Chapter One
Willowkit pounced on the ball of moss. Her creamy white tail beat the ground and her green eyes glittered with a kittish excitement, as if she was still merely a moon old. But she had lived in the NightClan nursery for five now.
Her brother, Badgerkit, twitched his black ears in amusement. He was all black, save for a white stripe from his nose, along his back, to the end of his tail. He blinked his narrow amber eyes and yawned. "Planning to impress Jaggedstar with those moves?"
"I would do anything to impress Jaggedstar!" Willowkit's eyes shone. "Do you know what a great leader she is?"
"Um, I should, being in her Clan." Badgerkit laid his head on his paws and closed his eyes.
"I can't wait for news about the Gathering." Willowkit turned to face the opening of the nursery, where a few glints of moonlight barely shone through the brambles. "It's the first since NightClan was formed about nine moons ago; I heard Heatherclaw tell Bluecloud that she was surprised that even Jaggedstar could keep us a secret for so long. I personally think that it was great to surprise WindClan like that a few weeks ago. I wish I was there!"
"You would have been killed." Badgerkit laid his head back down, but twitched his ear. "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Willowkit dropped the ball of moss and scampered to the nursery's opening, careful not to wake their mother Ravenpool. She saw the ferns at the mouth of the camp rustle, and then saw Heatherclaw step into the clearing, a mewling silver kitten dangling from her mouth.
"Badgerkit, see this!" she meowed, whipping her head around to her brother.
"Are they back?" Badgerkit asked with a bored tone in his voice. Still, he rose and followed her to the entrance. They watched Heatherclaw glance warily around the camp before stepping out across the clean dirt scattered across the incredibly wide hollow.
"Hi, Heatherclaw!" Willowkit mewed, stepping out into the moonlight and bouncing across to the startled ginger deputy before Badgerkit could stop her. "Where did you find that kit? Is it hurt?"
"W-Willowkit, what are you doing out of the nursery?" Heatherclaw stammered, before quickly adding, "You should be asleep. Badgerkit, come out of hiding. I see you."
Badgerkit tried to act dignified as he raised his tail and padded across to Heatherclaw and Willowkit. But his curiosity got the best of him, and he peered at the squealing silver kit with wondering eyes.
"Where did you get her?" asked Willowkit. She sniffed the kit and recoiled, her nose scrunched up. "Yuck! Smells like ThunderClan!"
Heatherclaw froze. "I…I found it abandoned on the border closer to us. It must have straggled here and picked up some of their scent."
Badgerkit and Willowkit nodded. They didn't notice Jaggedstar lingering on the edge of the camp with the Clan members that she had taken to the Gathering with.
"Ah, Jaggedstar," Heatherclaw suddenly said, awkwardly pawing the ground. She had spotted her leader. The silver kit mewed pitifully. The NightClan members looked on with slightly confused faces, but Willowkit saw that they were exhausted. It must have been a challenging first Gathering for NightClan.
"Kits." There was frost in Jaggedstar's voice. "You are to return to the nursery immediately. Heatherclaw, I want to speak with you alone. Now!"
The leader flicked her black tail and marched off to her den, expecting her orders to be followed. They were; the Clan wearily made their way to their nests, Heatherclaw followed with her ears pressed back against her skull and the mewing kit in her mouth, and Badgerkit and Willowkit slunk off sheepishly to the nursery.
"And you most definitely impressed our 'great leader' there," sniggered Badgerkit as he snuggled into his nest.
Willowkit rolled her eyes and turned with excitement to Applekit, their ginger-brown tortoiseshell sister. Applekit had always had an interesting ability to fluff out her fur to the extent that she appeared older, so Jaggedstar had invited the lucky kit to appear at the Gathering as "Applepaw" to demonstrate NightClan's strength.
"So?" she asked, drumming the ground with her tail. "How was the Gathering?"
Applekit rolled her blue eyes. "They're really not that great."
"Tell meeee," Willowkit begged. Her tail beat the ground with a fury so hard that it hit Badgerkit's nest and sent scraps of moss flying in the nursery. It didn't awaken the two queens, Ravenpool and Dawnheart, or Twitchkit, Dawnheart's kit, but it did make Badgerkit open his eyes in irritation. "Do you mind? Some of us are trying to sleep here."
"Be quiet. Applekit is going to tell me about the Gathering."
"No, I'm not." Applekit closed her eyes.
"Please?" Willowkit pleaded. She hit her tail against the dirt again with such force that it smacked Badgerkit across the face.
Badgerkit opened his eyes with utter impatience. "Just tell her, Applekit. Then, the rest of us can get some decent sleep around here."
"Fine," Applekit sighed, her eyes betraying her excitement. "I'll tell you everything that happened at the Gathering."
"Good," Willowkit said happily, and she settled into her nest to listen.
