The Last Hope

MISTYSTAR—gray she-cat with blue eyes

DEPUTY

REEDWHISKER—black tom

APPRENTICE, HOLLOWPAW (dark brown tabby tom)

MEDICINE CAT

MOTHWING—dappled golden she-cat

APPRENTICE, WILLOWSHINE (gray tabby she-cat)

WARRIORS

GRAYMIST—pale gray tabby she-cat

APPRENTICE, TROUTPAW (pale gray tabby she-cat)

MINTFUR—light gray tabby tom

ICEWING—white she-cat with blue eyes

MINNOWTAIL—dark gray she-cat

APPRENTICE, MOSSYPAW(brown-and-white she-cat)

PEBBLEFOOT—mottled gray tom

APPRENTICE, RUSHPAW(light brown tabby torn)

MALLOWNOSE—light brown tabby tom

ROBINWING—tortoiseshell-and-white tom

BEETLEWHISKER—brown-and-white tabby tom

PETALFUR—gray-and-white she-cat

GRASSPELT—light brown tom

QUEENS

DUSKFUR—brown tabby she-cat

MOSSPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

ELDERS

DAPPLENOSE—mottled gray she-cat

POUNCETAIL—ginger-and-white tom

CATS OUTSIDE THE CLANS

SMOKY—muscular gray-and-white tom who lives in a barn at the horseplace

FLOSS—small gray-and-white she-cat who lives at the horseplace

OTHER ANIMALS

MIDNIGHT—a star-gazing badger who lives by the sea

Maps

Prologue

A jagged ridge sliced across the horizon, piercing the black sky with its peaks. Four shapes, their pelts flecked by starlight, crouched on the silvered granite where the highest summit pushed into ice-cold wind.

“We have come.” The white she-cat hunched down harder against the chill reaching for her bones. “Just as you asked us to.”

Her companion dipped his head to the cats who had been waiting for them. “Greetings, Owl Feather, Broken Shadow.”

“Greetings, Slant.” Broken Shadow spiked her thick fur, muffling the stone-cold air. Her eyes reflected the rushing stars as she met the white cat’s gaze. “It is good to meet you again, Half Moon.” As she spoke, two more pelts moved like shadow over the stone.

“Bluestar, Spottedleaf, I’m glad to see you.” Half Moon welcomed the StarClan warriors as they settled beside the four Ancients.

Bluestar curled her tail over her paws. “We have come to prepare for the end,” she meowed solemnly.

Owl Feather narrowed her yellow eyes. “And to believe what we have to tell you?”

Spottedleaf let out a low growl. “Bluestar has always believed! It is the others we need to convince.”

“We’re running out of time!” Slant snapped.

The sky spun around them, its stars racing until they blurred into silver streaks—but the mountaintop seemed caught in stillness, like a warrior before the final pounce.

Bluestar’s eyes glistened. “The Clans will make their own choices. I can do no more.”

Slant leaned closer. “But the prophecies helped, didn’t they?”

“Yes.” Bluestar glanced at her medicine cat. “Spottedleaf recognized the flaming star that led me to Firestar.”

Owl Feather acknowledged Spottedleaf with a blink. “She used her gift well. All along, it has been Firestar’s kin who hold the last hope of the Clans in their paws.”

“What about the fourth?” Slant leaned forward, anxiety pricking his gaze. “When will they find the fourth cat?”

“The fourth must be found soon,” fretted Broken Shadow. “There is so little time left.”

Owl Feather’s tail twitched. “Are you sure we’ve done enough?”

“We have done everything we could.” Half Moon’s amber gaze flicked toward two figures clambering over the rocks toward them. “Midnight, is that you?”

“I come with Rock.” The great she-badger lumbered onto the smooth granite. Rock stepped out behind her, his furless body pale in the moonlight.

Broken Shadow shifted her paws. “Greetings, Midnight. I… I didn’t realize that you knew Rock.”

“Since the dawn of your time, we have known each other,” Midnight rumbled, turning her wide, striped head. “Since first cat put paw beside water.”

Rock sat down on the cold stone. His blind blue eyes were round and white as moons. “We watched the first sunrise over the lake.”

“It burst water into flame,” Midnight recalled. “And in fiery reflection we see future of all cats: Tribe of Rushing Water, five Clan, four Clan, forest, and lake.”

“We saw your whole journey, from lake to forest and back.” Rock tipped his head as if watching the cats process in front of him. “The prophecies all came from that first reflected sunrise—the cat with a pelt of flame that would save the Clans, the silver cat who would save the Tribe of Rushing Water, and finally the four who would carry the last hope, not just of the Clans, but of light itself.”

Midnight’s claws scratched the granite. “Now we fear we see a final sunset that ends your story.”

Half Moon stepped forward. “But the four? They will save us, surely?”