Lost Stars

The medicine cats exchanged glances with one another, their eyes wide with dismay.

“I’m afraid this isn’t just ice,” Willowshine meowed. “StarClan has never abandoned us for this long.”

Frecklewish nodded grimly. “We have to do something.”

“We’ll have to tell the Clan leaders what is happening,” Alderheart meowed. “They have to understand how we all sense that StarClan has turned away from us. Jayfeather, I know you’ve had a bad feeling about this, and I’m beginning to think you’re right. What if we’ve angered StarClan somehow? So they don’t want us to be close to them anymore?”

Gasps and murmurs of surprise came from the other cats, and Jayfeather rolled his sightless eyes. “At last! It took you long enough.”

Alderheart ignored his Clanmate’s harsh tone. “What if our connection to StarClan is lost forever?” he mewed somberly.

Shadowpaw felt a twinge in his chest at the ThunderClan cats’ words. What if they’re right?

The twinge spread throughout his body and became a tingling feeling; Shadowpaw sensed that a nearby presence was trying to signal to him. He turned in a circle, looking for it, but he could see nothing except darkness and the cascade of icicles above the frozen Moonpool.

“What are you doing?” Puddleshine asked.

Shadowpaw looked up at his mentor. “I’m not sure,” he replied, “but I think we should wait. I sense there’s some kind of power here—something trying to get through.”

“What?” Fidgetflake exclaimed.

Willowshine lashed her tail. “What do you mean, ‘some kind of power’? Have you got bees in your brain?”

“This is ridiculous,” Jayfeather snorted. “Why should we listen to this ShadowClan apprentice? His so-called visions are nothing like the way StarClan usually makes contact with us. Does anyone find it suspicious that only ShadowClan is getting visions?”

Shadowpaw’s first reaction was to take offense at the cranky ThunderClan cat’s dismissive tone. But then he started to ask himself if Jayfeather might be right.

Then, to his surprise, Puddleshine spoke up. “Shadowpaw may be only a ShadowClan cat,” he meowed somewhat sarcastically, “as am I, but he has received important visions since he was a kit. Visions that we’ve all seen come to pass. I’m inclined to trust his instincts.”

While Puddleshine was speaking, a light snow began to fall, drifting over the cats’ fur. Jayfeather gave his pelt an irritable shake. “Snow!” he spat. “Just what the Moonpool needs!” Then he turned back to Puddleshine. “If we run after this foolish cat’s flight of fancy, where will that bring us?” he demanded. “Nowhere good, that’s for sure.”

“But we have nothing else to go on,” Puddleshine pointed out calmly. “StarClan isn’t here to guide us.”

More protests broke out at Puddleshine’s words. Shadowpaw found it hard to listen, as the familiar pressure began to build up in his head. But he sensed that the medicine cats didn’t want to argue with one another. They’re just unnerved because their connection with StarClan has been broken.

At last Frecklewish’s voice cut through the clamor. “Maybe we don’t need to see StarClan to get messages from them,” she suggested.

“What do you mean?” Alderheart asked, sounding just as confused as Shadowpaw felt.

“StarClan’s messages are all around us, in everything we see,” Frecklewish explained. “Look at the patterns in the frost as they spread across the pool. The ice is thick at the edges, but thinner as you look out toward the center. That must mean that times are hard for the Clans right now, but this leaf-bare will be over soon, and things will get back to normal.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Mothwing commented, nodding understandingly.

Jayfeather gave a disdainful sniff. “If we start thinking like that, we’ll end up seeing signs everywhere and making up what we would like them to mean.”

Shadowpaw was inclined to agree with Jayfeather, even though he would have preferred to believe what Frecklewish said. He heard Kestrelflight break in with a heated objection, but he couldn’t go on listening, because the pressure in his head was building up until he couldn’t bear it anymore. The tingling in his body intensified. He forced his head back to gaze upward; the sky was still dark and starless, but when he closed his eyes, a series of bright images began to flash through his mind: one cat after another, as clear as if they were standing right in front of him.

As images of Twigbranch and Lionblaze flashed before him, a voice echoed inside Shadowpaw’s head. “The Clans have forgotten the code,” the voice whispered. “It has been broken time and time again, and because of the codebreakers, every Clan must pay a price. They must suffer.”

The images continued to flash through Shadowpaw’s mind, faster than before. He saw Crowfeather, Squirrelflight, Mothwing, Tree, Jayfeather . . . Each face tightened Shadowpaw’s chest and made it harder for him to breathe, until one image stopped his breath completely.