Jay's Wing's lips curled as he took a bundle of herbs into his mouth and tried to choke them down. He looked up at Leafpool who was standing beside him and couldn't help but feel a bit resentful. "These are disgusting."

"They're for your own good," she told him. "We've only got a few days until I have to bring you to that tunnel and you're nowhere near strong enough to make that journey."

"Aren't herbs supposed to fix stuff on the inside?" Jay's Wing questioned as he took another leaf into his mouth. He flinched the moment it hit his tongue. I hate these. "It's my body that's broken. If I'm not strong enough, shouldn't I be doing something to strengthen it?"

"I suppose," Leafpool said, "but I think playing with the kits like you've been doing gives you enough exercise."

Jay's Wing barked in laughter and sat up, giving up on the herbs. "Those little things have a bottomless supply of energy and then they just crash. I can't keep up with them until they're too tired to do anything. I basically just sit there and break up any fights or throw a moss ball. I don't think that counts as exercise."

"That's true," Leafpool sighed. She thought for a moment. "Hollypaw and Lionpaw could probably help you out with some exercises or just walk around with you. I think they'd like that."

"Have you told them I'm Jay's Wing yet?"

Leafpool stiffened then hissed. "Fox dung!"

Jaypaw opened his eyes in a familiar darkness. The starless sky was as black as a cat's pelt and the trees that surrounded him seemed to be made of shadows. Jaypaw began to make his way through them, searching for the clearing he ventured to each and every night.

White fur stood out against the black and red eyes stood out against the white. Jaypaw shivered under Ink's gaze. Green not red. Green not red. But here there was only red.

"Little Jay," Ink greeted, his voice as deep and rich as always.

Jaypaw noticed his pelt wasn't as sleek as normal and he even had a few scratches on his broad shoulders. He blinked in surprise. Who could do that to Ink? He's the most powerful cat I've ever met. He pointed with his tail. "Who did that to you?"

"Oh this?" Ink glanced at his fur for a brief moment. "My little sisters, Jackal and Avian. They seem to think I've been treating them unfairly, that I've taken something that's rightfully theirs. No matter. We'll simply step up your training."

"Step up my training?"

"You don't really think that copying my battlemoves and learning to dodge my strikes is enough?" Ink questioned. Yes. Jaypaw shook his head instead of speaking his mind. He had learned to bite his tongue long ago. Ink smirked. "Well it's time to do more. You have power from the stars, I can feel it in you but it seems you can't access it yet."

Jaypaw was momentarily confused. It was Jaypaw who had the Power of the Stars in his paws, not Jay's Wing and he was in Jay's Wing's body. I don't have my powers. Does Jay's Wing have his own powers?

Ink continued. "You've seen Jackal and Avian's powers, yes?"

Jaypaw nodded. "When Jackal showed up, she shook the earth and made a river. When Avian showed up, she turned the trees to stone."

"That's right. Those two have the power of the Earth, Jackal the natural world and Avian the twoleg city. They can do many things but the power physical world does not compare to the power of the mind," Ink said. His red eyes bore into Jaypaw. "The same being in the stars that granted me my powers seems to have given you powers of the same nature. We just have to draw them out and my sisters won't go around thinking they can take you from me anymore."

"Draw out my power? How?"

"Using my power," Ink told him simply. He lifted a paw and unsheathed his claws. Jaypaw flinched and took a step back but Ink didn't attack him. Instead, he plunged his paw into the ground and drew a few lines in the ground. "You saw my power in your trial, little Jay. Those spirits you saw, that was my doing."

What? A ghostly yowl filled the air. Jaypaw crouched in fear, eyes darting around. What was that? His eyes fell on Ink's drawings on the ground. Suddenly, a transparent paw shot out of them. Jaypaw yowled in surprise and tried to scramble away.

Ink threw his head back and laughed. "Run little Jay. I control the lost spirits that still walk the earth and they won't stop attacking you until you unlock your power to destroy them or they kill you."

"Jaypaw!" Hollypaw exclaimed as she darted into the medicine den.

Jay's Wing sat up in his nest and sighed. "Not Jaypaw."

Hollypaw looked to Leafpool. Leafpool sighed. "Not Jaypaw."

"What do you mean 'not Jaypaw'?" Lionpaw questioned as he entered.

"Not Jaypaw," Jay's Wing repeated. Leafpool flicked him with her tail.

"He's not Jaypaw. He's Jay's Wing," Leafpool explained. "He's… a spirit from the past inhabiting Jaypaw's body."

