Dawn

Her heart seemed to stop as the moment stretched into a lifetime. Firestar leaped forward and hurled himself against Onewhisker’s flank. Squirrelpaw just had time to see the WindClan warrior flung clear, the kit grasped safely between his jaws, before the tree hit the ground with a deafening crash.

“Firestar! No!” Squirrelpaw bounded down from the trunk and pelted over to the fallen tree. Brambleclaw kept pace with her, swerving away toward a brown tabby shape staggering at the edge of the branches.

“Got you!” he cried as he dragged the WindClan warrior and the kit out from where they were tangled in the branch tips.

Leafpaw was stumbling, dazed, from underneath a buckled sapling that had protected her when the tree fell. But there was no sign of Firestar. A Twoleg howled, and another splintering groan made the air tremble.

“Get out of here!” Brambleclaw screeched.

“I’m not leaving without Firestar,” Squirrelpaw cried.

“We’ll find him!” Brambleclaw promised. He looked at Onewhisker. “Get the others to the Thunderpath!”

The earth shuddered as another tree crashed down behind them.

“We’ll wait for you at the tunnel,” Onewhisker promised.

As the WindClan and ShadowClan cats fled, Squirrelpaw ran over to where Leafpaw was scrabbling beneath the branches.

“I can see him!” she cried, clawing desperately at the earth.

Brambleclaw pushed past her, using his head to thrust aside the tangled splinters of wood. Squirrelpaw could see her father’s orange pelt, slumped beneath a heavy branch.

Brambleclaw stretched forward and grasped Firestar in his jaws. Trembling with effort, he dragged him out and laid him on the leaf-strewn earth.

A shaft of pale sunlight sliced into the clearing and lit up the ThunderClan’s golden pelt. He lay very still with his eyes closed.

“He’s losing a life,” Leafpaw whispered.

“Firestar…” Squirrelpaw’s tail began to tremble. “Father!” she yowled. Around them, monsters shook the ground, their yellow eyes blazing between the trees.

“We’ve got to get him out of here!” Brambleclaw hissed.

“We can’t risk moving him,” Leafpaw warned.

Squirrelpaw pressed her belly against the earth. “I’m not leaving without him.”

An earsplitting crack exploded above them, and she screwed up her eyes as the forest suddenly went dark. Images flashed through her mind—Sandstorm, the old camp, the Tribe of Rushing Water, Feathertail… StarClan! Don’t let me die yet. After everything we’ve been through, I need to know that the Clan survives!

“Squirrelpaw!” Brambleclaw’s call sounded muffled under the fallen branches that covered them. “Where are you?”

Squirrelpaw opened her eyes and took a long, shaky breath.

The fallen tree was lodged on the trunk of the other, forming a tiny cavern. Brambleclaw’s dark brown pelt was just visible through the twigs. She twitched her tail and flexed her paws one after the other. “I’m okay,” she called. Nothing was broken, but her pelt stung where branches had scraped against it.

“Brambleclaw, are you hurt?” With a grunt, she hauled herself toward him and stretched out her head to lick his flank.

“It’s all right; I’m fine,” Brambleclaw muttered, struggling to sit up. “Can you see your sister anywhere?”

Squirrelpaw strained her eyes in the gloom. “Leafpaw?”

“I’m over here,” came a voice. Squirrelpaw could make out her shape now. She was crouching over Firestar, protecting his body with her own.

“The kit… is it safe?”

When Squirrelpaw heard her father’s rasping mew, she wriggled upright, ducking her head under the branches until she could straighten her legs. She felt the blood pulsing though her paws, cold as ice. She forced her way through the twigs until her father’s breath wafted against her cheek. His eyes were glazed, but open.

“Did you speak with StarClan?” Leafpaw whispered to him.

“I could hardly see them,” Firestar croaked. “But I know they were there.” He lifted his head. “Did Onewhisker rescue the kit?”

“Yes, they’re both safe.” Brambleclaw squeezed through the branches to Squirrelpaw’s side.

Squirrelpaw searched Leafpaw’s gaze. “Will Firestar be okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” Leafpaw replied. She pressed her nose against Squirrelpaw’s cheek. “Don’t be scared. This was meant to happen.”

Squirrelpaw felt her heart beating in her throat. “How can we get him out of here?”

“I can walk,” Firestar mewed, hauling himself unsteadily to his paws.

Suddenly a Twoleg howled above them. It sounded so close that Squirrelpaw spun around with a snarl. She looked up. A shadow loomed over the branches that covered them.

“We must go now!” Brambleclaw hissed.

The Twoleg was peering down through the tangle of twigs.

Leafpaw flattened her belly against the ground, her eyes stretched wide in terror.

“I won’t let them catch you again!” Squirrelpaw promised.

She glanced at Brambleclaw. “Can you get them out if I distract the Twoleg?”

Brambleclaw blinked. “I’m not sure that’s safe…” he began.