Did Sol really kill Ashfur? Was I right to send so many warriors to look for him? Will my Clan be vulnerable without them? Jayfeather could hear his leader's thoughts as clearly as if Firestar had spoken them aloud. To his surprise, he realized that Firestar stil felt weak after the attack of greencough that had taken one of his nine lives. Lurking in his mind was the fear that the sickness would return.

And maybe he's right, Jayfeather thought. He could hear Spiderleg wheezing over by the nursery, as his kits tumbled al over him.

"That's right," their mother, Daisy, meowed. "You can practice your fighting moves with your father.

Spiderleg, can't you be a scarier badger than that?"

"Badgers...don't"-Spiderleg was finding it hard "Badgers...don't"-Spiderleg was finding it hard to catch his breath-"get...greencough," he finished painful y.

Nearby Mil ie was grooming her three kits, breaking off every now and then to cough. "Don't stay out if it gets too cold," Graystripe warned her, bounding over to her side. "And you three kits-don't play too rough with your mother."

Jayfeather heard Blossomkit's high-pitched mew.

"We won't."

"Right, the patrols can go now," Graystripe announced as he returned. "Keep a good lookout, and report anything you see that's at al strange."

The stone hol ow was quiet after al the patrols had left; the remaining warriors returned to their den to get out of the cold. Daisy and Mil ie rounded up the kits.

"It's time for some exercise," Daisy meowed.

"Running around wil keep you warm. Who can fetch me a twig from the thorn barrier and get back here first?"

"I can!" al the kits yowled together, and they pelted across the clearing. Jayfeather jumped back to avoid being knocked over and retreated into his den.

As soon as he set paw behind the bramble screen, the dust from churned-up moss and bracken hit him in the nose. "What's going on?" he asked, stifling a sneeze.

"I'm changing the bedding," Leafpool explained.

"Can you come over here and rol up this moss, please?"

Jayfeather padded over, his paws sinking into the heaps of moss and bracken that Leafpool had already clawed together. "I think it's going to snow,"

he pointed out. "Al the fresh stuff wil be soaked with it."

"We can squeeze the water out," Leafpool replied.

"This old bedding is disgusting. How can we ask sick cats to sleep in it?"

I'd rather sleep in it, Jayfeather thought, than go outside to get freezing cold and wet.

He was starting to push the piles together, half burying himself in dried fronds of fern and clumps of moss, when he heard a cat brush past the brambles.

He picked up Firestar's scent above the dusty smel of the bedding.

"How are you, Leafpool?" Firestar meowed.

"Fine, thanks." Leafpool's tone was brisk, and she didn't stop raking out the remains of the bedding.

"There's something I want to ask you...."

Firestar's voice trailed off, and Jayfeather picked up strong waves of anxiety coming from him. He crouched among the ferns, trying not to sneeze again and hoping that whatever Firestar had to say didn't need to be said in private.

"Wel ?" Leafpool prompted.

"It's just-" Firestar broke off again.

Spit it out! Jayfeather urged him silently.

"I know it's not my place to tel a medicine cat how to speak with StarClan," Firestar meowed, sounding more awkward with every word. "But I wondered...

have you thought of finding Ashfur in StarClan and asking him who kil ed him?"

What? Jayfeather nearly choked on a piece of moss.

For a long moment Leafpool was silent; when she spoke at last, her voice was as icy as leaf-bare snow. "It's not my choice whom I meet in StarClan.

Our ancestors approach me; I cannot search them out. If Ashfur comes to me and wishes to talk, then I wil listen."

It wasn't only shock and anger she felt as she answered Firestar, Jayfeather realized. There was something else behind that: Could it be...fear?

"I'm sorry," Firestar apologized. "I didn't think..."

"I'l do al I can, I promise," Leafpool added more gently. "I want to know who kil ed Ashfur as much as you do."

So why am I finding it hard to believe her?

Jayfeather asked himself.

Later that day, after Jayfeather had cleared out al the old bedding and delivered tansy to the cats stil suffering from the after-effects of greencough, he padded over to the fresh-kil pile and chose a vole. A thick flurry of snow had swept across the clearing earlier, but now a weak ray of sunlight warmed his fur.

While he was eating, he scented Leafpool emerging from the elders' den with Mousefur and Longtail padding behind her.

"Jayfeather?" Leafpool cal ed to him. "When "Jayfeather?" Leafpool cal ed to him. "When you've finished there I want you to go out for a strol with Mousefur and Longtail. It'l be the first time they've been out of the camp since the greencough."

Jayfeather gulped down a mouthful of vole.

"Okay."

"We're not kits, you know," Mousefur grumbled.

"We can be trusted to get to the lake and back without some cat guiding our paws."

"I know," Leafpool replied patiently. "But I want Jayfeather to look for herbs. We're getting very low on tansy. We could do with chervil and yarrow, too.

There might stil be something growing under the trees near the lake."

Mousefur's only response was an exaggerated sigh; Jayfeather pictured the skinny brown elder rol ing her eyes.

Leafpool padded up to Jayfeather, close enough to brush his pelt. "I want you to take special care of Mousefur," she whispered. "Make sure she doesn't go too far, and check her breathing." More loudly she added, "Mousefur, maybe you and Longtail could help Jayfeather carry back any herbs he finds."

