And we're back! I did a TON of writing for Elemental this past week, and I think it's ready to share. I'll be rolling it out somewhat slowly, because at this point, it all needs to be uploaded in groups...Yay climax time. Enjoy this Birdpaw chapter!

Chapter 16: The Lying Game

Birdpaw sat, her shoulders hunched, and stared at a spot before Littlepaw's paws.

"I have a plan," he said. "But, right now, I need to know all the information you have. Every last detail."

"What for?" said Skypaw. "Honestly, Littlepaw, if you think this is helping, you – "

"Every last detail, I said," hissed Littlepaw. Birdpaw looked up at the tone of his voice and saw that he was staring Skypaw down with the most ferocious look she had ever seen from him. "Or I will reach into your heads and say it for you."

He was lying. Birdpaw blinked as this came over her, but she didn't say anything. In her opinion, it was probably better if the others said what they knew. Nothing was getting done, really.

"Start from the beginning," said Littlepaw, sitting back. "And then I will tell you my plan."

"Our plan," said Mountainpaw gruffly. "The plan that I will lead."

"Yes, we'll get to that later," said Littlepaw. He turned back to his sister. "You go first, Skypaw."

"I don't know what you want me to say," said Skypaw. "Fine. You all knew that my powers were overwhelmed when Rustfur died. That's all I know, is that StarClan is acting just as they normally do."

"Which is not my experience," said Birdpaw suddenly. She lifted her eyes to meet Skypaw's. "I'm sorry, Skypaw, for destroying your faith, but StarClan has given me mixed signals." She sighed, thinking back to her dreams that had been on fire. "I told you about my dream at the Moonpool, that fell apart. After that, StarClan have only spoken to me once." She sighed. "It was just a few sunrises before Willowpaw had her dream and ran off."

She didn't want to talk about this, and she knew that Littlepaw wouldn't actually reach into her mind and find the truth, but she wasn't ready to resist anymore. It wasn't like this was important in the long run – only to her insecure thoughts.

"I had a dream that I was walking through a world that was in grey and white," said Birdpaw. "And there was another cat there, walking far ahead, although I didn't know him. I tried to call him, and I tried to catch up to him, but no matter how fast I ran, I couldn't catch him."

"That just sounds like an ordinary dream," said Skypaw hurriedly, but Birdpaw glared. She hated how this ended just as much as she knew they were going to.

"Then the cat vanished into what looked like a hole, so I tried to call down to him, but I fell. When I landed, I was in a field, and it was entirely…" She paused, not knowing how to phrase this next big. "It was entirely iced over."

"No…" said Willowpaw, her ears flattening.

"And I looked around, and the only cat I could see was…"

She paused again as her tongue suddenly stopped of its own desire to keep the secret. How could she tell them of that moment when Rushpaw had turned around and called to her, and touched his muzzle to her ear, and told her that it was okay, because they had each other? How could she describe the feeling when suddenly, he was impaled, and it felt like Birdpaw was being impaled with him? Then what had come next…

"Yellowfang," she lied. She could omit a few details, right? "Yes, the former medicine cat. And she told me that…that I was to be careful that I was not destroying myself. That everything wasn't my fault. It felt as though she was expecting me to do something, but also trying to get me not to do it. I don't know what to make of it all."

And then there was that awful final thought – I wouldn't lend your trust to any spare medicine cat apprentice, either. Who knows what could happen to him? But Birdpaw didn't need to say that.

"I see," said Littlepaw thoughtfully. "There's nothing else?" His voice was gentle and prodding, as if he knew something, and Birdpaw was at first tempted to share the other details, too. No. She wouldn't – that was just the way Littlepaw observed her. At once, Birdpaw averted her gaze.

"Nothing else," she said. "I have tried to reserve judgment, because I don't know what to think."

"Mountainpaw?" Littlepaw inquired.

"I've told all of you everything," said Mountainpaw darkly. "You heard every detail of my dream, and you know what I think of it." He sighed. "I've come to the conclusion that there is some sort of shadow dust that is somehow…darkening StarClan. Dividing them among themselves."

"I agree," said Birdpaw quietly. "It seems to me that the newer warriors, the ones we met when they were alive, are on one side, and the older warriors are on the other."

"A generational divide?" said Littlepaw keenly. "Triggered by what, do you think?"

