“Where did it go?” Ivypool asked, puzzled.

Blossomfall was too exhausted to reply. She dragged herself into the open and collapsed into a patch of sunlight beside an oak stump. Looking around, Ivypool thought she caught a glimpse of movement among the ferns a few tail-lengths away.

“Thank you!” she called.

There was no response, and in the same heartbeat the movement ceased. The mouth of the tunnel gaped open among rocks where water had trickled down to form a small pool. Ivypool clawed up a pawful of moss and soaked it in the water for Blossomfall to drink.

“Thanks!” the she-cat gasped, sitting up. “Wow, that place was weird! It’s good to be out in the sun again.”

“We’d better get back to camp,” Ivypool meowed. “Are you fit to travel?”

“I’d better be,” Blossomfall replied grimly.

Examining her Clanmate, Ivypool wasn’t so sure. Both cats were filthy and exhausted, their pads cracked from walking on hard stone. But as well as her injuries from the Dark Forest training, Blossomfall had a bump on her head from the rock fall that almost closed one of her eyes.

“We’ll take it slowly,” Ivypool murmured. She wasn’t even sure where they were. There are too many trees for this to be WindClan, she thought, gazing around at the ancient oaks and beeches, and the tangled undergrowth between them. But suppose we’ve come up in the middle of ShadowClan? What if we meet a patrol?

She said nothing of her worries to Blossomfall, but she thought that her Clanmate had worked out the dangers for herself. She was nervous, jumping at the slightest rustle in the undergrowth, and Ivypool’s paws prickled with apprehension with every step she took. She felt vast relief as she detected an overwhelming scent of ThunderClan just ahead, and a few heartbeats later they crossed the border into their own territory.

“Thank StarClan for that!” Blossomfall exclaimed. “Ivypool, what do you think we ought to say when we get back to camp?”

“Not the truth,” Ivypool responded instantly.

Blossomfall halted, bristling, and Ivypool added, “We’re already lying to our Clanmates, in a way, by not telling them about the Dark Forest.”

“That’s different,” Blossomfall muttered.

Though Ivypool didn’t argue, she felt privately that one lie more or less wasn’t going to make much difference.

“We’ll have to say that we got lost,” Blossomfall went on, limping forward once more.

Well, that’s not being entirely honest, is it? Ivypool thought. “Right, really lost,” she mewed out loud.

As they drew closer to the stone hollow, they managed to pick up the pace, but it was well after sunhigh by the time they stumbled through the thorn tunnel and into the camp. Several of their Clanmates were crouched around the fresh-kill pile; Ivypool spotted Sandstorm and Thornclaw, back from the hunting patrol. Firestar and Graystripe were both there, along with her mother, Whitewing, and more of the senior warriors. She braced herself for trouble. When Ivypool and Blossomfall padded forward, their Clanmates looked up, staring at them mid-mouthful; Brackenfur had a mousetail dangling from his jaws, while Sorreltail had a blackbird feather stuck to her nose.