"Remember, Shrewpaw. When we get to the ThunderClan camp, act like a clueless mousebrain."
Shrewpaw rolled his eyes. "Relax. It'll be fine." He knew that was a lie. Both toms had spent the entire morning filled with anxiety. How would they deceive their old clanmates? It wasn't just that they looked like Shrewpaw and Swiftpaw; they had scars in the places that had caused their deaths.
The two finally reached the new WindClan territory, hesitantly taking the first pawstep. If a patrol caught them, then they would defidently chase them in the opposite direction of the ThunderClan camp.
Shrewpaw hardly dared to breathe as they inched closer and closer to the shimmering lake. The sun, at its full height in the sky, beat down on his brown fur, draining his strength. When at last they were at the lake, they headed for ThunderClan. Shrewpaw glanced around, but couldn't see cats in any direction. He started to feel nervous.
"Things are going too well," observed Swiftpaw. "I have the luck of a dead mouse. If we don't get seen now, then clearly something even worse will happen later."
"What are you saying? Do you want to get caught?" They were finally close to the ThunderClan border. The lush trees and other plants seemed so inviting. Shrewpaw wanted to go faster, but the noise might attract an unseen patrol.
Swiftpaw snorted. "It'd make me feel better. Then I would know that nothing could possibly get worse."
"I think dying is the worst your life could get," his brown furred companion pointed out, his response met with a shrug.
The pair finally made it away from WindClan and into the trees; Shrewpaw wanted to scream his relief to the sky and thank StarClan, but what had StarClan ever done for him? Nothing good, he knew, but at least they hadn't sent him on a quest to once again kill Tigerstar and Hawkfrost like Light had. Light…
"Hey, Swiftpaw, do you think Light told StarClan about us?" He trailed behind the pale tom that was following a recent border marking by a ThunderClan patrol.
"I doubt it," Longtail's former apprentice muttered, his attention on a bush with a very fresh scent on it. "Wouldn't that make her look bad?"
He had a point, but something inside of Shrewpaw knew that there was trouble in StarClan. It badgered him like a small thorn trapped underneath his flesh- painful and impossible to ignore. He pawed at the ground, glancing to and fro.
Swiftpaw detected his anxiety. "You okay?" He left the bush and stared at his friend.
"Something's not right…"
"What are you talking about?"
"In StarClan," he tried to explain.
"You felt it too?" Swiftpaw looked away. "It'd help if we could talk to a medicine cat, but what good would that do? 'Hey Leafpool, can you help us with this problem? We were dead, then we came back to life, and now we have this odd feeling about something unexplainable.' That'd go over well, let me tell you…"
"There's nothing we can do about it, I guess," agreed Shrewpaw. "The sooner we reach ThunderClan, the better."
They padded away from the bush at the edge of the lake; Swiftpaw still led the way along the scent trail. Shrewpaw wondered how they were going to go about rejoining ThunderClan. Firestar had a reputation for taking in cats of all kinds, warrior blood or not, so that wouldn't be a problem. The debate that was going on in Shrewpaw's mind was about the talk that would get them there. Obviously the truth was out of the question. Maybe Swiftpaw had an idea…
"How are we going to join ThunderClan?"
Swiftpaw glanced back for a quick heartbeat. "I was hoping you had that worked out."
"Um…" They stopped and hid underneath a holly bush; the scent would mask them, so a passing cat wouldn't scent the intruders. "What if we acted like rogues? You can be Swift, and I'll be Shrew. That way Firestar won't change out names."
Swiftpaw nodded. "Yeah, I'm not fond of getting a name change. Especially with how his warrior names have been going recently. Berrynose…" He shuddered. "Anyway, what sap story do you have in mind?"
"Our mother and father died, and they told us stories about the clans?"
"Works for me. Let's go."
They exited the cover of the bush, and within moments the new camp was in sight. Shrewpaw could smell the overwhelming scent of ThunderClan cats. Compared to the clan when he was alive before, this was different. It smelled off; the smell was tainted, almost. Could it be because of the foreign cats Firestar has been accepting into the clan? A different thought entered his mind. Are we still technically ThunderClan cats? Well, former ThunderClan, I guess…
"We don't have all day," Swiftpaw hissed. "Come on." They bounded to the camp entrance; both pairs of ears went back with the awkwardness of the situation. Cats, formerly sharing tongues, eating, or escaping the greenleaf heat, instantly stopped what they were doing to turn and stare at the intruders. Shrewpaw had never felt so out of place in the place where he knew he belonged.
"Let's just go see Firestar," Swiftpaw whispered as silently as he could. They headed for the leader's den, knowing the way since they had seen the camp from StarClan. Of course they couldn't get that far.
"Who are you both? What are you doing here?" Brambleclaw marched up to them and stared, looking unfriendly.
He's a lot different than I remember him being. Shrewpaw and Swiftpaw turned to face him; Tigerstar's son's amber eyes went wide with shock.
