Chapter 13

Mistyfoot woke from troubled sleep, her dreams clouded with Tinystar's ice-blue eyes chasing her from the ThunderClan camp for something she didn't know about. Dawn light was seeping in through the cracks in the warrior's den walls, and Mistyfoot sighed.

She would be leaving tonight.

Mistyfoot did not even try to speak with Nightpaw throughout the day. It would only cause trouble for them both, and soon enough he would guess what Mistyfoot had been trying to tell him behind the nursery the day before. Her heart ached as she saw Nightpaw heading out of camp – he looked sullen and miserable and alone, his tail dragging in the dust.

The day seemed to drag on. Mistyfoot had been assigned no task and she paced the camp, waiting for Tinystar to tell her to go sit in a tree for hours, or whatever he found fitting. She didn't bother taking any prey, feeling that it might be a trap – she had done nothing to deserve it yet.

Evening was coming. Each moment brought Mistyfoot closer to nightfall, when she would have to sneak out of camp and leave ThunderClan for… possibly forever. The thought chilled her bones. Though the past few days had been tenuous, this place, these cats… they were Mistyfoot's home and family. The thought of leaving them pulled at her like enemy claws.

Finally Mousefur approached her. "Want to go hunting?" she asked.

Mistyfoot wondered if Tinystar had put her up to this – but Mistyfoot had not seen Tinystar all day. She nodded in reply.

Even if Tinystar had set this up… it would be nice to hunt with a friend, before she had to go.

Evening light cast the forest in an orange glow. Mousefur led the way to a thicket of oak and ferns, where Mistyfoot know prey was teeming, especially after the rain. The three of them crouched behind a long-fallen oak, watching intently for small shapes in the undergrowth.

Yet Mistyfoot found herself unable to focus. Her gaze kept straying to Mousefur, and words kept bubbling in her throat – an attempt to say good-bye hung in her mind. Mistyfoot knew she couldn't say it without bringing up a load of questions. Friends or not, she knew Mousefur wouldn't understand, wouldn't let her leave.

Mistyfoot wasn't the only distracted cat. Spiderpaw had a hard time staying still, even after so long in training. Mousefur kept forcing her to stop fidgeting, stop moving, stop chattering. She was far too busy for Mistyfoot to confide in, even a little.

Finally Spiderpaw's fidgeting came to a head – a squirrel darted out into the open and like an excited kitten, Spiderpaw leaped the oak log and shot off after it.

Mousefur growled in annoyance. "Stay here," she said, clambering over the log. "We'll be back."

Mistyfoot watched Mousefur go, chasing after her apprentice into the forest. She was suddenly alone now, with only the sound of a branch falling or a bird chirping to keep her company. The silence was… comforting.

For a time.

Without Spiderpaw's chatter or Mousefur's grumblings, Mistyfoot's own worries began to creep into focus. She leaned against the log and sighed as they washed over her in a wave. What if it was for nothing? What if the lake wasn't real? What if she was caught trying to leave, or worse? What if she died, far away from ThunderClan?

Briefly, she wondered if any cat would really miss her.

A rustling caught Mistyfoot's attention, and she poked her head up from behind the log. As if StarClan had brought him here, Nightpaw was chasing a vole through the ferns. The small apprentice made a leap, but ultimately he missed – the vole scurried away, leaving Nightpaw to push himself to his paws and sigh.

"Wonderful," he murmured. "Just one more thing I've done wrong."

"Nightpaw!" Mistyfoot mewed, standing.

Nightpaw jumped nearly out of his fur. "Mistyfoot!" he hissed. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry," Mistyfoot offered. She leaped over the log in an easy bound. "What're you doing here?"

Nightpaw twitched his tail, his eyes downcast. "I was trying to catch a vole for Dappletail – I figured if I can't make Father happy I can at least make everyone else happy… for the rest of eternity."

Mistyfoot's heart broke for him. How could Tinystar do this to his own son?

"You said you had another sign?" Nightpaw recalled. "Y'know, before we got yelled at."

Mistyfoot blinked in shock. They were alone for the first time in what felt like ages. She could finally tell him! "It was amazing," she began. "I was standing on a hill, before this great big-"

"What is going on here?"