"I think we might just about manage that,"

Mousefur growled.

Jayfeather swal owed the last of his vole and led the way across the clearing and through the thorn tunnel. Mousefur fol owed him, guiding Longtail. The forest seemed very quiet now that most of the leaves had fal en from the trees. Jayfeather had to push his way through mounds of dead leaves on the ground and keep alert to avoid drifts of snow that stil remained under the trees. The air tingled with frost.

The scent of water led him toward the lake. He kept one ear pricked for Mousefur and Longtail, who padded beside him, and sensed before Mousefur the branch that had fal en across their path.

"This way," he mewed to Longtail, laying his tail over the blind tabby's shoulders to guide him around the obstacle. "It's okay, you won't get your paws tangled."

"I think you see better than any of us." Mousefur didn't sound as grouchy as usual; she almost seemed impressed.

I wish I did, Jayfeather thought. Right now I can't see far enough. He wanted to know what had happened to the prophecy, and whether Rock knew anything about the secret Squirrelflight had revealed.

Most of al , he wanted to know who his real parents were.

The trees thinned out and cold wind hit Jayfeather in the face as the three cats neared the lake.

"You go off and do whatever you have to,"

Mousefur meowed. "Longtail and I are going to find a nice patch of sun to snooze in."

"Yes, there should be plenty of herbs-"

"Look," the skinny brown elder interrupted, "I know Leafpool only sent you along with us to be sure we made it to the lake without keeling over. You'l be lucky to find enough herbs to fil your own mouth this far into leaf-bare!"

"It's not like that," Jayfeather protested.

"Go on, we'l be fine," Longtail insisted.

"And if you need our help, just cal ," Mousefur added. "I might be a bit unsteady on my feet, but there's nothing wrong with my ears."

"Fine." Relieved to be free of his duty, Jayfeather pelted along the lakeshore until he reached the twisted tree roots where he had hidden the stick. The cold wind from the lake blew his fur the wrong way as he tugged it out and dragged it under an elder bush.

Then he lay down with his paws resting on the scratches.

Come on, Rock. I need to talk to you.

Alarm trickled down his spine as he realized he might find himself back with the Ancient Clan.

Something inside him was drawing him back- desire to see the friends he had made there, curiosity about how they had coped on the journey to the mountains-but he had to fight against it. He knew that the Ancient Clan sharpclaws couldn't help him now.

Jayfeather concentrated as hard as he could, trying to picture the underground cave where Rock waited, but he could stil feel grass under his bel y and a twig tickling his ear.

"There's no need for that," a voice behind him rumbled. "The stick isn't the answer to everything."

Jayfeather's eyes flew open, and he realized that he could see. He was stil under the elder bush; turning, he saw Rock standing behind him, almost transparent against the grass and trees. Rock crept under the bush to join Jayfeather, his hairless body smel ing of stone and the endless dark of the tunnels.

Jayfeather suppressed a shiver. "Did you know al along that Squirrelflight was lying to us?" he along that Squirrelflight was lying to us?" he demanded.

Rock's bulging, sightless eyes turned toward him.

"The answers lie within your own Clan," he replied, "if you can find them."

"That's no answer," Jayfeather mewed irritably. "I need your help!"

"I cannot give the kind of help you want," Rock warned him.

"Then what about the prophecy? If we're not Firestar's kin-"

"Make your own future, Jayfeather," the spirit-cat interrupted. "Don't expect it to be dropped at your paws like a piece of fresh-kil ."

Every hair on Jayfeather's pelt prickled with annoyance. How was he supposed to make his own future if no cat would tell him anything? He dug his claws into the earth.

"Jayfeather!" Mousefur's voice came from the edge of the lake. "Jayfeather!"

Darkness slammed down over Jayfeather's vision. The scent of Rock vanished.

"Jayfeather, where are you?"

He crawled out from under the elder bush, kicking dead leaves and debris over the stick. He would have to come back later and hide it properly.

"What are you doing under there?" Mousefur asked, padding up to him. "We're ready to go back now. We wondered if you have any herbs for us to carry."

"Er...no, I haven't found any," Jayfeather stammered.

Mousefur sighed. "Maybe you're not looking in the right place. Last I heard, herbs don't grow wel under elder bushes. There's a huge clump of tansy just behind you," she added.

Jayfeather's pelt grew hot with embarrassment.

He should have taken time to grab a few herbs before he tried to speak with Rock. He had been so intent on finding the spirit-cat that he hadn't even noticed the sharp scent of the tansy.

"Thanks," he muttered.

He was aware of Mousefur's irritation as he and the skinny elder picked the herbs together. There wasn't enough for Jayfeather to need help carrying it, and he scented no other herbs as al three cats headed back toward the camp.

"Is that al ?" Leafpool asked; she was waiting outside the den when Jayfeather arrived with the tansy. "What about the yarrow and chervil I asked for?"

"I couldn't find any," Jayfeather mumbled around the bunch of stems.

Leafpool snorted. "Didn't look, more likely.

Jayfeather, I didn't send you out there to waste time.

You have to do what you're supposed to!" Her voice deepened to a snarl. "If every cat did that, there wouldn't be any problems."

Who put ants in her fur? Jayfeather wondered. It wasn't like Leafpool to be so short-tempered. For once he didn't want to argue with her, so he just headed for the den to put the tansy away.