"Smallkit, please," Twistedtail said, padding behind her charge. The sun was rising and the clans were about to rest. "Just tell me what's wrong? Please."

The silver kit didn't say anything, and didn't even look at her. How did he go from a good-natured kit to a silent specter so quickly? How didn't Reedstar notice? How did his WindClan friend get that slice taken out of his ear?

Was there anything Twistedtail could have done to stop it?

"Leave me alone," Smallkit muttered.

"You're hurt!" Twistedtail said. "I know something bad is happening, Smallkit. I just want to help."

"Shut up!" He glanced at her over her shoulder. "Shut up!"

"Don't speak to me that way! I'm a warrior, you need to respect me."

"No, I don't!" Smallkit spat. "Reedstar's my mom, I–"

"Your mother would want to know if you were hurting." Twistedtail lowered her voice.

"No, she wouldn't." Smallkit's voice was laden with misery, all traces of his former anger gone. He slowed enough that Twistedtail that could walk up beside him, and she felt a jolt of shame for yelling at him earlier. He really was just a kit.

"I'm sorry," She said. "I'm here to talk if…"

"Please just leave me alone," Smallkit murmured, and Twistedtail kept silent for the rest of the night.

Against her better judgement, Twistedtail continued to try and figure out what was happening. She didn't press Smallkit any further, so she tried to pay more attention to the WindClan kits he was friends with. Which I was hard to do without feeling creepy.

But they were both injured. Frequently. She kept wanting to tell Shrewpelt to try and treat them, since WindClan had no medicine cat, but she knew that was the business of ShadowClan, not RiverClan. Still, she thought that Shrewpelt could maybe do better than that dusky brown apprentice, who always had a tired look about him.

The alliance between ShadowClan and WindClan seemed to be going smoothly, though. Maybe too smoothly. Twistedtail was always catching sight of a gold-colored she-cat worrying after the WindClan kits as if they were her own. Twistedtail considered asking her, but ShadowClan and RiverClan weren't really on good terms. She felt like she'd hit a dead end.

Kits were being hurt and she couldn't do anything about it. What kind of mother would that make her?

One day, after seeing nothing new, she was stirred by Bearheart sitting on the ground beside her.

"Watcha watching?" Bearheart chirped. Twistedtail startled.

"Nothing," she said. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

"Y'know...stuff." She glanced over at Bearheart and immediately glanced away. How did just being near Bearheart feel like so much? They weren't even touching. She tried to distract herself. "Like...our new home, I guess. I'm worried."

"I'm sure it'll be good," Bearheart said it like it was simple, like it was guaranteed, her face upturned to the sky. "StarClan is guiding us."

But are we going to last long enough to find it? Twistedtail didn't say. She didn't think Bearheart needed to hear her pessimism, but the clans could barely scrounge together a few scrawny mice and lizards for prey, and they had to drink from shallow, muddy puddles. Twistedtail didn't want to admit it, but she was scared.

"Hey." Bearheart nudged her on the shoulder, her voice suddenly gentle. "You look like you could use some cheering up." Twistedtail didn't much feel like smiling, but Bearheart's grin was so sincere and good-natured, she couldn't help but return it. "Anything I can do to help with that?"

"Well…" Twistedtail thought for a moment. She considered confessing to Bearheart right then and there, but she couldn't take the stress of being rejected right now. "...I know you were an apprentice moons before I was, so we didn't really spend a lot of time together, like friends do. So do you think…"

"Yeah?" Bearheart replied. Twistedtail grinned.

"You feel like getting some exercise?" Twistedtail said. She stood up, and Bearheart seemed puzzled, but as Twistedtail began to run, Bearheart's eyes lit up.

"It's not fair!" Beartheart called out behind Twistedtail, who was running as fast as she could. It was good to just focus on running. She could lose herself in it, forget all her worries. "You're way faster than me!"

"Hmm," Twistedtail called back, between breaths. "Maybe try being less heavy?" Bearheart barked out a laugh at that.

Soon they were both tired, and the others were started to settle down to sleep. Twistedtail slowed to a stop, out of breath, and after a few heartbeats, Bearheart walked up to her.

"Got you," She said, patting Twistedtail with her paw. She flopped down on her side and stretched out her legs. "Haven't run like that since I was an apprentice."

