Sunlight was slipping through the branches of the apprentices' den. Echopaw rolled over away from the sun and pushed herself up. Her eyes closed in a long yawn, and when she opened them her heart jumped in fright. Cloverpaw was sitting on the corner, staring at her.
"Don't do that! You scared me!" Echopaw hissed through heavy breaths. She bent down to lick her ruffled fur, realizing that she'd forgotten Cloverpaw slept in the apprentice's den now.
Cloverpaw purred with amusement. "I didn't do anything."
Echopaw grunted and asked, "How long have you been awake?"
"Oh, way before sunrise," replied Cloverpaw as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"A little excited, were you?" Echopaw teased.
Cloverpaw shuffled her paws. "A bit."
"Aren't you taking a tour of the territory today?"
"Yeah, but Meadowheart said we'd leave at sunhigh because she was assigned to the dawn patrol."
"Oh. What time is it now?" Echopaw asked.
"A little past sunrise," Cloverpaw replied. "Have you ever been on a patrol?"
Echopaw sighed, "No, not yet. But I will soon."
Cloverpaw nodded. "Want to share a meal?"
"Sure!" Echopaw purred.
As they left the den, carefully stepping around Whisperpaw, Echopaw saw Aspenleaf and Creekfall talking excitedly with Copperleaf, Sparktail, and Gravelpelt.
"I wonder what all the excitement is about?" asked Cloverpaw.
Echopaw shrugged, "Let's go and see."
Cloverpaw veered away from the fresh-kill log and headed toward the group of warriors, Echopaw following.
Echopaw sat next to her mother and whispered in her ear, "What's all the excitement about?"
Sparktail turned to her daughter and purred, "Why don't you ask Aspenleaf yourself?"
Echopaw looked over at Aspenleaf, who was looking right back at her. "Uh," she started shyly, "What is all this excitement about?"
Aspenleaf looked as if she was bubbling over with anticipation and amazement, and she couldn't control her happiness. When she spoke, it was slurred and so fast that Echopaw couldn't make out what she was saying. "Immamom!"
Echopaw looked at Cloverpaw, who shrugged; neither of them had understood what she had said. Echopaw turned back to Aspenleaf and asked, "Uh, what?"
Aspenleaf took a deep breath and told them more slowly this time, but still just as excited. "I'm having kits! I'm going to be a mother!" she purred.
"And I'm a father!" announced Creekfall excitedly.
Aspenleaf purred louder than Echopaw thought was possible. Echopaw purred with amusement and flicked her tail, signaling to Cloverpaw that they should get their meals now.
As they walked towards the fresh-kill log, Cloverpaw meowed, "Finally the Clan is getting more kits. Hopefully they'll be born in time for Raykit to actually be able to play with them."
"Yeah, he's been pretty lonely with no littermates."
"Hey! Hailpaw and I were there to play with him!"
"Yeah, but still."
"Huh," sighed Cloverpaw as they reached the fresh-kill pile.
Echopaw saw a plump squirrel and her stomach growled; it looked really tasty, so she started to grab it. As she locked its tail between her jaws, it became stuck and she couldn't pull it out of the pile. She yanked, but it just wouldn't come loose.
"Hey, this squirrel is stuck!" exclaimed Cloverpaw through a mouthful of fur, just as Echopaw was about to say the same thing.
Echopaw looked up to see Cloverpaw holding a squirrel by its neck, and Echopaw was holding her own squirrel by its tail. Echopaw realized with a smile that they were both holding the same squirrel. Echopaw bit back a laugh as she let go of the squirrel, and Cloverpaw lost her balance from the momentum, falling onto her back with the squirrel dangling from her jaws.
"Got it!" she meowed as she got to her paws again.
"You mouse-brain!" Echopaw laughed. "We were both holding the same squirrel, and when I let go, you were launched backwards!" She doubled over, laughing so hard that she could hardly breathe, so she was taken by surprise when Cloverpaw pounced on her.
The black she-cat pinned her to the ground and growled, "It is not funny. Stop laughing."
"You should have seen yourself!" Echopaw laughed harder, to which Cloverpaw scowled.
"What's so funny?"
