Berrystep landed on the fox, ripping clumps of its red fur out with slashes of her claws. She sunk her fangs into its neck. Oakbranch followed her into the fight, his teeth snapping the fox's leg. Creekstar bounded over to Kestrelpaw's side and gently rolled her over. Her blue eyes were glazed and her mouth hung half open. Her back end was twisted at an odd angle. Creekstar felt bile rise in his throat, but he forced himself to crouch beside her and grip her scruff, dragging her away from the battle. Blood streaked across the grass behind her as he pulled. To his surprise, she started squirming. Her eyes bulged. "Wrenpaw!" she sobbed. "Wrenpaw!"

"I'm right here! Kestrelpaw!"

Creekstar looked up to see the dark brown tabby she-cat over his head, waving her tail. "Kestrelpaw, you're alive!" she was calling. "I'm coming down! I'm coming!"

Kestrelpaw's front legs scrabbled at the air. "Wrenpaw!"

"Shh! Don't move," said Creekstar. "Honeyclaw, go get my sister!"

Honeyclaw nodded and took off back toward camp.

"I smell blood…" Kestrelpaw murmured, shivering wildly. "What's going on? Creekstar?"

Wrenpaw had made it to the ground and was pressing her side against her sister's. "Hang on, Kestrelpaw, Ambersplash is coming!"

Ambersplash barge through the trees. Together she and Honeyclaw lifted Kestrelpaw and carried her back to camp, Wrenpaw following them.

Creekstar turned and was about to join Oakbranch and Berrystep fighting the fox, but just then it shrieked, shook them off, and fled.

Berrystep spat out a mouthful of ginger fur, wiping her bloody claws in the grass. For a moment, Creekstar gave a little shudder of horror at the sight of her like that. Pure rage, a haze of red surrounding her. He blinked, and then the image was gone.

She turned on him, her sky-blue eyes sharp. "Where's my daughter?"

"Ambersplash and Honeyclaw brought her back to camp," he replied. With a growl, she charged in the direction of camp.

Oakbranch stayed back a few seconds, a sneer directed toward Creekstar. "You're a terrible leader," he spat. "You let your own deputy's daughter die."

"She's not dead," Creekstar responded steadily, although he felt shaken deep inside. He had learned to put on a strong front for his sister when they'd been traveling alone. It had come in handy as clan leader.

Oakbranch hissed. "She'll never look at you like you look at her, you know" he added a tad smugly, and stalked back to camp.

Creekstar blinked. Look at me like…like what? Like she's scared of me? Could he tell how I saw her?

But no, that wasn't the way he'd said it. Creekstar padded slowly back to camp as he pondered the older tom's words. What could he have meant…? For some reason, he felt nervous about it, though he wasn't sure why. He quenched that feeling quickly.

He entered camp and quickly made his way to the medicine den. He found Ambersplash and Berrystep huddled closely over Kestrelpaw's body.

"Is she…" He was afraid to ask.

"There's a good chance she could live," said Ambersplash at long last, leaning away from the apprentice's small form. "But a lower part of her spine is broken. I can put it straight, but there's little chance she'll ever be able to walk again."

Berrystep's teeth were clenched tightly as she ran her tail down her daughter's blood-soaked side. "Stay with me, Kestrelpaw," she whispered. "Come on. Please."

"I'm—I'm sorry, Berrystep," Creekstar tried to say, but Berrystep turned on him, teeth bared.

"No!" she snarled. "This happened because you weren't paying attention. That's why it happened."

Creekstar dug his claws into the dirt. "I don't understand," he said. "Your daughters disappeared. No one noticed they were gone. So you might as well blame the whole clan."

"You should have been paying better attention," she hissed.

"Neither of them were my apprentices," he continued evenly, even though inside he could feel anger and guilt twisting into a tight knot in his stomach. "I wasn't supposed to be watching them. They're not my children—"

"Oh, so now you're blaming me, are you?" she asked coolly.

"I'm not—blaming anyone," he said stiffly. "It's no one's fault. It was a terrible accident, and I'm sorry that it happened. I wish I could have stopped it." His voice broke a little as he gazed at Kestrelpaw. "Truly."

Berrystep's lips peeled back, and she shoved past him, her tail lashing behind her. Creekstar watched her go. He felt Ambersplash's pelt brush his, and he leaned into her herb-scented warmth, drawing strength from her. He closed his eyes for a moment, and he saw flashes of memory behind his eyelids.

"Hey, Berrypaw! Wanna come play with me and Amberpaw and Lilypaw?"

A look of disgust flashed across the she cat's face. "What? Play with you kittypet losers? No thanks!"

"It's okay, we didn't want you to come play anyway!" shouted Lilypaw. "After all, you're a CLAN cat!"

Berrypaw's sky blue eyes went round with hurt, but she gritted her fangs together. "Great! Then we're agreed." She flounced away with her nose in the air, tail swaying like a snake about to strike.

"Hah! Who needs her?" said Lilypaw with a purr.

Creekpaw peered after her, feeling disappointed. "I…guess we don't," he said, but he sounded unconvincing, even to himself.

"Tristan?"

His sister's gentle voice brought him back to the present.

He shook his head. "Yes, sorry. What?" He suddenly realized that everyone who'd been gathering to see Kestrelpaw and gone. It was just him and Ambersplash now.

She was looking at him with eyes like twin pools of amber water. She tipped her head to the side. "Tristan, I know…I know this was your dream, wasn't it? To come here to the clans. After what Mother told us. Remember how I wanted so badly to believe they were true? But then I started to doubt it. I started to think maybe they were just kit tales. But you never stopped believing."

"Yes?" he said, failing to see the point.

"Faith," she whispered into his ear. "That's your strength, Creekstar. Never lose your faith."

"You mean, faith in StarClan?" he asked.

She smiled softly, just staring at him. Then she leaned her head against his shoulder. "As long as you have faith, so too will all of us."

Creekstar didn't respond at first. Ever since she became a full medicine cat, there were times when he didn't understand a word she said. He touched his nose to her ear. "I'll try, Angie. I promise I'll try, for you."

She smiled a little. "You don't have to try for me, you have to try for you. Oh, and Tristan?" Now her eyes were much more serious. "I received a dream from StarClan last night. I saw Leafstar, and she told me…she told me…" Ambersplash closed her eyes and recited in a quiet mystical voice, "Do not step lightly into what shadows you see before you."

Creekstar let the ominous words wash over him. He felt a shudder run through him, from nose to tail tip. He repeated the words in his head and swallowed hard. What does it mean, Leafstar? What shadows do you see in my future?