Hey guys=) This was actually an easier chapter to write once I figured out how I wanted to start it…. Let's hope this continues=)

The Altar and the Door- Glad you loved the chapter! I thought they would be really good friends=) Yeah he eventually will. And yes it will make things interesting. I haven't decided what is going to happen yet…. I hope you like this chapter too=)

WyldClaw- I'm glad you liked the beginning=) And Snakepaw will eventually figure out he's awesome the way he is, it'll just take a little while. I hope you've continued to enjoy this!=)

Jayleaf1- It's okay! Vacation is more important=) I'm going on a cruise in July so I understand=) I'm glad you liked the chapter ending=) And yeah that probably was why she was hungry;) Oh and thank you, I just get bored sometimes you know? (*^_^*) It's a kitty! With stars! It's a StarClan Kitty! Oh gosh I'm ADHD aren't I? And B's just suck. They suck! I miss her too… I like your face key board thing=) Hope you like this chapter!

Meadowlace- Wow that's a lot of reviews….. Bracken is like a leafy thing that's in forests. I don't actually know how I know that…. Creepy. Yay you're up to date! And thanks=) That's really cool that you have a nail polish that's the color of your name…. I hope you had fun at your friend's house=) Thanks for the plot ideas=) I actually am going to bring the wolves in, but I don't think they'll be a huge deal you know? I might use your wolf/owl if I need a character for someone to talk to though=) Sorry this was kind of slow, but it's long=) And hey your coming to Florida? That's where I live! My eyes are blue, a lot of people say they have green in them, but I don't see it. I think what it is, is that a have a dark shade of blue circling the outside of my eye, then a lighter shade of blue in the middle and around my pupils I have flecks of gold like my mom does. But that's a looong description so I normally stick with blue. If you have any other random questions that I missed just ask them again=) Hope you enjoy this!=)


Chapter Eight

*Echosong*

Fading green. That's what the forest looks like. It's in the right before leaf fall stage, and every shade of green is faded.

You might be wondering what I'm doing out in the forest, talking about the different colors of green. Well I had a wonderful idea this morning that I would gather up my kits and we would all spend time out in the forest. In case you haven't noticed from my sarcastic tone, it's not turning out to well.

"StarClan Silverpaw what does it matter? Who cares when I train or who I train with as long as I train?!" that's Fallenpaw, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"It matters because you were supposed to train with me, and I was left high and dry, that's why it matters! And if you keep training with Thornpaw, you're only going to be able to fight him!" Silverpaw's not looking like herself – in fact she looks quite angry.

"Gah! You're just jealous!" Fallenpaw yells at her sister.

"Jealous? Jealous! Why would I be jealous of you?" Silverpaw's voice is rather high now, and Snakepaw is rolling his eyes.

"Shut up both of you before you break someone's ears!" he snaps getting a rise out of both of them.

"Don't you tell me to shut up!" Fallenpaw snarls.

"I'll tell you whatever I want to tell you!" Snakepaw growls, his eyes flashing.

"Hey don't talk to her like that!" Frozenpaw yells.

"GUYS!" My kits fall silent and stare at me in shock, "Are you done?" I ask, my voice rather cold.

"Yes…" Silverpaw is hanging her head, feeling guilty.

The other three don't respond. It's quite here because everything that's living was scared off in the first five seconds we got here.

"What is wrong with all of you?" I ask seriously, "I want real answers and I want them now or no one is going anywhere." I fix them all with a hard stare.

"I don't know… we just always seem to be fighting." Silverpaw mews quietly.

"No, you two always seem to be fighting." Frozenpaw corrects, nodding at Silverpaw and Fallenpaw.

Fallenpaw fixes him with a hard glare, "You're not so innocent."

"None of you are." Snakepaw hisses, and even I'm surprised at how barbed his words are.

"Would you stop that?!" Fallenpaw screeches at him, her eyes glimmering with tears, "You're always doing that! Whenever we say something it's automatically wrong!"

"Maybe that's because you are always wrong!" Snakepaw retorts, his eyes flashing.

"Ugh there's no talking to you!" Fallenpaw declares, turning away.

"Like you even try! Like any of you care! Any of you!" Snakepaw's eyes find mine last, burning furiously.

Fallenpaw lets out and angry scream and stamps her foot into the ground. As she does, the trees all around us start shaking, and snapping. Snakepaw surges forward and in the next moment, a loud whummp sounds.

All around the glade, tree branches lie, ringing us in. Where Snakepaw was standing, the pile reaches to my shoulders. I give a small gasp and walk over to Snakepaw, but he throws me off.

