-1Hey, people! I'm back! I just wanted to let you all know that tomorrow I'm going to the orthodontist, and then my friends are coming down for the weekend, so I might not update much then. Because of that, I'm going to try to write as many chapters as I possibly can today.

Chapter 11: Beechpaw

Dedicated to RaynyCrowy

I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by neck-high grass on a misty, open moor. The stars above my head shone clearly and brightly in the blackened night sky.

"Come, Beechpaw," A voice called to me, sweet and smooth as honey. I took a step forward, but the grass flung me back to where I had started. As I looked up at the sky, one of the stars began to pulse. I watched it as it soared out of the sky and landed right at my paws.

"Step on the star, Beechpaw," The voice instructed. Warily, I placed one paw on the surface of the star. The next thing I knew, I was being whisked through the air by the star, three of my paws dangling in mid-air. I opened my mouth to let out a wail of fear, but before I could make a sound, the star disappeared. I was expecting to fall, but instead, everything around me vanished, and I floated for a heartbeat before I was in a completely different environment. I stood on a trail that wound steadily downward toward a pool of glistening water. The path was trodden by many, many paw steps. I placed my paw into one of the paw prints implanted in the ground. It fit mine perfectly. I drew my paw back in shock, then crept downward toward the pool.

Upon reaching the edge of the pool, many, many cats appeared about me. More cats than I hade ever seen in my life. One of them, a spotted golden she-cat I knew very well from my kithood, stepped forward. Stars speckled her fur and fell to the ground when she moved, but she never seemed to run out of stars.

"Welcome, young Beechpaw," the she-cat meowed, bowing her head.

"Leopardstar!" I cried. "What is this place?"

"This," Leopardstar replied, sweeping her tail in the direction of the sparkling pool of water. "Is the Moonpool. This is where the medicine cats meet every half-moon to speak to us."

"To who?" I asked.

Leopardstar purred. "To speak to us, their warrior ancestors. And tonight, we have gathered here to welcome you to StarClan."

"What?" I yowled. "I'm…dead? I'm really truly dead?"

"Yes," Leopardstar meowed solemnly.

"Can't I at least say goodbye to Whitepaw?" I begged.

"No," Leopardstar replied firmly. "But you may see her. Come, follow me." Leopardstar flicked her tail and guided me to the edge of the Moonpool. I gazed down at it in awe. I had only heard stories about this place. I had never imagined that I'd be able to see it for myself. Leopardstar pointed with her tail toward the center of the pool. Stars danced on the surface. "Touch your nose to the pool," Leopardstar instructed. I bent my head and placed my nose delicately on the surface of the pool, fearing that if I hit it too hard with my nose, the pool might shatter and disappear.

The pool did shatter, but only for a moment. A heartbeat later, the pool flashed and reformed itself. A scene played in the center of it.

"The ThunderClan camp," A flame-colored tom sighed. "It pains me to see it like this."

"Whitepaw!" I cried as I gazed into the image. A flurry of fur and claws swept around the clearing, though it did not appear that the cats were fighting each other. They were fighting one cat: Tigerstar.

"She brought him back from the dead," A brown tabby tom meowed. "This is her punishment."

"What?" I mewed. "What's her punishment?"

"Look back into the pool," The flame-colored tom instructed. I leaned over the surface and peered into the image, searching for the lump of white fur that had been my one and only true friend. I saw her then, lying bloody and broken, the same way Tawnypelt had looked when she was killed. I wailed in grief and drew my head back, squeezing my eyes shut.

"I don't want to see any more!" I cried. Whitepaw was dead now, too. I was glad that she would be coming to join me soon, but I knew that it was all my fault. If I had been there to rescue her, things might have been different. Maybe…