The Sight

realized that Leafpool was wrenching open his jaws.

“Your paws are smallest,” she told Jaypaw. “Reach into his mouth and clear as much dirt as you can.”

Jaypaw sheathed his claws. Then, forcing himself to stop

trembling, he reached delicately into Breezepaw’s mouth. He could hear Crowfeather’s heart pounding. Nightcloud was quivering in terror behind him. Leafpool’s concentration was the only calmness he felt around him, and he clung to it as he scooped the earth from the back of Breezepaw’s throat.

Suddenly Breezepaw coughed and his body writhed as he spat up earth from his stomach and lungs.

“Will he be all right?” Nightcloud whispered.

“Yes, he will,” Leafpool promised.

“Thank you, Leafpool,” Crowfeather murmured.

“I would give my last drop of blood to save your kit,”

Leafpool meowed softly to Crowfeather. “You know that.”

Jaypaw flinched at the tension between them, pricking the air like rain.

“Our kit was lucky that Jaypaw was here.” Nightcloud’s comment was edged with sharpness.

“Jaypaw?” Lionpaw croaked.

Jaypaw spun around and crouched beside his brother.

“That was close, even for you,” he mewed.

Lionpaw’s breathing was labored but steady. “I thought I was going to join StarClan.”

Leafpool’s whiskers brushed Jaypaw’s cheek. “They were lucky you were here.”

“I nearly wasn’t fast enough,” he replied.

“But you made it to them in time,” she pointed out. “You were brave to try to get them out on your own.” She flicked his shoulder with her tail. “Come on, let’s get them back to the hollow.”

* * *

Jaypaw held out his paw so that Lionpaw could lick the poppy seeds from his pad. Lionpaw lapped them up gratefully. He was still trembling, even though he was safely in Jaypaw’s nest, curled beside Breezepaw.

Lionpaw had managed to stagger back to the

ThunderClan camp on his own paws. Hollypaw and

Squirrelflight had pressed against either side of him to take some of his weight, while Brambleclaw had rushed to fetch Firestar.

Nightcloud had carried Breezepaw like a kit. His hind legs had dragged over the forest floor, but he was too exhausted by shock to complain. Crowfeather had padded beside his mate the whole way, offering to help, but Nightcloud kept hold of her kit as though she might lose him again at any moment.

Now she lay curled around him, warming his quivering body, her breath falling and rising in time with his.

“Try to persuade them to sleep,” Leafpool told Jaypaw. “I’ll go and tell the others they’re all right.” Firestar, Crowfeather, Heatherpaw, Brambleclaw, and Squirrelflight were waiting anxiously outside. The brambles swished as the medicine cat padded out of the den.

“I’ll make sure they sleep,” Nightcloud meowed. Jaypaw heard the swish of her tail as she swept it rhythmically over the earth-powdered pelts of the two apprentices.

“You were so brilliant.” Hollypaw’s breath tickled his ear.

Her comment made his ears hot with embarrassment.

Why did she have to treat him like a hero? Crowfeather had

acted the same way as they’d padded home through the forest.

“You behaved like a warrior,” the WindClan cat had told him.

But Jaypaw did not feel like a warrior. If he had run faster he would have been able to warn Lionpaw. If only his blindness had not slowed him down.

“Lionpaw and Breezepaw wouldn’t have been hurt if I’d gotten there sooner,” he mewed to Hollypaw.

“But how did you find them at all?” He felt her stare burning his pelt. “They were chasing a squirrel—it could have run anywhere.”

Jaypaw hesitated. “I had a vision,” he confessed. “I saw what was going to happen.” Panic swept through him as he remembered the sensation of choking, the taste of soil in his mouth, and the sight of paws churning desperately in front of his muzzle. “When I saw the color of the paws, I realized they weren’t mine, but Lionpaw’s.”

“Saw?” Hollypaw’s gasp made Jaypaw jump. “You saw his paws?”

“Shhh!” Suddenly he wished he hadn’t told her anything. If StarClan thought he was trying to show off, they might take his one chance at sight away. Jaypaw tried to make his sister understand. “Sometimes I can see in dreams and visions,” he whispered. “It’s hard to explain how. It’s . . .” He paused, groping for words. “It’s just different.”

He felt her mind teeming with questions. Then it cleared and a purr rumbled in her throat. “StarClan must have given

you this gift for a reason. I knew you’d make a great medicine cat.” She brushed her cheek along his, then padded out through the brambles.

Jaypaw sighed. He was glad Hollypaw hadn’t asked any difficult questions, but was this how it was going to be from now on? A separate life, beyond the understanding of his Clanmates? With their every heartbeat depending on him?

“Jaypaw!” Brambleclaw called through the brambles.

“Come down to the lake for the end of the Gathering.”

“Firestar’s going to be announcing the winners!” Heatherpaw added excitedly.

Jaypaw curled his lip. The last thing he wanted to do was to watch the other apprentices celebrate their warrior skills.

He pricked his ears toward Lionpaw and Breezepaw.

Nightcloud had done as she promised, and both apprentices were sleeping deeply. He pushed his way out of the den.

“Who’s going to watch Lionpaw and Breezepaw?” he asked, looking for an excuse to stay in the camp.

“I will,” Leafpool told him.

“Come on, Jaypaw,” Hollypaw begged. “It’ll be fun.”

“You should meet some of the apprentices from the other Clans,” Firestar meowed. “You haven’t had the chance yet.”

Reluctantly, Jaypaw followed his Clanmates as they trekked down to the slopes beside the lake. Crowfeather and Heatherpaw went to join WindClan, and Firestar headed off to speak with the other leaders by the lakeshore. Brambleclaw sat down to wait on the hillside, and Jaypaw sat beside him with Squirrelflight and Hollypaw.

“I’ve not seen the Clans so relaxed since the Great Journey,” Brambleclaw observed.

Squirrelflight’s happiness warmed the air around her.

“Even ShadowClan seem content.”

“But Blackstar is staring at everyone, proud as a black-bird, as if his apprentices won every contest,” Hollypaw chipped in.

“Clans of trees, hills, and streams!”

Jaypaw heard his leader’s call. The cats fell silent, and Jaypaw sensed their gazes turn toward the ThunderClan leader like the sun shifting in the sky.

“All our apprentices did well today,” Firestar declared.

“They hunted and fought like true warriors!”

Jubilant mews rose from all the Clans.

“I have talked with Leopardstar, Blackstar, and Onestar, and we have decided that the contest is a draw,” Firestar went on. “Every Clan showed itself to be worthy of StarClan’s approval.”

“That’s not fair!” Owlpaw snarled, the ShadowClan apprentices bunched around him muttering in agreement. “I was the best hunter! Lionpaw and Breezepaw didn’t even come back!”

“Hush!” A ShadowClan she-cat silenced him. “They almost died!”

Blackstar told Owlpaw, “It’s all right; we all know who really won, even if we have to share the victory. You