Outcast

“Come on, Brook.” Stormfur urged his mate toward the cave opening where the glittering water fell. “We’ll go and find the Clans.”

“Brook, if you leave now, you leave forever,” Stoneteller warned.

Brook didn’t even look at him as she and Stormfur padded away.

“Very well,” Stoneteller called after them. “I shall tell the Tribe of Endless Hunting that you are both dead to the cats you leave behind.”

Chapter 9

“Jaypaw! Hey, Jaypaw!” Jaypaw felt a sharp nudge in his side; Hollypaw’s scent drifted over him, tinged with exasperation.

He lurched on his paws, confused at the sudden return to blindness and the scents and sounds of the stone hollow.

Every hair on his pelt still quivered with the feelings of grief and anger and betrayal he had felt in the cave.

Brook! he thought. I was feeling what she felt! And it wasn’t a dream; I’ve been awake all the time. Could I have found a way into her memories?

He drew in his breath sharply, full of excitement at the thought of a new and different power, but there was no time to explore it now.

“Jaypaw, I don’t know how you can daydream at a time like this,” Lionpaw mewed. “We need to listen to find out why these strange cats have come here.”

Jaypaw realized that while he felt as if he had spent several days with the Tribe, here in the clearing only a few heartbeats had passed. The newcomers were still crouched beside the fresh-kill pile, along with Stormfur, Brook, and Firestar.

“I think I know why,” he murmured. “And I don’t think Stormfur and Brook will be too pleased to see them.”

“What do you mean?” Hollypaw asked curiously. “Why wouldn’t they want to see their Tribemates?”

Before Jaypaw could explain—telling the story of his experience would have taken until moonhigh—he heard the harsh voice of Talon.

“Firestar, we have come to ask Stormfur and Brook to return to the mountains. The Tribe of Rushing Water needs them.”

Jaypaw felt his pelt prickling with excitement. The Tribe’s rejection of Brook and Stormfur still rang in his ears. But from the ThunderClan cats he picked up nothing but a cautious interest.

“What?” Stormfur’s voice was a low snarl of outrage. “How dare you come here and ask that? As far as the Tribe is concerned, Brook and I are dead!”

Jaypaw heard gasps of astonishment from the ThunderClan cats. “Told you,” he muttered to his littermates with a shrug.

“Stormfur, I think you’d better explain.” Firestar’s voice was calm, but Jaypaw could tell he was concerned for the two cats who had come to make their lives with ThunderClan.

Stormfur began to tell the story of the invading cats, but Jaypaw didn’t bother to listen. He had lived through it all, and he was far more interested in finding out how he had done it. I must have been inside Brook’s memories. He tried do it again, but the tabby she-cat was concentrating on what her mate was saying and on the reactions of the other cats. Her memories were a blank.

Stormfur stopped at the sound of cats pushing their way through the thorn tunnel.

“Firestar!” Brambleclaw called out. “We scented intruders!”

“The intruders are here,” Firestar replied.

Jaypaw realized that Sandstorm and Squirrelflight were with Brambleclaw.

“Talon! Night!” Squirrelflight meowed. “I thought I recognized Tribe scent.”

“It’s strange to think that our mother and father spent so much time with the Tribe,” Lionpaw murmured.

“Well, we’re not the only ones who can have adventures,” Hollypaw purred.

“It’s great to see you both again,” Squirrelflight went on.

“Why are you here?” She paused, then added, “And why is every cat looking as if the sky has fallen in?”

“I think you’d better hear what Stormfur has to tell us,” Firestar mewed.

The gray warrior began to speak again. Having seen him in Brook’s memories, Jaypaw could picture him now, strong and sleek-furred with anger smoldering in his blue eyes.

“Not long after the Clans left on the Great Journey,” Stormfur meowed, “another group of strange cats came to the mountains.”

“We thought at first they were only passing through,” Brook explained. “We would have welcomed them as guests for a while…”

“But they made it clear they wanted to settle,” Stormfur went on. “They took prey from the Tribe, even hunting close to the cave behind the waterfall.”

“Flea-bitten thieves,” Talon growled.

“We’d never had to share our territory before,” Brook meowed. “We drove out loners now and then, but we didn’t know what to do about such a large group of cats.”

Stormfur took up the story again. “I thought we needed a show of strength to defend our territory. And I led the Tribe cats into battle to make sure the strangers would know not to bother us or steal our prey.”

“They tore us to pieces,” Night mewed angrily.