Welcome to Dancing Souls, Hidden Lies, the "sequel" to Dancing Shadows. This time Bumblestripe is the main character! Now if anyone is wondering where Shadow and the others are…they'll be in it soon enough, I promise. :). Anyway, enjoy chapter 1!

"Bumblestripe! Bumblestripe!"

Bumblestripe murmured to himself and rolled over in his sleep. The voice was still there, saying his name over and over. Finally giving in, he cracked open his amber eyes to see Briarlight standing over him.

"What is it?" asked Bumblestripe, getting to his feet.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to go on a hunting patrol with me," said his sister. She blinked and winced, "Oh. I forgot you were on night patrol last night. Maybe you don't want to go?"

Bumblestripe shook his head, "No. It's fine."

"Great!" said Briarlight happily before bounding out of the warriors den.

Bumblestripe chuckled before following his sister outside. It was almost impossible to believe that a couple moons ago she was unable to walk. No one was sure how it happened but the elders and older warriors thought it was the will of StarClan…or Cinderheart had something to do with it.

Cinderheart.

Bumblestripe remembered her well. She, along with her niece Cherrykit had gone missing after they took a walk by the lake. Two days later Cidnerheart was found by the lake spouting weird things. She was only back for a night before she disappeared again and Briarlight was healed.

When he walked out of the warriors den he spotted Poppyfrost by the fresh-kill pile. The she-cat looked dead; it was like she was having trouble just putting one paw in front of the other. Bumblestripe remembered Molepaw's apprentice ceremony. Poppyfrost was not happy for her kit becoming an apprentice. Instead she had begged Molepaw to not disappear like his sister did. The kit had agreed but now that he was out of the nursery he spent less and less time with his worrying mother.

Jayfeather wasn't sure what to do with her. Bumblestripe had tried to comfort Poppyfrost on multiple occasions without luck. The she-cat refused to accept sympathy from anyone. Not even Berrynose could snap her out of it.

Briarlight, who was near the camp exit, bounded back over to Bumblestripe. "Hey, what's wrong?" She followed his line of sight to Poppyfrost and her face fell. "Oh," she put her tail on Bumblestripe's shoulder. 'Don't worry. She's just going through a rough time. She'll be okay soon."

"I hope so," mumbled Bumblestripe.

"Briarlight!" Millie bounded over to her kit from the sunning rocks. Graystripe was watching with amusement in his eyes from one of the rocks. It was obvious the two had been sharing tongues before Millie had spotted Briarlight. "Are you sure you're okay? Your legs don't feel funny or anything?"

"I'm fine Millie!" said Briarlight with a laugh. She wiggled her back paws one at a time to show her mother and she moved her tail as well. "See?"

Millie sighed in relief but she warned, "If you feel anything wrong come back here right away."

"I know," said Briarlight. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Bumblestripe will be with me."

Millie turned to Bumblestripe like she had just noticed that he had been standing next to Briarlight. "Take care of her okay? Make sure nothing bad happens to her."

"I know Millie," replied Bumblestripe. Sometimes Millie wondered if Briarlight would ever get room to breathe. Millie was always worried about her. He had thought it would go away after Briarlight's legs were miraculously healed but it seemed to get worse. Now Millie would worry about Briarlight getting into a horrible accident and her legs becoming useless again.

"Well, be careful," said Millie with a hesitant voice. "And please…don't vanish…like they did."

"We won't," promised Briarlight. She turned away from Millie and gestured with her head that Bumblestripe follow her. "Come on. We're going to catch no prey at this rate."

"Right," said Bumblestripe with a purr. He bid his mother goodbye before he followed Briarlight out of the camp and into the ThunderClan forest.

"Finally," said Briarlight. She ran a bit into the forest until she was a good distance away from the camp before she waited for Bumblestripe to catch up to her. "Millie can get so…"

"She's just worried about you," said Bumblestripe when he caught up to her. "Your legs healed for no explainable reason. She's worried that they will break with no reason too."