"How are we supposed to know?" said Skypaw. She lashed her tail. "I think that's all it is. Just a clash of beliefs. StarClan has always been there for the Clans. Through everything. I'm sure that this is just a clash of knowing what is best after all."

"I…don't think so," said Willowpaw. Skypaw got quiet suddenly, and Birdpaw faced Willowpaw, a little afraid of what the grey-and-white she-cat had to say. Willowpaw stared at the ground for a few more moments before finally looking up and meeting Littlepaw's eyes.

"I left camp because I dreamt that I froze the world," said Willowpaw. There was silence. "I had the dream the entire time I was with the rogues, but this was the first time I had had it since I came back to ThunderClan. And this time, someone spoke to me. His name was Fountain, and he was the one I met with Mouseclaw. He is a wolf who is in communication with what he calls New StarClan. He knows the deputy of this…New StarClan."

"A wolf," repeated Skypaw in disbelief. "You left camp so you could talk to a wolf about a dream."

"It all sounds crazy, I know." Willowpaw giggled, now staring at Mountainpaw desperately. She paused, as if she couldn't go on, and the others didn't know what to say. It was hard to believe, but Birdpaw found that she trusted every word.

"Willowpaw's telling the truth," Birdpaw said. "Please, tell us what happened, Willowpaw."

"And you weren't at all worried about getting killed?" sneered Skypaw. "Or that this was a trap? Do you ever think about what your actions do?"

"Skypaw, if you are going to hurt more than you are going to help, then shut up," said Mountainpaw. For once, Skypaw listened to what someone else asked her to do.

"According to Fountain, back in the War of Shadows, everyone was attacked by immaterial shadow cats, which are made up of the discarded fabric of cats from the Place of No Stars that are too ancient to be remembered. It was only a distraction back in the war for the Place of No Stars to use to weaken and divide the Clans. But these shadow cats, they left a mark in their jaws. A poison, if you will, and when it got into other cats, they would die slowly if it was not removed. The poison had the effect to twist your will and bring out…a darker side of you, I supposed. Your thoughts…they would turn dark over time, until you were consumed by this darker side of you." She paused. "So if you were bitten, and you didn't die while the venom was inside of you…"

"You would turn darker," said Littlepaw. "You would become malevolent." His eyes took on a dangerous glint to them. "Does that mean that StarClan is suffering from this?"

"Well, I don't have any proof," said Willowpaw. "And it doesn't make sense for an entire half of StarClan, conveniently the older generation, to all be infected. It's not a sickness or anything. It comes from a bite. It wouldn't make…I don't know. I'm just relaying the message."

"Is that all Fountain told you?" said Littlepaw. "Did he mention who this…deputy of New StarClan was?"

"He said that she wouldn't disclose her name, but that she had eyes the brightest shade of green and that she walked between worlds."

"The walked between worlds bit sounds like Ivypool," said Mountainpaw. "But green eyes…I don't know."

"If this is the deputy of New StarClan, who is the leader?" asked Skypaw. "And how do we know we can trust this information?" Birdpaw sighed. She was sick of Skypaw's constant complaints. Seeing the way her siblings were mentally groaning, Skypaw swallowed and began again. "I'm not saying I don't believe you, Willowpaw. But there are too many holes in the story for us to accept it as the absolute truth, don't you think?"

"Yes," said Willowpaw quietly. "I agree."

"Is this all Fountain told you?" asked Littlepaw for the second time.

"Yes," said Willowpaw.

She was lying.

"Alright," said Skypaw. "Well, that's all we know, right? We have to figure out a way to get into StarClan, confirm the story for ourselves, and then we can go about stopping this earthquake. Maybe the shadow dust has something to do with the earthquakes. It's the only real explanation I can think of, because they are certainly supernatural."

"I believe I was the one with the plan," said Littlepaw coolly. Skypaw blinked at her little brother, as they all did. Littlepaw hardly snapped, but it was as if he was quickly approaching a breaking point. Birdpaw worried for him. "I can confirm what Skypaw is saying, though. The plan came to me from…Rustfur."

"Rustfur is already delivering signs?" said Mountainpaw sadly.

"Seems that way," said Littlepaw. "He said that the earthquakes were being caused by some sort of dust…shadow…cat."

"That's what I felt during the last earthquake," said Mountainpaw. "Like something was shaking the world. It felt like a corrupted poison dust. I don't know what that feels like, but…yeah. That."