"I'm…. I'm so sorry…" Fallenpaw whispers her voice shaky. Her eyes are huge.

"Maybe you should do us all a favor and leave me alone." Snakepaw's voice is ice as he glares at her. Then he whips around and scrambles out, through a small break in the branches.

"Great! Now look what you've done!" Frozenpaw groans.

"Way to make everything worse. I can't believe how selfish you've gotten." Silverpaw mews, her voice hollow.

"And I can't believe how rude you two are!" Fallenpaw snaps, "You're always this way, everything's always my fault! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of you!"

And then, the fallen branches start to shake, and more come down, heading straight at Silverpaw and Frozenpaw.

"STOP!" I screech, and then two things happen at once.

The branches flying at Frozenpaw suddenly halt, freezing in their motion for a moment. They tremble, and then fall to the forest floor, harmless.

Silverpaw is cocooned in a bright silver light, which grows outward. The branches hit it, and then fall down, leaving no mark on it, harmless.

I'm panting heavily as I stare at my kits. Slowly the silver light ebbs from around Silverpaw. Her bright green eyes sparkle with tears.

Silverpaw shakes for a moment, takes a few deep breaths of air, and then looks straight at Fallenpaw, "I hate you." she hisses. Then she darts forward, scrambles through the gap Snakepaw went through, and runs off, calling his name.

"Fallenpaw…" I mew, but my voice dies as Frozenpaw looks at his twin. He shakes his head and backs away slowly, the hurt in his face making me want to choke. He turns and follows Silverpaw.

"What have I done?" Fallenpaw wails, sinking to the ground.

I race forward and wrap around her, whispering soft words, "It's going to be okay. Come on, we need to find them."

She manages to stand and I take off, following the trail, Fallenpaw right behind me. I follow the trail to the ancient oak.

"Snakepaw listen to us!" Silverpaw begs. She and Frozenpaw face him, their backs to us.

"No! Why should I? I don't want anything to do with any of you!" Snakepaw yells, his voice startling birds so that they shriek, adding their voices to the argument.

"But you're our bother! We love you!" Frozenpaw protests.

"You don't!" Snakepaw screams, causing hundreds of birds to take flight, soaring off over the lake, "You've never cared! You've never been there! Never!"

"Darlings…" I mew and my voice causes them to freeze, "Come back, come back to camp… come home."

"NO! That's not my home!" Snakepaw snarls, his green eyes wild.

"Snakepaw…." Silverpaw's voice breaks.

"Come here love…" I mew softly. I'm begging him. Snakepaw glares at me but walks forward. I lick his ear and he doesn't pull away. He seems to have gone numb with shock. I turn, with Snakepaw alongside me and guide the way back home, the other three trailing after me.

As soon as we get inside comp I search for Midnightstar, and then head straight into the nursery.

She looks up startled as I barge in, but I don't give her time to say anything, "We've got problems!"

*Midnightstar*

When I return to the nursery, carrying prey, Lightingkit is sitting up, his eyes serious. It's quite adorable to be honest.

"Can't sleep dear?" I ask.

"Yes, no, wait that's not important." He mews shaking his head, "I need to talk you."

"Okay," I mew shrugging and sitting down next him. "What's wrong?"

"It's about… something that happened in the Dark Forest…." I tense but he keeps talking, "They were going to attack Eaglekit, they were going to kill him. I freaked out. And then this really bright light flashed out of nowhere. It was sparking and I smelled burning fur. When I opened my eyes they were gone. And Eaglekit said… he said I made it happen. There was a storm cloud above us –"

"– With lighting…" I mew interrupting him, remembering seeing the cloud, "And you, you caused that…." I mew breathlessly.

"I-I did?" Lightingkit squeaks.

"I think you did…" I reply and then I realize it. My kit has powers. My kits have powers. My kits have POWERS! I almost curse, but then I remember where I am. I sigh heavily.

"Mum?" I look around and see Moonkit, standing up. She inches closer to me.

"Yes dear?" I mew softly.

"Some-something like that happened to me too…. I-I drug Hopekit away, hid us in some tree roots. But I knew they were coming for us. I just kept thinking that we had to be safe, begging that they wouldn't find us. I think I thought in-invisible. And then, one of them – one of them, she was standing right in front of us! Closer to me that you are Mum! I could feel her breathe. But-but she couldn't see us… at all. She walked away."

I sigh heavily, my mind spinning. The information runs and skips around my brain letting me grab hold of it, but only for a moment. I can only see bits and pieces of the picture, not the whole thing. Then I think about Featherkit… Featherkit's dreams… mountains… the place she described – the old Clan territories! Which means she... she saw… the-the pas–

"We've got problems!" Echosong exclaims, bursting into the nursery.