"We'll have to fix that!" Twistedtail chirped. She wanted to get closer to Bearheart, to bury her face in Bearheart's brown fur, but she just lay down beside her. "Not today, though. Today we need to sleep."

And she fell asleep, quite easily and happily, and slept well.

Up until the sun set and she was awoken by the wails of her clanmates. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, trying to figure out what was wrong. She glanced over at Shrewpelt, who was staring up, and she followed their gaze, until she realized, with a sick drop of her stomach, that the path of stars had simply stopped.

Honeystar, Woodpaw thought with all his might. Honeystar, please. He was pacing around in a circle. The buzz of panicked voices had turned into a despondent silence. Had StarClan abandoned them? He certainly couldn't get ahold of Honeystar.

If StarClan had abandoned them, maybe that was the right thing to do. If all the medicine cats had broken the code, maybe they did all deserve to die here. Woodpaw stopped pacing and swallowed, his throat dry. In the distance, he could hear Goldendapple saying something in a low voice. When he looked back, he saw her and a white-and-brown WindClan she-cat conversing. Robinkit and Sedgekit's mother.

Maybe all the medicine cats deserved to die. Maybe Woodpaw deserved to die. But these kits didn't. He had to figure something out. Where was Lilypetal?

She wasn't around the clearing, but Woodpaw could track her by scent, and he eventually found her under an overhanging rock, talking furiously with Rainfrost. Woodpaw stepped closer, and then remembered how coldy Rainfrost had looked at Shadestar when she had the dark gray leader pinned on the ground. From the tone of their voices, he could tell they were being romantic again. Unwilling to unmask them, he turned around, and decided to look for Shadestar instead.

The ShadowClan leader was much easier to find. She was in the middle of a bustle of cats, mostly the other leaders and deputies. Woodpaw waiting on the edge of the huddle, observing. Shadestar was stammering, but the ThunderClan leader looked on the verge of collapse, and the brown-gray RiverClan leader was looking at the ground. Only Spottedstar seemed to have a grasp on herself, and she was standing over the other leaders, explaining in measured tones what she thought they should do.

"We shouldn't stay here," She said. "But we should try and climb over the ravine wall and see what's on the other side. If the trail ends here, clearly StarClan wants us to stop here."

"Can we get our kits over the wall?" The RiverClan leader–Reedstar, Woodpaw remembered–rasped. "Our elderly? And who knows what could be on the other side. We could be leading ourselves into the jaws of foxes!"

"Maybe we could–" Shadestar started to say, but she stopped herself as the silvery ThunderClan leader opened his mouth. No, Woodpaw wanted to say. Let her talk. But he had no place here.

"Has there been an omen?" The ThunderClan leader said. His voice was thin and flat. "...has anybody gotten an omen, at all? I haven't since–since the fire–"

"Me neither," Shadestar finally added.

"I have seen nothing," Spottedstar added. "And Flameleaf now walks with StarClan himself." Every cat looked at Reedstar, who cleared her throat.

"No," She said. "Nothing from StarClan."

"I…" Woodpaw spoke without thinking, and when all of the leaders turned their eyes toward him, his heart skipped a beat. He shouldn't have. "I've received omens since the fire. But nothing about this."

"Woodpaw," Shadestar said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think you would believe me." Woodpaw took a step back. "From–from Honeystar! I don't know why she spoke to me and not–not anyone else." Which was a lie, but he didn't want to accuse every leader in the clans of being a dirty lying code-breaker, despite the fact that apparently, they were. "I've been trying to see her again but I can't reach her."

Everyone was silent for a moment, and Woodpaw thought they were about to yell at him and accuse him of making things up, but instead they just blinked at him.

"She said–she said it's in the blood," He managed to stammer out after a few heartbeats. "And she told me to keep an eye out but–that's all. That's all I know."

"It's better than nothing," Shadestar said. "Woodpaw, you should try to sleep. Maybe you'll see her again. She'll know what to do. Honeystar always knew what to do."

"In the meantime," Spottedstar continued. "I think perhaps we should send a scouting party over the wall of the ravine. WindClan will contribute, but it's up to you all if you want to contribute any warriors."

"May I recommend someone?" A cold voice came from behind the leaders. Rainfrost.

