“Then we’re agreed that—” Furled Bracken began.

“No!” Jayfeather interrupted. The eyes of every cat in the cave turned toward him, shining in the dim gray light. “You can’t go back—I mean, we can’t go back!”

Owl Feather drew her kits closer and glared at Jayfeather. “That’s easy for you to say,” she hissed. “You don’t have kits.”

Suddenly Jayfeather was conscious of Half Moon standing beside him. Flicking her a quick glance, he pressed on. “We can’t give up so soon. We should at least wait until the storm is over to see if we can find a way to catch prey.”

Rising Moon took a pace toward him, lashing her tail. “But we are prey!” she snarled. “How can we hunt if we’re being hunted ourselves?”

Jayfeather’s mind whirled. “We have to find a different way of hunting.” He suddenly recalled how the Tribe divided up the cats into cave-guards and prey-hunters, with their own special duties. “Some of us will hunt, while others will protect them—and our prey—against big birds.”

The cats looked at one another, muttering. Jayfeather could tell that they didn’t have any faith in his idea. But it will work! I’ve seen it working!

“We could try,” Half Moon meowed, standing closer to Jayfeather so that their pelts brushed.

A trickle of warmth crept through Jayfeather at her touch. It was good to have one cat who supported him. “Thanks,” he whispered, touching her ear with his nose.

“Oh, yes, try and have more cats with their fur ripped off!” Jagged Lightning’s neck fur bristled as he stared at Jayfeather.

Yowls of agreement followed his words. Jayfeather almost staggered backward at the wave of hostility he sensed coming from the crowd of cats around Furled Bracken. Half Moon’s support hadn’t been enough.

“Then that’s settled.” Furled Bracken’s gaze swept over the rest of the cats. “We’ll wait until the storm is over, then go back to the lake.”

Jayfeather stood blinking in disbelief as the cats began to shuffle toward the edges of the cave and find places to sleep. This can’t be happening!

“I’m sorry,” Stone Song murmured; he had stood in silence while the argument was going on. “We tried; it’s not our fault we failed. Maybe we’re not supposed to live in the stone hills after all.”

Jayfeather looked into his blue eyes and saw genuine regret there. He was the cat who was most committed to this…and now he was giving up, too! With nothing to say to him, Jayfeather stumbled away. Stone Song doesn’t understand. We’ve failed…. I’ve failed!

“If these cats leave so soon,” he muttered, “how will the Tribe of Rushing Water end up in the mountains?”

Hardly aware of what he was doing, he found his paw steps leading him into the Cave of Pointed Stones. Soft paw steps sounded behind him; glancing back, he saw that Half Moon had followed him. She halted at the mouth of the tunnel, her eyes stretching wide as she took in the cave.