"Yeah, that," said Littlepaw. "Anyways, Rustfur also said that we had to put our powers together, and I went to think, and then I came up with something."

"Go on," said Birdpaw, although she was becoming worried. Littlepaw was lying, too, although the lie felt far away. A minor detail was wrong.

"Next time there's an earthquake, I will connect all of our minds together. Once we are connected, Mountainpaw will connect to the source of the earthquakes, because they'll be in the earth. Then Skypaw will pull us all into a dream in order to follow it to its source. Birdpaw will destroy the shadows, and we'll be done."

"What should I do, then?" asked Willowpaw tentatively. "I mean, you do want me to help, right? Or do you think I'll just make things worse?"

"You won't make things worse," said Littlepaw. "I will need you to double our efforts by mimicking everything we do."

"Mimicking you?" said Willowpaw. She paused. "I don't understand."

"It's a theory I've been trying out," said Littlepaw. "You remember how you could copy my power when our minds connected, right?" Willowpaw nodded. "I think it isn't because it's your power, but because you saw me doing it, and you could mimic it, because you knew how it worked."

"You think I can do it with anyone's power?" said Willowpaw.

"Like I said, it's a theory," said Littlepaw. "At the very least, you could mimic my power and help me keep everyone in check."

That was a very good plan, thought Birdpaw, but she did have one problem with it. She remembered very clearly what it felt like to have Littlepaw seeing through her eyes. It felt as if her thoughts weren't her own, as if he could read through them as easily as he wanted to. What was rightfully hers had been entirely hijacked, and she had no way of stopping him. It was the most terrifying, most helpless feeling of her entire life, and she was not going to let that happen again.

"Is that really the only way?" said Birdpaw quietly. Littlepaw turned to her, surprised. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be in our heads."

"Why not?" said Littlepaw. "We need to form a connection."

"Because they aren't your heads," said Birdpaw. "Isn't there a way we can form a connection without you…messing around in my head?"

"No, there's not another way," said Littlepaw. Unfortunately, Birdpaw could tell that he was telling the truth. She didn't want that helpless feeling to come back. Even if she was to push fire into the shadows – possibly the simplest trick there was – she wouldn't have full control. Who knew what Littlepaw – and Willowpaw, apparently – would see in her head? Would they know of her insecurities about being the least powerful sibling? Would they know of her secret dreams where her fire was the one to melt Willowpaw's ice and really destroy the world? Would they see Rushpaw getting impaled and Birdpaw screaming as if it was her heart getting clawed out of her chest? Oh, no…

"Then I'm sorry," she said. "But I can't let you do that."

"Birdpaw…" said Littlepaw, but Birdpaw couldn't face him, and she turned and fled.

She rushed back towards camp, only realizing when she was calmly walking through the middle of the devastated camp clearing that Skypaw had followed her.

"Birdpaw, tell me what's going on," said Skypaw. "Littlepaw's plan is a really good one."

"I won't let him get inside my head," said Birdpaw quietly.

"Why not?" said Skypaw. "It's to stop the earthquakes."

"Then you'll find another way, won't you?" said Birdpaw. "Or you can do it without me."

"Don't you think that's a little selfish of you?" said Skypaw. "Look, Littlepaw didn't have to include you in his plan. He could have just let Willowpaw do the destroying – she seems to be rather fond of it. But because that seems to be all you can do – "

"Well then don't let me stop you," said Birdpaw, rounding on her. "By all means, if I'm as useless as you seem to think I am, ask Littlepaw to replace me. I'm sure he won't mind."

"Birdpaw, that's not what I meant…"

"I don't entirely care what you meant, Skypaw," said Birdpaw. "You're right. I don't belong in your plans. Make them without me."

She tried to ignore the burning in her throat and the rage in her chest until she had taken the last three steps to be in the medicine den, where she could let out a shaky breath.

"I thought you were over this insecure spell."

"How much did you hear?" said Birdpaw, turning to Jayfeather. The older medicine cat sighed, and Birdpaw sat down. "I can't let it go on."

"Do I need to tell you that you aren't useless again?" said Jayfeather.

"I don't think it will help," said Birdpaw. "But thank you."

Jayfeather observed her for a long moment with his empty, sightless eyes. Birdpaw wasn't sure what would happen first – when he gave up on watching out for her, or when he finally was able to scrutinize while seeing her.