Briarlight sighed, "I know but still. It's suffocating sometimes to be around her. Plus somehow I don't think they will break." She seemed to be lost in thought. "I don't really remember what happened but something happened that night when Cinderheart came back. I think she gave me something to drink. I remember her scent. I wasn't fully awake but I felt something go into my throat."

Bumblestripe had heard this story before. Briarlight had told him this theory a day after it happened. He didn't know if he could believe it though. It just sounded so absurd. What could Cinderheart give Briarlight that would heal the wounds that even Jayfeather could do nothing about?

"Blossomfall! Dovewing!" yowled Briarlight suddnely.

Bumblestripe's head shot up and he saw the two she-cats were walking towards them. Based on the fresh-kill in both of their mouths, they were coming back from a hunting patrol. Blossomfall's eyes flashed with anger and she looked away from Briarlight. Bumblestripe's fur grew hot when Dovewing looked at him. He looked away quickly to avoid saying something mouse-brained in front of her.

Dovewing put down the mouse she was holding and spoke, "Hello Bumblestripe, Briarlight. You two going on a patrol?"

"Yup," said Brairlight happily. "A hunting patrol." She laughed, "Weird that I get excited for these things right? Even though it's been a couple of moons I'm still happy that I can do things like this again." She turned to Blossomfall, "We should go on a patrol sometime soon too. To catch up and such."

Blossomfall didn't say anything. Instead she gestured with her tail that she was going to go into the camp before she walked away. Bumblestripe sighed as he watched her go. She was still holding a grudge over Briarlight becoming the only kit in Millie's eyes. Bumblestripe had wanted to talk to Graystripe about it but he thought against it. This was a problem between the three she-cats.

Briarlight's face fell and her tail drooped. "She still hates me…"

"Don't worry," said Dovewing. "Blossomfall will realize soon enough that it's not your fault." She turned her blue eyes to Bumblestripe and she said, "Well, I should get going."

"Uh right," stammered Bumblestripe, not looking at her.

When Dovewing was safely in camp, Briarlight purred in amusement, "That was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen."

"Oh stop it," said Bumblestripe. "Anyway, let's go." He took off into the forest, in an attempt to divert Briarlight's mind. He wondered if Dovewing knew about his feelings for her. He hoped not. He wanted to tell her himself. Of course getting enough courage plus the fact that she might not like him back stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

Bumblestripe stopped in his tracks and looked around. He realized with a jolt that he had went too far north and now near the moonpool. "Sorry," he said, turning around to face Briarlight. "I was too lost in thought. We probably shouldn't hunt near here since it's neutral ground."

Briarlight shook her head. "That's fine," she said with a small laugh, "It's amusing to watch you squirm though." She turned her head and gestured with her tail to the small stream nearby. "The moonpool is near here right?" She turned back to her brother, excitement in her eyes, "We should go see it! The moonpool!"

Bumblestripe shook his head, "Come on Briarlight. We're not medicine cats. We shouldn't go to the moonpool."

Briarlight sighed, "Fine." She didn't stay upset for long though. "So, where should we hunt then?"

"Maybe near the abandoned two-legged nest?" suggested Bumblestripe. "A lot of fresh-kill can be found there." He thought for a moment which direction they needed to go before he got to his paws. "Let's head over there Briarlight."

When he didn't hear a confirmation from his sister he turned to check on her. "Briarlight?"

The she-cat was staring at something. Bumblestripe followed her line of sight but all he saw was a tree. Concerned now, he hurried over to Briarlight's side. Her eyes were uncannily staring at something that he couldn't see. "Briarlight? Briarlight? Are you okay?"

"Something…there…" she said in a trance-like voice. She took a step forward and then another.

"Briarlight, where are you going?" asked Bumblestripe. Fear rose up within him. What was going on here? What was wrong with her? "Briarlight! Briarlight!"

