Thunder met his gaze with annoyance. “So you want to stay on the moor.”
“I didn’t say that,” Mouse Ear snapped back. “I just don’t intend to move because some imaginary cats told me to.”
Jagged Peak swished his tail. “We have to settle this before everyone starts arguing.”
Thunder blinked as Jagged Peak marched toward Tall Shadow’s rock and leaped up beside her.
Tall Shadow reared in surprise. “Jagged Peak?”
“We need to settle where we are going to live before every cat starts fighting about it.” The tom’s mew rang across the clearing.
Holly’s head poked out from beneath the broom. Cloud Spots’s den shivered as Clear Sky pushed his way out.
Gray Wing crossed the clearing, his eyes round. “Jagged Peak? What are you doing?”
Thunder hurried toward the rock. Clear Sky’s eyes were bright with hope as he stared up at Jagged Peak. Did Clear Sky think that his younger brother was about to agree with his plan to join together? Alarm twisted Thunder’s belly. “Let’s discuss this later!” he called to Jagged Peak. Did he have to make such a fuss while Clear Sky was still here? No one was going to join Clear Sky’s group. Surely they could settle this without embarrassing the misguided tom.
Dappled Pelt stopped beside Thunder. “Let him speak,” she murmured softly. “We’ve already put off this decision too long.”
Mud Paws and Mouse Ear halted below the rock while Holly hurried toward them. Storm Pelt bounded after his mother.
She called to Eagle Feather and Dew Nose. “Come here, little ones!”
The kits were covered in snow from digging around the rock. A wad of moss dangled from Dew Nose’s jaws. It trembled as she hurried toward her mother.
Holly swept her close with a paw and tucked her against her warm belly. She scooped up Eagle Feather too. Storm Pelt burrowed in beside them.
“We found moss for the nest,” Eagle Feather mewed excitedly.
“Hush.” Holly leaned down and licked the snow from his nose.
Paw steps sounded outside camp. A moment later Lightning Tail and Shattered Ice pushed through the gorse tunnel.
Shattered Ice blinked. “What’s going on?”
Lightning Tail was holding a bunch of heather between his jaws. He dropped it and slid between Dappled Pelt and Mud Paws. “Is this a meeting?”
Jagged Peak gazed down at him. “We need to decide where we’re going to live.”
“At last!” Tall Shadow pummeled the rock beside her excitedly.
Holly curled her lip. “But I’ve just finished building a new nest!”
“I don’t want to move to the pine forest!” Shattered Ice called. “It’s as damp as a marsh in there.”
“I don’t want to stay here!” Mud Paws mewed. “We’ll freeze to death by newleaf.”
Mouse Ear growled in agreement. “I’m tired of hunting in rabbit tunnels!”
“I want to live near fresh water,” Dappled Pelt called. “The water here tastes like peat.”
Thunder stared in disbelief at the cats he’d shared a camp with for so long. Had they always been dissatisfied? Sadness jabbed at his chest. He’d grown up in the hollow. It was home. How could they abandon it? He stepped forward. “We can’t leave the moor!”
“We’ll starve if we stay!” Mouse Ear returned.
Clear Sky lifted his tail. “Let’s do as the spirit cats ask. Let’s be like the Blazing Star and gather like petals around the heart of a flower.” His eyes shone. “Come live in the forest with me!”
Jagged Peak glared at him. “Do you think we’re hare-brained?”
“I’m not living anywhere near you,” Shattered Ice growled. “And I’m not living under trees—I need to see the sky above my head.”
“But trees will shelter us,” Tall Shadow argued.
Thunder’s thoughts spun. “How can we leave when we can’t decide where to go?”
Jagged Peak padded to the front to the rock and looked around at the gathered cats. “Let’s decide the same way we decided last time.”
Thunder frowned. Last time?
Jagged Peak’s gaze reached Gray Wing’s and halted. “Remember?”
Gray Wing nodded solemnly. “Let’s cast stones.”
CHAPTER 3
Thunder frowned as Jagged Peak and Tall Shadow jumped down from the rock. Cast stones? What was Gray Wing talking about? “How?” he murmured to himself.
A warm muzzle nudged his flank, and he turned to see Dappled Pelt looking at him, her eyes sparkling. “We’ve done it before, when Clear Sky broke away from the group to set up his own camp in the forest—and before that, when he wanted to leave the mountains.”
