Movement in the shadow of the rocks alerted Violetshine, and she realized that still more cats stood with them, sharing in the anxious vigil. All the other ShadowClan cats were there, along with Leafstar and Frecklewish. She took a pace forward and dipped her head to her Clan leader.

Leafstar returned her nod. “Violetshine. Hawkwing. This is all so strange. . . . What are these cats expecting to happen?”

No cat replied to her.

Just behind Leafstar, Tawnypelt was standing, her head bowed as she stared at her paws. She seemed numb with grief.

I’m so sorry for her, Violetshine thought. Dawnpelt, Rowanclaw, and now Tigerheart. Tawnypelt is so brave—but how can any cat bear so much loss?

Violetshine wondered too what this would mean for the remaining ShadowClan cats.

Trying to shake off her worries and the overwhelming feeling of strangeness, Violetshine padded over to the newly returned ShadowClan warriors.

“It’s so good to see you again,” she meowed to Berryheart. “We’d all given you up for lost.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Violetpaw,” Berryheart replied. “Kits, say hi to Violetpaw.”

“Hi, kits.” Violetshine touched noses with each of the tiny cats. “But my name is Violetshine. I’m a warrior now.”

“That’s great news,” Berryheart purred. “And these are Hollowkit, Spirekit, and Sunkit. Maybe one of them will be your apprentice.”

“Me!” Sunkit squeaked, bouncing up and down.

“No, me!”

“Me!”

Violetshine found that the ache in her heart was eased by the antics of the kits. But she knew it would be hard for Berryheart to learn that her kits would be raised in SkyClan—that ShadowClan was gone. “That will be for the Clan leader to decide,” she mewed. “So what happened to you?” she added to Berryheart. “Where have you been all this time?”

“We were all so terrified by the way Darktail took over ShadowClan,” Berryheart explained. “We ran away and found a place of our own, in a tumbledown Twoleg den. Then we met Tigerheart and Dovewing traveling home, and they told us Darktail was gone, and it was safe to come back.” Her expression darkened. “We were traveling back to ShadowClan when Hollowkit was attacked by an owl.” She rested her tail on the kit’s shoulder, and Violetshine noticed for the first time that Hollowkit had lost a few clumps of fur, and had a healing scratch on one shoulder. “Tigerheart saved Hollowkit,” Berryheart went on, “but the owl injured him so badly that he didn’t recover. If only we could have made it back to where he could see a medicine cat before he died. . . .”

“But he’s not dead!” The shrill assertion startled Violetshine. She turned to see where it had come from and saw Dovewing and Tigerheart’s little gray tom, Shadowkit. “I know he’s not!”