That night, anticipation kept Leafpool awake.

It wasn't just anticipation. She had never been able to sleep well in the warriors' den. She was too used to the medicine den, where she slept mostly alone with only Jayfeather and sometimes one or two sick cats for company. The warriors' den was loud. All around her cats were breathing heavily, or tossing and turning in their sleep, or getting up to go to the dirtplace. Plus, Brackenfur's snoring alone was loud enough to keep her awake even from across the den. And now, after the tree had fallen and crushed a large section of the warriors' den, they had even less space than before.

She also needed to make sure Ivypaw was already asleep before she tried to follow her into her dreams. Since Ivypaw slept in the apprentices' den, she couldn't check to see if she was asleep, so she had to guess.

But finally, Leafpool managed to calm herself down enough to sleep. She steadied her breathing, and pictured Ivypaw asleep in her den. She pictured herself walking over to her, and walking straight through her body into her dream. Before long, she was asleep.

She opened her eyes in a place completely unlike StarClan. Bone-dry, pale, white trees rose up from a dead forest floor. Fog blanketed the forest, making it impossible to see more than a few fox-lengths ahead of her. There were no stars and no moon, but a dim glow shone through the fog, casting a dim light.

She couldn't see Ivypaw, but it was obvious she was in the right place. The Dark Forest was as distinctly recognizable as StarClan, though much less pleasant. She shivered as she imagined Hollyleaf here forever. Her poor kit.

Suddenly, she heard voices through the trees. She paused to listen.

"Much better," purred a deep male voice. Hawkfrost. "Just make sure you don't over-rotate on that last jump and you'll be perfect."

"I told you I'd get it," meowed Ivypaw proudly. So Hawkfrost was training Ivypaw, then. She wondered how many other ThunderClan cats were training in this place, and how many dead cats she knew of were here training them. Was Hollyleaf a Dark Forest mentor too? It was hard to imagine her ever siding with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost. But now that she was stuck in this place, maybe she had had no other choice. Or maybe she was just furious at StarClan for sending her here. Bluestar had said it wasn't StarClan's decision, but Hollyleaf wouldn't know that. She would have every reason to be upset.

Leafpool heard more voices coming from the opposite direction of Hawkfrost and Ivypaw, so she began to creep off that way, being careful where she placed her feet so as not to make a sound. She didn't want to think about what would happen if the Dark Forest found her here. She suspected they didn't exactly welcome intruders.

The voices were too far away to make out who they belonged to, but as she got closer she became sure none of them were Hollyleaf's. She would recognize her daughter's voice anywhere. Still, she might be nearby. And even if she wasn't, she wanted to get close enough to see if any other ThunderClan cats were here.

Suddenly, she heard a chilling voice from behind her. "Looking for something?" it purred. It was Tigerstar.

Leafpool whirled around to face him, her heart racing. Trying not to reveal how terrified she was, she met his gaze as calmly as she could. Did he know who she was? She didn't know how much the Dark Forest could see of what went on in the living world. Did they have the same reach as StarClan? Either way, she thought it made sense to reveal as little as possible, and she certainly wouldn't be revealing she had been here before.

"Who are you?" she asked politely. Tigerstar looked slightly taken aback at the question, but really, how was she supposed to know who he was if she had never seen him before?

"I am Tigerstar of ThunderClan," he meowed smoothly. "I'm assuming you know who I am."

She shrugged. "I've heard your name." She certainly had no interest in inflating his ego any further by telling him how often her father had told Squirrelflight and her stories about him.

Tigerstar nodded. She suspected he saw right through her attempts to act casual. "Well, I know who you are. Leafpool, daughter of Firestar, former medicine cat of ThunderClan." She supposed if the Dark Forest could see what was happening in the living world, Tigerstar would know who she was. He and Firestar had been legendary enemies. Had Tigerstar just spent the whole time since his death plotting revenge and watching Firestar and his kin?

"That's me," she meowed. She really had no plan here. Tigerstar had shown no interest in attacking her so far, which was a good sign. But was he going to just let her leave after she had observed the Dark Forest's training?

"So, now that we have the introductions out of the way, I'll ask you again: are you looking for something?" he asked pointedly.

She decided to cut right to the chase. "I'm looking for Hollyleaf," she told him. She still wasn't quite sure what game he was playing, but being direct seemed like her best chance of finding her daughter. And it didn't seem like asking him could make her situation any worse than it already was.

Tigerstar looked at her thoughtfully, as if he was considering his options. Brambleclaw had told her how manipulative his father was. He was probably just trying to decide what he could say that would best help his goals.

"Hmm," he mused finally. "And tell me, why should I help you find her? You seem to have seen enough to have an idea of what we're trying to do here. I can't exactly just have Clan cats wandering around my territory spying. How do I know I can trust you?"

His words seemed to imply he could take her to Hollyleaf, if he wanted to. Maybe her best hope was to convince him she was interested in his cause. She supposed she'd have a better reason than most to be upset with StarClan. Maybe he would believe their treatment of her had been enough to convince her to betray her Clan. Of course, she would never actually help a cat like Tigerstar, but if he thought she would, he might agree to take her to her daughter.

So, fighting to keep her voice steady so as not to betray her lies, she meowed cooly, "You can trust me because you can trust I have no loyalty left to StarClan. I love my Clan, but StarClan's code took everything from me. I had to give up my kits, and I still was forced to step down as medicine cat. And worst of all, I lost my only daughter. Do you really think I would spy for StarClan after all that?"

As the words left her mouth, she almost started to believe them. Despite everything, she still believed StarClan had the best interests of the Clan at heart. She still believed the warrior code was right, and she had been in the wrong for breaking it. But why did she feel that way, after all the harm the code had caused?

Of course, that didn't mean the Dark Forest was right. Tigerstar had taken over two Clans and tried to take over the entire forest. He had murdered cats simply for being half-Clan. He would have murdered her own kits if he had had the chance. Just because she might agree with him on one or two things, that did not mean she would ever take his side. But… maybe her speech about the warrior code wasn't all lies.

Tigerstar stood for a moment contemplating her words. "Well, I don't know if Hollyleaf will want to speak with you. But I will be sure to tell her you stopped by- come back in a few nights and see. I think perhaps we can be useful to one another. You know more about the way StarClan works than any other cat here. Come back next time ready to share that information, and I'll see about bringing you to see Hollyleaf," he told her.

This wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to come back, and she certainly didn't want to give the Dark Forest information on StarClan. Who knew what awful things they would do with it?

"No, I want to see her now," she insisted.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Tigerstar meowed, voice as smooth as honey.

"Yes, it is. Bring me to her now," she demanded, forgetting for a moment how powerful the cat in front of her was.

Tigerstar's eyes narrowed. Clearly he didn't appreciate her speaking to him that way. For a moment, she was scared he was going to attack her. Would she be able to wake herself up in time before he killed her? "I think it's time for you to leave now," he meowed coldly.

"I just-" she protested.

"Leave," he growled, taking a step forward that made it clear he was going to make her leave one way or another.

She would come back. She would come back another time, and she would find Hollyleaf. But for now, she had to wake up while she still could. Taking one last look into Tigerstar's glowing amber eyes, she closed her eyes and thought of her nest in the warriors' den. A moment later, much to her relief, she found herself blinking awake next to a still-sleeping Squirrelflight.

She knew she was in over her head in the Dark Forest. Any of the cats there could kill her in a single blow. But going back there was her only chance of ever seeing her daughter again. She had to see her daughter again.

So she would do whatever it took.