Gray Wing began to dig through the snow at the bottom of the rock. As he unearthed pebbles from the soil below, he kicked them out behind him. Jagged Peak scooped them into a pile while Tall Shadow hurried to the edge of the clearing and began to scrape a wide hole in the snow.
Pebble Heart and Cloud Spots slid from beneath the jutting gorse where they’d treated Clear Sky. The scent of herbs swirled around them, and Thunder noticed that Pebble Heart’s paws were stained green.
Sparrow Fur and Owl Eyes nosed their way from the snowy grass at the edge of the clearing and padded toward the others. Owl Eyes was yawning, and Sparrow Fur blinked sleep from her eyes.
“We’re casting stones,” Dappled Pelt called to them excitedly.
“Casting stones?” Owl Eyes sat down beside the tortoiseshell. “On what?”
“We’re deciding where each cat will live,” she told him.
Sparrow Fur’s eyes widened. “Why now?”
Dappled Pelt glanced sharply at Clear Sky.
Thunder shifted his paws uneasily. The cats clearly knew that his father’s interference had pushed them to make this decision. “We shared a dream of the spirit cats last night,” he explained to Sparrow Fur. “They want us to spread and grow like the Blazing Star.”
Sparrow Fur rolled her eyes. “We’ve known that for ages.”
“Last night, they told us to hurry up.”
Sparrow Fur tipped her head, curious. “Why?”
“We don’t know.” Thunder remembered the urgent tone in Storm’s mew. Why were the spirit cats rushing them? Did they know something they weren’t sharing?
“Thunder!” Tall Shadow’s call shook him from his thoughts. “Help me clear this patch.”
He bounded over to her and began to widen the circle she’d made by scraping away snow until soil showed beneath. He was still not exactly sure what she was doing.
When the patch was three tail-lengths wide, Tall Shadow traced a loop in the clear earth with a deft flick of her paw. Then another and another until there were three circles marked on the ground. She lifted her muzzle. “Each cat must take a stone from the pile Gray Wing and Jagged Peak have made and place it in the circle that marks the place they wish to live.”
Shattered Ice padded forward. “Which circle is which?”
Lightning Tail padded past him, carrying one of the heather branches he’d brought back to camp in his jaws. He dropped it and tugged off a brown sprig from the tip, then placed it in one of the circles. Then he put two more in the next so that the circles were clearly marked.
Tall Shadow nodded curtly. “Thank you, Lightning Tail.” She addressed the cats once more. “The circle with no heather is Clear Sky’s camp. The circle with one sprig is the pine forest. Two sprigs means the moor.”
Dappled Pelt swished her tail. “What about the river?”
Lightning Tail blinked at her. “That’s River Ripple’s territory.”
Gray Wing turned from the rock, his paws filthy from digging. “River Ripple must be included in our plans. The spirit cats chose to share with him as well as us.”
“Okay.” Tall Shadow drew a fourth circle on the earth.
Lightning Tail dropped three sprigs of heather into it.
Thunder tipped his head to one side. “What about the fifth petal?” If
River Ripple was right, the spirit cats wanted them to separate into five groups.
Gray Wing nosed past Jagged Peak and stopped at the edge of the patch of earth. “There’s Wind Runner’s group.”
When the sickness had reached the camp and killed one of her kits, Wind Runner and Gorse Fur had taken their kits—Moth Flight and Dust Muzzle—away from the hollow to make their own camp on the moor. There, Slate—a friendly rogue she-cat—had joined them.
Tall Shadow glanced around at her campmates. “Should I trace a circle for Wind Runner’s group?”
“Of course,” Shattered Ice meowed. “She’s one of the five petals.”
“No.” Gray Wing shook his head. “She left for a reason,” he reminded them. “She won’t want any of us joining her.”
Pebble Heart glanced toward the camp entrance. “Perhaps someone should get her. She should be part of this.”
“One day she will be,” Gray Wing told him gently. “But for now, she thinks she is doing the right thing for her kits by keeping to herself, and we should respect that.”
Tall Shadow nodded. “Gray Wing’s right. Wind Runner was always independent. She’ll make her own decisions in her own time.” She leaned closer to the patch of soil. “Four circles will have to be enough.”