"What helped me, when I was in your position," said Jayfeather carefully, "was having a friend that was outside of all of this. I couldn't tell her the truth, of course, but it was nice to have someone to discuss…other things with."

"Willowshine?" said Birdpaw. Although it wasn't like Rushpaw could help, not when everything involved him anyways.

"Willowshine is fairly involved, don't you think?" said Jayfeather. He sighed. "Briarlight. Uninvolved."

Birdpaw realized what he meant, nodded three times, and then sped out of the den. She passed Skypaw, who was already talking animatedly to Snowpaw and Honeypaw about who-knows-what, and came to a stop beside Dustfur.

"Can you help me gather herbs?" she said, and before he had a chance to say no, she had turned tail and plowed out of camp, silently pleading that he would follow. Because he was Dustfur, he did.

"Birdpaw?" Dustfur caught up to her just outside of camp. "I said I'd help Brackenheart and Brambleclaw with the apprentice's den, but…you don't seem alright."

"I'm not," said Birdpaw. "I wish I could tell you the details, Dustfur, but I can't."

"Okay," said Dustfur. There was no leaking curiosity – it was as if he had just accepted it without any thought involved. "Do you want to talk about it? Is it Skypaw? I saw you arguing."

"Yes," said Birdpaw, even though this was a lie. "Well, no. No, it's not Skypaw." She took a deep breath. Jayfeather was right – someone uninvolved could hear her feelings, even without a context. "Skypaw just told me that I really have no use, which…I guess is what I've been telling myself all along."

"No use?" said Dustfur, surprised. "You're a medicine cat apprentice. That's the most useful thing there is, isn't it?"

"In a different circumstance," said Birdpaw. "Let's say Skypaw told me I was useless because I couldn't help with the most awesome plan to defeat ShadowClan in the world."

"Defeat ShadowClan?" said Dustfur. "What need is there to do that?"

He was being entirely serious, and that was why Birdpaw stopped walking and stared at him. She had said the words so flippantly. No cat in the entire world should have eaten up that sort of comment, not even if they were a newborn kit.

"No, I'm not actually defeating ShadowClan," she said. "That was pretend."

"Oh," said Dustfur, although he looked confused. He shrugged. "It made sense when you said it, but now it does seem silly, doesn't it?" The good-natured tom looked up, worried. "I wonder why that is?"

"I don't know," said Birdpaw, just to try things out. "I'm entirely normal."

"I know you are," said Dustfur, puzzled as to why she was saying this.

Just then, it occurred to Birdpaw that maybe she wasn't exactly a good liar. Maybe she was the best liar in the entire world, and maybe that was because her lies were supernaturally charged to trick anyone who heard them. Oh, StarClan, was this what she had been missing all along? Was this why she could always tell who was lying, and when, and about what? It all made sense.

"Dustfur," she breathed. "Maybe I'm not so useless after all."

"You've never been useless to me," said Dustfur. He then stopped, and Birdpaw turned around, her heart light. Dustfur was frowning. "Do you want to tell me what you're really running away from?"

"Running away from?" said Birdpaw, surprised. Her friend looked at her, brown eyes keen.

"I know what running away looks like," he said. "I've done it myself for moons. You're skittish, and you doubt yourself constantly. Do you know what it is, or can I help?"

She sat down, and he sat down across from her. She was the queen of lies, and she knew that for real now. But her joy had faded, now that he had said the words. Running away. Is that what she was doing? It was too easy to tell him the truth.

"My siblings are trying to get me to tell them all my secrets," said Birdpaw. "I trust them, but there a few secrets I want to keep to myself. Is that wrong?"

"Wrong?" said Dustfur. "No, I don't think it's wrong to want to keep something to yourself. But you have to ask yourself if what you really want to keep secret is worth this divide with your littermates."

"What do you mean?" asked Birdpaw.

"I mean that you care about your littermates very much," said Dustfur. "I think you need to decide if this secret is worth losing their trust over. If it is, then by all means. But if it isn't, and you let it divide you…what if one day, there's a battle, and Skypaw doesn't come back? What if another round of sickness hits, and you can't save Mountainpaw? What if Willowpaw runs off again and doesn't come back? What if Littlepaw runs off with some fantasy she-cat he met? Nothing is permanent, Birdpaw, nothing. Are you willing to take that risk for this secret?"

