“Sol?” he called. “Are you there?”

“Greetings.” The voice came from above Lionblaze’s head. He looked up to see Sol sitting on top of one of the walls, half-hidden by the branches of a holly bush stretching in from outside.

The loner rose to his paws and jumped down beside Lionblaze and his littermates. “Greetings,” he repeated. “I see you came—”

“We came to find out the truth!” Hollyleaf shouldered her way past Lionblaze. “Tell us what you know.”

Sol blinked. “It won’t help you, you know. As long as you’re part of the prophecy, why does it matter who your father is?”

“It matters,” Hollyleaf growled.

“Wait.” Lionblaze stepped forward to stand alongside his sister. “I agree with Sol. I’d like to know the truth about my father, but it’s the prophecy that’s important.”

“But we need to know,” Jayfeather argued. “One name, that’s all we want.”

A gleam of cold amusement lit in Sol’s eyes. Lionblaze knew he was enjoying the power he held over them. Suddenly he wasn’t sure that Sol knew anything about their father. Perhaps he was just taunting them, knowing they couldn’t take him back to the Clan. But he had known who they were from the start, and had offered to help….

“This is our chance to fulfill the prophecy,” Lionblaze mewed desperately, turning to his littermates. “Sol knows so much…he even knew when the sun was going to vanish!”

Neither of his littermates responded. Jayfeather just looked stubborn, while Hollyleaf had tensed her muscles as if she was about to pounce on Sol and force him to tell the truth.

No! If she lays a claw on him he’ll never tell us!

Sol’s amber gaze traveled slowly over Hollyleaf; her bristling hostility didn’t ruffle a single hair on his pelt. “Think about what I can offer you,” he meowed softly. “So much more than merely knowing your ancestors! Real power takes much more than that. Listen to me, and I’ll teach you how to truly hold the power of the stars in your paws.”

Hollyleaf let out a furious hiss and crouched to spring.

“No!” Lionblaze yowled. He leaped on his sister, gripped her by the scruff and dragged her outside, ignoring her flailing paws and her screeches of outrage. “Are you mouse-brained?” he demanded, releasing her among the dead bracken outside. “If you make Sol angry, he’ll never help us.”

“Why do we need him?” Jayfeather padded out to join them; his voice was calm, his head tilted on one side. “The prophecy doesn’t say anything about needing help. How can Sol be more powerful than we are?”

“We don’t have the power of the stars yet, do we?” Lionblaze’s belly churned as he tried to make his littermates understand. “Let him teach us what he knows. What harm can it do? And then he’ll tell us who our father is.”

Frustrated, he realized that there had been no point in coming to the Twoleg nest. Neither Hollyleaf nor Jayfeather was prepared to talk sensibly with Sol. They probably believed he killed Ashfur, like the rest of the Clan. They might as well go straight back to the hollow.