Mud Paws dipped his head. Mouse Ear nodded gravely. Cloud Spots sat down and wrapped his tail over his paws.
Sparrow Fur wove excitedly between Pebble Heart and Owl Eyes. “Can we choose wherever we want?” she asked.
“Of course,” Gray Wing answered. “Turtle Tail told me we must each follow our hearts.”
Thunder felt his tail tremble. Storm had told him that too. But where does my heart lie? He glanced across the clearing, aching suddenly with sorrow as he remembered playing kit games with Lightning Tail and Acorn Fur while Hawk Swoop watched fondly from her nest in the long grass. Could he really leave here?
Clear Sky pushed past Jagged Peak. “Our hearts belong together!” His eyes glittered wildly. Thunder felt a tug of pity for his father. Clear Sky was pleading for the cats to join him. I’ve never seen him so desperate!
Shattered Ice snorted. “Do you expect us to believe you?” He glared at Clear Sky. “Your heart has only ever led you toward power! You just want to be the only leader.”
Thunder flinched as he saw his father shrink away.
Despair clouded Clear Sky’s gaze. “Do what you want,” he muttered. He slunk to the rock and crouched beside it.
Jagged Peak nudged the pile of pebbles with a paw. “Let’s start.”
Tall Shadow ducked and grabbed the first stone between her jaws. She dropped it into the circle with one heather sprig.
The pine forest. Thunder wasn’t surprised. He knew that was where her heart longed to be.
Jagged Peak dropped a second stone beside it.
Thunder stared at him. “You too?”
Jagged Peak didn’t answer him. He was gazing at Holly, a question in his eyes.
She padded forward. Eagle Feather, Storm Pelt, and Dew Nose watched as she took a stone and placed it beside Jagged Peak’s. She lifted her head and blinked slowly at her mate. “The pines will protect our kits from the weather.”
Jagged Peak purred and wove around her.
Eagle Feather scrambled toward them, kicking up snow. “But I like the moor!”
Holly bent and licked his ears as he reached her. “You’ll like the pine forest too,” she promised. “There’ll be good hunting and lots of places to play hide-and-seek.”
Clear Sky grunted beside the rock and tucked his paws tighter beneath him.
Thunder tried not to notice his father’s disapproval. He glanced at the other cats. Who would choose next? His paws felt rooted to the earth. Should he follow Jagged Peak and Tall Shadow? Staying with the cats he knew best might be the wisest path.
He watched Gray Wing take a stone and place it beside Holly’s.
You too? Thunder shivered at the thought of the dark pines. He could never live in shadow, with the sharp scent of pinesap tainting every piece of prey. He watched, his heart growing heavier as Pebble Heart, Mud Paws, and Mouse Ear dropped their stones beside Gray Wing’s. Was every cat going to the pine forest?
He felt Dappled Pelt brush past as she padded to get a stone and watched, holding his breath, as she dropped it in the river circle.
Clear Sky leaped to his paws. “You’re a cat, not a fish!”
Dappled Pelt blinked at him calmly. “We are choosing where we want,” she meowed firmly.
Clear Sky frowned and sat down.
Thunder ignored his father’s outburst. Choosing where to live felt hard enough already. His paws pricked as he stared at Dappled Pelt’s stone. He should have felt relieved. He wasn’t the only cat who didn’t want to spend his life wading through pine needles. But watching his group split sent unease rippling beneath his pelt.
Shattered Ice followed Dappled Pelt, choosing the river. Then Lightning Tail took his turn. Thunder watched, his chest tightening. He’d shared a nest with Lightning Tail as a kit. The young tom and his sister, Acorn Fur, were like littermates to him.
Grasping a stone between his jaws, Lightning Tail padded toward the open patch of soil. He glanced at Thunder.
Was that a question in his friend’s gaze?
Thunder looked away. I can’t help you decide. You must follow your own heart.
Lightning Tail dropped his stone into Clear Sky’s circle.
Clear Sky’s ears pricked with interest.
Of course Lightning Tail chose the forest! Thunder was surprised he hadn’t guessed. Acorn Fur had already moved there, and with Hawk Swoop and Jackdaw’s Cry dead, he had no other kin.
