Jayfeather limped back to the medicine cats’ den through the damp scents of twilight. His legs ached and his head throbbed where he had grazed it colliding with a tree. He was too exhausted to look for any herbs to treat himself. “I hope Leafpool’s happy,” he grumbled as he curled up in his nest. “I’ll probably be too stiff to do anything tomorrow.”

He closed his eyes—and then opened them a heartbeat later to find himself in deep, lush forest, with starlight dancing on the leaves. His aches and pains had vanished and a warm, scent-laden breeze soothed his fur. Leaf-bare in the waking forest was only a distant memory.

A narrow path wound ahead of him through arching clumps of fern. Jayfeather began to follow it, ears pricked as he glanced around for any familiar cats. He could hear rustling in the undergrowth on either side and he caught glimpses of furry pelts, as if there were cats all around him, but none of them emerged to greet him.

“Who’s there?” he called out. “Yellowfang? Bluestar? Can any cat hear me?”

There was no reply. Becoming more frustrated with every paw step, Jayfeather followed the track until it reached a clearing covered with soft grass. A small pool was at the center, reflecting the stars. There were still no cats in sight.

“Where are you?” Jayfeather wailed, stepping out into the open. “Why won’t you talk to me?”

Fronds of bracken dipped and rustled at the opposite side of the clearing, and Spottedleaf appeared. Jayfeather’s rush of relief died when he saw how warily she was regarding him, her tail kinked high over her back.

“Spottedleaf…?” he began uncertainly.

“We can’t give you the answers you’re seeking,” the tortoiseshell she-cat interrupted. “Go back to your Clan. That is where the truth lies.”

“But—you must tell me more than that!” Jayfeather begged. “Did StarClan know all along that Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw weren’t our parents?”

Anger flared in Spottedleaf’s green eyes. “When will you realize that StarClan doesn’t know everything?” she snarled, lashing her tail. “Sometimes we have questions, too! Sometimes we’re just cats, like you!”

Without giving Jayfeather a chance to reply, she whipped around and vanished into the ferns.

Jayfeather sprang forward to pursue her, only to feel the ground give way beneath his paws. He jolted awake in his own den, opening his eyes onto darkness. He stretched his jaws wide, longing to wail like a kit abandoned by its mother.

They’ve all left me: Hollyleaf and Lionblaze, all the rest of my Clanmates, and now StarClan as well. I’m completely alone.

Even his belief in the prophecy, which had once seemed to promise so much, had been built on a lie.

I may as well be blind in my sleep, too. What am I going to do now?

CHAPTER 10

Hollyleaf shifted uneasily in the makeshift nest under the tree roots. Beside her, Lionblaze’s ears and tail were twitching, as if his sleep was disturbed by dark dreams. Hollyleaf wasn’t sure how he managed to sleep at all, so close to the Twolegplace. Even in the middle of the night, monsters growled, Twolegs shrieked, and dogs barked.