If I’m going to save the Clans, will I have to let Blossomfall continue, and maybe die there?

“Hold on!”

Ivypool was dragged out of her dark thoughts by Blossomfall’s voice up ahead. The tortoiseshell warrior had paused at a spot where the trees thinned out; bounding forward, Ivypool found herself at the edge of the clearing where Icecloud had fallen into the tunnel. She could see the pile of sticks that Dustpelt and Brackenfur had placed there, weaving them together to cover the hole.

Her pads prickled with curiosity. She had passed this place before on patrol, but this was her first chance to have a closer look at it. She exchanged a glance with Blossomfall, seeing her own excitement reflected in the other cat’s eyes.

“Shall we?” she prompted.

Blossomfall nodded, and the two she-cats padded down the slope side by side. Reaching the hole, Ivypool stretched out her neck to sniff at the covering. Blossomfall gave the woven sticks a nudge with her head, and let out a trill of surprise as the whole covering shifted to one side.

“Hey, look,” she meowed, pushing it farther. “We can see right down into the tunnel! Let’s explore!”

A weird feeling crept over Ivypool as she gazed down into the hole. She felt strangely reluctant to go near it. “What about hunting?”

“We can hunt later,” Blossomfall replied, her eyes sparkling. Fueled by excitement, she seemed to have thrown off her earlier exhaustion. “Let’s explore!”

While Ivypool remained standing beside the hole, fighting against the apprehension that had seized her, Blossom fall searched through the long grass and came back dragging a branch. “Help me lower it,” she puffed, pushing one end into the hole. “Then we can use it to climb.” She scrambled down as soon as she and Ivypool had maneuvered the branch into position, with the narrow end resting on the lip of the hole.

“Come on!” she called to Ivypool. “The tunnel goes on forever, all the way under the hill!”

Still reluctant, Ivypool edged her way into the hole, feeling the branch bounce beneath her paws. She dug in her claws, but the bark was dry and crumbly. She was no more than halfway to the bottom when it gave way and she felt her paws slipping from under her. Letting out a startled screech, Ivypool crashed down into the hole with the branch falling on top of her. Scrabbling her way through dry leaves and twigs, she gazed up at the ragged scrap of blue sky above her head. There was no way to climb out now.

“We’re stuck!” she whispered.

Shadows wreathed around her, and every hair on her pelt rose. She couldn’t explain it, but she was certain that there was something terribly wrong down here. Chilly darkness loomed from the mouth of the tunnel and somehow she knew that they weren’t alone.

Blossomfall’s eyes were gleaming in the half-light. “Now we have to keep going,” she mewed delightedly.

“But it’s dangerous!” Ivypool protested.