I walked toward Berrynose. I hated to do this, but I had no choice. "Um, Berrynose," I began.

"I hope you're here to apologize to Honeyfern," he said.

"No actua—"I began

"WELL APOLOGIZE!" he roared.

"I'm sorry Honeyfern. Now, ---"I started to say.

"Good, you apologized. Now, what do you want," he purred.

"I WANT TO KNOW WHERE MOUSEWHISKER IS!" I screeched.

"Why do you want to know where HE is?" Berrynose sneered.

"Because he's my friend, and I need to speak with him. Is the *great* Berrynose satisfied?" I replied.

Berrynose started to speak, but Honeyfern clapped her tail over his mouth. "Of course he is. Mousewhisker went to the training hollow," she said. She smiled knowingly. I barely wondered why as I raced out of the camp.

My ebony paws flew toward the training hollow. Squirrelflight, to my dismay, was teaching Foxpaw how to attack an opponent with Mousewhisker's help. I tentatively stepped forward.

Squirrelflight looked at me. "Yes Hollyleaf?"

"May I borrow Mousewhisker for a moment?" I said.

"Of course! But not for too long," the cat I had thought was my mother replied. She looked so fake. How long could she continue to keep up this charade? Ashfur was right. I had to tell everything. Now was my chance. Mousewhisker will know. And I will tell my brothers. Just wait for the next Gathering. Everyone will know. I just had to plan.


I started toward the camp. It was time to plant a false idea in the minds of my Clan. If they thought Sol had murdered me, then they would want to find him. To kill him. Not that I would let that happen. I would take the mind of some cat and let him leave, once I got my answers.

I headed off to camp. The first cat I saw was Honeyfern. Quickly I ran toward her and slipped into her body. With all of my might, I thought, the loner Sol, who tried to drive the warrior code. Could he have killed Ashfur? I felt the wonder come into her mind. I slipped out of her body, watched the shock on her face, then trotted off toward my next "victim". I had work to do. A lot of work.


"Mousewhisker, I have something to tell you," I began.

He looked surprised. "What is it?"

"Um, there's kind of a lot. Would you like the short version or the long version?" I asked.

"The long version. Short versions leave out too many details," he replied, a hint of a smile in his eyes.

"It all started when we had that fire in camp. My brothers and I nearly didn't get out. Squirrelflight helped us, but before we could get out, Ashfur stopped us from getting out. He was…not himself. He said that moons ago, he helped Hawkfrost to trap Firestar in a foxtrap. His reason was to hurt Squirrelflight for rejecting him as her mate. It was here that she said…we weren't her kits. We waited, in fear of when Ashfur would choose to reveal her…our secret. It was not until he asked to go to the Gathering when we knew he would reveal it there. In front of the Clans. I couldn't let that happen. So…I slashed his throat while he was hunting."

Mousewhisker sat, in shock. "YOU killed Ashfur?" he said, dumbly.

All I could do was nod.

"I understand why though. To reveal that at a Gathering, it would make us the target of every Clan. But is there more? This was supposed to be the long version."

I nodded again before continuing. "A few days ago, I saw something I thought I would never see again. Ashfur. He said StarClan did not know where to send him, either to the Dark Forest, or StarClan. So, he has to right the wrongs. I however, since I killed him, am the only one who can see him. He told me who my parents where. My parents are Leafpool and Crowfeather. Now I don't know what to do. To help Ashfur, I would have to reveal this. But that would be like betraying my Clan. What should I do?"

Mousewhisker contemplated for a minute, then spoke. "I would do what Ashfur was going to do. Reveal it. The next Gathering is in about a half-Moon. Go to it. Complete what Ashfur was going to do. I need to go back to Squirrelflight."

Hollyleaf purred her thanks then started back to camp.


Brindleface slipped out of Mousewhisker's body and smiled. Her son had to join her in StarClan.