A little way away, outside the nursery, Ivypool was questioning Fernsong about everything that Dovewing had said when he escorted her to the ShadowClan border.

“Did she send me a message? Did she say anything about leaving ThunderClan?”

Fernsong was shifting his paws uncomfortably, obviously finding it hard to deal with his mate’s persistent questioning.

On the other side of the camp, at the bottom of the tumbled rocks, Bramblestar and Squirrelflight had their heads together in some intense, worried discussion.

Suddenly Alderheart didn’t want to deal with the tensions in camp. He wanted to hold on to the hopeful feeling he’d had when he first woke. Picking up the scrap of fur, he headed out of the camp, reflecting that ThunderClan could spare him long enough to take a walk.

It surely can’t do any harm to return Velvet’s toy to her . . . and see her one more time. . . .

Alderheart knew the general direction of the Twolegplace, across the unknown territory beyond the ThunderClan border. After a while, he was able to pick up the scent trail of the cats who had returned the night before.

But when he reached the Twolegplace, it was far bigger and louder than he had anticipated. His fur bristled as he crept along a narrow Thunderpath between two rows of Twoleg dens, and his heart thumped painfully in his chest. Somewhere close by he could hear the shouts and thumping paw steps of Twoleg kits, and farther away a dog was barking.

Monsters were sleeping in front of some of the Twoleg dens. Alderheart was scared of waking them, so he slunk past, trying to keep out of their sight and stay well away from their round black paws. He didn’t know where he might find Velvet, and when he tasted the air in an attempt to pick up her scent, he was assailed by so many weird, competing smells that he couldn’t distinguish any of them.

Maybe I should go back, he thought, hesitating at a spot where another Thunderpath crossed the one he was following.

Then Alderheart heard a voice. “It was so cool, living with the wild cats! I became an amazing hunter. And I know all about herbs!”

Fuzzball!

Following the sound of the voice, Alderheart leaped up onto a fence that surrounded a Twoleg den. On the other side, short, smooth grass stretched from the fence up to the den, edged by bushes covered in bright, unfamiliar flowers.

Fuzzball stood in the middle of the stretch of grass. He was talking to another cat: a white tom. Alderheart stared in astonishment as he recognized him.

That’s Rippletail, one of the missing ShadowClan cats!

“Rippletail!” Alderheart called out, leaping from the fence into the garden.