I pounded alongside the Thunderpath, the image of Hollyleaf still fresh in my mind. I remembered the look of sheer horror on Jayfeather's face as he desperately tried to dig out our beloved sister. Lionblaze had a look of steel on his face, but his eyes betrayed his true emotions. We were all devastated-Hollyleaf had tried to escape Clan life, but not like this. Not death. After she had told the truth of our heritage, her world came crumbling down. She couldn't stand the fact that her whole life had been built on a web of lies. And now, after that tragedy, we went racing back to camp. I abruptly stopped and turned around. I signaled to my brothers with my tail to halt, too. "We need an excuse."
"What do you mean?" Lionblaze inquired. Jayfeather had a blank expression on his face that I couldn't read. "I mean, what are cats gonna say when Hollyleaf never comes back to camp? What is our excuse? We can't let her be known as Ashfur's killer and a coward who ran from Clan life because she couldn't take it!" Jayfeather came to his senses and was jolted out of his trance. "We could just tell them that she was hunting and accidentally fell down the tunnel. They could think she died feeding her Clan. A noble death." I thought about it for a heartbeat, then said, "Brilliant! The perfect lie." Then the truth hit me-my only sister had just died. My legs crumpled from beneath me, and I fell to the hard packed forest ground.
"Mosspelt!" I awoke to the gentle calling of my name, and I blinked my eyes open in response. "Oh thank StarClan! I thought you joined Hollyleaf in Silverpelt!" I saw the concern in Jayfeather's eyes, but I didn't comprehend what was going on. Suddenly, it all came flooding back-the passing out, running, Hollyleaf. "No!" I wailed and threw my head back in despair. "What is it?" Jayfeather asked, confusion clouding his normally clear blue eyes. I tried to respond, but I was too choked up to speak. Lionblaze came pounding into the den, claws unsheathed and everything. "What happened?" he exclaimed before Jayfeather could respond. Eventually I stopped crying to ask where I was. "The medicine cat den," Jayfeather explained gently. "Why?" I asked, suddenly confused. "Don't you remember? You fainted on the way back to report Hollyleaf's death." "Oh yeah, when she tried to-" Jayfeather cut me off. "Careful," he hissed, his warm breath stirring my ear fur. "Leafpool is sorting herbs in the cleft back there." He nodded his head in the direction of the dusky brown she-cat. "Today's her last day as medicine cat-she says she's going to resign and become a warrior." Shock spread across my face and I didn't try to conceal it. "What? That's outrageous! She couldn't knock a ShadowClan cat off its paws if it were sleeping!" "I know, but after Hollyleaf told every cat in the Clans, she thinks she doesn't deserve to be medicine cat, since she had a kit and all. We're lucky she had an apprentice!" I sighed in exasperation and wished I could just run away from my problems like I could hide in a warm den on a rainy day. "Poor Leafpool," I murmured to myself. My whiskers twitched and I attempted to get up out of the nest. "Ack!" I yelped as I plopped back down into my nest. A wave of pain had passed through my body and sent a chill down my spine. "Mosspelt! I should've warned you-you hit your head pretty hard. I'm going to have to keep you in my den for a sunrise or two." Jayfeather looked at me and I could tell that he was trying hard to hold on to his temper. "Sorry, it's just I can't do nothing for a whole day!" I explained. "I'm not saying that you're boring," I added quickly before he became defensive. As if reading my mind, he said, "It's okay. I know that you're tired and you need your rest. Why don't you just go back to sleep, and we'll wake you at dawn tomorrow." I twitched my whiskers in response, then lay my head back down to sleep. As my head hit the moss, I was swept into another world.
I opened my eyes to a wide, lush forest, crawling with prey, the air thick with warmth. I smelled lots of cats, and the moist, cool grass felt nice on my paw pads as I trotted to the main source of the smell. Before I got close, a she-cat with wild gray fur and a broad face intercepted me. "Hi!" I said cheerily. "Hello," she mewed calmly. "I am from StarClan."
"Woah!" I exclaimed. After the cat told me their origins, I noticed that their fur had a slight starry tinge to them. "I am Yellowfang, ThunderClan's old medicine cat. You may have heard of me."
"Yeah, I have! Didn't you originally come from ShadowClan?" I asked. "Yes, I did. I have come to warn you about the Three. You may have known, you are a part of a prophecy. Did you know if it was you or Hollyleaf or Lionblaze or Jayfeather?" "Well, I thought it was Hollyleaf, Lionblaze and Jayfeather. I was jealous, but I didn't think I had a special power like the rest of them. Hollyleaf just had something about her, Lionblaze can fight really good and Jayfeather can walk in other cats' dreams. I thought I was average, like Birchfall, or Hazeltail or Poppyfrost." "Well, you're not. You are one of the Three." "What's my power?" "You have to figure out your power yourself. There are some things that even cats of StarClan don't know." Then the starry cat faded, until all I could see was a cluster of stars right in front of my muzzle.
"Wake up, Mosspelt!" I heard someone murmuring softly to me. "Wha-" I said, my words slurred out of grogginess from sleep. "It's me, Lionblaze," he whispered. When my mind cleared, I noticed an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Hollow. The raw memory of Hollyleaf burned in my mind. I was irate at StarClan-how could they be so cruel? The sadness in Lionblaze's gaze made me forget what it was like to be enthusiastic about life. The world felt like it was crumbling down around me.