Chapter 1

Fallenpaw stomped her foot down and dug her claws into the ground. Today was going to be special, she just knew it. She didn't know what exactly she was waiting for, but she knew that it was coming and she had better well be prepared for it. Not far from her, her mentor stood with his tail up, listening.

"What do you hear?" Rockheart coaxed her gently.

Her ears twitched as she listened carefully, hoping to hear something super special so she could impress her mentor and beat her brother, Swamppaw, at the hunting contest.

"Well," she answered, taking her time. "I hear…a rumbling?"

That couldn't be right. There was nothing close to WaterClan territory that created a sound like that. The closest things she could think of were the Redlines and the river. The Redlines were in FireClan territory, which made them too far to make such a noise. Which left the river. She pricked her ears in that direction to listen, and sure enough, she could hear a distinct rumbling sound, but not coming directly from the river. Her ears swiveled back on her head as Rockheart took a step forward and stepped on a wet leaf in the mud.

"What is that?" he asked, and Fallenpaw felt a sense of relief that she wasn't going crazy, nor was she the only one to not understand what they were hearing.

The rumbling grew louder.

Suddenly, Rockheart's ears swiveled back, his eyes widening in panic. "Fallenpaw, run!"

Confused, she turned to look in the direction of the rumbling. Her eyes grew to saucers as she saw through the trees a giant wave of water rushing toward them with the speed of the fastest SoulClan warriors.

Fallenpaw whirled in the mud and tried to run as fast as she could. She was not far from camp. Maybe she had time to warn them.

There was no time. The water crashed down on them with a force powerful enough to kill. Fallenpaw's shriek was cut off as she was engulfed in darkness, the water filling her lungs and eyes, choking her.

Her head snapped up with a gasp of burning air. Where am I? she thought in panic. What's going on? Oh…the apprentices' den. Her breathing slowed. She calmed a little. The hunting contest, the wave, the water, it had all been a dream. But not the panic. That had been real. Her lungs burned with each gulp as her racing heart tried to reach its normal pace.

In his nest, Swamppaw lifted his head tiredly. "Nightmare again?" he asked sleepily. Fallenpaw couldn't catch her breath enough to answer. That seemed to be enough for him. "Same one?" Wordlessly, she nodded. Swamppaw sat up carefully and sniffed her. "Perhaps you should see Cherryfoot again," he suggested.

Fallenpaw shook her head and found words. "Maybe. Not now. I should see if Rockheart wants me for dawn patrol." Dawn was clawing across the sky outside. It was time to get up anyway.

"No need," Beechpaw yawned from across the den. "I'm on dawn patrol with Stripedawn and Waterfur. You might as well join us if you want to stretch your legs."

Fallenpaw jumped up and immediately regretted it. Her legs were sore, as if she had been swimming for a long time in strong current. Swamppaw eyed her suspiciously as she stretched. "Maybe you should stay and rest," he suggested fairly. "We've got a big night tonight. You'll need your strength."

Excitement coursed through Fallenpaw, pushing the nightmare from her mind. Tonight was her first Gathering! She'd get the chance to meet cats from other Clans, a chance she had not had before today. Only once a moon did the Clans meet in peace at the Circle Quad, and interact not as four separate Clans, but as one unit of cats with similar goals. Rockheart had told her a little bit about it on her first training session, but words could only describe the experience so much. There were other important things that Fallenpaw felt she'd missed out on during Rockheart's talk: the emotions she'd feel when seeing all the Clans together under SoulClan, the brush of fur on fur as many cats gathered in one small place, the glint in each leader's eye as they stood on the Flat Rock and spoke under the stars. Those kind of things were things that Rockheart's words could not describe to her, that even she could not fully imagine until she was there and experienced it. Maybe even after experiencing it, she would not fully understand it. Perhaps when she was a seasoned warrior, like Rockheart, she'd understand better.

There was no better place to start than the beginning, Fallenpaw felt. And tonight, she'd get her beginning at the Circle Quad, she just knew it!

"No, I'm fine," she said spritely. "More than fine. I'm great!" She raced out of the den and saw them waiting. Stripedawn, the huge dark tabby, like a stone's shadow as he sat with his eyes closed. Beside him, her mother sat washing. Fallenpaw choked back the purr that raised like a kitten at the sight of her mother. No longer was she a kit. It was time she started acting like a true warrior and running to her mother.

Still, patrolling with her mother would be nice.

"Roottail, you're coming?" Beechpaw's voice sounded disappointed from behind Fallenpaw. "I thought you said I could go out on my own."

"Normally yes," Roottail answered, eying the apprentices as they approached. "But tonight is the Gathering, and all cats will need their energy. I don't want you to overextend yourself." A thrill of happiness wound through her veins. That was something Fallenpaw loved the most about WaterClan- every cat looked out for each other in the way that a mother might her kits. It wasn't expected or demanded, just given freely and accepted when offered.