Jay's Wing wished he wasn't blind. He really wanted to see Hollypaw and Lionpaw's gaping faces. Still, his tail tip curled in amusement.

Leafpool cleared her throat. "So pretty much we need to get him back to where we found him before and a friend of his can do the rest."

"Oh, you mean that ghost cat?" Hollypaw asked.

"Fallen Leaves? You know him?" Jay's Wing was surprised. When Leafpool had told him that Fallen Leaves still walked the earth, he was a bit skeptical but apparently he really did.

Hollypaw nodded. "He was the one who took us to you."

"Any idea how he became a ghost?" Lionpaw asked.

Jay's Wing thought for a moment. His head always hurt when he thought back to his trial or the Rite of Passage but a memory stood out to him clearly.

A deep voice cackled. Jay's Wing, tired and beaten after two days of running, looked around fearfully and just kept moving as if that was the only thing he could do.

"Little Jay! I've been waiting for you to arrive!" the voice yowled through laughter. "Welcome to the Third Day! I am your Proctor, Ink of the Tribe of Blackest Night. You saw my sisters' power but mine is far greater. Enjoy!"

Ghostly yowls echoed through the tunnels. Jay's Wing kept running despite his heavy limbs trying to drag him down. He risked a glance behind him and saw transparent forms chasing him, faces dripping and pelts twisted. "What in the name of the stars?"

Ink cackled again. "I see you've met the lost spirits."

"Fallen Leaves died in the tunnels," Jay's Wing spoke. "I suppose he could have made it past the first day. The third proctor controls the spirits still trapped on the earth. I guess Fallen Leaves didn't go to the stars when he died."

The ThunderClan cats stared at him, not understanding but they didn't argue.

"So Fallen Leaves can use his ghost powers to get Jay's Wing back home and Jaypaw back here?" Lionpaw asked. "What can we do to help?"

"Jay's Wing's still pretty beat up," Leafpool explained. "He needs help regaining his strength."

Hollypaw stiffened with determination. Jay's Wing could imagine her eyes shining in the dim light. "You can count on us."

Fox dung! Fox dung! Fox dung! Why did I ever agree to train with Ink?

Jaypaw was in a dead sprint, running through the shadowy trees of the Place of No Stars. Behind him, the damaged spirits of various cats had been chasing him for StarClan knows how long. Not StarClan. I turned my back on them and they can't see me here.

Jaypaw risked a glance over his shoulder. Dozens of ungraceful forms were stumbling over each other behind him but he couldn't afford to slow down. If he did, they would surely catch him.

Jaypaw's chest and muscles were burning with effort. He was a medicine cat, he didn't have the greatest endurance but Jay's Wing was a sharpclaw with enough stamina to survive the Rite of Passage all three days. The fact that he was out of breath meant something.

I can't last forever. I've got to get them to stop. Jaypaw's mind went back to what Ink had told him. He told me that I had to use my powers to stop them. But I can't use my powers anymore! And even if I could, they're not really good for fighting.

Still, he tried. And how he tried. He felt like his head was going to explode, that's how hard he concentrated. But nothing happened nor did he expect it to. The power of dream walking didn't really have any noticable effects in the physical world. The lost spirits just kept chasing after him with clumsy steps and ear splitting shrieks.

I've got to outsmart them. Jaypaw didn't know how to do that. He couldn't climb a tree, he wasn't trained for tree combat. And there wasn't any place to hide. If there was, he wouldn't be able to find it anyway. He was too unfamiliar with this place. An idea struck. But there is one place that I know well.

Jaypaw shifted his path ever so slightly so his path arced and he began to loop back around. Maybe if I tell Ink who I really am he'll let me go. Yeah right. That's not happening but maybe the ghosts will attack him. He scoffed aloud through labored breaths. Fat chance. But maybe something will happen. Unlikely but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment.

Jaypaw looped around and began heading back to the clearing he always trained in. Thankfully, the spirits only really seemed intent on chasing him directly and didn't have the strategy to back up and try to cut him off. Jaypaw's chest kept burning but with a plan in mind, his adrenaline spiked and his paws found the energy to run faster.

It was a while until he made it back. As he expected, Ink was there. What he did not expect was to be met with a blood bath.

Crimson red blood filled the shadowy clearing, red standing out against the black of the background. It wasn't filled but small pools were scattered across the entire clearing and stained the nearby trees, even reaching the highest branches.

"What in the name of StarClan?" he gasped.

