"So ShadowClan's being nasty furballs again, are they?" Jaypaw asked. We were sitting together in the middle of the camp, enjoying the last, weak rays of leaf-bare sunlight that slanted onto our backs as we ate our meal. Jaypaw's fur smelled soothingly like juniper and honey, but his eyes were troubled as I told him the news of what had happened to me and Thornclaw on patrol.

I nibbled thoughtfully at a bit of fresh-kill. "I think they were trying to hide something," I said at last. "They were upset that we'd scented that…that…thing on their territory. They told us it wasn't any of ThunderClan's business."

Jaypaw cocked his head to one side. "You didn't tell me that part," he murmured thoughtfully. "Tell the story again, Lilypaw…"

Sighing and closing my eyes, I recounted the tale in as many details as I could recall. Jaypaw's curiosity towards the events of the patrol was burning, and I'd already told him the entire story three times over. When I finished the story in all its minute detail, I rolled over. A three-quarters moon was skimming over the silver treetops, and the cranberry-and-indigo sky was spattered with silver stars like dew across a flower petal.

"I don't understand it, really," Jaypaw mewed. "Oh, I wish you'd seen whatever was there!"

Frustration welled up in my stomach. "It wasn't our fault ShadowClan showed up!" I snorted, rolling back onto my belly and swallowing the last few bites of shrew. "Thornclaw and I were trying to see what was going on." I poked a small hole into the frosty earth and buried my prey bones, sweeping the earth back into the hole with a flick of my paw.

Jaypaw ran his tail uncomfortably along the loosened dirt. "You know…it's just that, the only solution I can see is to try and see the answer in our dreams." His gaze drifted upwards towards the star-flecked dusk sky. "Perhaps, if we both tried…"

I nodded, hardly listening to what he was saying. My head spun around me like a leaf in the wind, racing forwards and backwards, trying to put together a sketchy view of the truth. "We don't know if whatever we scented was…dangerous," I said finally, smoothing a claw to make a design in the frost-covered earth. "It could just be…I dunno…some sort of loner…"

A long silence, cold and quiet as the ice over the lake, stretched between us. "You know that's not the case, Lilypaw!" Jaypaw smirked. "You sounded so anxious to tell me."

I pushed back the anger that bubbled in my throat. "I guess so," I said finally, "But it's hard to believe that there's…" I let my voice trail off, and my thoughts wandered towards the dream I shared with Lionpaw and Tigerstar. Maybe whatever ShadowClan is trying to hide from us is the danger? I wondered. Yeah, that fits! Maybe…

The silence stretched for several more moments before Jaypaw stood up, shaking out his thick grey fur. "I'm going to go, Lilypaw," he mewed. "'Night." He took a few steps towards the medicine cat's den, seemed to think better of it, and pressed his muzzle against my ear. "I'm going to try and dream tonight," he added in a hushed undertone that sent his breath towards Silverpelt in a puff of silver smoke.

I closed my eyes and let my whiskers brush Jaypaw's cheek. "I will, too," I breathed back. "I'll tell you about what I saw in the morning…"

I looked up at the star-flecked sky through the gaps in the bramble ceiling in the apprentice's den. My head was spinning, and I'd totally forgotten about trying to sleep. How can I sleep, I wondered, rolling over to stare at Mousepaw's moonlight-dappled grey coat, rising and falling peacefully with each breath, when I've got a mission? As in, a mission to find out the secrets of ShadowClan?

After a few long moments, I rolled back onto my back, pawing at the air with one white-dipped paw.

"Hey, Lilypaw?" A sleepy voice mewed. I looked up to see Honeypaw's pale coat gleaming in the moonlight, with her green eyes sticky and half-closed with sleep. "What are you doing?"

I flinched, lowering my paw. I hadn't realized how much noise moss could make when you're rolling around, trying to dream yourself into the deep-hidden secrets of ShadowClan. "Uh," I breathed back, tucking my paws under my chest. "Sorry, Honeypaw—I'll shut up."