I followed Jaggedstar through our narrow strip of territory before the WindClan-ThunderClan border with the other two apprentices, but when we got to the border, we had to step carefully and with clumps of warriors to appear larger, you know. I was nervous about traveling without making the other Clans angry, but Jaggedstar assured us that all cats are free to walk within two fox-lengths of the lake.
We made our way to the island without being seen by any other Clan, but we saw – and mostly smelled – ShadowClan.
"What do you mean, smelled?" asked Willowkit,
They reek. Like…like Badgerkit on a bad morning after he had an old vole.
"That's sibling love for you," grumbled Badgerkit.
Anyway, asides from a glimpse of ShadowClan, we made it to the island safely. The island is so huge! It's the size of at least four of our camps, and coated with grass that's so thick and green. There are so many trees, and there's one that fell to make a sort of bridge so that we can cross over. Sunpaw and Dustpaw and I were speechless. The island is just amazing! Well, you'll understand when you go.
We were the first Clan there, but Jaggedstar wanted to look us over. "Don't remember to fluff your fur out, Applekit," she told me. "Bigger…bigger…yes, perfect. Keep it just like that."
Yes, Jaggedstar, I said, and she moved on to inspect Sunpaw.
We hid in the bushes and watched the other Clans arrive. Jaggedstar pointed them out to us. RiverClan are the sleek ones that have shorter fur. They smell like the lake; not half-bad. ShadowClan. Well, they are just repulsive. They have choppy fur and sunken eyes and smell even worse closer. Like if Badgerkit breathed close to you on a bad morning after eating an old vole.
"Hey!" Badgerkit protested.
ThunderClan, they aren't as bad as ShadowClan, but they smell too sweet and dry. They look muscular, but twitch a bit much. And WindClan, well, Jaggedstar really hates them. They smell like the wind, but a bit muddy. They're small and fast.
The four leaders jumped onto a tree with low branches. Jaggedstar pointed out who they are to us. Frogstar is the ShadowClan leader; he has brown and grey tortoiseshell fur and really small green eyes. ThunderClan is led by a she-cat, the only other one besides Jaggedstar. Her name is Flamestar, and she's a dark ginger with even darker amber eyes. I don't trust her, she has a shifty look about her. RiverClan's leader is a big white tom with sort of cloudy blue eyes, called Mudstar. Jaggedstar was really curious about WindClan's leader, you could tell, she sort of strained in the bushes to see. WindClan's new leader is a silvery tom with a slick voice and eyes that are almost yellow. By the way, his name is Yellowstar.
All the Clans sort of milled around at the beginning, said hello, and the like. The deputies gathered close to the tree, but not at the foot. The medicine cats sat there, with their apprentices. Then Mudstar banged his tail against the side of the tree, like what you were doing, Willowkit, and everyone fell silent.
"Hah!" Willowkit boasted, smacking her tail again.
Will you stop so I can finish telling you what happened?
"Yes, Applekit," Willowkit muttered. Badgerkit snickered.
It's so amazing. One by one, the leaders stepped out and shared the news about their Clans. You know, births, deaths, new apprentices and warriors…and then, when Frogstar had finished, Flamestar looked around. "Mudstar, Yellowstar, do you have anything else to share?" she asked. They shook their heads. "Then I suppose that it is time for the Clans to leave."
"Why leave?" Jaggedstar called, marching out into the clearing with her tail raised proudly. "We haven't shared our news yet."
Heatherclaw cleared her throat and we all stepped out, fanning out behind her and Jaggedstar. I felt proud at first, but when the four Clans turned to look at us with a mix of curiosity and hostility, I felt like turning around and fleeing back to camp.
"Who are you?" hissed Mudstar. Frogstar and Flamestar crouched near, suspicion in their eyes. Yellowstar, though, bounded off the tree and over to Jaggedstar.
"Jaggedfeather?" he mewed, rubbing noses with his old denmate. "We…we all thought you were dead!"
"Not dead, nor Jaggedfeather," Jaggedstar replied, her voice kind but firm. "I am very much alive, and Jaggedstar of NightClan."
Yellowstar staggered backwards, and the other cats gasped. Eyes flashed at us that were full of shock and fear. One cat screeched, "This is against the will of StarClan!"
Jaggedstar raised her voice. "If it is against the will of StarClan, why was I granted the nine lives of a leader?"
Murmurs of concern scattered through the crowd. Jaggedstar plunged down into the hollow. Heatherclaw motioned with her tail for the rest of us to follow, thrill etched into every hair of fur on her face. We did, but I wasn't filled with thrill so much as fear.
