Author's Note: I sort of like how my version of Jaypaw sort of fluctuates between completely forgetting about Willowpaw and thinking that she is a major problem in his life. Despite their relationship being the main premise of this story and the whole reason I started writing it. My how far we've come.

Chapter Fourteen

Squirrelflight paced up and down the length of the medicine cat's den, tail twitching anxiously as she waited for her sister to return from the Moonpool. She needed to talk to her. Now. Hollypaw still hadn't come back yet, and she was hoping that, as the Clan's medicine cat, Leafpool would have learned of the apprentice's whereabouts from StarClan. Her ears pricked forward and she paused in her tracks as she heard a rustling at the entrance to the camp, and the scent of her sister flooded over her, along with a sense of worry. Feeling that, Squirrelflight raced out of the den and stopped short, almost bumping noses with the Clan's petite medicine cat.

"Squirrelflight!" Leafpool exclaimed in surprise, taking a step backwards. "What are you doing up at this time of night?"

"I need to talk to you."

Leafpool looked taken aback by the look of intensity in her sister's bright green eyes, and she began to feel slightly uncomfortable. Then she picked up on the waves off worry rolling off of her sibling, filling her with some of her sister's sense of urgency. Gently, she brushed her tail along her side and whispered to her, "Come with me."

She led her sister back inside the cleft in the rock that made up the medicine cat's den, then sat down and turned to face her. "What is it, Squirrelflight? I can tell that whatever it is that's bothering you is important."

"It's Hollypaw." Squirrelflight brought her gaze up to meet that of her sister. "She's still missing, and I was just wondering…" her voice trailed off, and she examined the floor for a bit before continuing. "I was just wondering whether StarClan had given you any message about her. Whether she's alright or, or where she is."

"I—" Leafpool lowered her gaze. "StarClan has been silent."

"Did they even appear to you?" asked Squirrelflight, her voice betraying her desperation.

"No," said Leafpool, shaking her head sadly. "I heard voices, but none of them were for me." She turned to her sister. "Are you sure that no one has seen her? She couldn't have left our territory already. What about Cloudtail? He's the best tracker in the entire Clan!"

Squirrelflight's head jerked up. "I hadn't thought of that! Do you think it's a little too late to wake him up and ask him?" she questioned, eyes stretching wide in excitement.

Leafpool shrugged. "It's almost dawn. Let's ask him then. I'm pretty sure Firestar will ask him anyway, if Hollypaw hasn't come back by then. In the meantime," she stifled a yawn, feeling rather guilty as she saw the sudden look of disappointment in her sister's eyes. "Come on, I'll sit up with you in case she comes back before then."

The dark ginger she-cat flashed a grateful look at her sister as the two of them went to go sit by the camp entrance, and Leafpool smiled at her. It was the least she could do, especially after all Squirrelflight had done for her.

Dawn saw the two she-cats still sitting in front of the entrance to the camp, heads against each other in sleep. Their sleep was disturbed by Brambleclaw, who was coming towards the entrance with the dawn patrol.

"Leafpool? Squirrelflight? Why are the two of you sitting up by the entrance?"

Leafpool was still half asleep when Brambleclaw's question registered. Squirrelflight, however, was quick to respond. "It's Hollypaw," she blurted out, allowing her agitation and annoyance at herself for falling asleep to show in the steady twitching of her tail. "She hasn't been seen since yesterday. I've looked all over the camp and around our territory, but I haven't been able to find her anywhere! Leafpool and I were hoping that she would come back during the night."

Brambleclaw lowered his ears and the other cats in his patrol drew together nervously. "Why didn't you let me know she was missing yesterday?" demanded the deputy, directing his question directly at his mate.

"I thought she was just out exploring and that she'd be back! I didn't think it was that big a deal yet!"

"And yet you thought it was a big enough deal to look for her and wait up all night." He narrowed his eyes at her and she looked away. "We're not finished here, but I need to put together a patrol to go looking for her. Sandstorm," he turned, addressing the pale orange she-cat, "you're in charge of the dawn patrol. Keep an eye out for Hollypaw."

Sandstorm nodded and calmly led her cats out of camp. Brambleclaw meanwhile headed back towards the warriors den. Squirrelflight and Leafpool watched him disappear inside and then reappear moments later with Brackenfur and Cloudtail, both of whom were still yawning.

"Alright," began Brambleclaw as he led the other warriors over, "we'll start by spreading out around the perimeter of the camp and see if we can catch her scent. Cloudtail's the best tracker in the Clan, so we'll be relying on his nose to pick out her scent for us. Is everybody ready?"

