepest secret with a complete stranger?

But he had known the sun would vanish.

Sol flicked the tip of his tail. “It concerns all three of you, doesn’t it?”

Jaypaw nodded. “‘There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws.’”

“And you are the kin,” Sol murmured. He dipped his head with respect.

Jaypaw was trembling like an excited kit. Hollypaw glanced at him in surprise. He really believed that this cat held answers StarClan would not give him. Or could not give him. A shiver rippled down Hollypaw’s spine. Maybe the prophecy did lie beyond anything StarClan could predict.

She felt sick, and pushed away the thought as her heart began to race. There was nothing beyond StarClan! Nothing beyond the warrior code!

Sol interrupted her thoughts. “The prophecy is a grave responsibility for three such young cats to bear.” His amber eyes were round with sympathy.

Jaypaw clawed at the grass. “I can walk in other cats’ dreams, and in their memories.”

But Sol was staring at Lionpaw. “And you? I can see something burns within.”

Lionpaw’s tail quivered.

Sol’s voice softened. “Something that maybe frightens you a little?”

“I can fight in battles without getting hurt,” Lionpaw confessed, sounding very young and small.

Hollypaw stared at her paws. What was her special power? She knew it was there. She could feel it inside her. But the only thing she felt certain of—so certain it felt like a thorn-sharp stab in her side—was the need to defend the warrior code, the absolute faith that it was vital for the Clans’ existence.

Would Sol understand? He was a loner. How could he appreciate the importance of something that held the four Clans together? She looked up at him, expecting to see his amber gaze on her, but Sol had tipped his head to one side again and closed his eyes.

“Of course, you must nurture these powers.” His mew was light, as though this were a small matter to him. “Listen to your inner voices, to the instinct that in every other cat would merely help them find food or shelter. Who’s to say that in you, these instincts won’t help you achieve more?”

Jaypaw flicked a mosquito from his nose. “Did the vanishing sun have anything to do with us?”

Hollypaw blinked. It hadn’t occurred to her that the prophecy and the sun’s terrifying disappearance might be connected. She leaned forward, paws prickling.

“Maybe it did.” Sol swept his tail over the grass.

Hollypaw felt Lionpaw stiffen beside her. “How?”