The Last Hope

“Really?” Rock looked straight down at him, white eyes shining in the gloom. “Then why has each of you given up before the battle has begun?”

Dovewing flinched away from the stream and slunk back to join the others. Lionblaze dropped his gaze. Before he had time to guess what his Clanmates were thinking, guilt jabbed at Jayfeather’s belly. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting told me that we weren’t enough!” He flung the words at Rock. He hadn’t lost faith without reason! “They told us we couldn’t do it alone; that we needed a fourth cat.”

“And have you found this fourth cat?” Rock hissed.

Jayfeather shrunk back. “We didn’t know where to look.”

Rock cut him off. “You’ve gossiped and guessed. There’s no time for that! Find this cat! Choose your destiny! That is the Clan’s last hope!”

The moonlight suddenly flickered as though clouds were passing over the hole in the roof, and Jayfeather noticed eyes blinking from the darkness below Rock’s ledge. Cats were crouched there, watching. Jayfeather crept closer to the stream and tasted the air. These weren’t StarClan cats. The scent of endless sky and wind-scorched stone clung to their fur, as though they came from more ancient times. Were these Rock’s Clanmates? Jayfeather stiffened as he tasted one scent among the others that made his heart quicken. Half Moon!

Now he could see her pale white pelt among the others. And then he noticed another shape, much larger than the others. A badger ambled forward out of the shadow.

Dovewing pressed against Jayfeather, her eyes sparking with surprise. “Is that Midnight?” she whispered. “From the nursery stories?”

Jayfeather nodded.

Lionblaze nudged his shoulder. “Who are the others?”

Jayfeather gazed at Half Moon. “They are Ancient cats.” Looking closer, he recognized Broken Shadow and Owl Feather among less familiar pelts. “Some are from the Tribe from long ago.”

“We have waited long.” Midnight’s rumbling growl sounded across the stream. The old badger’s round, black eyes fixed on Dovewing. “Learn who to trust. It is heart that knows truth.” She turned her wide, striped head toward Lionblaze. “Don’t close eyes and wait for path to choose you. Choose path and follow it.”

Jayfeather leaned forward, waiting to hear the words Midnight would share with him.

“You!” He flinched as her gaze pierced him. “When all cats have closed eyes, we gave the gift of sight to the cat who is blind. You see more than most, but look inside, too. See your own strength.”

Was that it? See your own strength. Frustration shot through Jayfeather. “Stop talking in riddles. Tell us how to save the Clans! At least, tell us who the fourth cat is!”

Rock growled from the ledge. “We have seen your weakness. Do you want us to make you weaker?” With a shove of his paw, he sent grit and stone showering down. Two pale shards—like broken bones—thudded onto the earth below. “You haven’t tried hard enough!” he snapped.

Jayfeather hardly heard him. His attention was fixed on the pieces of wood that had fallen from the ledge. He darted forward and leaped over the stream, weaving between the Ancient cats until he was standing beside the scattering of debris.

My stick!

His heart quickened as he saw the twin halves of the ancient branch. In the watery moonlight, he could still see the scratches that had recorded the lives and deaths of so many cats lost in the tunnels countless moons ago.

“All those brave warriors!” Rock hissed down to him. “They took their chance in the darkness and found their way back to the light.”

Jayfeather gazed at the half scratches etched in the wood. “Some didn’t,” he murmured. He felt Broken Shadow flinch beside him. Fallen Leaves’s death was marked there.

More grit showered down as Rock peered over the ledge. “But they tried!”

Broken Shadow moved closer. “So many cats have waited for you,” she whispered.

“Since before the dawn of the Clans!” Rock added.

Jayfeather looked up and saw Half Moon staring at him. “What gives you the right to abandon us?” she pleaded, and he saw many lifetimes of sorrow in her eyes. Jayfeather felt hackles rising around him. He backed away as growls rumbled in the throats of the Ancients. A screech rang around the cave.

“How dare you abandon us?”

Jayfeather sprang back across the stream and crouched beside Lionblaze. The Ancients were advancing on them, pelts bristling, eyes flaming.

“Would you let us all die again?” Rock screeched from the ledge.

Water washed Jayfeather’s paws. He jerked back but only splashed deeper into wetness. Was the stream flooding? Panic rose as he looked down. The river had broken its banks and was washing the cave floor, but it wasn’t black anymore. It was red.

Blood! It streamed around Jayfeather’s paws, drenching his fur. He swallowed back a yowl of terror. This is all my fault! Jayfeather blinked open his eyes and found himself blind and awake. His pelt was spiked with fear; his heart pounded so hard it seemed to shake his whole body.