Maplepaw blinked open her eyes, expecting to see sunlight streaming through the bramble walls of the apprentices' den. But it was dark. Then she remembered - Wolfpaw wanted to meet them at dawn. Relief flooded over her. She hadn't slept too long!
Maplepaw sat up. Wolfpaw's nest was empty; she guessed he must be waiting for them at the Twoleg den. She prodded Thunderpaw in the side. "Whussit?"
"Wolfpaw wants to meet us at the old Twoleg den," she reminded him.
"Oh, right."
She and Thunderpaw padded quietly out of the camp and toward the den. Thunderpaw grumbled, "What do you think is so important that we need to leave the camp at dawn to hear it?"
"I was wondering that too," Maplepaw replied. "I think it might have something to do with the deputy."
"Sagetail?" Thunderpaw's eyes widened, not in shock, but in interest. "What makes you think that?"
"I saw Wolfpaw glance up at her when he was talking to us yesterday," Maplepaw mewed. "But I can't imagine what she's done. Or going to do. She's a loyal deputy!" Right?
They arrived at the Twoleg den; Maplepaw saw that Wolfpaw was already waiting for them. He waved a gray tabby tail, gesturing for them to come over.
"You're sure nobody's followed you, right?" Wolfpaw asked.
"Yes," Maplepaw answered.
"Then sit down, and I'll tell you everything." They sat. "Yesterday when I was hunting, I strayed a bit far away from where Sagetail asked me to hunt," he began. "It was near the ShadowClan border. I saw Sagetail talking to a ShadowClan cat."
There was a sharp intake of breath from Thunderpaw; Maplepaw was rendered speechless. And I thought she was a loyal deputy.
"I don't know why she was there or who the ShadowClan cat was," Wolfpaw mewed. "Do you believe me?" Now the gray tabby apprentice sounded a bit worried.
"Of course we believe you," Thunder
paw mewed. Maplepaw thought she heard a rustle somewhere in the forest behind them. Wolfpaw must have heard it too.
"We should go now," he mewed. The three apprentices left for the camp.
Maplepaw wasn't quite sure how to take the news. Sagetail never had seemed like the kind of cat to betray her Clan. But surely Wolfpaw wasn't lying. Was he? She'd known Wolfpaw since he was a kit. He wasn't the type to lie to his closest friends. She wasn't sure what to believe. But if we don't find out… ThunderClan may fall to the paws of a ShadowClan warrior.