-8-

A thick silence enveloped the jungle. Usually monkeys were shrieking and tigers were roaring even at night, but for some reason there was no noise. Starpaw cautiously padded out into the camp clearing, the quiet making her nervous. She jumped when the bushes near her rustled and a blue-gray she-cat emerged from the shadows.

"Hello," the she-cat meowed. Starpaw couldn't move. Her eyes seemed as if they'd be permanently fixed on this cat.

"Who are you?" she finally managed to gasp. She could feel no recognition when she looked at the cat.

"My name is Bluestar," came the reply.

Starpaw tilted her head to one side. Sunheart had told her a little bit about MistClan's ancestors, but there had been no leader named Bluestar. Was she from one of the other three Clans?

"I can see why you might be confused," Bluestar said gently. "I'm not from MistClan, SkyClan, CloudClan, or StormClan. I am an ancestor of ThunderClan."

Starpaw felt her mind become even more muddled. What was ThunderClan? It didn't exist…did it?

"ThunderClan resides in a forest far away from here," Bluestar meowed patiently.

Starpaw finally managed to find her voice. "Then why are you here?" she mewed curiously.

"I came to bring you a prophecy," Bluestar told her. The she-cat's voice suddenly lowered to a whisper.

"When dawn comes and the quarter moon sets, it will leave this jungle and the stars will follow, leaving the jungle enveloped in darkness."

Starpaw narrowed her eyes as a white light covered Bluestar. The apprentice blinked, and then Bluestar was gone.

Shaken, Starpaw padded back toward the apprentices den, but before entering, she looked up at the sky. A quarter moon was moving across the sky, and tiny pinpricks of light seemed to be following it.

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Starpaw jolted awake, her eyes wide and her fur standing on end.

"What is wrong with you?" Boulderpaw was sitting upright on his bed of mass. He had stopped cleaning his whiskers to stare at Starpaw. "You slept in. It's almost sunhigh."

Starpaw stuck her head outside the den. Sure enough, the sun had almost finished climbing to its place in the sky. She started toward Sunheart's den at a steady trot; she didn't want to make him angry by being any later than she was already going to be.

When she entered the den, Sunheart was bustling about, grabbing various herbs from the stone shelves. He spotted Starpaw, and immediately started talking. "It's the half moon. We have to go meet with the other medicine cats today. Hurry, eat those traveling herbs over there."

Starpaw obediently gripped a mouthful of leaves in her jaws and gulped them down as best she could, making a face at the taste.

Sunheart easily downed his herbs and shot out of the den, beckoning with his tail for Starpaw to follow. The gray apprentice scrambled after him, her white paws slipping on the floor of the den; it was covered in rainwater.

Starpaw and Sunheart easily made it to Fourrocks by sunhigh. There was one cat there when they arrived, a pretty tortoiseshell she-cat. Starpaw had met the other medicine cats at the last half moon, and she politely dipped her head. "Hi Marshfur."

Marshfur smiled and meowed, "Hello. I'm glad you two made it on time. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for Shimmerpelt, Bearheart, and Dragonpaw."

Starpaw felt pleased when she heard the last name. Dragonpaw was the only other medicine cat apprentice in the jungle, her best friend since she'd met him a moon ago. Boulderpaw didn't count since he was her brother.

"Looks like we won't," Sunheart meowed suddenly. Starpaw had to crane her neck to catch a glimpse of the lithe shape moving toward them from StormClan's territory. A moment later Shimmerpelt joined them.

"Where are Bearheart and Dragonpaw?" the black tabby she-cat meowed impatiently.

Starpaw felt just as exasperated. Why did her friend have to arrive last? They wouldn't have as much time to talk. Anxious, she twisted around to look into CloudClan's territory. There wasn't any sign of the two cats, not yet anyway. Starpaw kneaded the ground impatiently. Not only did she want to chat with Dragonpaw, but she also wanted to get to the Moontree soon. Maybe Bluestar would tell her more about the prophecy.

