Chapter 8

Lilacpaw sat patiently, waiting for her newly appointed mentor Rainsplash to finish using the dirtplace. Only the twitching of her tail gave away her restless excitement to begin her first day of training as a RiverClan apprentice. Her apprentice ceremony had taken place yesterday afternoon—Rainsplash had told her it was too late to train that day, but he'd promised they would go out first thing this morning.

Lilacpaw straightened up as Rainsplash returned from the dirtplace, rustling the curtain of reeds. Lilacpaw's paws were itching to be off, but she stayed seated calmly as she asked her mentor, "What are we doing today?"

"I thought I'd show you the borders," he meowed. "Sound good?"

"Yep," Lilacpaw replied cheerfully, jumping up and bounding gracefully after her mentor. She was excited to see what lay beyond RiverClan's camp. She could see a lot from there, but most of the territory was obscured by trees and brush. What if I meet an enemy warrior? Although she wasn't particularly keen on encountering a rival warrior, she was curious.

Lilacpaw had been told that she was much more likely to see a WindClan cat than ShadowClan. She gulped. She'd heard stories about WindClan warriors. Their paws moved in a blur that even the most quick-footed warrior couldn't match, and if they wanted, they could kill you before you could even lift a claw. The reason that she was more likely to see one was that apparently their territory was much more open than ShadowClan's. But if it was really as barren as the elders had described, what did they do all day? Besides kill rival warriors, Lilacpaw though with a nervous lurch, but still she had her doubts about whether the stories she'd heard were 100% true. Charredwhisker had said they slept in the open when it rained, and she didn't really believe that.

Thinking of being in the open, Lilacpaw knew her snowy white fur must be standing out like a daisy in a field of poppies. So what? This was her territory. Excitement blossomed in her chest at the thought of all of this being hers to explore. Soon she would know every pawstep of this land. RiverClan was by far the best Clan to be in. She had nothing against the other Clans—she hadn't even met them yet. She just couldn't imagine her loyalties going to anyone but her own Clanmates.

"Take note of this little copse of trees." Rainsplash spoke for the first time since setting out. "It's a good place for land prey, when fish are scarce in leaf-bare."

Lilacpaw couldn't help thinking that she'd prefer to starve, but she kept the thought to herself. She'd tasted a squirrel once; it had been on the fresh-kill pile for a few days and no cat seemed to want it, so she'd taken a curious nibble. The bitter taste had been enough to send her reeling back, hissing. She knew she should be more grateful that she wouldn't starve that leaf-bare, and maybe mice were better, but still. How did ThunderClan survive on that stuff all the time?

"From here you can see the stream that marks the border with WindClan," Rainsplash pointed out.

Lilacpaw glanced up. She stared at the barren hillside. It was huge; maybe RiverClan territory was just as big, but she could see all of WindClan's at once. The effect was intimidating. And the land really was wide open, nothing but hills and scrubby grass and the occasional flower or gorse bush. Tiny moving shapes dotted the hillside, and with a jolt Lilacpaw realized she was looking at enemy WindClan warriors. She shook her head. They couldn't do anything to her here. She squinted, trying to pick out the grays and browns of their pelts.

As they drew closer to the stream, she could begin to hear it, babbling over the rocks in the familiar gentle rhythm that could be heard throughout the RiverClan camp. This stream was a bit faster than the ones that enclosed the camp, swirling around the rocks with a stronger current and a noisier chatter. But still there was something about the sound of the water that made Lilacpaw feel at home.

The white-furred apprentice only half paid attention as Rainsplash showed her how to renew the border markers. She was staring out at the lake. From here it was only a short distance to the shore—and great StarClan, it was huge! Lilacpaw had never seen so much water in one place before. And was that distant line of green smudges on the far shore really a forest? She gazed at the sheep's-down clouds reflected in the water's surface, awed by the sheer volume of water. When she was a warrior, would she be able to swim all the way to the other side?

Something stirred in her memory as she looked down on it. She wasn't sure what.

Rainsplash was leading her down toward the water now; unconsciously she followed, still taking in her surroundings. RiverClan territory was a huge place—and there was so much more to see from here.

Now she could smell the water strongly, the breeze coming off the lake fresh and cool. The feeling of déjà vu returned, stronger this time. What was it about the lake that seemed so strangely familiar? She'd never seen it before.

She approached the water and stared down at her reflection. Pale purple eyes gazed up at her. Lilacpaw was the only cat she'd ever met with eyes like hers. Part of it made her feel special. She liked being unique, and they were a pretty color. She just wished she wasn't stared at as much. She would have thought her own Clan would be used to it by now.

Out of nowhere, completely unrelated to her eyes, the source of the odd déjà vu came flooding back. It was that dream she'd had last night! That was why the lake seemed so familiar. As she struggled to recall the details, nervousness pricked at her fur.

She had been standing on this shore; it was nighttime, she thought. A gray tabby tom she didn't recognize had spoken to her in a grave tone. Hadn't he said something about Lilacpaw and four other cats each having some sort of special power because a prophecy? Lilacpaw gulped. She didn't want a special power. She didn't want to be responsible for the safety of all the Clans. But I will, if I have to, she told herself.