"I know!" I reply harshly, feeling fear slip through me. "Everyone up to my den, right now! Echo – wake up Raven."

I hustle Echosong's kits out of the nursery and grab Featherkit, "Quickly, quickly!" I mew as we start walking. We scramble up the ledge to my den and I place Featherkit down who's now awake.

Frozenpaw is pacing, Fallenpaw trembling where she stands, and Snakepaw sitting, looking around somewhat coolly. But I know it is only a façade and that inside he is freaking out.

Ravenclaw and Echosong appear with Raven's four kits around them.

"What's happening?" Ravenclaw asks.

"They have powers." I mew without preamble, my voice weak.

"What? No… no… how, how can you be sure?" Ravenclaw demands, her eyes flashing with fear.

I look at Echosong and she sighs heavily, "I saw mine – my kits, just now."

"What are you talking about?" Silverpaw asks looking frightened.

We ignore her, "And you Midnight?" Ravenclaw asks seriously.

"Lightingkit… he controlled lighting in the Dark Forest. Moonkit we-went invisible. And Featherkit, I think Featherkit can see the past."

"But mine?" Ravenclaw looks down at her kits in fear.

"I don't – we need to… StarClan. We need to talk to StarClan." I mew at last.

"The moonpool?" Echosong questions.

"No it's too far." I close my eyes and call out, Echosong mimicking me. A bright light shines and when it fades, Spottedleaf, Feathertail, Silverstream, and Yellowfang appear.

Feathertail and Silverstream look sheepish, Yellowfang supremely unconcerned, and Spottedleaf unreadable.

"What did you do?" I ask, unable to keep my voice from trembling.

"We gave your kits a fighting chance that's what we did." Yellowfang replies sardonically.

Spottedleaf sighs and mews, "We knew that your kits would be in more danger because they were yours, we wanted –"

"What?" Ravenclaw mews, interrupting her.

Spottedleaf continues, not unkindly, "You all have thwarted the Dark Forest on several occasions, we thought this would make your kits targets and it has. Already they have been used. We thought that the powers would give them an edge over their attackers."

"And it's paid off in case you haven't noticed." Yellowfang grumbles.

"I beg your pardon?" Echosong replies, she seems really freaked out about the powers I wonder why…. I look into her mind and see them all in the forest, the kits arguing. And then…. Oh. That's not nice…..

"Those four would have been dead without the powers." Yellowfang mews, pointing her tail at Lightingkit, Moonkit, Hopekit, and Eaglekit.

"No! Are you –" I groan but too late.

"WHAT?!"Raven shrieks, jumping on the kits and practically flattening them. Great. I think rolling my eyes.

"Well what are their powers?" I demand looking to Yellowfang.

"The oldest first, yes?" Silverstream asks, addressing the paws. They just shrug.

"Well, young Fallenpaw can cause objects around her to fall. It works best when she is angry." Silverstream explains.

"Really thought out of the box on that one." Ravenclaw and I mutter together. We share a grin.

And Feathertail then continues, "It works easiest, obviously, on tree branches as the forest is full of trees."

"Yeah we found that out," Frozenpaw mutters.

"And young Frozenpaw, you can cause things coming at you to freeze in their motion, even cats or Dark Forest warriors." Spottedleaf mews, looking at him.

"Wow that was original." I mumble. But Frozenpaw looks unsurprised.

"Silverpaw, you have a shield mechanism, that blocks you from harm. But you can also use it as a weapon. It is silver light." Silverstream mews kindly.

"What about me?" Snakepaw demands, his eyes flashing angrily.

"Ah, yes…. That's the problem…" Spottedleaf mews, "You see since you're a medicine cat that has affected your powers. So we're not really sure what you have. I'm sure it will present itself soon though." She gives him a small smile, which he doesn't return.

"Um…. What… what about –" I mumble trying to gloss over the awkward moment.

"Yours yes," Feathertail mews grabbing on to the opportunity, "Well as you may have guessed, Lightingkit can control lighting and storms, he's also inherited your senses Midnightstar."

I nod slightly, for I know all that.

"Moonkit has your senses as well and can turn invisible. It will work best at night."

Moonkit gasps slightly, "So that's what happened!"

"Featherkit also has your senses," Feathertail continues, "She will walk in minds and StarClan and will be able to tell the intentions of cats. She can also see the past and find patterns."

"So… my dreams…." Featherkit mumbles softly.

"But what about us?" Emberkit asks looking up at the StarClan cats.

