Twilight

Chapter 18

Squirrelflight panted as she approached the ShadowClan border. The dawn patrol was bound to be out by now, so she had to be extremely careful from now on. Creeping along the Twoleg path, Squirrelflight pricked her ears for any noise hinting cats around her. After a few moments she heard pawsteps heading her way so she changed course and scrambled up a tree just in time to see Ashfur, Rainwhisker, and Sandstorm padding toward her.

"Any scent of those kittypets?" Sandstorm asked as she caught up to the two tomcats.

"Not a thing." Ashfur's blue eyes gleamed as he flicked his tail at Rainwhisker. "You must have scared them off for good."

Rainwhisker twitched his ears. "I hope so. If I never see them again, it'll be too soon."

Ashfur gave one last sniff along the path before flicking his tail for the patrol to return back to camp. Squirrelflight waited what felt like an eternity before she dared to descend the tree and continue on. There was no fresh ShadowClan scent just yet, so maybe she could find Tawnypelt if she was on the dawn patrol. The less time she spent here, the better.

"What are you doing?"

Squirrelflight nearly leaped out of her fur at the voice. She spun around to see Tawnypelt standing on the other side of the border, her head tilted curiously. Behind her, Oakfur and Briarleaf were watching her like she had grown two heads.

"Uh, could I speak to you?" Squirrelflight meowed. "Alone?"

Tawnypelt watched her for a moment before she turned to her Clanmates and nodded for them to carry on. Carefully, she leaned forward to look up and down the path before padding across to stand in front of Squirrelflight, watching her calmly. "What is it?"

"Can you come to the island? I have something to tell you; Crowfeather is getting Feathertail right now, too," Squirrelflight meowed.

"Is Brambletuft going too?" Tawnypelt asked.

"Going where?"

Squirrelflight swore her heart was going to burst out of her chest. "Brambletuft! You nearly frightened me out of my fur," she gulped, spinning around to see the tabby warrior stepping out from the shelter of a hazel thicket.

"What were you saying about the island?" Brambletuft persisted. "We'd have to cut through WindClan territory for that, and they're prickly enough as it is."

"I'm not looking for trouble!" Squirrelflight retorted. She turned back to Tawnypelt. "Will you come or not?"

Tawnypelt's ears twitched. "Of course I will. When do you want me?"

"As soon as possible."

"I'll go with you now then," Tawnypelt decided. "If it's this urgent, I won't keep you waiting."

Squirrelflight nodded gratefully. Turning back to Brambletuft, she meowed, "Go back to camp and make sure no one follows us. You'll find out everything soon enough."

Reluctantly, Brambletuft nodded, but he hesitated before turning back. "What do I tell your mother?"

"Tell her she won't see me or Leafpool anymore," Squirrelflight murmured. "Tell her we've left the Clans behind."

She heard Tawnypelt inhale sharply and saw Brambletuft stiffen, but she didn't stop to say any more. Jerking her head for Tawnypelt to follow, she bounded off back down toward the lake where they'd be able to circle to the island.

"We'll cross through RiverClan territory, so it's quicker," Squirrelflight meowed.

A part of her ached as she realized this was the last time she would ever set foot in ThunderClan territory again.

"Squirrelflight and Tawnypelt are here," Leafpool announced from a lower branch of the Great Oak.

Squirrelflight pushed through the bushes in front of Tawnypelt to see the entire group had gathered. Crowfeather padded over to greet her, touching noses with Tawnypelt as he passed. Under the Great Oak, Feathertail was curled up in a tight ball with Hawkfrost standing over her, one of his paws resting over her back.

"So it's true then," Hawkfrost meowed. "You're really leaving?"

Crowfeather nodded. "It's the only way," he murmured.

"It's not!" Feathertail burst out. She stood up, revealing two small dark brown kits. "We've already lost Swiftpaw and Stormfur; we can't lose you too."

"What other way is there?" Leafpool asked, jumping the rest of the way down the tree and padding to Feathertail's side. "Crowfeather and Squirrelflight love each other, but their love is against the code."

"We could help," Feathertail meowed desperately. She turned to Hawkfrost, her blue eyes glistening. "Right?"

Hawkfrost couldn't meet her gaze. Instead, he only leaned down to lick one of his kits who had started mewling. Feathertail turned to Tawnypelt. "Tell them they have to stay," she told her. "Make them see that this is fish-brained."

"It's their choice, Feathertail," Tawnypelt replied, though her ears were lowered as if she too couldn't bear the thought of losing more of the original journey cats. When they left, there would only be three cats left out of seven. "We can't stop them from making this decision together."

"Perhaps we should travel together," Hawkfrost suggested, padding to his mate's side when Leafpool offered to watch the kits. "There's strength in numbers, after all. We could keep each other safe and maybe even start our own Clan."

Tawnypelt looked reluctant, but she soon nodded in agreement. "It makes sense. We can carry on our own version of the code if we do this."

"If you come with us, you'd be leaving behind everything," Crowfeather warned.

Hawkfrost twitched his tail. "Feathertail is my everything," he replied. "Though. . . I'm not sure how Mothwing will do without me."

"You need to make a choice, Hawkfrost," Crowfeather told him. "We're leaving immediately after this meeting. With or without the rest of you."

"I'm going anyway," Tawnypelt shrugged. "I'll miss seeing Brambletuft and Goldenflower at Gatherings, but it won't be so bad. And Blackstar has time to find another mate. He won't be the first cat to take more than one, if my father is anything to go by."

"We stay together," Feathertail agreed. "That's what we said on our journey, remember? We stay together, and we survive together. Rushkit and Acornkit are big enough to travel as long as we carry them, and I'm sure it won't take long to find a shelter for the night."

Squirrelflight and Crowfeather shared a look. Squirrelflight loved that her friends cared about her that much to turn away from their own Clans just to stay with them. Even Hawkfrost, to her surprise, looked ready to defend every last one of them to his dying breath.

"Let's go then," Squirrelflight meowed. "We're on our own from here on out."