Flamekit approached Jaypaw a little cautiously. “Bye.”

Ivytail marched past, sweeping the kits out of the way. “Go play with your own Clanmates,” she growled.

As Hollypaw followed her escort through the tunnel, she glanced back into the clearing. Blackstar and Sol were sitting with their heads close together, talking too quietly to hear.

CHAPTER 21

“Stop!” Jaypaw swerved in front of Hollypaw and Lionpaw as they began to head down the slope toward the thorn barrier.

He ignored the surprise flashing from their pelts. “We can’t tell any cat what’s happened or where we’ve been.”

“Of course not,” Lionpaw agreed.

“Not about Sol, or being in ShadowClan’s camp. Not anything!” He had to know that they understood.

“I wasn’t going to,” Hollypaw mewed. He could sense her puzzlement and hurt—directed not at him, but at Sol. The stranger had abandoned them.

Jaypaw was confused by Sol’s change of heart too, but he refused to let Sol’s behavior change what he believed. It wasn’t Blackstar who was more powerful than StarClan. They were.

Evening shrouded the camp as they padded through the entrance. Jaypaw was relieved to hear the Clan only just beginning to stir. The warriors’ den rustled as Brambleclaw and Graystripe padded out. Kits mewled inside the nursery, and Icepaw and Foxpaw were nosing through the few remaining morsels on the fresh-kill pile.

“Where’ve you been?” Foxpaw called.

“Out,” Lionpaw replied.

“Did you bring back any prey?”

Jaypaw could hear Foxpaw’s belly rumbling. “Afraid not.”

Graystripe padded, yawning, across the clearing toward them. “Have you been out long?” he asked sleepily.

“No,” Jaypaw lied. He hoped no one noticed their nests hadn’t been slept in.

“Any sign of prey out there?” Brambleclaw put in.

Jaypaw shrugged. He had been too lost in his own thoughts to notice.

“Lionpaw!” Ashfur was stretching outside the warriors’ den. “I think we should hunt for our Clan, don’t you? Hollypaw? Why don’t you go wake Brackenfur? You might as well come with us.”

Jaypaw sensed Hollypaw’s heart sink. He felt sorry for his littermates. They’d managed to sneak out of camp unnoticed, but it seemed they were going to be punished anyway. “You’ll soon be in your nests,” he whispered to them.

“Not soon enough,” Hollypaw hissed back.

Jaypaw padded to his den, feeling a twinge of guilt. He was the one who’d made them leave camp, after all. He nosed through the brambles, breathing in the comforting smells of home—Leafpool’s scent, herbs, the damp rock where water dripped into the pool. Spiderleg was snoring in Cinderpaw’s old nest. And another cat scent drifted from the back of the den.

“Jaypaw? Is that you?”

“Squirrelflight?”

“We moved her inside.” Leafpool padded from beside the pool. “It was too cold to leave her out all night.”

Jaypaw stiffened. “What about her wound?”