"Well," Spottedleaf mews, "Hopekit will be able to sense when she, or those she is with are in peril, or if they are being spied upon. She will also know when someone approaches and if they are a part of the Dark Forest."

"Emberkit," Silverstream mews, "Will have flashes of the future, but only when she walks by or touches an object or someone. She will also be able to control fire, but only when the fire is previously burning."

"But why?" I ask.

"We fear the Dark Forest is growing ever stronger and that their tactics are becoming even more dangerous. They might start to use fire as a weapon… we are uncertain. But who better to give the power of controlling fire of embers than one named Ember?" Silverstream explains with a smile.

I nod and Spottedleaf continues, "Young Heatherkit will have the power of teleportation. That is to say, she can vanish and arrive in another place. We hope this will help speed communications within the Clans."

"And me?" Eaglekit asks, "Or do I not get anything either?"

"Oh no you do," Yellowfang replies, "Your power is most helpful in battle. You will be able to... split into two bodies. You will have control over both, but your second body will not be visible to others. We hope you will be able to use this to find the weakest links in battle."

"Whoa…." Eaglekit mews softly. I look around and see everyone chattering or whispering to themselves, everyone except Snakepaw.

"Snakepaw…" I mew walking over to him.

But he backs away his eyes angry, "I see once again I'm the one left out. Excuse me. Jayfeather must need me."

"Snakepaw no!" I call but it is too late.

Echosong looks at me, tears streaming down her face. She glares at the StarClan cats and mutters, "Now he feels even worse than before."

"How can they not know what powers they gave him?" I ask furiously.

Echosong shakes her head despairingly, "He better find out what it is soon, or I fear – he'll never speak to us again…"

"What if it's dangerous his power? What if he uses it inadvertently and hurts himself, or others?" I mew worriedly, shooting a glare at the StarClan cats.

"What can we do?" Echosong mews and her voice is despairing. "There's nothing for it… I want to help him," here her voice takes on pain, "but there's nothing I can do."

"I will talk to Jayfeather, and he will watch him. Perhaps when they go to the moonpool StarClan will tell him." I mew as soothingly as I can.

"But you heard them they don't know what it is." Echosong mews hopelessly.

"Perhaps they just did not want to say in front of all of us." I suggest.

"But then…" her voice fades as she sighs.

"Mum! Mum can we practice our powers?" Moonkit calls.

"No." I mew turning quickly, "No one can know about your powers. Do you hear me? The Clan does not find out about this! Not your friends, not your mentors, not the elders, not anyone. And when you go to a Gathering you don't just let it slip out. You keep it a secret. For the rest of your life this is going to be a secret do you understand?"

They all nod, and then Fallenpaw mews, "But why?"

"How do you think the rest of the Clan would feel when they find out you have powers and they don't? It's dangerous, it's far too dangerous. Trust us; we've lived with this for a long time. You don't tell anyone." I mew seriously, it is so important that they understand this…

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing." Silverpaw mews.

"It is what it is." I reply calmly.

"But trust me the novelty wears off real quickly." Ravenclaw mews bitterly.

"Ravenclaw." I snap. She falls silent, "I think, for you it will be different." I mew addressing the group, "You were given these not to fight the Dark Forest or to help the effort but to protect you from the circumstances you were born into. I think therefore they will be less of a burden. But you must be careful."

"We understand." Hopekit mews, trying for a smile.

"Go on," I mew nodding to the door.

"Shall I take yours back?" Ravenclaw asks.

"Yes… I need to call a meeting." I reply the weariness creeping into my voice.

"Mum?" I look back and see Featherkit hanging at the entrance, "We'll be okay… soon, this will all be just a memory."


You guys are mad at me, aren't you? But there is a very good reason why Snakepaw can't know his powers! (notice the plural?) It's in the plot! It creates suspense! And also it drives you people crazy;) just kidding it's all for the suspense thing and then it gets down on the wire where he has to use one of his powers but he doesn't know he has it and it's quite character building. Or it will be.

So yes there's a reason. Several actually.

I also thought that was a really awesome line to end with. Oh for Silver & Frozen's powers, could you tell me what you imagined? I was having trouble translating my thoughts into words.

Quote- "Am I part of the cure or part of the disease?"~Clocks, Coldplay. Love that song! I know it's the song everyone loves but I can't help it.

Erm I think I'm done now…. Wait! I did start the plot for the last book and I wrote the prologue! *Gasps* oh and I have questions for you, Echosong's kits are going to become warriors soon, but when should the other current apprentices become warriors? I need to decide if it will be in this book or the last…. I think it should be this one, but you guys probably have a better grasp of how much time has gone by…

Now I'm done=) So review and help meh out please!

~Midnight=)