Honeypaw closed her eyes, but murmured drowsily, "If you can't sleep, at any rate, go out. Sandstorm's assessing me tomorrow morning." She rolled over with a soft thud, and her breathing became slow and regular once again.

I was too restless to sleep, and I was afraid of awakening Honeypaw again, so I padded out of the den to sit, staring, at the ThunderClan camp. The camp was suffused in silvery moonglow, and a soft, cold breeze rustled the bare branches above, shifting the long purple shadows that were cast over the camp.

The soft sound of pawsteps across the ground startled me, and I whipped around to see Spiderleg padding across the camp, his amber eyes glowing in the starlit darkness. "Lilypaw," he breathed, his voice barely above a whisper, "What are you doing here? Are you part of the moonrise patrol?" His tail swished back and forth, and his fur was fluffed up with the cold.

I stood up, shaking out my grey-tabby pelt. "Well…" I said uncomfortably, kneading the earth with my paws.

Spiderleg dipped his head. "Ah, well, you can join the moonrise patrol, at any rate," he meowed. "Brightheart and Sorreltail are coming, too." Without waiting for my response, he minced off towards the camp entrance, which was being guarded by Dustpelt and Berrynose. Both toms nodded silently at us as we stood near them, and the only noise came from the sound of snoring Warriors in the den nearby.

"Spiderleg!" I looked up to see my mother and Sorreltail walking side-by-side. Sorreltail's tortoiseshell fur looked like a patchwork of many different colors, and my heartrate smoothed at the scent of my mother, Brightheart, who wrapped her tail around my neck.

"I didn't know that you've been sent on the Moonhigh patrol," she mewed in her cool, soothing voice. "I thought apprentices usually spend the nights sleeping…" She pressed her muzzle against my cheek.

"I wasn't supposed to come," I admitted, as Spiderleg and Sorreltail began to pad through the ravine, "It just happened. I couldn't sleep." I nodded before gliding off towards the rest of our patrol, several rabbit-lengths ahead of us.

The night was unusually calm and silent, as if it was frozen by the frigid leaf-bare air. I kept close to Brightheart and Sorreltail, drawing comfort from the fact that I was pressed between three strong, quick Warriors. The moon scent its frosty glow over the forest, and I glanced around at our surroundings, sparkling with starlight and frost.

A bitter breeze swept over us, and I realized that the scent of ShadowClan was on the wind. Looking up, I realized that the trees around us were both oaks and pines—we were at the ShadowClan border again.

"I'm going to sweep up the border," Spiderleg mewed. Thornclaw must have passed along the message to the rest of the Clan, I decided, following Sorreltail and Brightheart as they padded up and down the border.

Sorreltail's tail brushed my flank, and her amber eyes met mine. "You were here earlier today," she mewed. "Tell me, did you smell something that awful?"

I lifted my head to drink in the air. Sure enough, the same strong scent of carrion was carried in the breeze. Brightheart wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, Lilypaw," she mewed after a long silence. "I never quite remembered ShadowClan smelling that terrible."

I opened my mouth to answer Sorreltail's question, but we were interrupted by Spiderleg's loud gasping. His amber eyes were wild with fear, and his ears pricked.

"There's intruders—injured intruders!" he mewed between gasps of air.

Panic flared in Brightheart's single green eye, and she pressed me closer to her. I could feel her uneven breathing, and I felt a sharp stab of fear. "ShadowClan?" Brightheart whispered softly. "On our territory?"

Spiderleg's amber eyes glittered wildly. "Not ShadowClan," he mewed. "It looks like rogues."

Sorreltail's tail swung so hard that it touched my ribs. "You said they're injured?" she repeated.

"Yes, badly," Spiderleg clarified. "Come! Quickly!"

A/N: Now you have seen my poor attempts at a cliffhanger ;-D Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, and a special shout-out to Tainted's Domain, who offered a very nice welcome onto their forum .

Apolo