"Shrewpaw," he whispered.
"Remember, Shrewpaw. When we get to the ThunderClan camp, act like a clueless mousebrain."
"Who's Shrewpaw?" The brown tom tilted his head to the side; he tried his hardest to look like he didn't have a clue.
Brambleclaw shook himself out of his shock. "Of course you wouldn't know him. Anyway, why are you here?"
I know him better than you imagine, and I'm here because this is my home. He let Swiftpaw answer this time, since Brambleclaw was still staring like he was a ghost.
"Greetings. My name is Swift, and this is Shrew. We lived beyond the woods to the east." He turned his gaze off to the side and nodded towards WindClan territory. "Our mother and father told us about the lake clans, so we decided to take a look for ourselves."
"You can't just march onto our territory when you feel like it!" A new voice joined their conversation. It was Berrynose. "Drive them out, Brambleclaw!"
The deputy seemed to be considering it.
"W-wait!" Shrewpaw begged with desperation creeping into his mew. This had to work! "We have no place else to go. Please let us talk to your clan leader!"
"Fine," the tom agreed; he started to pad up to Firestar's den.
Berrynose followed him. "Brambleclaw, you can't be serious! Two random strangers?!"
"If you had forgotten, Berrynose, your mother was a random stranger. You don't have more of a right to be here than they do." He turned away from Daisy's kit and started back for his previous destination. Berrynose, knowing that he was defeated, growled and headed towards Brackenfur, who was going out hunting.
As they sat and waited, Shrewpaw glanced around the camp. A gray tom was staring at them from the medicine den- Jaypaw, he knew. Leafpool was mewing something to him, and he continued watching Swiftpaw and Shrewpaw before disappearing towards where Leafpool was waiting for him with her tail twitching impatiently.
Jaypaw was in the prophecy. If he really does have the power of the stars in his paws, then does he know about us? There was no way of knowing without explaining everything, so he decided to let it drop for now.
Since their journey across WindClan and ThunderClan, the sun had set slightly, and the torturous greenleaf heat had lessened to a comfortable temperature. Ferncloud had ushered Foxkit and Icekit out of the nursery for a little while. The pair was play fighting on the ground, and their mother watched nearby; Shrewpaw felt pain as he saw his mother.
"This is them, yes?"
"Correct."
Brambleclaw had finally returned with Firestar behind him. The flame colored tom looked at them with the same shock Brambleclaw had.
"Greetings, Firestar. I am Swift and this is my brother, Shrew. Our mother and father told us all about the clans, so we were hoping you would accept us."
"Where are your mother and father now?" Firestar narrowed his eyes. "Why did you not stay with them?"
"They… died." Swiftpaw turned away in mock sorrow, making sure to show the ThunderClan cats his horrible and long neck scars. They crossed all over his bodies like needles from the pine trees in ShadowClan's territory, if those needles grew a lot longer.
Both toms in took sharp breaths. "I'm sorry," Firestar whispered.
"Something doesn't make sense." More cats had crowded around Swiftpaw and Shrewpaw; Ashfur had spoken. "How would a rogue know of the clans? We haven't been here that long. Who are your parents, young ones?"
Shrewpaw was flooded with panic. "Our father was, uh…"
"Our mother said that his name was Sootfur."
Wails of shock echoed around the clan; Shrewpaw felt like joining them. Swiftpaw was taking a big risk. While that would increase their chances of being let in, nothing made sense that way. For one thing, they would be a lot older if Sootfur was their father. Also, their mother would have to look a certain way a long with her mother and father.
He's thinking that their too shocked to realize those things.
The wails had turned into soft muttering between the clan members.
"Didn't Sootfur go missing for a bit during the journey?"
"After hunting?"
"Yeah! He claimed to be lost, but what if he had found a she-cat?"
"What if…"
Firestar suddenly yowled for silence. "I want to see Brambleclaw, Leafpool, Dustpelt, Thornclaw, and Sandstorm. We will discuss this in private. As for Shrew and Swift, I want you to wait with Cloudtail, Brightheart, and Ashfur as guards. You are not permitted to leave the camp for any reason. The rest of you continue on with what you were doing."
As ThunderClan started to disperse and the former StarClan cats were left with guards, Shrewpaw began to wonder if they had made the wrong decision. What would happen if they weren't allowed to stay? Would StarClan take them back? Would he die again?
"I'm telling you," Swiftpaw whispered out of the three warriors' earshot, "something will go wrong this night. I can feel it."
Shrewpaw shrugged. A little while later, Firestar and the senior warriors padded back to them. "We talked it over, and we could not come to an agreement. You will be left with guards until morning, and we will decide then. Cloudtail, make sure the rotation happens."
"Yes, Firestar."
With nothing else to do, Shrewpaw laid down and shut his eyes.
That was when he began to dream.
