Dawn

“You can’t get in, Squirrelpaw.” Spottedleaf stood on her hind legs to reach up beside her. “This is only a dream,” she murmured. “But when you wake, Leafpaw will still be here.”

“Will I be able to rescue her?”

“I hope so,” Spottedleaf answered softly.

“But how?” Squirrelpaw yowled, jumping down to the ground.

“Stop fidgeting, for StarClan’s sake!” Shrewpaw muttered.

Squirrelpaw’s eyes shot open. She was lying in the narrow cleft in Sunningrocks. The hollow was dark, and she could only just make out the soft shapes of sleeping cats around her.

She sat up and stared over the lip of the gully. Outside, frost glittered on the smooth stone, and beyond that she saw the outlines of leafless trees, black and spiky against the sky.

“What’s the matter?” Shrewpaw asked sleepily.

“I know where Leafpaw is!” Squirrelpaw whispered. “I have to go and rescue her.”

Shrewpaw’s eyes blinked open. “How do you know?”

“Spottedleaf told me in a dream!”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure!” Squirrelpaw snapped.

Shrewpaw twitched his ears. “You can’t just disappear without telling any cat where you’re going,” he warned. He didn’t add, Again, but Squirrelpaw guessed that was what he was thinking.

“I could wake Firestar up,” she mewed. “Now I know where Leafpaw is, he could send out a rescue party.”

“Not in the middle of the night,” Shrewpaw pointed out.

“It’s too cold. Besides, it was just a dream.”

“It was more than a dream,” Squirrelpaw insisted.

“But you’re not a medicine cat,” Shrewpaw argued. “No cat’s going to go on a rescue mission in the middle of the night because you had a dream.” His amber eyes were gentle. “They might listen to you in the morning, though. Settle down and go back to sleep.”

Squirrelpaw sighed, but she knew he was right. She slumped back down again, still seeing the wooden nest filled with cages.

Shrewpaw lay down beside her and rested his tail comfortingly on her flank. “We’ll find her in the morning,” he promised, closing his eyes.

His breathing slowed as he drifted into sleep, but Squirrelpaw stayed awake, gazing up at the narrow strip of Silverpelt she could see through the mouth of the gully. A cat from StarClan had visited her to tell her where Leafpaw was!

She knew Spottedleaf had had a special bond with her father when he first came to the forest. Could it be that she wanted to help Firestar’s daughters because she still loved him?

Squirrelpaw opened her eyes and sat up with a start.

Bright light streamed into the gully, though the air was cold, colder still because all the other apprentices had left. Quickly, she stretched and scrambled out of the crevice. Her dream was still clear in her mind. She had to tell her father so he could organize a rescue party.

Shrewpaw was washing on the stone slope in front of the den.

“Where’s Firestar?” Squirrelpaw demanded.

“He’s out patrolling with Graystripe,” Shrewpaw replied, rubbing at his cheek with his paw.

She twitched her tail in frustration. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You didn’t sleep well, remember?” meowed Shrewpaw. “I thought you could get some extra rest and join me on a later patrol. Firestar agreed.”

“Didn’t you tell him about my dream?” Squirrelpaw pricked her ears. “What did he say? When is he sending out a patrol?”

“I-I didn’t mention the dream,” Shrewpaw stammered. “I thought you would have forgotten it. It was only a dream, after all.”

Squirrelpaw glared at Shrewpaw. “It was a message from StarClan!”

“I’m really sorry.” He shuffled his paws and stared at the ground.

Squirrelpaw let her fur lie flat again. “No, I’m sorry.” she sighed. “It’s not your fault I overslept.”

“It’s okay.” Shrewpaw shrugged. “Did you really see Leafpaw in your dream?”

Squirrelpaw nodded. “And the other cats that are missing from the forest. Or at least, I definitely smelled WindClan and RiverClan scents.”

“That’s amazing!” He glanced past her and twitched his whiskers. “Looks like there’s been some successful hunting already today. That should put Firestar in a good mood, at least.”

Squirrelpaw turned to see Brambleclaw padding up the slope with a vole in his jaws. He carried it over to where Ferncloud lay in the sunshine watching her kits play. She accepted Brambleclaw’s offering with only a blink of her leaf-colored eyes, as if she didn’t have the strength to thank him. Squirrelpaw noticed with a prick of unease how small Ferncloud’s kits were. They looked hardly old enough to leave the nursery, let alone journey all the way to the sun-drown-place. By leaf-bare, kits were usually strong and healthy, ready to face the cruelest season. If Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw succeeded in persuading the Clan to leave the forest, how many cats would never see their new home?

She shook her head. Right now, she didn’t want to go anywhere without rescuing Leafpaw.

“Brambleclaw!” She bounded down the slope toward him.

“I know where Leafpaw is! StarClan came to me in a dream!

The Twolegs have trapped her in a little nest, past Snakerocks.

We have to go and rescue her.”