Battle ceased, three forms froze. Three pairs of eyes locked on him. Sharp yellow, bright blue, blood red. Jackal, Avian, Ink. But all he saw was red. Blood, blood red. The scarlet liquid staining the clearing seemed to fill his vision, stains on the three pelts melding together, painting everything red. Yellow and blue were gone, Jaypaw could only see red eyes staring at him. They might as well have been naturally red. Red meant blood and red brought blood.

Jaypaw's mind was torn away from the spirits chasing after him. Jackal, Avian, and Ink had been locked in deep battle and now the siblings had stopped and were staring at him. Jaypaw's body was seized by a shaking fit of fear and he screwed his eyes shut.

Green not red. Green not red. Green not red. Green was the color of life, not the death that shrouded this place. Green was the color of real leaves, not the black shadows that covered the trees here. And most importantly, green was the color of Half Moon. Half Moon's brilliant emerald green eyes. They were safe. Unlike red. Red was death.

"Jay! Get out of here!" Ink yowled, voice harsh. Battle resumed, he raked his thick claws down Avian's ginger face and slammed his foot into Jackal's abdomen. "Don't let them get you!"

Jaypaw was too terrified to move. He could hear the ghosts chasing him but he didn't move. He could hear another set of three siblings with the Power of the Stars fighting in front of him but he didn't move. His body was screaming for him to run but he still didn't move. His heart was beating so hard he could practically feel it in his throat but he still didn't move.

"Jay!" Ink screamed. "Move!"

But he couldn't move. Jaypaw's eyes opened and he saw a clearing stained red and three bloodied pelts. Red, red, red. Everything is red. I'm going to die.

"Jay! Get out of here!" Ink snapped. He abandoned the fight, and ran at him, slamming into him as he tackled him to the ground. The blood from his white fur smeared onto Jaypaw's grey fur. Jaypaw's eyes went wide as one of the ghost spirits flew by. It was about to attack me. Ink saved me.

Ink's paw went to the air and Jaypaw's eyes focused on his abnormally thick claws. They came down and raked down his cheek. Jaypaw's mind hardly recognized the pain or the liquid dripping down his face. His body was in shock and he just kept staring at Ink.

"Get out of here!" Ink hissed in his face and got off him. Avian and Jackal were approaching but Ink lunged at them. "Leave!"

Jaypaw still couldn't move.

"You're so weak!" Ink spat. "You're supposed to be a sharpclaw. Move!"

If this is what it takes to be a sharpclaw, I don't want to be one.

"Fine." Ink waved his tail once. "Be gone!"

And suddenly Jaypaw wasn't in the Place of No Stars anymore.

Jaypaw's eyes snapped open and he was in his den. But that's not what he saw. He just saw red. The red of blood. The red of death. And it stained three siblings' pelts. But he didn't see Jackal, Avian, and Ink. He couldn't help but wonder where they went wrong. Hollypaw, Lionpaw, Jaypaw… They have the Power of the Stars in their paws but they're broken. Oh StarClan, that could be us one day.

Jaypaw's breaths became fast. Still, all he could see was red. Green. I need green.

Jaypaw ran out of his den. It was the middle of the night but he didn't care. He ran down the tunnel that the tribe called home and burst into Half Moon's den. He saw her white sleeping form and furiously began prodding her with his paw. I need to see green eyes.

"Jay's Wing?" she murmured. Her eyes blinked open at him. They were red. No! A spike of shock and fear struck Jaypaw and he stumbled back. No no no no no. They're supposed to be green. What happened to green? Half Moon sat up and leaned towards him. Jaypaw flinched back and screwed his eyes shut fearfully. A soft tongue touched his eyelids. "You're covered in blood! It's in your eyes. Here, let me help."

Jaypaw tried to calm his panicked breathes as the soft tongue soothed him. When the lapping stopped, he slowly opened his eyes and saw brilliant green staring back at him, shining with worry. He let out a long breath and thrust his face into her shoulder fur. "Half Moon!"

"Jay's Wing?" Half Moon licked the side of his face comfortingly. "What's wrong?"

Anxiety twisted in his belly, nervousness flooded his body. Here goes nothing. "I'm not Jay's Wing!"

"What?" Half Moon stepped away, staring at him, shocked. Jaypaw focused on her green eyes, ignoring everything else. She was beautiful in every way but the soul showed true beauty and hers was beautiful. Her eyes reflected that. Jaypaw knew he had just lost her but he wanted to cling to that lingering love for as long as possible.

"You heard me," Jaypaw breathed. "I'm not Jay's Wing."

"What are you talking about?"

"Dove's Wing knows. Jay's Wing was lost in the Rite of Passage and I came out. My name is Jaypaw, one of the Three and apprentice medicine cat of ThunderClan.