Mistyfoot's jaws snapped shut.

Tinystar appeared, pushing his way through the ferns, his tail and head held high. Mistyfoot's heart sank. What were the odds? Twice in as many days? Nightpaw whimpered, shuffling back to stand closer to Mistyfoot, as if she could shield him from his father.

"I was hunting for the elders," Nightpaw replied quietly.

"And I was hunting with Mousefur," Mistyfoot reported.

Tinystar narrowed his eyes. He looked around the fern-choked glade. "I see neither Dustpelt nor Mousefur," he stated.

"I can't speak for Dustpelt, but Mousefur ran off after Spiderpaw," Mistyfoot explained.

"Dustpelt sent me out alone," Nightpaw meowed.

Tinystar blinked. "And this is how you choose to obey orders? Talking here like jackdaws instead of hunting them?"

"We just happened upon each other!" Nightpaw insisted, his eyes wide. "W-We were just chatting for a moment!"

"Oh?" Tinystar questioned, his eyes frustratingly skeptical.

Mistyfoot dug her claws into the earth, her spine rigid. "Yes," she snapped. "We did just happen to run into one another. We'd have to, since you've been dictating our every move as if you don't trust us!"

Tinystar's icy gaze turned to her. "Cats who do not obey my orders are cats I cannot trust!" he snapped.

Tension crackled in the air. Mistyfoot stepped forward, fur bristling. "Obey me or be punished? Is that how you are now? The only cat I know of who thought like that was Bluestar!" she snarled.

Silence descended upon the forest.

Mistyfoot fought to keep herself from trembling, from taking back her words. Tinystar's eyes were glittering like icy claws, and Mistyfoot imagined them slicing into her throat. Comparing Tinystar to Bluestar… what was she thinking? Had she snapped, suddenly? Gone mad?

"Mistyfoot and I have done nothing wrong," Nightpaw meowed, his voice breaking the silence. "You need to ease up on us, or at least tell us what we did. This isn't fair, being punished for something we don't know about! Father, can't you see that?"

The chill fled Tinystar's gaze. Mistyfoot heard the regret in his voice, the tiredness and sorrow: "I am doing what is best for the Clan, my son. You two… you two need to understand that."

Suddenly it hit Mistyfoot like a blow. They weren't being punished – there was something that Tinystar knew that he could not tell any other cat. Something that involved them.

"Mistyfoot," Tinystar continued, his voice still subdued, "get back to hunting. Find Mousefur. Nightpaw – get back to camp."

The small black tom turned and left, his pawsteps the only sound in the forest.

When he was gone for sure Mistyfoot told Nightpaw, "Go back to camp."

"What?" Nightpaw breathed. "I don't want to!" He leaned against Mistyfoot, trembling. "I've never been so scared of him, Mistyfoot. Don't make me go back!"

"I dreamed of a lake, Nightpaw," Mistyfoot meowed. Suddenly the dream tumbled from her jaws: "It was far away from here, and bigger than any puddle we've ever seen, surrounded by forests and moorland and everything we could ever dream of. Mosspaw was there, and she told me she was waiting for me… so we're going. Tonight."

Nightpaw was stunned, as if Mistyfoot had hit him on the head. He shook his head and insisted, "I'm coming."

Panic flooded Mistyfoot. "You can't!" she insisted. "I can't be responsible for your safety."

"I can't stay here!" Nightpaw threw back. "I don't know what's wrong with Father but I won't be punished for it! I want to see this through, Mistyfoot – I need to!"

Mistyfoot swallowed. The thought of Nightpaw being left here, alone… it hurt just as much as thinking of what might happen to him on the journey – or what might happen to him if he tried to follow on his own. She pictured him huddled in the log, the badger crashing down on him…

She sagged. "I know," she meowed. "I understand."

"When are we leaving?" Nightpaw asked.

Mistyfoot looked up at the sun. Evening was sliding into nightfall. She would have to leave again almost as soon as she got back to camp at this rate, if she were even allowed to leave at all. Resolved, reisgned, and fluttering with anxiety… there was only one time to leave:

"Right now."