They were just preparing to leave when a young voice piped up from behind them. "Are you guys going to look for Hollypaw?"

"What do the two of you know about it?" asked Brackenfur, turning back around and identifying the voice as belonging to Lionpaw, who had rushed over to join them with Jaypaw right on his heels.

"She's our sister," stated Jaypaw matter-of-factly, as though that explained everything. Sensing the lack of understanding, he further clarified: "We all sleep in the same den. We aren't stupid. And we want to help find her."

Squirrelflight was quick to reply to this. "You can't come with us! What if the two of you go missing? Then we'll be looking for three apprentices instead of one!"

Brambleclaw regarded her cooly from his steady amber eyes. "I don't think it would be such a bad idea for you guys to come along. The more noses the better. Besides, she may have told you things about where she was going that the rest of us wouldn't know about."

Lionpaw opened his mouth to tell Brambleclaw that Hollypaw hadn't actually told them anything, but found it promptly filled with Jaypaw's tail. "We'd better get moving," he heard Jaypaw say, "it's almost sunrise."

Without any further words passing between them, the cats left camp and began scenting the perimeter. It was slow going, as the Clan-scent was predominate over everything else, and only Cloudtail's strong nose was able to pick out and distinguish individual scents. Still, even he had no luck until he came to a little-used part of the perimeter where the walls of the camp were particularly high and overlooked by thick bushes.

"Found it!" he exclaimed, the tip of his tail curling in delight. "It smells like she left the camp from here, but her scent is very faint. We should be able to follow it though."

"Lead the way," Bramblepaw gestured the snow white warrior to the front of the group and everyone else fell in behind him as he put his nose to the ground and went to work.

Hollypaw's trail zig-zagged through the forest, and it seemed that wherever she was going, she had been heading there with purpose. Her scent was leading them towards the edge of ThunderClan territory.

Abruptly Cloudtail stopped, lifting his nose from the ground and tasting the air. "There was someone else here with her," he announced, leaning over to scent a frond of bracken, "not a ThunderClan cat."

The effect of his words was instantaneous, the hackles on the backs of the other cats rising as they heard about this trespass upon their territory. "Who was it?" demanded Squirrelflight, looking around suspiciously as though the trespasser might still be present.

"Wait, I know this scent…" interrupted Lionpaw, scenting the air for himself. "This is—Silverfish was here!"

"Silverfish?!" exclaimed Leafpool, whom up till now had been very quiet. "I thought Firestar told him to leave?"

"Well it seems as though he took it upon himself to come back," growled Jaypaw, narrowing his eyes and lowering his ears. He knew that the stranger had saved the lives of both the Clan medicine cat and his brother, but something about that cat just rubbed his fur the wrong way, and the thought that he had anything to do with the disappearance of his sister was making him uneasy.

"But what could he possibly want with Hollypaw?" asked Brackenfur, confused. "She's just an apprentice!"

"I did see her talking to him, just before he left…" Leafpool spoke up, her eyes focusing vaguely past the treeline that marked the end of ThunderClan territory. "If I'd of known…" She trailed off, then refocused her gaze on the cats around her, particularly Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight. "We have to tell Firestar," she said. "Silverfish has taken Hollypaw away from the Clan."

A shocked silence settled over the group as Leafpool's words sunk in. Hollypaw, gone. Spirited away from the Clan by a rogue stranger. The gazes of the other cats followed Leafpool's back to the edge of their territory, and suddenly a feeling of great unease settled over all of them and they banded closer together. They decided that they needed to go back to camp straight away and alert Firestar.

Jayfeather was the only one to hang back when they started heading back. Something seemed off to him about the whole thing, and he wasn't convinced that what they had discovered was the whole story. While he was thinking, his paw accidentally brushed against some loose dirt. The earth was cool and dry, and smelled somewhat faintly of Hollypaw. Searching blindly, he stumbled and almost fell when the earth dropped suddenly from under him, the space smelling of cold, dark, dank and deep. Without hesitation he rushed off to catch up with the others. This required further investigation, and he was going to need Lionpaw's help.

Author's Note: Alright, so typical me. I start writing a story that's supposed to be a romance, and wind up all but neglecting that aspect of it. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just too spontaneous for my own good. I'm getting lost in my own story. Also, I seem to recall reading somewhere that Cloudtail was a great tracker. I sincerely hope that this is correct.

This chapter is also, thankfully, more error-free than some of those preceding it. Writing original fiction sort of has a way of pushing the bar a bit. That and I'm becoming better at catching the mistakes caused by my mild dyslexia.