Briarlight didn't seem to be able to hear her brother. Instead she kept walking. He didn't know if he should grab her by the scruff or let her keep going wherever she was going. After thinking about it for a few seconds he decided to follow her for now. Maybe this was a message from StarClan?

Briarlight's path was steady and slow. Bumblestripe realized that they were heading for the moonpool. Why there though? "Come on Briarlight," said Bumblestripe. "Snap out of it!"

Briarlight seemed unable to hear him. She kept up her slow deliberate pace. Soon the moonpool came into view and Bumblestripe stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide.

There was a…something by the moonpool. It wasn't a cat but it was. The eyes were larger, paws were bigger, the tail longer. It looked like a stretched out gray cat. The onw thing that really set it apart was its blood red eyes. They were cold and menacing and sent chills through Bumblestripe. Noticing that Briarlight was walking towards whatever that was, Bumblestripe reached forward and grasped Briarlight's scruff and yanked her back.

"No!" he thought. He could feel danger coming off the cat-thing. It probably did something to Briarlight. She was not resisting him pulling her back but she wasn't helping him either.

"Release her."

Bumblestripe wasn't sure where the voice had come from. A second later he realized it was from the thing in front of him. The creature got to its large paws and took a couple of steps towards the two ThunderClan cat. Every fiber of Bumblestripe's being was telling him to run. This…thing was dangerous.

He wanted to flee; he wanted to be anywhere but here. However there was no way he was going to leave his sister behind like this. This monster did something to her to make her so docile.

"I said release her," it spoke again.

Hearing the voice, it seemed to have a very male-like quality to it. Of course this was no time to dwell on that fact. Bumblestripe took another step back, dragging his sister along with him.

The red eyes narrowed and the jaw opened to reveal a sharp set of teeth. "Fine," came the voice again.

He didn't know how it happened. One second the creature was standing a couple fox lengths away and the next it was right in front of Bumblestripe's face. His amber eyes widen as one of the huge paws shot out and connected with Bumblestripe's head. The tom yowled in pain as he was knocked to the side. He staggered a few steps and shook his head to clear his vision.

"Briarlight!" he yowled when he saw the monster with Briarlight in tow. It was leading her with a paw to the moonpool. No way. There was no way he was going to let this thing take his sister.

Releasing a caterwaul Bumblestripe pushed off with his back legs. With claws unsheathed he landed on the monster's back and dug his claws deep into the creature's fur. Immediately it bucked and tried to get Bumblestripe off of its back.

Feeling his claws loosening, Bumblestripe reached forward and opened his jaw and bit down hard into its shoulder until he tasted blood. His amber eyes widen and he released the shoulder and fell to the ground. His body felt like it was on fire.

His vision was blurry and there was a loud ringing in his ears. What had happened? When he bit that thing…what did it do to him?

No!

H could see the thing leading Briarlight to the moonpool. Bumblestripe struggled to his paws and staggered towards the pool. His steps were slow, the pain was horrible. He felt like he was going to die; he was going to burn to death right here.

The thing looked back at him once before it pushed Briarlight into the moonpool before following suit. The moonpool wasn't that deep right? Then why couldn't he see that thing and Briarlight anymore? Why weren't they standing in the pool?

Thoughts swirled in Bumblestripe's head as he fell to the ground a couple pawsteps away from the moonpool. No. It couldn't end here. Briarlight. He had to help her. He pushed himself forward, slowly and surely. His vision was beginning to fade, his body becoming weaker and weaker. The fire was still there burning strongly. He felt like he was going to die then and there.

Feeling the edge of the moonpool under his stomach, he gave himself one final push until he was in the water. He could no longer move anymore. His body was on fire and now he couldn't lift his head to breath in air.

Suddenly he felt something grab his scruff and yank him out of the water and onto solid ground. He could see a cat standing over him. A she-cat. Was she speaking? It looked like she was yelling at him but he couldn't be sure of what she was saying. She had pretty gray eyes though. That was Bumblestripe's last thought before the darkness took him.