But how could she have forgotten the dream entirely? She almost always forgot her dreams by morning, but weren't dreams from StarClan supposed to be unusually vivid? While there was no doubt in her mind that the dream really was from her ancestors, the fact that she'd nearly forgotten about the dream was worrying. What if they told her something important, and she really did forget completely? She hoped they knew to tell one of the other cats in this prophecy instead.

And what about these other cats? If there had been four, she might have guessed that there was one from each Clan. But with five, they could come from anywhere. I hope they're not all from RiverClan. I don't want to be the only apprentice in this. Unless the StarClan tom had said four cats, not four others . . . Lilacpaw shook her head. There were too many questions without answers. And she hadn't even had a chance to wonder what in the name of StarClan this special power was!

Why did she have to sleep so deeply? If she had been more conscious during the dream, she could have asked the tom! Maybe I did, and I don't remember, she thought hopefully. She probed her memory for any more details she could recall from the dream, but she was drawing a blank. There has to be more! she thought desperately. But she couldn't remember anything else from the dream. She sighed. She could only hope that if she saw the tom again, she would be thinking straight enough to ask him some questions and to remember his answers.

"Are you all right?"

Lilacpaw jumped. She'd completely forgotten about Rainsplash. She nodded numbly.

"You sure?" the gray-speckled tom checked.

"I'm fine."

"All right, if you're sure." He still didn't sound convinced, but he led her further along the shoreline, explaining that they always left a margin of one fox-length between the lake and their scent markers, so that cats from the other Clans could pass through. Lilacpaw wasn't really listening. She kept thinking about the prophecy, and how much she didn't know. Her mind remained in a fog, unable to concentrate on her training.

The next thing she realized, she was in an unfamiliar-smelling place surrounded by tall conifers. She spun around. Rainsplash was nowhere to be seen. She tasted the air, her heart pounding harder with every second that passed. She was surrounded by a scent that she realized, with mounting horror, was not RiverClan at all.

She'd strayed onto ShadowClan territory! Lilacpaw's breath was coming in short gasps. She had no idea how to get back to her own territory. How could she have gotten separated from Rainsplash? Where was he? And how would she ever get out of here?

Just when she thought nothing could get any worse, Lilacpaw smelled a scent on the breeze. Several cats were approaching, and they all bore the distinctive odor that Lilacpaw now recognized as ShadowClan. She looked around and saw nowhere to hide. There was sparse undergrowth here, but none of it was near enough to do any good, except a couple of bushes in the exact direction the scent was coming from. Her heart was pounding so hard, she was amazed that the enemy warriors couldn't hear it. A shiver passed through her as the pawsteps drew nearer.

Now they were near enough that she could tell there were four of them. She pictured them marching through the forest—their forest—prepared to take down anything that dared stray across their border. Even though she hadn't heard anything particularly nasty about ShadowClan the way she'd heard about WindClan, she still couldn't imagine getting away from there with her pelt still intact.

The bushes rustled. Lilacpaw squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stand perfectly still, hardly daring to breathe. She waited to her an enraged yowl and braced for claws in her fur. But it never came. The pawsteps were practically on top of her now, and still the patrol didn't even break stride. She took a risk and opened one eye.

The ShadowClan warriors were filing straight past her without even giving her a second glance. Lilacpaw gasped as a young tom looked in her direction, but he was only glancing at the sun behind the tree branches. He didn't even seem to see her.

One of them seemed to look straight at her, but only for a heartbeat before flicking her gaze to something else. Lilacpaw could hardly believe it! The ShadowClan warriors were walking straight past her without even looking at her.

Once they were past, she finally dared to breathe again. She glanced at her paws, wondering if she'd suddenly become invisible or something. She wasn't invisible, but what she did see made her jump half a tail-length in the air.

Her paws were pale brown, laced with twisted images of what she realized were the pine needles that lay strewn at her feet. She twisted around, realizing that the fur on her back had tiny, oddly distorted trees on it. She had no idea what had just happened to her, or how to make her fur white again.

Taking a guess, she closed her eyes and wished it were back to normal, concentrating hard. But when she looked down again, her paws were still the color of the ground. Trying again, she focused a short, sharp blast of energy on turning her fur white. A cold tingle passed through her fur, and when she looked down, her pelt was back to normal. Lilacpaw breathed a sigh of relief. What was that?

"Lilacpaw!"

The apprentice whirled around. "Rainsplash!" she cried in relief.

"Don't you ever run off like that again. I've been looking for you all morning! What were you thinking, going off like that?"

"I'm sorry!" Lilacpaw cried. She hadn't meant to get lost. "I—"

"Come on," Rainsplash growled. "Let's get out of here, and then you can apologize to Applestar for causing trouble for the whole Clan! What would have happened if you'd run into a ShadowClan patrol?"

Lilacpaw stared at the ground as she followed her mentor out of ShadowClan territory. She hadn't wanted to cause this much trouble on her first day as an apprentice. She repeatedly nodded her head as Rainsplash continued to rant. But her mind was elsewhere as she dashed across the dormant Thunderpath that marked the ShadowClan border.

What's going on? What just happened to me?