Twilight

Chapter 6

Leafpool stayed sitting down as her sister and her friends headed into the bushes for a quiet place to talk. She gazed across the clearing to where she had last seen Mothwing. She spotted the RiverClan medicine cat at once; she was looking straight back at her.

Leafpool glanced around. Other cats moved in the shadows; the brambles behind her rustled as they pushed through them on their way back to the tree bridge. No cat seemed to be paying much attention to her.

She started to circle the clearing, keeping to where the moonlight threw deep shadows.

"Leafpool!"

The young medicine cat froze, feeling her pelt tingle with frustration. She took a deep breath before turning around. "Yes, Cinderpelt?"

"Come on, you're being left behind."

Leafpool narrowed her eyes. Her Clanmates had only just left the clearing, not to mention Squirrelflight and Brambletuft were still here. What was Cinderpelt trying to do?

"Okay, Cinderpelt, I'm coming." Leafpool shot a glance over her shoulder and saw Mothwing watching her with her ears lowered.

Leafpool knew she couldn't do anything but follow Cinderpelt into the bushes.

I'm a medicine cat, she told herself as she ducked under the prickly branches. I can't love Mothwing.

She repeated it over and over, all the way back to the ThunderClan camp, but all she could think of was the look in Mothwing's eyes.

A sweet scent drifted around Leafpool and a voice murmured her name. At first she thought Cinderpelt was calling to her; the ThunderClan medicine cat often had little bouts in the night where she needed Leafpool to fetch something. But when she blinked open her eyes the cat standing in front of her was a dark brown tabby, and eyes of the brightest sun. Start light sparkled around his paws and at the end of his whiskers.

Leafpool stared at him, bewildered. "Who are you?"

Beyond her nest among the brambles outside Cinderpelt's den, the hollow was bathed in a silvery light. But several days had passed since the Gathering, and the moon was waning. Leafpool knew she was dreaming.

She stood up. "What do you need?"

Her mind raked through all the possibilities of why a StarClan cat would come to her. Were they angry that she was in love with another medicine cat?

"I—I'm sorry," Leafpool stammered. "I really didn't mean to—"

The cat swept his tail across Leafpool's mouth. "We need to talk, but not here. Follow me."

He led the way into the clearing. Leafpool tried to walk as lightly as if she were stalking a mouse, then she wondered if the Clan could hear her when this was only a dream.

A bright, unearthly light flooded the hollow. Brightheart and Sootfur, on watch, looked like cats made of stone, their coats the color of moonlight. Neither stirred as the cat and Leafpool padded past them and out through the thorn tunnel.

Once they were several fox-lengths away from the camp, the cat found a comfortable spot in a clump of long grass and settled down, gesturing with his tail for Leafpool to join him.

"I can guess what you're thinking," he grunted. "You think I've come about your new little feelings, don't you?"

Leafpool blinked at him, too ashamed to admit that he was right.

"Contrary to popular belief, StarClan does not see everything," he continued. "If I'm honest, I'd rather have gone to Barkface, but you are closest to Mothwing, and that's why you are needed."