A/N: And how is our dearest Snowpaw's life? Not fun, I'm sure...

Chapter 8

The third morning after the Gathering dawned fresh and clear. The day promised to be cool, but sunny. A few scattered clouds prowled the pale blue sky.

Snowpaw was in no mood to appreciate the scenery. She crouched in the narrow space between the warriors' den and the apprentices' den, pressing herself into the brambles in a futile attempt to be unseen. Her previous three hiding spaces had already been demolished by a spiteful Ivypool and a malicious Lilypaw.

However, she knew that this place wouldn't last long. It was very uncomfortable, and of course her white fur was easy to spot through the green thorns. Already, she'd seen that grey-furred idiot Dewpaw cast her an amused look as he headed out of camp on a hunting patrol. Who were those cats with him again? Ah, yes, Whitewing and Birchfall. They were mates... she thought. Or maybe siblings? No, Ivypool and Dovewing were their daughters, she remembered. ThunderClan cats bred like mice; there were so many, and it was impossible to keep track of all their names, let alone who was related to who.

Squirrelflight was standing beneath the Highledge, organising the day's patrols. She tried to tune her out, but the ginger deputy's persistent voice overcame all her barriers.

"Today at sunhigh, it'll be... let's see... Millie, Dovewing, Leafpool, Seedpaw, and Snowpaw. No, not you! The other Snowpaw, the one from ShadowClan... has anyone seen her? Snowpaw! Come out of there!"

Snowpaw sighed, realising she had been discovered. With a low growl, she extracted herself from the thorns and trotted over to the gathered group of cats. There were titters and murmurs as the warriors caught sight of her disheveled fur, but she was way past caring.

"ShadowClan foxdung," someone hissed.

"Who said that?" Squirrelflight snapped. No one answered; everyone glared either at Snowpaw, at the deputy, or at the ground. The tension in the air was almost palpable.

At last, Squirrelflight sighed. "Fine. But remember, ThunderClan, Snowpaw is one of us now. She may have grown up in ShadowClan but she's part of our family now. Please do your best to accept her, and make her feel welcomed."

Snowpaw suddenly felt a terrible rage rising up inside of her. What did this stupid she-cat know about family, about feeling welcome, about being loved? Snowpaw wasn't just a stranger in ThunderClan; she was a stranger to all the Clans. That was the real reason why the bigoted ThunderClan cats couldn't accept her presence; she was a rogue as well as ShadowClan-raised. They would always hate her.

"Oh, just shut up, you stupid piece of mousedung! Nobody here gives a mousetail about me, and you know it!" She cried angrily.

The clearing was eerily silent. Every eye seemed to be trained on her. Squirrelflight opened her mouth, but no words came out; her eyes were wide with shock.

Snowpaw took a deep breath, let it out, and spoke in a quieter voice. "I'm sorry for startling you. And I apologise, Squirrelflight, for insulting you; I was just very, very angry. Forgive me. Please go on with what you were doing." Feeling like her pelt was burning up with shame, she dipped her head and padded slowly out of camp, trying but failing miserably to keep her head high and her tail from drooping.

As soon as her tail-tip whisked out of sight of the camp, a babble of murmuring began behind her. Snowpaw paid no notice; her paws automatically carried her up the ridge that led to the lake. The water had always calmed her; it reminded her that wherever they were, Bronzepaw and Blackpaw could be looking at the same scenery that she was.

Blackpaw. The word left a bitter taste in her mouth. Snowpaw picked up her pace until she was flying over the leaf-strewn ground, but of course her memories, and her emotions, kept pace effortlessly.

She wasn't sure what she felt about Blackpaw. On one paw, she was her only sister, and they'd always been rather close, although Blackpaw never really understood Snowpaw's love of the arcane. Blackpaw had always protected Snowpaw from Yewkit or Jadekit when they had teased her for being different. On the other paw... she clearly had special powers that she wanted to keep a secret. Powers that she wouldn't even tell her sister about. And that felt like betrayal to Snowpaw. How could Blackpaw keep secrets from her? Bronzepaw probably knew; so why couldn't Snowpaw?

It's probably because I'm ThunderClan now, She thought bitterly. Bramblestar tore apart our lives and our trust.

"Snowpaw! Come back at once!" Speaking of Bramblestar...