It was that kindness that set WaterClan apart from the other Clans. Fallenpaw just supposed that that behavior was bred, not raised, which was why WaterClan was the best of the Clans. Of course, the other Clans had their merits, she'd admit that in a heartbeat. StormClan had their honesty and nobility, FireClan their endurance and workmanship, HillClan their stubbornness and unbending courage. WaterClan had their ever-growing hearts and selfless thoughts. The other qualities were good qualities to possess, she supposed, but she was glad her strengths were what they were. Nobody was perfect. At least she had a good start.

"You're coming with us?" Roottail asked, getting to the point. Fallenpaw nodded and was content to leave it at just that, but Beechpaw filled in the blanks anyway.

"Yeah, she was having nightmares, so I invited her along."

Waterfur's ear's perked, something that made Fallenpaw's tail lash and her left ear twitch. "You're having nightmares?" She sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, but I'm fine. A long stretch of the legs will do me some good."

After a long moment, Waterfur nodded.

"Let's go," Roottail gave the command, and the five cats headed out of camp. As soon as they hit the forest, the nightmare that Fallenpaw had had came rushing back to her. To she paused on her way out of the camp entrance and looked down the slope to the Stone Path. That was where the water came from. Well, at least on their territory. Was it a warning from SoulClan? Was something big coming?

If it was, it was sure to start tonight, at her first Gathering.

The patrol headed up the slope and away from the sight of Fallenpaw's nightmares. From here, they could only be heading one direction, and that was the FireClan border. Usually, the dawn patrol worked it's way across both the FireClan, and the HillClan border, so it was sure to be a long hike. But on the day of the Gathering, multiple patrols would head out and patrol both borders simultaneously, so that no patrol got too exhausted in preparation for the night. That must mean that today, Fallenpaw would see the FireClan border only.

From the moment they left the underbrush of the forest behind, a cold wind nipped at Fallenpaw's fur and fully woke her. For the first time since waking up that morning, Fallenpaw felt truly awake.

They made their way up to the peak of the slope and the border they shared with FireClan. From the top of the hill, they saw everything. The way the hills sloped upward and became rocky where HillClan resided; the long hill that made its way to another Thunderpath, the territory that made up FireClan's land; the thick dense forest that StormClan lived in, and a little beyond. Curiosity never failed to raise in Fallenpaw when she saw the small amounts of land beyond the territories. What was out there? What didn't the Clans know?

"Well," said an unfamiliar voice. Fallenpaw's attention perked as she swiveled her head to face the foreign cats. "What have we here?"

It was a small FireClan patrol, lead by a small orange tabby. Behind him stood a large dark tabby, a mottled brown tom, and a long-haired silver she-cat with the greenest eyes Fallenpaw had ever seen. She smiled a friendly smile at the other she-cat, and was met with a nod.

"Littlewhisker," Roottail greeted politely. The orange tabby smiled.

"Hello Roottail." He lifted his head and looked at the sky. "Good night for a Gathering."

"It sure is," Roottail replied. Fallenpaw looked up to the sky where not a single cloud dotted the sky. She took a deep breath, but couldn't smell anything unusual.

"Tonight's gonna be extra special for you, isn't it Streampaw?" the dark tabby tom asked the silver she-cat. Fallenpaw felt jolted by that, because she would not have pegged the girl as an apprentice.

"What's so special about it?" Roottail asked politely.

"It's her first," the big tom replied proudly. "Streampaw's ready for it."

"What a coincidence," Roottail said. "It's Fallenpaw's first Gathering tonight too."

Fallenpaw flushed with embarrassment and smiled sheepishly at the other apprentice. Streampaw did not respond likewise.

"Look at those eyes," the tom commented. Fallenpaw jolted when she realized that he was staring at her. She blinked and looked away, trying not to be noticeable. This was not the first comment she'd gotten about her eyes. Many cats growing up had commented about how her eyes were so unusual. They were a shade of green that wasn't common.

Without meaning to, her eyes wandered up to Streampaw, who was also looking awkwardly away. For just that moment, Fallenpaw knew that she must get that comment a lot too. They both did have weird colored eyes, didn't they? Fallenpaw had never seen her own eyes, but if they looked anything like Streampaw's then she wasn't surprised by the odd comments.

The warriors didn't chat long. Littlewhisker politely but commandingly ordered his patrol onward and, after a brief goodbye, they made their way along the border to their own forest. Fallenpaw's patrol was heading the opposite direction. She watched them go for just a moment, then followed her own patrol along the border.

The rest of the patrol was uneventful. FireClan's border was freshly marked, and so it stunk high to heaven. But there were no cats.

Before too long, the five cats had made it right to the Circle Quad. Fallenpaw's eyes wandered the sacred place, from the Wood Den, a high structure put in by Citylegs long before the Clans were even thought of, to the Choking Weeds on StormClan's land, to the Flat Rock. She stood in front of the Flat Rock and marveled. Tonight would be the night that the leaders would once again stand on this very rock and address all the Clans. She tried to picture them there, but could only see noble Mistystar with her chest out and her head up. Not that Mistystar was stuck-up. But she could picture it.

Excitement flowed to her veins and made her crouch down. Pressing her feet into the air, she pushed off and jumped up before her paws made contact with the soil again. This was it! Tonight was the night, and she was ready for anything that SoulClan threw at her!