Shadowpaw glared up at the larger cat.

"I went swimming," she answered.

"Swimming? Where? In the river?" Ashfur was clearly angry.

Shadowpaw thought quickly for a moment. Was it wrong to swim in the river?

"No, in the stream - I was hot," she answered.

"Oh really? I don't believe it. You're a Twoleg. And I'm not going to forget it." Ashfur hissed, pushing his face up to hers.

"You left me alone." She hissed. "And I won't forget that."

"I've got my eye on you." Ashfur hissed, stalking away.

Shadowpaw opened her mouth to reply but there was a sudden call from the Highrock.

She walked over and sat down beside Whitepaw.

Firestar began.

"Bramblepaw is ready to become a warrior. He should have become one long ago."

Firestar fixed his eyes on the stars.

"I, Firestar leader of ThunderClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior, in his turn."

Firestar looked down at Bramblepaw.

"Bramblepaw, do you promise to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Bramblepaw dipped his head. "I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior name. Bramblepaw, from this moment on you will be known as Brambleclaw. StarClan honors you for your bravery and strength, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

Firestar rested his head on Brambleclaws shoulder.

Shadowpaw had been entranced. That had been so amazing!

"Will I ever get a new name?" she asked Whitepaw.

"Oh yes, every apprentice gets a new name when they finish training, you become a warrior."

"I will work hard to become one," Shadowpaw meowed. But just then she saw Ashfur glaring at her, and a dark thought came to her mind. Had Ashfur purposely left her in the forest alone? He could have easily taken her with him when he went to join the patrol and left her in the safety of camp. Had he tried to kill her by leaving her alone? Keep your ears pricked and your claws ready. He isn't done yet

"What's wrong?" Whitepaw asked, breaking Shadowpaw's thoughts.

"Nothing." Shadowpaw shook her head. Whitepaw still looked suspicious so she added:

"Could you show me around camp and you know, introduce me too some of the Clan members?"

Whitepaw nodded her head up and down enthusiastically "Sure!"

"Hmmm" Whitepaw was clearly taking her duty as a guide very seriously. Just then Snowy walked by.

"That's Cloudtail." Whitepaw mewed.

"Hi!" Cloudtail meowed. "Shadowpaw, I recognize you very vaguely."

"Of course you do. I used to be your master."

"Do you know Princess? She's my mother."

"Sure I do. She's my mom's cat. And do you remember your siblings, Blackie, Brownie, Tiny, Socks, and Muffins?"

Cloudtail wrinkled his forehead. "No."

"Well, see you Cloudtail," Whitepaw meowed hurriedly. She wanted too get on with the tour.

"Cloudtail's my dad." Whitepaw added as he walked away.

She flicked her tail at five cats eating not far away.

"There's Brackenfur, Sandstorm, Thornclaw, Mousefur, and Graystripe. Graystripe is the Clan deputy."

"Meaning what?" Shadowpaw asked.

"He's like …the second in command."

Shadowpaw nodded. In 7th grade she had been taught that cats were pea brains. This proved how wrong teachers could be. She was smart – wasn't she?

"There's Dustpelt, Brightheart, and Ferncloud," Whitepaw mewed, flicking her tail at a few more cats a few tail lengths away.

At first Shadowpaw thought that Ferncloud was Ashfur. She dug her claws into the ground as a wave of terror washed over her. She wished she could spoon her worries about Ashfur into the garbage like she would spoon a plate of spaghetti and meatballs into the trash. (Her least favorite food.)

"Is Clan life really this hard?" she asked Whitepaw.

"Huh?" Whitepaw meowed. "Well… um …no I guess. – Hard as what?"

"Ashfur."

Whitepaw had no idea what her friend was talking about. "Sorry, but I don't understand you."

"Oh never mind."

"Shadowpaw." mewed a new voice, Firestar. "I want you to go to the Gathering tonight."

"What's that?"

"It is the time, every full moon when all 4 clans, ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan meet together in peace and the leaders stand on the Great Rock and tell about their Clans."

"Wow." Shadowpaw whispered.

Firestar leaped on to the Highrock.

"There is a Gathering tonight. I will take, Brackenfur, Graystripe, Sandstorm, Thornclaw, Dustpelt, Mousefur, Ashfur, Whitepaw, Shrewpaw, and Shadowpaw."

"What?" Screeched a cat from the crowd. Shadowpaw craned her neck to see Dustpelt. "You can't take the Twoleg to a Gathering!"

"She's not a Twoleg." Firestar shot back. "And yes, she is going."

He jumped off the Highrock and padded over to Shadowpaw.

"I think it would be wise to take a nap." He said.

"Were do I sleep?" She asked Whitepaw.

"Right over here." Whitepaw scrambled over to a dense clump of ferns made into a hollow and they both crawled inside. It was cool, soft and shaded nicely.

Shadowpaw curled up on a patch of moss and fell asleep and dreamed.

She was in the camp. It was full of fighting, quarreling cats. Instinctively she tried to leap on one but she couldn't move. She yowled in terror but no sound came out. Suddenly the ground softened beneath her. The fighting cats faded away and were replaced by hills of bones. She looked down at her paws and the ground melted into blood. A hot sticky river of blood. The river.

"No!" Shadowpaw yowled in horror.

She looked over at the bank. There were endless piles of cat bones, lying on dead, burnt grass.

Then Skypaw came into view, lying on the bank. He was dead, only bones, with rotten skin still clinging to his frame. His jaws were parted, grinning a huge foolish grin; but his eyes, huge and green, were fixed on her.

Shadowpaw's eyes grew bigger and bigger with terror.

The river was gone. She was at the edge of a cliff. Below her was lava, churning darkly, forever. Suddenly the cliff was gone and she was falling.

"Take heed of what you have seen Shadowpaw, Whispered a voice softly in her ear. "Darkness of light, and darkness of fire, will meet in battle, bright as the sky will live no more, and everything will be dead…dead…dead…"

"Bluestar help me!" Shadowpaw wailed as she was plunged into the lava. She was swallowed up by the waves and everything went black.

Is Shadowpaw going to die? What does the prophecy mean? What will happen at the gathering? The next chapter comes out on either the 13th or 14th - I don't know yet.