Leafpool's Choice

Chapter 2

Leafpool couldn't sleep. She glanced at Crowfeather, curled up beside her. I can get back here by dawn, Leafpool thought. Then she ran in the direction of the Moonpool.

It was the halfmoon medicine cat gathering. Leafpool could smell the others, Barkface, Littlecloud, Leafpool's friend Mothwing, and Cinderpelt.

Leafpool had missed them. The others didn't know that she left. They didn't have to know. Not yet, anyway.

"Leafpool?" someone was calling her name.

Leafpool froze, her muscles tensing. She sniffed the air, then relaxed. It was Cinderpelt. Leafpool slowly emerged from her hiding spot in the bushes.

"It is you! And you are okay! I've been worried sick! Squirrelflight must have searched every inch of the forest 3 times looking for you!" Cinderpelt exclaimed.

"Tell her I am fine, and calm down." Leafpool tried to soothe Cinderpelt, but it didn't do much good.

"Where have you been? What are you doing out here? Have you seen Crowfeather? Barkface says he is gone." Everything just came rushing out of Cinderpelt's mouth.

"I've been in the moors and forests just outside ThunderClan and WindClan territory. I've been with Crowfeather this whole time." Leafpool explained.

Cinderpelt nodded, seeming to understand.

Mothwing ran up next to Cinderpelt and began asking me even more questions. "What have you and Crowfeather been up to? Do you miss us? Why did you leave?"

"We have just been going about our lives ad spending time together. We will always miss you. We left so we could be together," Leafpool answered.

Barkface stepped out from behind Mothwing and dipped his head in greeting. "So Crowfeather is safe with you?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," Leafpool meowed.

Littlecloud ran up and joined the group, panting and out of breath. His eyes glanced over the group, then he noticed Leafpool. "Leafpool!" he exclaimed. "You're ok!" 

"Yes, I am fine," Leafpool replied.

The group headed in the direction of the Moonpool. Leafpool trailed behind, feeling awkward.

Cinderpelt slowed down and allowed the others to grow further ahead, until she matched Leafpool's pace.

"This feels wrong somehow. Like I don't belong," Leafpool confessed.

"You probably don't," Cinderpelt agreed.

"Should I leave?" Leafpool asked.

"No. I can tell that you need to speak to Starclan one more time."

Leafpool silently agreed.

***

The stone was freezing cold beneath Leafpool's paws. She shivered. It wasn't a shiver of cold, though, not really. It was a shiver of fear.

Leafpool crouched and lapped up a bit of the water, allowing sleep to overtake her.

A shimmering starry world materialized before Leafpool, spreading out from her paws. Leafpool was standing in the middle of Starclan's forest.

A beautiful young tortoiseshell she-cat was weaving her way through the trees, intent on something that Leafpool didn't see. She pounced, disappearing from Leafpool's view, and reappeared with a mouse in her jaws. 

The tortoiseshell then noticed Leafpool for the first time. Her eyes widened, and she dropped her mouse. Emmediatly, she ran towards Leafpool.

"It's good to see you again, Spottedleaf," Leafpool greeted the Starclan cat.

"I wasn't expecting to see you. You really shouldn't be here!" Spottedleaf fretted.

"And she will probably never see you again, so if you have anything to say to her, now would be the time," Bluestar had emerged from the bushes, and her voice rang out loud and clear.

"Oh, I can assure you, I will be back," Leafpool meowed.

"You cannot live with a paw in each world," Bluestar meowed. She looked sad about something, as if she were remembering something from a long time ago.

Leafpool looked down at her paws. "I'm sorry, but you told me to choose my path, and I have. This is my future."

"I hope it is everything you believe it will be," Spottedleaf meowed.

Starclan's hunting grounds began fading away, until Leafpool was staring at empty blackness.

Leafpool blinked her eyes open, stood up, and stretched. Bluestar's words echoing in her mind, "you cannot live with a paw in each world."