Echopaw and Cloverpaw turned to see Whisperpaw padding toward them, yawning.
"Finally! You slept like a hibernating fox!" meowed Cloverpaw.
Whisperpaw shrugged, "I was tired. But nevermind that. What are you laughing about?"
Echopaw told Whisperpaw the story of Cloverpaw being launched backwards, pausing every few moments to laugh. Cloverpaw scowled the whole time, her eyes narrowed at Echopaw. When Echopaw finished, Whisperpaw burst out laughing.
"I wish I could have seen that!" she exclaimed through laughs.
Cloverpaw grunted.
"Come on! It was hilarious! You have to picture how you looked!" Echopaw exclaimed.
Cloverpaw sat in thought and finally mumbled, "Yeah, I guess I probably did look pretty funny."
Echopaw nodded. "You did!" And she burst out laughing again.
"Do you want to actually eat the squirrel instead of laughing about this?" Cloverpaw growled, sounding exasperated.
Echopaw's stomach growled and she nodded, "Sure. You and I can share it."
Cloverpaw picked the squirrel up off of the ground and carried it to Echopaw. Whisperpaw padded over to the fresh-kill pile and brought back a finch for herself. The three of them sat side by side as they ate their meals in silence.
When Echopaw finished, she suggested, "Let's go visit Hailpaw! He's bound to be quite lonely in the medicine cats' den."
"Good idea," agreed Cloverpaw, and she turned, padding away toward Goldheart's den. Echopaw looked at Whisperpaw, and, together, they followed Cloverpaw to Goldheart's den.
When they got there, however, they saw that neither, Goldheart, Yellowpaw, nor Hailpaw were in there.
"What? Where are they?" exclaimed Cloverpaw as she peered through the den entrance.
"Oh, they're out looking for herbs by the stream," meowed Echopaw, suddenly remembering.
"They are?" asked Cloverpaw.
"Yeah, they decided that last night when Hailpaw and I went to ask Goldheart about Hailpaw's sprained paw."
"Oh," meowed Whisperpaw. "Well, let's go and find something to do while we wait for our mentors."
"Alright," replied Echopaw, and they padded over toward the clearing.
As they reached the clearing, Echopaw saw Aspenleaf sharing a mouse with Creekfall, their tails entwined and their pelts touching. Echopaw smiled to herself and thought, Their kits are going to have great parents.
Once they reached the fresh-kill pile, Echopaw realized that the sunning-stones weren't occupied by a cat like they usually were. The elders were always here, especially on a warm, sunny days like this one.
"Hey, no one's at the sunning-stones! We should take them before any other cat does!" she whispered to Cloverpaw and Whisperpaw.
Cloverpaw looked around and nodded. "Yeah, I wonder where the elders are?"
"Who knows?" shrugged Echopaw, "But we should take advantage of the sunning-stones before any other cat does!"
"Yeah!" agreed Whisperpaw.
"But what if we get in trouble because one of the elders had them first?" asked Cloverpaw in a hushed and urgent whisper.
"Yeah, and why would that happen? We can just move if it's the elders," Echopaw replied, getting more impatient by the heartbeat. "If we don't go now, we won't be able to at all!"
"Alright, let's go," nodded Whisperpaw, and she jogged over to the sunning-stones.
"I don't like this..." Cloverpaw warned.
"Suit yourself then," replied Echopaw, racing after her sister.
"Okay, okay! I'm coming!" called Cloverpaw, and Echopaw heard pawsteps racing after her.
Echopaw stopped at a stone and put her paw on it. It felt warm and relaxing on her pads, and she slowly climbed up on one and laid down on her side, basking in the warmth of the sun.
"These are so nice!" exclaimed Whisperpaw as she laid down on one too.
Echopaw watched as Cloverpaw looked hesitantly around the camp and cautiously settled down on the third stone. She looked around at it then meowed, "Yeah, these are pretty nice."
"See?" purred Echopaw.
She laid down and stared up at the clear blue sky, the sun shining through the trees; it was nearly sunhigh. Echopaw watched the red, orange, and yellow trees sway in the gentle breeze, leaves blowing off of them and landing gracefully in the camp, filling the forest floor with their rainbow colors.
