Chapter 16

Yet another late update. You'd think that I'd have more time to write, now that school's out, but it's not like that at all. If I'm not swimming or having a neighbourhood water gun fight, I'm off camping or biking. Summer has always been busy for me. Along with that, I could not figure out how to begin this chapter for so long. It took me about a week of laying awake at night trying to write a beginning in my head. Stupid writer's block… :P

Tigerstar-Demon - Actually, Nightpaw wants to kill off all of Tigerstar's kin. I think she forgot about Tawnypelt and her kits… O.o. Yeah, anyways, while Tigerstar's in Nightpaw's body, he's definitely going to try and kill Firepaw and Blackpaw.

Foxstar24 - Thanks! The dead cat is Mosspelt. I would never kill off Tawnypelt! Don't even think those vulgar thoughts! XD

Silverstorm of RiverClan - Weeeell, I didn't exactly update soon… but I still updated! Yay!

Foxheart223 - w00t! 100 reviews! -throws massive cookie with 100 in icing on top- The rebels aren't going to kill Hawkstar… but they're going to try. Mwahahaha!

AliKatNyah - Yay for Nightpaw! Your in Japan? That's awesome. I've always wanted to go there, but the farthest I've ever been from Canada is Florida. XD

Nightclaw - I'm amazed I wasn't slower. If I had been, it would have taken me another day to finish the chapter, so I guess it's a good thing I wrote it that quickly. Yeah, I know Beechfur is pretty random. I just chose him because his personality's never been developed, so even if he isn't really a good leader, no one really knows that.

bloomforever - Thanks! Nightpaw will be getting control of her body again, but it won't be for at least two chapters. Tigerstar needs time to cause some mayhem.

Canada Day Paige - Yeah, the few times Mosspelt was shown, she was pretty awesome. Lol. I love Reedwhisker, but I don't know why. I'm not sure whether you're being sarcastic about the Squirrelflight thing, cause I'm stupid like that. When I read the chapter again she seemed very OOC to me. I'll try harder this time.

Lillyrod - Thanks! Yeah, Tigerstar is a jerk, lol. I'm not a huge fan of Squirrelflight. She was so much better in Midnight and Moonrise as Squirrelpaw. I loved her then.

"I see you've finally awoken, Nightpaw."

Nightpaw whipped around in surprise at the sound of the strange, yet slightly familiar voice. It sounded almost like Firepaw's, but it was also different - stronger, and much more confident. As her blue eyes found the owner of this voice, they widened in shock.

Standing before her was a cat she had only seen once before, in a sort of flash back shown to her by Tigerstar. Only then, his flaming orange fur, which glittered with stars, had been matted and bloody, clinging pathetically to his body. His bright green eyes had been dull and pleading, bargaining silently with his own murderer. Staring at her, a slight, lopsided smile on his face, was Firestar.

Squirrelflight grinned and bounded towards her father, brushing up against him affectionately. She then glanced at the expression on Nightpaw's face, and her smile grew wider. "I think she knows who you are," she laughed.

Nightpaw nodded slowly, and then shook herself out of her reverie. It was a strange feeling, staring at her own dead grandfather, a cat who had been described in so many stories as the saviour of the Clans, but she knew she had to get over it.

"Hi, Firestar," she squeaked. The tom smiled and dipped his head towards her, his tail twitching in amusement.

"Welcome to StarClan, Nightpaw," he meowed kindly. Even though those four words had been simple enough, they confused the gray she-cat. She still didn't know how she could be here in StarClan, when Squirrelflight claimed she was still alive.

"How am I in StarClan, if I'm not dead?" she asked, regaining her usual confidence. She cocked her head slightly, her ear twitching, a confused expression on her face.

"I knew you would ask that," Firestar meowed. Slowly, the starry ginger tom sat down and stared straight at Nightpaw. "Nightpaw, right now, you aren't in StarClan's real territory."

"Where am I, then?" she demanded, still standing.

"You are in the gateway to StarClan - the place where the newly-deceased come, and where their fate is decided. If the cat has done terrible things in their life, they are sent to the Dark Forest, but if they have lived by the warrior code, they are led to StarClan."

Behind Firestar, thousands of stars began to form out of nowhere and created a ramp up into the black night sky. The tom gestured towards it with his tail.

"That is the path to StarClan. If you were to go up this path, you would be truly dead, and would have no chance of regaining your body. If you went there, you would recognize the lake where you live now, though there would be no borders. As well as that, there would be dozens of starry pools scattered everywhere."

This time, the tom turned towards a small pool that Nightpaw hadn't noticed when she had first looked around.

"These are starpools. If you look into them, you can see everything that is happening by the lake. There are also special starpools, reserved for medicine cats, that can show the future and declare prophecies. The living can see these pools in the sky - in fact, they are recognized as Silverpelt."

Nightpaw's eyes widened. "So… Silverpelt is really a bunch of holes in the sky?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sort of," Firestar replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "I guess you could call them that. If you looked through this one now, you would be able to see Tigerstar in your body."

Nightpaw needed no persuading. She instantly rushed towards the pool and looked down into it. Before her eyes, an image began to form in the silver water. Her own body was lying slumped on the ground, a crowd standing around her. As she watched, she sensed Tigerstar's soul taking over her body.

Her body began to lift itself to it's feet slowly, clumsily, as if she really had fainted. The blue eyes that were her own began to look around in confusion, though the real Nightpaw wasn't fooled - she could see the hidden malice within their depths. The sight made her wince.

"Are you okay, Nightpaw?" she heard Sandstorm ask, and her head nodded.

