Leafpool’s Wish

Cinderkit’s flea bites were easily treated with some soothing marigold leaves rubbed into her cobweb-soft fur. The tiny cat squirmed so much that Leafpool suspected her littermates would receive a good dose as well. Sorreltail blinked gratefully at her, happily worn out by nursing and keeping her little family in order. Leafpool breathed in the sweet, milky scent of the nursery and let it comfort her for a moment. She held on to the memory of it as she settled into her nest that night. The den still seemed too empty without Cinderpelt sleeping beside her, the shadows cold and thick against the rough stone walls. Leafpool tucked her nose under her tail and took a deep breath. Tonight she wanted to walk in the Dark Forest again. She needed to know if Brambleclaw was still being mentored by his father.

She woke in a dense green forest, dimly lit by an unseen moon and stirred by a whispering breeze. She felt the familiar shudder of horror at the thought of dead cats unwanted by StarClan hiding in the bushes, watching her with angry yellow eyes. But she forced herself to walk along the path that curved between the mossy trunks, convinced she could hear her heartbeat echoing among the trees.

Suddenly Leafpool stopped. Three cats stood a little way ahead with their backs to her. She recognized two of them at once—but these weren’t Dark Forest warriors. Their fur glittered with starlight, and silver beams pooled around their paws as if they were standing in water. One of them turned to face Leafpool, and she felt her heart lift with joy. Bluestar!

“Come out, Leafpool,” the StarClan cat meowed. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Leafpool walked forward until she could smell the scent of wind and stars on the old leader’s pelt.

“You took your time,” grunted Yellowfang.

Leafpool didn’t know the third cat, a broad-shouldered golden tabby. He dipped his head to her. “Greetings, Leafpool. My name is Lionheart. I was with Bluestar when your father Firestar first came to the forest.”

“I’m honored to meet you,” Leafpool meowed. “But where am I? Why have you brought me here?” She hadn’t dreamed of this place before, yet it couldn’t be the Dark Forest, not if StarClan cats were here.

“Come,” Bluestar ordered, turning to follow the path deeper into the forest.

It led to a moonlit clearing, and the trees that had seemed so sinister before now looked graceful and welcoming, filled with the scents of prey. In the clear sky, three tiny stars gleamed more brightly than the others, throbbing with silver light.

“Bluestar, what’s that?” Leafpool whispered.

Bluestar didn’t reply. Instead, she walked into the center of the clearing and gestured with her tail for Leafpool to sit. Leafpool looked up once more, but the three stars had vanished.

“Do you have a sign for me?” she asked.

“Not exactly,” Bluestar answered. “But we wanted to tell you that the path of your life will twist in ways yet hidden to you.”

“Yes.” Yellowfang sounded tense, as if there was more she wanted to say but some unspoken promise prevented her. “You will tread a path that few medicine cats have before.”

Leafpool felt a stab of alarm. “What do you mean?”

“There are cats you have yet to meet,” Bluestar meowed. “But their paws will shape your future.”

What does that mean?

Lionheart rested his tail on her shoulder and his scent drifted around her, brave and reassuring. “We have come to give you strength,” he murmured.

“Whatever happens, remember that we are always with you,” Bluestar mewed.

Her blue eyes glittered with concern and kindness, but Leafpool still had no idea what any of this meant. Her life was set in stone now, like her den beneath the cliffs. She would be ThunderClan’s medicine cat until it was her turn to walk with these cats in StarClan. What she had with Crowfeather… all that was over, forgotten, a part of her life that would fade in time to nothing.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Can’t you tell me more?”

Bluestar shook her head. “Even StarClan can’t see everything that will happen. The path ahead of you vanishes into shadow—but we will walk with you every paw step of the way, I promise.”

Leafpool let herself be comforted by Bluestar’s words. If StarClan walked alongside her, nothing terrible could happen. When she had left her Clan to be with Crowfeather, she had felt as if her ancestors had abandoned her forever. But she had followed her heart back to ThunderClan, and now they were beside her again, protecting her, guiding her, keeping her safe.

I made the right decision—no, the only decision—when I came back to the hollow. Nothing will threaten my place in ThunderClan again.

Chapter 2