"Rainfrost! H-how long have you been listening?" Shadestar stepped back to allow her deputy into the circle. Rainfrost sat down and swept her gaze over the other leaders.

"Coalnose," Rainfrost said. "We've been hunting together. He's hardy, and nimble.I think he would make a good scout."

"He is my warrior," Spottedstar growled, locking eyes with Rainfrost. "Not yours to command."

"Am I wrong?" Rainfrost's voice remained steady. "From my own clan...if Nettlenose wasn't expecting kits, I would send them, but since they are...Foxclaw would do." Shadestar did not speak up to contest that. Woodpaw wanted to claw Rainfrost. You're not leader yet! Stop acting like Shadestar's already gone to StarClan!

"So we're just going along with Spottedstar's plan, then?" Reedstar said. "You're deciding for us?"

"I think it's a good idea," The ThunderClan leader said. "We send strong and capable warriors, so if its bad over the ravine, they will be more likely to survive and come back. In the meantime, we can stay here."

"You don't have to contribute, Reedstar," Rainfrost drawled, grooming one of her paws.

"No, I will," Reedstar snapped back. "I just need to decide who to send."

Woodpaw turned to leave, an awful feeling churning in his stomach. He just needed to sleep. Then maybe Honeystar would tell him what to do. He shuffled away, but was startled by Shadestar coming up behind him.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"I don't know," Woodpaw said. "I–I'm scared." He fought off the urge to wail, and tried to swallow down his feelings. His legs were shaking.

"It's going to be okay," Shadestar sat down beside him. He wanted to lean against her for support, but he wasn't a kit anymore, and she wasn't even his mother. She wasn't his mentor, like she'd wanted to be when Woodpaw still thought he might be a warrior. "StarClan wouldn't just abandon us."

"Maybe they didn't," He finally said. "Maybe they just can't find us." He paced away, not looking back at Shadestar's face.

...

Woodpaw opened his eyes. He was in the void as before, but this time the path of stars was blurry, a grey rather than a silver. He looked around desperately for Honeystar, but saw nothing except a figure in the distance. But its pelt was pale and dappled, not the gold of Honeystar's. He ran over anyway.

It was Lilypetal, facing away from him, but she didn't look right. He stood in front of her, but her eyes were empty.

"Lilypetal?" He murmured. The image lifted its head a little.

"There's nothing over there," It said, quietly. "There's nothing."

Woodpaw glanced over his shoulder, but he didn't see nothing. He saw red. Blood red, gnashing like a fire, like currents, little tendrils of red. He blinked, and when his eyes opened again, he saw something even worse:

His clanmates, in the haze of red, drowning, strangled. Shadestar among them, but Rainfrost too, and he saw now, more and more and more.

"Lilypetal," He hissed. "We have to help them! We have to!"

He waited for the image of his mentor to respond, but she didn't, and as he backed up again, he felt her paws on his shoulders, and she pushed him over, into the forest of red.

The thick strings of red latched into Woodpaw's fur, around his neck, dragging at his paws. He called out for help as things continued tangling, the red fire around him not hot like an ember, but like a fever. All his thrashing only entrenched him more. He let himself get dragged deeper and deeper, before he felt teeth in his scruff.

"Not yet," A voice he recognized as Honeystar said, muffled by his fur. "We're not giving up that easily."

She hauled his upper half out of the thicket and he grabbed onto her fur to keep from slipping back down. She didn't seem to care about his claws being out.

"Little thorn," Honeystar spoke. He thought he'd heard her serious before, but he hadn't. Not like this. She spoke like thunder followed at her feet. He understood why everyone said she had been a good leader. "It's not your time, and it is not the clan's time either. The four will go into the thicket and you must be wary of what comes back, for there are things out here older and worse than anything inside your old skies. The Silver Path has not left you. You understand?"

"Yes," Woodpaw said, and then, because he couldn't stop himself: "Honeystar, please help. Please, please don't leave–"

"I will see you when you have found your path," She said. "Keep yourself sharp until then."

And then the thorns around him turned to water, a great tide overwhelming him–no, no it wasn't water, it was blood–

Woodpaw woke with a start, and heaved. He couldn't catch his breath. He coughed on the ground and when he opened his eyes he saw what was spattered on his paws.

Blood.