Next, Sparrow Fur padded to the pile of stones and took one. Keeping her gaze low, she dropped it in Clear Sky’s circle.
Thunder saw Gray Wing straighten.
“Sparrow Fur? Are you sure?” The gray tom stared at her.
She met his gaze and nodded. “I like it there.”
Gray Wing didn’t speak.
“I like the trees,” Sparrow Fur insisted. “And I’ve always wanted to taste squirrel and . . .” Her mew trailed away. There was no mistaking the fierce grief burning in Gray Wing’s eyes.
“You must follow your heart.” He dropped his gaze.
Owl Eyes scampered past his sister and grabbed a stone between his teeth. He tossed it into the circle beside Sparrow Fur’s and glanced at Pebble Heart. They were leaving their littermate. “Is that okay?”
“It’s fine,” Pebble Heart purred. “A Thunderpath may separate us, but we will always be littermates.”
As Pebble Heart stepped forward to nuzzle his brother’s cheek, Cloud Spots cast his stone into Clear Sky’s circle.
Pebble Heart jerked around and stared at the long-furred black tom. His eyes glittered with alarm. “What will I do without you to guide me? How will I know which herbs to use?”
“You know them,” Cloud Spots meowed simply. “I have nothing left to teach you. And it’s better that we spread our healing skills between two groups. The pine forest cats will have you to treat their wounds. Clear Sky will have me.” He glanced over his shoulder at Clear Sky. “He certainly needs someone to take care of his cats.”
Clear Sky didn’t seem to hear. He was staring at the four pebbles in his circle.
Thunder curled his claws into the ground nervously. While he’d been turning the question over and over in his mind, every cat had made their decision except him. “Well?” Clear Sky prompted. “Where will you choose, Thunder?”
Thunder glanced around at the cats he’d grown up among. Should he follow Gray Wing and Tall Shadow to the pine forest? Or Dappled Pelt and Shattered Ice to the river?
No. He knew what he had to do. He’d seen Clear Sky almost die earlier. Worse than that, he’d seen Clear Sky look uncertain. He’d watched his father plead. Deep in his belly, Thunder sensed a weakness in him that he’d never seen before. He needs me. Reluctantly, he padded to the stones and pic
ked one from the remains of the pile.
He dropped it into Clear Sky’s circle.
“Thank you, Thunder.” His father’s mew seemed to crack.
Thunder closed his eyes. I’ve made the right decision. Clear Sky was not the ruthless leader he’d once been. If his group was to spread and grow like the Blazing Star, Clear Sky would need help leading it. Thunder shook out his pelt, feeling relief wash through him like a fresh breeze.
The decision had been made.
And yet his heart pricked at the thought of the group splitting apart. Was this really the right thing to do? He imagined the hollow empty through the long leaf-bare, snow filling the deserted nests, the clearing growing wild with no paw steps to trample down the grass.
Mouse Ear wove around Tall Shadow. “I bet the pine forest has more prey than the moor.”
Mud Paws lifted a black forepaw and began to wash it. “I can’t wait to be out of this wind,” he mewed between licks.
“Do you think River Ripple will teach us how to fish?” Dappled Pelt’s eyes were shining as she padded back and forth restlessly in front of Shattered Ice.
Sparrow Fur shuddered. “You want to get your paws wet?” She stared at the she-cat in disbelief.
“I want to learn how to swim,” Dappled Pelt told her.
“It can’t be harder than tunneling,” Shattered Ice added.
Lightning Tail snorted. “I always suspected you were mouse-brained,” he purred teasingly.
The cats seemed happy, but Thunder hardly heard them. Irritation pricked beneath his pelt as he watched Jagged Peak press close to Holly, the kits winding around their paws. Did he have to look so pleased with himself? Thunder stalked toward him. “Are you happy now that you’ve split up the group?”
Jagged Peak met his gaze, unflinching. “It’s what the spirit cats wanted and you know it.”
Thunder blinked, surprised by Jagged Peak’s boldness.
“Things change, Thunder.” Jagged Peak glanced back at his crippled hind leg. “Some of us are used to adapting. Perhaps you should get used to it too.” He turned sharply, swishing his tail against Thunder’s muzzle, and nosed Eagle Feather up onto his shoulders. “Do you want a badger ride to our new home?”