Jaggedstar left us in the middle of the clearing to jump onto the tree with the four other leaders. I could feel all the eyes gazing at us and stared at the ground, at the sky, or at the tree where the leaders stood, anywhere but the surrounding Clans. Flamestar hissed, Mudstar growled and laid his ears flat, and Frogstar's fur rippled with unease when Jaggedstar leaped up to the branches. Yellowstar, however, waved his tail for silence. "Let Jaggedstar tell her story," he shouted to the wary cats below.
Jaggedstar paused for dramatic effect before beginning. "Cats of Wind, River, Shadow, and ThunderClan," she cried. At her first word, the crowd was silenced, and she lowered her voice. "Many WindClan cats may remember me as Jaggedfeather. And there are more WindClan cats among NightClan who opposed the policies of Falconstar." She beckoned with her tail, and Heatherclaw, Tigerstripe, and Stormclaw stepped forward.
Shouts rang out from WindClan as they recognized their old denmates. A calico she-cat ran up to Heatherclaw. "Heatherpelt!" she exclaimed. "My old mentor!"
Heatherclaw looked at her coldly. "I am Heatherclaw, Mosspaw, and the deputy of NightClan." She flicked her tail, letting the other cat know that she was dismissing her former life as the WindClan medicine cat.
She gave her a hurt and angry look. "Heatherpelt, my name is Mosseye. I'm the medicine cat now that you left."
"Why did Jaggedstar make her the deputy and not the medicine cat again?" Willowkit wondered.
I don't know. Now, stop interrupting or I won't tell the story!
Anyway, Mosseye, looked really angry and betrayed. She spat and stalked back to her place with the other medicine cats.
Yellowstar hissed, and I shivered. His voice wasn't friendly anymore. "You stole three able warriors from our camp!"
"Actually, I left to follow Heatherclaw. When I found her, we decided to make our own Clan, seeing as no others would accept us and we felt our home Clan wasn't the same anymore. We established a camp up, beyond the expanses of WindClan and ThunderClan territory. Our scent markers are there too, marking our territory."
"My warriors had reported that they picked up a strange scent," said Flamestar, narrowing her eyes.
"When we had built the dens, we went out to warriors on patrols and asked if they were willing to join NightClan. As you see, Tigerstripe and Stormclaw agreed…and so did a few cats from ThunderClan."
Now Bluecloud, Streamfur, and Redfeather stepped forward. Jaggedstar watched Flamestar's growing horror with an almost pleased expression.
"Ravenpool also joined us, but she is currently nursing kits and so stayed in the camp," Jaggedstar added smoothly. She hurriedly went on before Flamestar could interject, and I felt a bit of a thrill at hearing Mother's name.
"So, there we were, with seven Clan cats besides us, when Streamfur had the idea to find rouges and kittypets and recruit. I will cut to the end; when we were barely three weeks into NightClan, we had…Heatherclaw, what were the numbers?"
"Ten warriors, four apprentices, two queens, a medicine cat, and four nursing kits. In fact, Applekit just became Applepaw." Heatherclaw counted.
A gasp sounded from the crowd. I felt a little proud, even though it was just a lie that I was an apprentice. Frogstar swallowed. "Twenty-one cats," he said hoarsely.
"Actually, count in Heatherclaw and me." Jaggedstar examined her sleek, groomed tail while Mudstar took a deep breath.
"Twenty-three cats?" he snarled. "How do you expect to feed all those?"
"In Firestar's time, Clans were much bigger than that, and they had these same territories," replied Jaggedstar.
"Yes, but Firestar's time was so many seasons ago." Yellowstar argued. "The oldest cat in the Clans, our elder No-Sight, was born a moon after his death."
"NightClan's territory is large enough to feed us. We made it vast without cutting into any other Clan's territories," Jaggedstar responded.
It was the wrong thing to say. Cats leapt to their paws and howled, "Unfair!" "Against StarClan!" "We had no say!"
After that, it was very tedious. The leaders bickered back and forth, until finally Jaggedstar raised her tail for silence again. "I can see that you all need to reflect on this. We will meet at the next Gathering to discuss again." She jumped from the tree and led us from the hollow. Sunpaw and I were resisting giggles, but we exploded laughing after crossing the tree-bridge at all the cat's dumbfounded expressions.
"I'm really tired. I want to sleep." Applekit laid her chin onto her paws and closed her eyes. Soon she was asleep, her breath stirring the stray pieces of moss that littered the ground.
Willowkit stayed awake, her ears pricked as she stared into the night. The Gathering had sounded fun, but it didn't explain what Heatherclaw had been doing with the kit. She struggled to think of something, but it was a blank. Her unusually big green eyes were very strange; it was as if she could see into the heart of the sky and see flashes of things that would eventually happen. It was an odd gift, but a secret gift nonetheless and she kept it that way. Scanning the sky peeking through the gap in the nursery roof, Willowkit looked for something, but no images came.
Finally, as the last of the moon's rays echoed over the land, Willowkit's eyes drooped, and she slept.