Instead of stopping to face her leader, Snowpaw ran on, scrambling down the slope to the lakeshore. Knowing that Bramblestar would be able to find her no matter where she hid, Snowpaw just padded to the edge of the bank, so that the pebbles cut into her paw pads and the freezing water lapped at her claws.

"Snowpaw! What are you doing here!" Snowpaw didn't turn, but she knew that Bramblestar had appeared over the slope and was descending towards her. Pieces of rock rained down from his passage. She didn't flinch.

Bramblestar came to a halt next to her. "Explain," He spat.

She sighed. "I already apologized to Squirrelflight. I'll go on the sunhigh patrol."

"Is it true that someone called you ShadowClan foxdung?" Bramblestar asked, completely ignoring her words.

"Um... yes. But it doesn't matter." Snowpaw's eyes widened slightly in surprise at his question.

"Of course it does. If a cat insults their fellow Clanmate, they must be punished." He snorted. "Even if that Clanmate is adopted."

"I don't think they consider me a Clanmate," Snowpaw murmured. "I'm too different. Being ShadowClan is just one of those differences."

"Would you care to explain the others?"

She shrugged. "I was also going to be a medicine cat apprentice. I'm not interested in hunting or fighting. Did Littlecloud or Blackstar tell you about my future-telling?"

Bramblestar twitched his ears. "What future-telling?"

"I can use things like animal bones, feathers, the position of the sun or moon, moss, rocks, special herbs, and water to predict future events, or to read signs sent by StarClan... or whoever walks the skies. Then I interpret them." She gasped, suddenly remembering a time more than a moon ago. "I taught my siblings a little... and my sister Blackpaw was able to make an accurate prediction of what happened at the Gathering."

"What was the prediction?" The ThunderClan leader asked curiously.

"That..." Snowpaw frowned, trying to remember. "That a cat will be accused of hurting or driving away another - that was Bumblestripe, darkness and wind will side against water and lightning - that was WindClan and ShadowClan, protesting against you taking me! But RiverClan sided with you. And that a group of three will be separated, possibly forever." She gulped. "That was us."

To her surprise, Bramblestar dipped his head. "That is very impressive. If I was aware of those talents earlier, I might have considered allowing Jayfeather to take you on as an apprentice. If he agreed, of course... but who sends these signs, did you say?"

"StarClan. Unless..." She hesitated, not sure how the leader would react. "I heard Littlecloud talking about the Tribe of Rushing Water, and their ancestors... the Tribe of Endless Hunting. The Stoneteller of the Tribe interprets signs from his ancestors, and that sounds a lot like what I do. Maybe, since I'm from the Tribe, their ancestors have gifted me with the same talent as the Stoneteller." Her eyes widened in realisation. "Maybe I'm the daughter of the current Stoneteller!"

Bramblestar tilted his head. "That is possible. I know the Stoneteller now... his name used to be Crag Where Eagles Nest, or Crag for short." He seemed to be talking to himself. "Maybe we could go to the Tribe... to investigate? Perhaps to see if one of their queens disappeared? But why would she leave the Tribe?"

Snowpaw shifter her paws uncomfortably, not sure if she was allowed to speak or not. The movement seemed to bring Bramblestar back to his senses. "We should return to camp, Snowpaw." His earlier coldness was back, and he sounded like the harsh, uncaring leader again. "Get moving. Your patrol leaves soon."

"Yes, Bramblestar." Snowpaw dipped her head meekly, but inside, she was quietly simmering with anger.

-x-

The patrol went surprisingly well. Snowpaw stayed at the back of the group, keeping quiet and not standing out. Near the end, she spotted a sparrow rustling in the undergrowth and couldn't help making a quick detour to pick it up. Once she had rejoined the patrol, Seedpaw and Dovewing looked irritated but Millie praised her for the good catch. Snowpaw felt marginally better as she trotted into camp and proudly deposited her catch onto the fresh-kill pile. Even Dewpaw, the eldest apprentice (along with his brother, the other Snowpaw), didn't have anything negative to say.

When Jayfeather called her to his den, however, she felt less pleased.

"What is it?" She hissed quietly to the blind medicine cat as she followed him into the medicine den.

"I want to talk to you about something." He muttered, turning around suddenly. "What do you know about prophecies?"

Snowpaw's eyes widened; surely he didn't know about Blackpaw? She relaxed a moment later when she realised that there was simply no way he could know. He hadn't seen Blackpaw last night. "I only know that StarClan gives them," She meowed, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. "Why?"

