Эрин Хантер - Thunder Аnd Shadow

Alderpaw looked at Bramblestar. What now?

“The m eeting is over,” the ThunderClan leader called, j um ping down from the tree.

Alderpaw’s pads seem ed frozen to the ground. Was that it? They were going to live beside the rogues as though they were just another Clan? Had Bramblestar forgotten that these cats had driven Sky Clan from their home? What if they were planning to do the sam e here?

As the rest of the cats headed for the tree-bridge, his throat tightened. He didn’t want to follow.

Going home meant telling Twigkit that her sister was with the rogues.

“Keep your hindquarters low,” Ivypool ordered.

Twigpaw lowered herself farther, her gaze fixed on the leaf ahead.

Newleaf sunshine dappled the forest floor. Buds lit the trees in a green haze. Four moons had passed since Violetkit’s disappearance. In the half-moon since becoming an apprentice, Twigpaw had worked hard to im press her new m entor. She wanted to be as good as Larkpaw, Leafpaw, and Honey paw. They were already learning battle m oves, while she was practicing hunting m oves on leaves. But they had been m ade apprentices three moons ago, when snow had covered the forest floor and ice had frozen the rivers and stream s.

“Keep y our tail still,” Ivy pool rem inded her.

Twigpaw pressed her tail flat against the soft earth. She could sm ell prey -scents drifting between the trees, and she longed to be hunting a real m ouse.

“Judge the distance,” Ivy pool told her. “And when you are sure, j um p.”

Twigpaw narrowed her eyes, sensing the space between herself and the leaf. Her hindquarters twitched. Excitem ent pulsed beneath her pelt. Pushing off with her hind paws, she leaped.

She landed, skidding on the leaf. It shot along the slippery ground. Her forepaws shot along with it, and she thum ped, chest first, onto the ground.

Ivy pool padded to her side, purring. “Your leap was the perfect distance. Unfortunately, y ou hadn’t prepared for y our prey to try to escape.” She gently nudged Twigpaw up and flicked a scrap of leaf litter from the apprentice’s shoulders with a paw. “Landing on balanced paws is the m ost im portant skill you will learn. It’s vital for hunting and fighting.”

Twigpaw shook out her pelt, em barrassed. “I didn’t realize the ground was so wet.” She glanced at the m uddy streak her landing had sm eared across the forest floor.

“Next time y ou’ll remember to think about where y ou’re landing. Landing on m ud, stone, or leaf litter all require different techniques. But you did well. Your concentration is excellent and y ou learn fast. Lily heart will be pleased when I tell her.”

Twigpaw purred proudly. “Am I learning as quickly as Larkpaw?” She knew that Larkpaw was a great hunter already. Lily heart often boasted how he carried prey home to her every day.

“It’s not a com petition,” Ivy pool told her gently. “You must learn at y our own speed.”

“But I want to prove I’m special .” Moons later, Rosepetal’s words still haunted her. Twigkit does seem pretty ordinary. And until she learns to hunt, she’s another belly for the Clan to fill. She stared desperately at Ivy pool. “I have to be the best.”

“That’s not true,” Ivy pool soothed.

“But if I’m not, why am I here?”

Ivy pool’s gaze shone sy m pathetically. “You’ve never truly felt part of the Clan, have y ou?”

She didn’t wait for Twigpaw to answer. “I hope that one day you will.”

Twigpaw dropped her gaze guiltily. “You make m e sound disloy al.”

“No,” Ivy pool purred fondly. “I can see that you are as loy al as any Clanborn cat. But y ou have grown up away from y our true kin. That must have been hard.” Her eyes brightened encouragingly. “Still, Lily heart is very proud of y ou, and if y our real mother could see what’s become of y ou, I’m sure she’d be proud of you too. What a sham e Squirrelflight’s patrol never found her.”

Twigpaw frowned, puzzled. “Squirrelflight’s patrol?” What was Ivy pool talking about? Had

Squirrelflight led a patrol to search for her mother? Why didn’t any one ever speak about it? Her heart fluttered like a bird in her chest. Perhaps they’d found her mother’s body and wanted to protect her from knowing. She blinked at Ivy pool. “Did they find any trace at all?”

“Only the nest where Alderpaw had found y ou. It was abandoned.”

“Nothing else?”

Ivy pool shifted her paws nervously. “I don’t really know. No one talked about it afterward.”

Fear spread down Twigpaw’s spine. What was the Clan hiding from her? I have to know!

Twigpaw glanced up the rise that led toward camp. Alderpaw! He’d be honest with her, even if it were bad news. “Can we go back to the hollow now?” She had to speak with Alderpaw.

Ivy pool’s tail whisked over the dam p leaf litter. “I didn’t mean to upset y ou.”

“It’s all right.” Twigpaw’s thoughts were whirling. “I just need to get back to camp.”

“Okay.” Ivy pool watched her anxiously.

Twigpaw hardly noticed her glistening gaze. She was already clim bing the rise and heading for the gorse barrier. She ducked through the tunnel and hurried into camp. Her thoughts raced ahead of her. Alderpaw would be in the medicine den. What would he say? Did he know about her mother? As she bounded across the clearing, Graystripe called from the fallen beech.

“What’s the hurry, Twigpaw?”

“Is som ething wrong?” Briarlight was beside the fresh-kill pile, sharing a mouse with Fernsong.

“I need to speak with Alderpaw!” Twigpaw burst through the trailing brambles into the medicine den.

Jayfeather snorted but didn’t look up from the m oss he was soaking in the water, which pooled beside the rock wall of the den. “I thought Alderpaw had lost his shadow once y ou’d been m ade an apprentice.” He shook water from his paws. “For a shadow, you make a lot of noise.”

Alderpaw was picking stale m oss out of Briarlight’s nest. He turned as Twigpaw scram bled to a halt beside him.

“Did Squirrelflight’s patrol find my mother?” she dem anded bluntly.

He blinked at her, confusion clouding his gaze. “Squirrelflight’s patrol?”

“The one Bramblestar sent to look for m y mother moons ago!” Frustration churned in Twigpaw’s belly. It turned to fear as she saw alarm flash in his eyes. He knew som ething!

“Let’s talk about this in private.” His gaze darted guiltily toward Jayfeather.

“Don’t worry about m e,” Jayfeather mewed sarcastically. “Stay as long as you like. It is only m y medicine den, after all.”

Twigpaw ignored the medicine cat. “You have to tell m e,” she begged Alderpaw. “Did they find m y mother?”

Alderpaw nudged her toward the entrance. “Come outside.”

Why? He must have something terrible to tell me! Suddenly light-headed, Twigpaw followed him through the trailing brambles.

Alderpaw guided her into the fern hollow beside the den. Out of sight of their Clanmates, he m et her gaze. “We don’t know what happened to y our mother,” he whispered.

She stared at him blankly. “Why hide here to tell m e that?”

Alderpaw seem ed to squirm beneath his pelt. Why was he being so weird?

“You can tell m e if she’s dead,” she pressed. “I’d rather know than spend m y life wondering.”

“I can’t tell y ou.” Alderpaw stared at her. “I don’t know.”

“So the patrol didn’t find her?” Twigpaw dem anded.