“I think a rock fell from the roof and hit you,” Ivypool replied. “Can you get up?”

Blossomfall scrabbled with her paws, raising her shoulders off the floor, then collapsed with a whimper of pain. “Everything’s whirling,” she complained, her eyes wide and scared. “Oh, Ivypool, do you think we’re going to die down here?”

“Of course we’re not,” Ivypool told her.

“But what if we do? Do you think Millie will miss me?”

Pity rushed through Ivypool from ears to tail-tip. “Of course!” she assured Blossomfall. “Millie loves you just as much as Briarlight.”

As she reassured her Clanmate, Ivypool guessed that this was how Hawkfrost had won Blossomfall over: by giving her the chance to get as much attention as her sister, Briarlight.

Just as he did with Dovewing and me.

She felt sad that Blossomfall was so jealous of her sister for the amount of time her mother and her Clanmates spent with her. Briarlight had lost the use of her legs!

But then, Ivypool thought, I don’t suppose Dovewing’s gift is always so much fun, either. Maybe we should both be grateful for what we have….

Blossomfall hesitated, then shrugged. “Maybe Millie loves me, when she remembers that she has more than one kit.” Stretching out one forepaw, she scraped it against the hard stone of the tunnel floor, so violently that Ivypool was surprised she didn’t wrench her claws out. “I hate myself for feeling jealous of Briarlight,” Blossomfall confessed, not looking at Ivypool. “I can’t bear seeing her suffer and I know Briarlight would give anything to be better and whole again. It’s all so unfair!” Scoring her claws across the rock again, she added, “But I can’t help what I feel, and that proves I’m not a good cat.”

“Of course you are!” Ivypool exclaimed, shocked.

“No. A good cat wouldn’t be jealous of an injured littermate. So that’s why I’ve ended up in the Dark Forest.” She gave Ivypool a sidelong glance. “I’m not stupid. I know it’s where cats go if they’re not allowed into StarClan. But I guess I won’t get into StarClan either, because I hate my sister for being injured. So the Dark Forest is where I fit in, and I’m getting good training, better than anything we get here.” She took in a long, shaking breath and looked around. “Will Hawkfrost come to get us, do you think?”

“I told you, we’re not going to die!” Ivypool put every scrap of conviction she could muster into the words. But what if we do? She couldn’t bear the thought of being trapped in the Dark Forest forever. “Blossomfall, do you think you could try again to get up?”

“Maybe.” Blossomfall gathered her legs under her and managed to stand, though she still looked shaky.

As Ivypool was wondering how far her Clanmate would be able to go, she heard the soft pad of paw steps approaching from behind. Every hair on her pelt rose; she felt as though icy water was creeping over her entire body. It took all the courage she had to turn around.