Echopaw looked down and watched as Raykit squealed in excitement, jumping into the air and catching leaves as they swirled from the trees. Echopaw purred with amusement and saw Creekfall and Aspenleaf looking at him and laughing to themselves, their faces full of adoration; clearly they couldn't wait until their own kits were born. Echopaw turned her focus back to the sky and watched a flock of geese heading toward the mountains, migrating for when leaf-bare would come.
Then Echopaw heard a high-pitched squeal of surprise and turned abruptly toward the noise; Raykit had found something in the heather bush of the nursery. Sagetail came padding up to him, looking amused.
"Look, I found a butterfly!" Raykit meowed excitedly, dropping into the hunting crouch. Sagetail purred with amusement and sat watching while Raykit pounced and missed. The butterfly flew off the bush and headed out toward the clearing, and Raykit chased it, jumping and batting at it with his forepaws, laughing. The butterfly continued to fly higher and Raykit raced forward and leaped. Echopaw sat up in amazement; Raykit landed with the butterfly in his paws. Cloverpaw's jaw dropped and Whisperpaw looked at Echopaw, her eyes wide.
Sagetail ran up to Raykit, surprise all over her face. "You caught that?"
Raykit looked down at his paws, amazement in his eyes. "Uh, I... I guess so." He stared at the dead butterfly on the ground, looking puzzled.
"How?" Sagetail insisted.
Raykit continued to stare at the butterfly, "I don't know. A... A voice in my head told me to catch it, so I jumped and then landed with it." Raykit now sounded really confused.
Echopaw got up and padded over to examine the butterfly. Whisperpaw got up and followed her, Cloverpaw close behind. Echopaw sat down beside Raykit, and looked down at the butterfly. It was about as big as a blue jay, and it was light blue, like the color of the sky.
Sagetail suddenly meowed, "What if it has a disease or something? Most kits couldn't just pounce that high like that and catch it. We should take it out of the camp, toward the Great Pine. Echopaw, you can take it out, but first wrap it up in a bundle of ferns. If it does have a disease, you don't want it in your mouth. I may not be a medicine cat, but I know when an animal looks sick."
Echopaw nodded and Whisperpaw spoke up, "I'll go with her and help her bury it." She caught Echopaw's eye and slightly nodded. Echopaw became confused. What was this all about? Had Whisperpaw figured out something about the prophecy and wanted to use this time as a way to talk to Echopaw alone without disturbance?
"I'll go too," volunteered Cloverpaw.
"No," exclaimed Whisperpaw too quickly, and everyone looked at her in surprise. "I-I mean, you should p-probably stay here to help see if Raykit got any of it in his mouth. We don't need more than two cats to dig a hole." She avoided Cloverpaw's eyes while saying this.
"Fine," muttered Cloverpaw, sounding sad.
Please don't get angry with us! Oh, Cloverpaw there's probably something important Whisperpaw has to tell me! You'll understand it all one day!
Sagetail looked between the three of them with a confused look on her face, then added, looking worried, "I think a warriors should go with you," Sagetail meowed, "The fox is still out there and Eveningstar ordered that all apprentices must be accompanied by a warrior when leaving the camp."
"We'll be fine," Whisperpaw assured her, looking like she had ants in her fur because she was acting so anxious. "And besides, we're only going to bury a butterfly; we'll stay at the Great Pine, where we can still see the camp."
"Alright, then, go ahead," Sagetail finally nodded, still looking confused at the way Whisperpaw was acting.
Whisperpaw flicked her tail at Echopaw and Echopaw got up to follow her sister toward the camp entrance. "Aren't you forgetting the butterfly?" Echopaw asked her sister.
"Uh, we have to wrap it in ferns, remember?" Whisperpaw replied.
"Oh, right," meowed Echopaw, feeling dumb. She heard Whisperpaw laughing ahead of her, and Echopaw scowled.
"We'll each collect a mouthful," Whisperpaw ordered when they reached the clump of bracken by the camp entrance.
"Okay, Whisperstar," Echopaw muttered, but she obeyed her sister anyway.
