“He’s a troublemaker,” Lionblaze agreed, with a yawn.

The question Jayfeather wanted to ask—Do you think he killed Ashfur?—stayed unspoken. All he could pick up from his littermates were sensations of weariness, fear, and misery; he didn’t allow himself to probe deeper into their minds.

“It’s good to have you home,” he told them.

Neither Lionblaze nor Hollyleaf responded. Jayfeather realized that although he had missed his brother and sister with pangs sharp as claws, now that they were back, the murdered body of Ashfur still came between them.

“Come and eat,” he suggested, pushing the thought away. “Then you both need a good sleep.”

I wonder if we’ll get a chance to talk to Sol, he thought as he followed his littermates over to the fresh-kill pile. After all, he’s the only other cat who knows about the prophecy. A new thought occurred to him: Sol talked as if we were definitely the Three referred to in the prophecy. But we can’t be, because Squirrelflight’s not our mother!

Was this something that Sol didn’t know? Or had he been lying to them as well?

CHAPTER 16

Lionblaze woke to the sound of excited mewing and movement around him. He lifted his head to see his Clanmates pushing their way out of the warriors’ den and into the clearing. He staggered to his paws, wincing at the stabs of pain from his aching muscles, and shouldered his way through the branches after them.

The sky was clear, but the sun hadn’t risen far enough to penetrate the hollow. Deep shadows hung over the dens and blanketed Spiderleg in near darkness where he crouched, on watch outside Sol’s nest. But even though it was so early, it looked as if most of ThunderClan was gathered in the clearing. Daisy, Millie, and Whitewing were sitting outside the nursery. Lionblaze saw that they had their tails curled protectively around the kits, who gazed out across the stone hollow with wide, scared eyes. Foxpaw and Icepaw bounded across to join the warriors, feeling the need to be close to the older, more experienced cats.

Hollyleaf was already up, standing with Hazeltail and Brackenfur. She didn’t glance at Lionblaze, and somehow his paws wouldn’t carry him over to her.

It’s as if part of us, part of what we used to be, died with Ashfur!

Firestar emerged from his den on the Highledge and ran lightly down the tumbled rocks to join Graystripe at the bottom. At the appearance of the Clan leader, the excitement in the clearing mounted.

“Here’s Firestar!”

“Now something’s bound to happen!”

Lionblaze flexed his muscles, trying to work the stiffness out of them. He heard a flurry of paw steps, and the dawn patrol raced back into the camp with Thornclaw at their head.

“What’s going on?” the golden brown warrior panted as he skidded to a standstill in the middle of the clearing. “Have we missed anything?”

Brambleclaw padded over to him. “What are you doing here so early?” he demanded. “You can’t have been all the way along the ShadowClan border.”