The Fourth Apprentice

“Nothing,” Jayfeather told her. “At first we didn’t know whether the prophecy meant you or your sister. But you’ve made it pretty clear that you’re the One.”

“You just told us Ivypaw can’t sense things at a distance, the way you do,” Lionblaze pointed out.

“Not yet. But how do we know she won’t?” Jayfeather dug his claws into the ground at the apprentice’s stubborn tone. “Besides, she’s my sister. I’m not going to do anything without her.”

“You don’t have any choice,” Jayfeather snapped.

“Do you think we asked for this?” Lionblaze heaved a deep sigh. “I wish every day that I could just be an ordinary warrior, doing my best to help my Clan.”

“But we’ve had to accept it,” Jayfeather mewed.

He heard a scuffling sound from Dovepaw, as if the apprentice was flexing her claws in and out of the soil. “I don’t have to accept it,” she muttered mutinously.

“You do. Because of what you did today,” Lionblaze meowed. Jayfeather could tell that he felt a strong sympathy for his apprentice. “You couldn’t have made it clearer if you’d gone and yowled it from the Highledge.”

Now Dovepaw was silent, and Jayfeather could sense her anger fading, replaced by uncertainty and fear. He let out a sigh, knowing what he had to tell her, even though he had hoped there would be no need. “You must have heard that we once had a sister,” he began. “Hollyleaf. We—we thought that she was part of the prophecy, one of the Three.”

“But she wasn’t.” To Jayfeather’s relief, Lionblaze took up the story. “She tried so hard to figure out her special power, and how she could use it to help her Clan.”

“So what made you realize that she wasn’t one of the Three?” Dovepaw asked.

Grief and shame swept over Jayfeather, as sharp as when he first discovered that he wasn’t the son of Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw. He could sense that his brother felt the same. What could they possibly tell this apprentice without tearing open the wounds that had threatened to destroy their Clan?

“How much do you know about Hollyleaf?” he asked Dovepaw.

“Not much.” The young cat’s voice was curious now. “I know she was your sister and she died in an accident in the tunnels. Ivypaw and I used to hear cats talking about her sometimes, but when they saw us listening they always changed the subject.”

I’m not surprised, Jayfeather thought.

“We just realized that the prophecy didn’t include her,” Lionblaze stated flatly, in a tone that warned Dovepaw not to ask any more questions.

“So you made a mistake!” Dovepaw retorted. “How do you know that you’re not making the same mistake again? Firestar has loads of kin in ThunderClan, not just Cloudtail and Whitewing!”

“Because—” Jayfeather began.

“I don’t want to listen!” Dovepaw’s voice was angry, and Jayfeather could picture her glaring at him with her neck fur bristling. He sensed deep fear within her, which she was trying to bury under her anger. “I don’t care about special powers, unless they can help me to be a loyal warrior to ThunderClan. I don’t want any part of any prophecy, especially one that’s so vague you can’t even be sure which cat it refers to!”

“Listen, you stupid furball!” Jayfeather spat. “Do you think we wanted things to be like this?” All his anger and frustration came spilling out, like a storm breaking over the forest, and he didn’t even try to stop it. “We didn’t choose to be part of the prophecy! We lost our sister because of it!”

His paws were shaking so much that he had to sit down. Who sent the prophecy? he wondered, yet again. And why should we listen to it, when it causes so much pain?

“I—I’m sorry,” Dovepaw stammered. “But if it’s so hard, why don’t you ask Firestar about it?”

“Firestar has never spoken to us about it,” Lionblaze replied. “He doesn’t even know that we know he received the prophecy in the first place.”

“Then how…?” Dovepaw’s voice was bewildered.

“I walked in his dreams,” Jayfeather explained reluctantly. He could tell how his intensity was scaring the young she-cat, and how hard she would find it to accept the darkness within his powers. But something was urging him on, an inner voice that seemed to warn him there was no time to wait for her to understand. “We don’t know what the prophecy requires us to do,” he went on, trying to keep his voice calm, “but we need to be ready. And that means having the courage to face up to our powers, whatever they are.”

Dovepaw hesitated; Jayfeather could feel uncertainty coming off her in waves. “Wouldn’t StarClan want me to learn to be a warrior first?” she meowed at last.

“I don’t know. I’m not even sure that the prophecy comes from StarClan.” Jayfeather hated to admit that, but it was true; no StarClan warrior had ever confirmed the prophecy for him.

“But you’re right, Dovepaw.” Lionblaze’s voice was warm with approval. “The best thing you can do is get on with your warrior training. Let’s go and get some more hunting practice, before the other cats send out a search party for us.”