Birdpaw stared at him for a long time, seeing the fresh pain in his eyes. He knew too well what it was to love and lose. His first love. His sister. Dustfur had lost too much too early, and maybe that made him exactly what Birdpaw needed.

Would she really push Littlepaw and the others out, just because she didn't want them to know about a dream about Rushpaw? Yes, she was overall ambivalent where he was concerned. Or perhaps ambivalent was the wrong word – it was really that she was on extremes all the time. At times, she could have sworn that she wanted to love him. At times, she hated him more than anything else in the world. At times, she just remembered the way he had glared at her and been afraid of her powers. At times, she was fearful and uncomfortable at the thought of them needing each other. Was it really Littlepaw's business, how she felt? No, it was her own business.

But at the same time, it wasn't worth losing other cats over. It wasn't worth letting another earthquake hit and take Dustfur, or Jayfeather, just because she was afraid of letting a possible crush be known by her littermates. It wasn't worth letting Littlepaw slip out of her life forever just because she was afraid to let him in.

"Thank you, Dustfur," she said. "I think I know what to do now."

"I'm glad I could help," said Dustfur with a gentle smile. "No more running away?"

"No," said Birdpaw sadly. She touched her nose to Dustfur's shoulder. "I hope, if I ever tell you what's really going on, you don't think me any worse of a cat."

"My opinion on you won't ever change," said Dustfur. "You're a good friend to me. Even if we were hesitant friends at first, you've always done your best for the Clan and for me. I just want to help you out the same way you help everyone else out."

"You do more than that," said Birdpaw. She smiled. "Is it okay if I leave you? I want to talk to Littlepaw right away."

"Go ahead," said Dustfur. "I need a moment to think anyways." Birdpaw nodded and kicked off, and then she was running, suddenly light-hearted. She hadn't felt light-hearted in a while. A part of it was that she knew that a certain degree of her secrecy was gone – the gamble of letting Littlepaw into her head came with a bit of a rush. What would he discover? There was fear, enough to make her light-headed, but it was secondary to the feeling that she was something. She had this power that she didn't understand, one that could help her understand lies, and she would be able to make use of it. Maybe, when Littlepaw entered her head, she could use her powers to block him off from those thoughts he didn't need to see.

"Littlepaw!" Birdpaw found him in a circle, looking meditative as Bluemoon and Stealthstep laughed over some joke and Honeypaw tried to invite Littlepaw to share a bite to eat with her. Her brother looked up, amber-turquoise eyes glimmering. "I need to talk to you."

"Right," said Littlepaw. They took five steps, and then the two turned to each other. "Have you agreed to my plan?"

"Yes," said Birdpaw quietly. "But, please, Littlepaw, don't use this power to find out what you don't need to see. Okay?"

"Of course not, Birdpaw," said Littlepaw. "I would never use my powers to hurt any of you."

It was the truth.

"Maybe you don't know how to master it," said Birdpaw. "Maybe you lost control."

Littlepaw stared at her, as if he knew that she was reading him just as he was reading her. Birdpaw hesitated, wondering if he had somehow figured out her powers the same way he had somehow figured out Willowpaw's. A theory, he had said. Littlepaw had far too many theories.

"Thank you for this," he said at last, and then he drifted back to his own conversation. Birdpaw wanted to call him back, but she didn't bother. She supposed that his secrets were his secrets, the same way hers were hers. Maybe he would tell her, when he was done running away.

Or maybe, to Littlepaw, this secret was more important than Birdpaw. Although she hoped that wasn't the case. Neither of them knew what was coming – could they really take risks like not trusting each other, when they just might lose each other because of it?

Littlepaw, you jerk. So, essentially, everybody spilled like 70% of their soul and the problems aren't over yet. MWAHAHA PROBLEMS ARE NEVER OVER.

There is Birdpaw's about-face transition to her end-of-book-3 state of mind. Mountainpaw had one, Birdpaw had one...we'll see if they can get their act together in time. Mwahaha I love nearing the end. This is the last time we get to see Birdpaw's POV in this book. Bye, Birdpaw! I did change some things around, so Chapter 15 was also Mountainpaw's last chapter.

Next chapter is the last Skypaw chapter of the book. Wow so close to end.

Review and read on if you liked it!