Jayfeather leaned in so that his muzzle was a mouse-length away from hers. "And what do you know about the prophecy of Three?"

"Um..." Snowpaw couldn't help leaning back slightly. "I know that you, Lionblaze, and Dovewing were the three cats, and Firestar was the fourth cat, but he's dead. And I know that Lionblaze is supposed to be an unbeatable fighter, Dovewing has extra sharp senses, and you can..." She trailed off, suddenly realising. "You can read minds! You're probably reading my mind right now!" She shrieked, stumbling away from him. "Stop it! Stop -"

"I'm not reading your mind," Jayfeather mewed calmly. "First, I can control my power, so I don't accidentally violate other cats' privacy and secrets. Second... I can't feel your mind. At all. And that's what I want to talk to you about."

"What?" Snowpaw stopped retreating towards the entrance. "I'm confused."

"I can't feel your mind," Jayfeather repeated, his voice tinged with impatience. "I can feel that you're there, but your mind is empty... it's like there's a blank spot where your emotions should be. This has never happened before, and I want to know if StarClan has spoken to you... maybe about another prophecy. Concerning you and your siblings."

"Leave Bronzepaw and Blackpaw out of this!"

"Keep your voice down! And I can't leave them out, because they're as much a part of this as you are. I can't feel any of your minds. I know from the Gathering. And I talked to Lionblaze and Dovewing about your meeting with them last night -"

"You knew that I met my siblings last night?" Snowpaw gasped. "How?"

"I have my ways." Jayfeather said, clearly annoyed now. "I may not be able to read your thoughts or emotions, even if I wanted to, but I can still tell if you're there. I had a feeling you'd sneak out that night, and I followed you. But that's not the point -"

"So you know about Blackpaw!" Snowpaw meowed, horrified. "You know -" She clamped her mouth shut as Jayfeather's expression quickly went from surprised to calculating.

He sat back on his haunches. "No, I don't know about Blackpaw. Would you care to enlighten me?"

"No." Snowpaw mewed firmly. "Continue with your explanation, please. I want to know why you were spying on us."

The medicine cat flicked his tail irritably. "I followed you, heard Lionblaze and Dovewing's conversation, saw - I mean, sensed - that you'd hidden well enough so they didn't see you, and then followed them back to camp. Was there something else I needed to know?"

"No."

He sighed. "Well, I'll find out eventually, trust me. I've got powerful friends. But my point was that Dovewing didn't sense either of your siblings. Remember what I said about her having extended hearing and sight?" Snowpaw nodded, thinking back to the conversation. Suddenly, Dovewing's words about only being able to 'sense' one of them were much less confusing. "She should have seen and heard all three of you. Yet she only felt you, from a distance. You seemed to just disappear to her when you were with your siblings. It made no sense. I wanted to know if you have an explanation for this. And before you say no, I'm going to remind you that this is your Clan now, I am your medicine cat, and if there's something you know that I need to know too, especially if it involves the safety of our Clan, then you need to tell me. I could take this up with Bramblestar, too, of course, but I would really rather not."

Snowpaw sat silently, trying to process all this new information. So there was something about her, Blackpaw, and Bronzepaw that made Jayfeather's and Dovewing's powers useless. It could have something to do with a new prophecy, but she didn't think so; if StarClan was really as great and wise as her mother - that is, Leopardstep - had told her, wouldn't they have spoken to someone about a prophecy? No, she thought it was more likely that it was something to do with her Tribe ancestry. She'd have to ask some questions to make sure, of course, and do a few fortune tellings and mystic readings. But... one thing she knew was almost certain: Blackpaw's new invisibility power, or whatever it was, had a lot to do with this.

To stall for time, she meowed slowly, "And if I told you that I have some information, it has absolutely nothing to do with the safety of ThunderClan, but I still need some time to think about whether to tell you or not... could you give me some time to think about it?"

Jayfeather chuckled. "That's clever of you. Yes, I suppose I could give you a night. But I expect something new by tomorrow, at sunset, all right?"

She nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her. "Yes, Jayfeather."

"Good." He gave her a nod. "Well, you'd best get back to you duties. I think Cloudtail wants you to bring that sparrow you caught over to Dustpelt."

"O-okay." Snowpaw backed out of the den and turned to look at the fresh-kill pile; indeed, Cloudtail was beckoning to her with his tail. She hurried over to him, feeling more than a little creeped out.