The Sight

Graystripe padded forward and touched his muzzle to hers. “Congratulations.”

“Did you catch anything while I was gone?” Brackenfur asked.

“The prey’s hiding from the cold,” Ashfur complained.

“There must be some way to tempt it out,” Brackenfur meowed. “It’ll be as hungry as we are.”

“We could dig it out,” Lionpaw suggested. “The shallow

burrows would be easy to scent.”

“The ground’s probably too frozen,” Ashfur pointed out.

“What about that huge beech tree near the old

Thunderpath?” Spiderleg suggested. “There are always beechnuts on the ground, even this late in leaf- bare.”

“The prey’s more likely to venture out there than anywhere else,” Brackenfur agreed.

He raced away again. The patrol took off after him. Taking a deep breath, Hollypaw followed. Did Brackenfur always give such little warning before he shot off? And how did the others know to follow him? Her muscles were screaming for her to stop, but there was no way she was going to show she was struggling to keep up.

Her paws lightened with relief when she recognized the leaves of the beech up ahead. They rustled in the wind, as golden as Brackenfur’s pelt. The patrol skidded to a halt before they reached it and padded forward silently, weaving through the bracken toward the clear ground around the trunk. Hollypaw watched and copied them.

No one spoke as Brackenfur drew himself forward and peered from the edge of the bracken. While the others lined up alongside, Hollypaw slid into the space beside her mentor.

“Keep your tail still,” he whispered.

Hollypaw realized that the tip of her tail was twitching with excitement. “Sorry,” she breathed. When she held it still, the dry bracken fronds above her head stopped rattling.

The rest of the patrol lined up along the edge of the

bracken, their eyes all fixed on the leaf-strewn earth around the tree.

“I see something!” Lionpaw hissed.

Hollypaw searched the forest floor, but could see nothing.

She looked at Lionpaw and followed his gaze. He was staring at a single leaf trembling beside an exposed root. Was that really prey? She sniffed the air. At first all she smelled was the pungent mustiness of dead leaves. And then she smelled mouse.

She thrashed her tail, setting the bracken rattling again.

The leaf up ahead flipped over, and Lionpaw shot out of the bracken and hurled himself toward it.

“Too late!” he cursed as he slammed his paws down on empty ground. He glared at Hollypaw. “You scared it off!”

Hollypaw’s ears grew hot. “I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“Don’t be hard on her,” Ashfur chided Lionpaw. “It’s her first hunt.”

Lionpaw shrugged. “It’s okay, Hollypaw. I was just annoyed because I wasn’t fast enough.”

“You looked fast enough to me!” Hollypaw told him.

“You’re only fast enough if you catch the mouse,” Mousepaw mewed pointedly.

“Keep quiet, or nothing is going to stir from its burrow for the rest of the day,” Brackenfur ordered.

Lionpaw hurried back to the bracken, and the patrol took up their positions once more.

* * *

Hollypaw’s back was beginning to ache from crouching in the same position so long. Lionpaw had caught his mouse at last, Ashfur had caught a vole, and Mousepaw had spotted a sparrow flitting from tree to tree and disappeared into the undergrowth to track it.

“Your turn,” Brackenfur meowed in Hollypaw’s ear.

Her shoulders stiffened. “Are you sure?” She thought she was more likely to scare the prey away than catch anything.

“You learn more by trying than by watching,” Brackenfur replied.

Hollypaw focused on the beech tree up ahead. The clearing still smelled of blood. Surely no more prey would be foolish enough to stray out after Lionpaw and Ashfur’s kill?

“Shouldn’t we try somewhere else?” she suggested.

“There are beechnuts here,” Brackenfur reminded her. “If a creature’s hungry enough, it’ll risk anything for food.”

Hollypaw stared among the roots of the tree. Almost at once she noticed a leaf flickering on the ground. She dashed out of the bracken and threw herself on top of it. Her heart sank when she realized that the ground felt flat and lifeless beneath her paws. She had caught nothing more than a dead leaf, flapping in the breeze.

She glanced back at her Clanmates, her pelt prickling with embarrassment. Graystripe’s whiskers were twitching.

Millie glanced sharply at her mate and his whiskers stopped moving. “It’s the same for every cat to start with,” the kittypet reassured Hollypaw. “Have another try.”

Hollypaw closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she blinked them open and glanced around the clearing. I’m not fast enough yet to hunt from the bracken, she decided. She stud-ied the tree. Its pale bark darkened at the roots, which snaked out from the base before disappearing into the earth. Her black pelt would blend in well. Climbing stealthily onto the largest root, she crouched and began to wait. She looked over at Brackenfur, wondering if she had done the right thing. He nodded.

Relieved, Hollypaw turned her attention back to the forest floor. She kept perfectly still, not letting even an itch make her ear twitch. Far away, a sparrow screeched an alarm before falling silent. Still she did not move.

Then, almost directly below the root where she crouched, a tiny movement in the leaves made her tense the muscles in her hind legs. She waited. Sure enough, the leaf stirred again, and a small pink nose came snuffling to the surface. A wood mouse! Hollypaw held her breath, waiting like an adder preparing to strike. The mouse nosed its way farther out into the open, heading for a beechnut. Hollypaw knew it had no idea she was there.

She pounced, catching the mouse squarely between her forepaws.

“Well done!” Brackenfur called.

Hollypaw looked up, the warm mouse dangling in her jaws. Her first kill! She closed her eyes, remembering how Lionpaw and Ashfur had given thanks to StarClan when they had made their kills.

“Thank you for the life of this prey, given to feed my Clan.

I shall take no more than I want . . .” She paused. “I mean, need, and I shall give all that I can.”

She was on her way to being a warrior at last!

,

Chapter 19

“Mousefur kept me awake half the night coughing,” Longtail complained.

“It’s a wonder you could hear me over your snoring!”

Mousefur retorted.

Jaypaw sighed. He was in the elders’ den, listening to the denmates bicker like kits. He didn’t know why they argued so much. Even now, Longtail’s complaint was only his way of telling Jaypaw that he was worried about Mousefur.

“I can’t feel any swelling around her throat,” Jaypaw told him. “Just make sure she eats the coltsfoot I brought.

Leafpool says it will ease her breathing.”

“I don’t need herbs,” Mousefur grumbled.

“Take them anyway,” Longtail urged. “At least it means you’ll eat something. You’ve not had anything since sunhigh yesterday.”