Once they'd each collected a mouthful of the ferns, they turned and padded back to where Sagetail was sitting around the butterfly, making sure no cat went near it. Echopaw dropped the ferns and started laying them out so her sister could wrap up the butterfly in them. Whisperpaw grabbed a stick from the heather bush of the nursery and carefully pushed the butterfly onto Echopaw's pile of bracken, then she placed her own ferns on top and carefully grabbed the fern-wrapped butterfly in her jaws. Whisperpaw looked at Echopaw and nodded toward the camp entrance, motioning for her to lead the way.
Echopaw padded off toward the brambles and walked out of the camp, heading toward the Great Pine. Once she reached it, she stopped and turned around to find Whisperpaw padding up behind her.
Once her sister reached her, she dropped the bundle and meowed in a hushed voice, "Okay, I don't think that Raykit caught this butterfly by coincidence, and I don't think it's diseased either; I think he was supposed to catch it, which was probably why he did grab it so easily. He said a voice told him to catch it, and I'll bet you anything it was a StarClan warrior."
Echopaw narrowed her eyes, processing this. "Really? But why? What could it mean?"
"That's why I came with you; we should unwrap it and look for any hidden details; maybe it's a sign or something."
Echopaw nodded and watched as her sister unwrapped the butterfly from the bracken. When all the bracken was gone, the butterfly laid there, looking the same as it did when they had first wrapped it up: still big and light blue and dead.
Echopaw sighed, then sat down and stared at it, watching for anything unusual, but nothing happened. They sat in silence for many, many heartbeats, and Echopaw started to get impatient. If something was going to happen, it'd better be soon, or some cat would notice they'd been gone too long and become either worried or suspicious. Echopaw looked up and saw the sun through the branches of the Great Pine; it had just passed sunhigh, and Bronzepelt had promised they'd go training after sunhigh.
Echopaw sighed and looked back down at the butterfly. Whisperpaw seemed to be starting to doubt her theory as well and looked over at the camp entrance, sighing.
It was then that Echopaw saw the butterfly changing before her eyes. She nudged Whisperpaw and meowed in a hushed whisper, "Look!"
Whisperpaw turned, amazement all over her face. Echopaw continued to stare at the butterfly; it was changing from its original blue color to yellow, orange, red, then black, like a sunset. Echopaw watched as a large white spot started to appear on the butterfly's wings. That's the moon! Echopaw realized, and when she looked closer, she saw that it was a full moon. Then, shapes started moving along the bottom of the butterfly's wings.
"Those are cats!" gasped Whisperpaw, and Echopaw nodded, realizing her sister was right. "Clan cats! Are they going to the Gathering?" Whisperpaw asked, more to herself than Echopaw.
Echopaw watched closely at the cats and saw that some had small white dots in their fur, like stars. "And some are StarClan cats!" she exclaimed.
Then slowly, the moon started turning red, looking evil in the sky instead of peaceful like it usually was. The cats at the bottom of the butterfly's wing started fading, completely disappearing from the scene, as if they were never there in the first place.
Suddenly the stars in the sky on the butterfly wing started falling, not like the normal shooting stars that Echopaw had seen when looking up at Silverpelt; these ones looked cold, like the stars in the sky were suddenly dying. They continued to fall, one after another, until there were no more. Then, everything became pitch black. The only thing that remained to light up the dark new world was the blood-colored moon, and Echopaw shuddered.
Then the butterfly shriveled up before their eyes, the scene gone, and blew away with the leaves in the breeze, never to be seen again.
A horrid thought filled Echopaw's mind and she turned to her sister. "The falling stars represented StarClan!" gasped Echopaw, looking at Whisperpaw in shock.
"Well, remember," Whisperpaw murmured in a hushed voice, shaking her head and trembling all over, "StarClan not only has our ancestors, but it also holds our past, our ancient history; it holds our ways of life. So, the falling stars and the red moon represent our way of life being destroyed. Then, it will blow away; soon it will be no more than dust in the wind and no cat will remember it." Whisperpaw looked at Echopaw with fear in her eyes. "The prophecy is unfolding. Something bad will unleash upon the forest, and... and we will have to lead the Clans to stop it."
Echopaw widened her eyes, heart pounding.
Whisperpaw continued in a low voice, "This butterfly's wing is a vision, Echopaw; a vision from StarClan."