All of a sudden, Starpaw felt something slam into her back. She whirled around, hissing, to slash at her attacker, but quickly sheathed her claws when she saw who it was.

"You were looking the wrong way," Dragonpaw teased.

Starpaw flattened her ears playfully. "Well, you didn't have to sneak up on me like that," she spat.

"Enough, Dragonpaw. Stop provoking Starpaw." Bearheart padded up behind his apprentice, his black fur clashing with Dragonpaw's white pelt. Dragonpaw dipped his head apologetically, embarrassed to be lectured in front of the other medicine cats.

Shimmerpelt flicked her tail impatiently. "Come on…StarClan will be waiting for us."

Starpaw followed Sunheart and the other medicine cats away from Fourrocks and toward the sun, which was now at its highest point in the sky. The six cats would have to hurry if they wanted to make it to the Moontree by moonrise.

As they weaved between trees and avoided other animals, Dragonpaw trotted up to Starpaw's side. "Hi, long time no see."

Starpaw nodded. "How's CloudClan?" she asked, making conversation.

Dragonpaw shrugged. "We're doing okay. We're a little short on warriors since we only have three, but otherwise we're fine."

Starpaw counted on her claws. "Three? I thought you had four."

Dragonpaw's shoulders slumped. "Well, first Vulturepelt and Thundertail went missing, and then they came back a couple days later. But now Vulturepelt's gone again, and nobody has any clue where he is."

Her dream from the previous night flashed through Starpaw's mind. When dawn comes and the quarter moon sets, it will leave this jungle and the stars will follow, leaving the jungle enveloped in darkness, Bluestar had said. Could Vulturepelt be the quarter moon? But then who were the stars? It was all so confusing; Starpaw wished prophecies weren't so mysterious.

"You okay?" Dragonpaw was staring at her worriedly.

Starpaw shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine," she mewed feebly.

Dragonpaw gazed at her curiously for one more moment, then changed the subject. "Any news from your Clan?"

"No, not really. Fishfoot and Snakefang went missing for a while too, but they're back now."

"Oh…when did they go missing?"

"On the night of the quarter moon…why?"

Dragonpaw stared at his paws. "Because that's when Thundertail and Vulturepelt went missing too."

Starpaw was more puzzled than ever now. "Really? Are you sure?"

Dragonpaw nodded. "Positive," he meowed.

There were two mysteries to solve now. Everything was just so confusing.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence. Starpaw and Dragonpaw were too busy thinking to talk anymore, and the other cats seemed to be pondering something themselves. Finally, the weary medicine cats stopped.

"The Moontree is just through here," Sunheart meowed, gesturing toward a large patch of tall grass. The grass tickled Starpaw's nose, and she stifled a sneeze as she pushed through it with her companions. When she finally made it through, the sight of the Moontree was still a magnificent sight, even though she'd seen it once before.

The Moontree had a trunk thicker than three leopards standing side by side and it stretched towards the stars, so far up that Starpaw couldn't see the top. In some places its grimy bark was peeling away, revealing a glowing, silver interior. Any Clan cat could see that the tree was truly of StarClan's creation.

Starpaw bounded forward and lay down next to the beautiful tree, letting her nose touch the trunk. A gentle tingling sensation worked its way down her spine, and when it reached the tip of her tail, she was fast asleep.

When Starpaw opened her eyes, she yowled in fright. She was falling through the air feet-first, her fur blown upward by the whistling wind. Summoning all her courage, she looked below her, only to see a vast expanse of water. It could've been an ocean, but the air didn't smell salty and there were trees sticking out of the water in some places. In one more moment, she plunged into the water. Pressure pushed down on her chest as her air supply ran out, and she frantically thrashed toward the surface. She only managed a small breath before she was forced under again. Panicked, she looked around for something, anything, that could help her, and froze. All around her floated the bodies of other cats. Some were desperately trying to get to the surface of the water, and others stared emptily at her, their mouths twisted into a frightened yowl that had escaped them just before their hearts stopped.