As Alderheart crossed the tree-bridge and pushed his way through the bushes into the center of the island, he looked around in the hope that RiverClan had returned at last. But there was no sign of Mistystar or any of her Clan.

Taking his place with the other medicine cats, Alderheart could see that no cat was surprised that RiverClan hadn’t come, but the mood was somber as Bramblestar, Leafstar, and Harestar leaped up into the branches of the Great Oak.

“Only three now!” some cat whispered close behind Alderheart.

“I thought things would get better with the rogues gone,” Whitetail, a WindClan elder, mewed despondently. “But now I wonder.”

“StarClan will be angry!” another cat murmured.

Alderheart spotted several cats looking up at the sky to see if clouds would cover the moon, but nothing blocked the silver light. At least StarClan was prepared to let the Gathering continue. He shivered a little: the sky was clear now, but the weather had been ominous for a moon—was the storm StarClan had warned of coming?

“Cats of all Clans!” Bramblestar yowled, stepping forward on his branch so that his muscular tabby figure was visible to all the cats below. “Welcome to the Gathering. Who will speak first?”

“I will,” Leafstar responded, from where she stood on a branch just above Bramblestar. “SkyClan is settling into our new camp, and the prey is running well in our territory,” she continued. “A few days ago, two former ShadowClan cats, Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker, surprised us by returning—”

She broke off as mingled yowls of welcome and protest rose from the clearing as she spoke the names. Clearly many of the cats remembered that the newcomers had been loyal to Darktail.

Alderheart gazed, stunned, at his fellow medicine cats, remembering what Needletail had told him when he visited StarClan at the half moon meeting. Shadows approaching . . . Are these the shadows Needletail was referring to?

Leafstar held up her tail for silence, and gradually the tumult in the clearing died down. “After some discussion,” she continued, “I have decided to allow Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf to stay with SkyClan—at their request—since Yarrowleaf is very close to kitting. But they will be on probation until the kits are born and weaned.”

Another outcry erupted in the clearing. Though Alderheart could see that some of the cats approved of Leafstar’s decision, most of them did not.

“Traitors!” some cat screeched.

“They followed Darktail!

“Drive them out!”

“No ShadowClan cat could ever be trusted!” Breezepelt of WindClan yowled.

He’s hardly the cat to talk about trustworthiness! Alderheart thought. He was glad to see that many cats, including some of his own Clan, turned to glare at Breezepelt.

Bramblestar was one of them. “That’s not true,” he declared. “ShadowClan was one of the original five Clans, and a noble Clan. Just because it no longer exists doesn’t mean that its cats shouldn’t be respected.”