"I'm fine," she heard her voice mutter quietly. "I don't know what happened. I just started to feel so dizzy, and then everything went black."

Tigerstar was a good actor. Her body had a very disoriented, bewildered expression on it's face, and her head was shaking slightly. Of course, he'd had plenty of practice, toying with poor Bramblestar's body for so long.

"Come on," Blackpaw meowed, moving forward to support the cat who he thought was his sister, Firepaw approaching on the other side. "We'll bring you back to camp. Try not to let Hawkstar see you like this."

Nightpaw's body nodded slowly, and leaning on her brother's shoulders, she began to make her way towards the thorn tunnel. The real Nightpaw growled under her breath - she hated how Tigerstar was taking advantage of Blackpaw and Firepaw.

Watching the scene from over her shoulder, Firestar sighed, snapping Nightpaw back to Fourtrees. As the image faded back into the water, she realized her claws were unsheathed, and her fur was bristling. Reluctantly, the she-cat sheathed her claws and flattened her pelt.

"We need to get you back in your body before Tigerstar can cause any real trouble," Firestar meowed solemnly, watching her. "I hope he isn't still down there when your brothers visit Leafpool."

Nightpaw stared at the former ThunderClan leader, a sudden optimism surging through her. "You mean I can regain control over my body?" she asked excitedly.

Firestar nodded slowly. "It's possible. Bramblestar was never able to because he had been influenced too much by Tigerstar when he was in his body. Even though you were manipulated as well, it didn't even take you a moon to realize how much of a monster Tigerstar really was."

Nightpaw was nearly hopping up and down, now. "How do I do it, then?" she asked, the joy obvious in her voice.

"You would need to enter Tigerstar's mind multiple times and weaken his defences first. Then, you would focus all your energy solely on your body, and imagine your soul entering it and pushing Tigerstar away," he replied. "But you must understand how much of a risk this is. If you fail, your soul could be stuck in your body forever, without really controlling it."

Nightpaw nodded enthusiastically, not really realizing what could happen to her through her excitement. I can return to my body, she thought gleefully, drowning out Firestar's words. I can actually return to my body!

"Firestar, Nightpaw, you better come see this," Squirrelflight meowed from where she still sat by the starpool, staring into it's silver depths. At her mother's tone, Nightpaw's exhilaration faltered. Cautiously, the she-cat padded towards the pool and saw that another image had appeared.

Nightpaw's body was laying in the dirt place, tearing a hole in a vole's body with it's claws. Two long claw marks were in the vole's side, looking almost like bite marks. When her body was satisfied with it's handiwork, it twisted around and picked up two red berries delicately in it's jaws - death berries. It then squirted the crimson juice onto the marks, looking exactly like blood. For the final touch, it stuffed the deflated death berries right into the body and grinned maliciously.

"What in StarClan's name is Tigerstar up to now?" Squirrelflight hissed beside Nightpaw, her green eyes narrowed angrily.

In the pool, Nightpaw's body lifted itself to it's feet and padded out of the dirt place, the vole dangling in it's jaws by it's tail. Before any of the watching cats realized what was happening, it had made it's way over to Firepaw and handed him the vole.

"For you," Nightpaw heard her body meow with a smile. She felt her jaws clench at the fake cheeriness in it's tone. Firepaw must be blind if he doesn't realize something is wrong, she thought angrily.

"Are you okay, Nightpaw?" her brother asked quietly, eyeing her body suspiciously. "You've been acting weird ever since we got back from the meeting."

"I'm fine," the body meowed. "Although I guess I have been a little off since then, haven't I?"

"Whatever you say," Firepaw muttered. "I'm going to wait over there."

With that, the ginger tom raised himself to his paws and began to pad towards the other side of camp. Glancing backwards cautiously to make sure Nightpaw's body wasn't watching, he tossed the vole straight into the river. Nightpaw let out a sigh of relief, proud of her brother. She didn't know what she would have done if he had actually eaten the lethal fresh-kill.

"Something is up with that she-cat," she heard him mutter under his breath as he stared at the cat who he thought was his sister, before padding off towards Blackpaw.

"At least we know Firepaw is safe for now," Firestar meowed. "We just have to hope Blackpaw realizes what's going on as well."

The real Nightpaw was about to pull away from the pool, when she spotted Breezepaw bounding towards her body, the elated grin on his face that he reserved only for her. She winced noticeably. The poor tom didn't know what he was getting himself into at the moment. Don't do it, Breezepaw! Please! she thought desperately, wishing he could hear her.

"Hey, Nightpaw!" he called happily. "You want to go hunting later? Whitetail and Weaselfur said we're allowed."

Nightpaw's head nodded, a slow grin spreading across it's face. "Of course, Breezepaw," it meowed happily, as if it couldn't think of any thing better. Of course, it probably couldn't. This would just be a chance to hurt Breezepaw, and to turn him against her forever.

Firestar noticed the pained expression on her face, and gently pulled her away from the pool with his tail. "I don't think you need to watch anymore," he meowed gently. "If you ever want to return to your body, you need to rest."

Nightpaw glared at him, wanting more than anything than to continue watching Breezepaw, knowing she may never truly see him again. But the ginger tom wasn't going to give up. He pointed towards the bed of leaves she had been laying in when she woke up, and spoke with the authority of a seasoned leader.

"Now."

A/N: So, that's this chapter for ya. Okay, I admit it, I partly stole the soul-switching thing from the spirit walking the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver. I couldn't really think of anything else, and it just fit so well! For those of you who haven't read the series, you should. It's really good. I'm hooked.