“Leafpool needed room for Jaykit,” Brackenfur reminded her.
“Poor mite,” Sorreltail meowed. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”
Hollykit felt a surge of irritation. Jaykit had been as keen to chase off the fox cubs as she and Lionkit, but he was being fussed over in Leafpool’s den, while she and Lionkit had to sit here for the whole Clan to stare at.
She gave a small snort of anger.
“Have you got a tick in your ear?” Lionkit whispered.
“No, but it’s just not fair!” she hissed back. “We wouldn’t be in so much trouble if Jaykit hadn’t fallen over the edge!
Why does he have to act like he can do anything and then be so
“We shouldn’t have taken him with us,” Lionkit murmured.
“Can you imagine the fuss he would have made if we hadn’t?”
Hollykit spat. But then she pictured her brother keeping up with them, finding the milk-scent that led to the den they had been looking for, and guilt swept over her.
He could have died.
The thought pierced her heart like a thorn. The three of them always did everything together. Losing Jaykit would be like losing her tail.
She sighed ruefully. “None of us should have gone.”
“I wish you had realized that earlier!”
Firestar’s meow took Hollykit by surprise. Tiny stones were still tumbling into the clearing where he had leaped down the rockfall that led from his den.
Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight followed him down and stood a little behind the ThunderClan leader. Hollykit’s heart sank when she saw anger in her father’s eyes and disappointment in her mother’s. She stared down at her paws, remembering the disastrous ending to their assault on the fox’s den. Thornclaw’s patrol had arrived just in time to see her and Lionkit flee the den with two fox cubs at their heels.
Thornclaw had yowled in surprise as she sped into the trees, but she dared not stop, fearing the snapping jaws behind her, till she hurtled into Brambleclaw’s patrol on its way back from the lakeshore.
“What’s happening?” Brambleclaw demanded. He had grasped her by the scruff as she tried to race past. “What are you doing out here?”
Hollykit had tried to explain, but she’d been panting too hard, her heart thudding like a woodpecker on a hollow tree.
Spiderleg caught up with her. “The kits found the fox cubs,” the black warrior told Brambleclaw. “It seems they decided to organize a patrol of their own.”
Hollykit did not dare catch her father’s eye.
“Where are Lionkit and Jaykit?” Brambleclaw growled.
“Lionkit’s with Poppypaw,” Spiderleg reported. “He’s okay.
We haven’t found Jaykit yet, but the fox cubs have scattered.
It’s going to take a while to hunt them out.”
Brambleclaw had glanced up at the sky and muttered under his breath, then escorted Hollykit and Lionkit unceremoniously back to the ThunderClan camp.
But that had not been the worst part.
When they’d reached the camp, Whitewing and Leafpool were crouching at the edge of the clearing, their fur spiked in horror. Ferncloud trembled beside them, moaning a low, mournful yowl.
Between them, Jaykit lay on the ground like a scrap of gray fur. Brambleclaw darted forward and crouched beside his son. He nudged Jaykit gently, as though he was trying to wake
him from sleep, but his eyes were frantic with fear.
“He’s still breathing, and his heartbeat is steady,” Leafpool told him.
Brambleclaw stared desperately at Leafpool, then sat up.
“Fetch Firestar and Squirrelflight,” he ordered Whitewing.
After that he had told Lionkit and Hollykit to wait in the clearing and carried Jaykit to the medicine den. Firestar had returned with Squirrelflight, and the three warriors had disappeared, faces grim, into Firestar’s den, not even glancing at Hollykit and Lionkit.
Hollykit leaned against Lionkit as Firestar, Squirrelflight, and Brambleclaw lined up in front of them once more. She was glad she didn’t have to face them alone.
“Jaykit’s going to be okay,” Firestar told them.
“I know,” Hollykit answered. “We saw him—”
Firestar silenced her with a glare and went on. “But Thornclaw’s patrol has not returned. Which means they are still hunting the fox cubs.”
“What possessed you to leave the hollow?” Brambleclaw demanded.
Firestar narrowed his eyes. “I know they are your kits, Brambleclaw,” he meowed, “but I’ll deal with this.”
Squirrelflight’s tail flicked. Hollykit guessed there were a few sharp words she wanted to share with her kits, but she held her tongue as Firestar spoke.
“We only wanted to help the Clan!” Hollykit protested.
“Then do as you are told!” Firestar growled. “What if Jaykit had died? Would that have helped the Clan?” His fierce
gaze flicked from Lionkit to Hollykit, and they shook their heads.
Firestar pressed on. “You almost led the foxes right into the camp—as it is, you have given them a scent trail they’re not likely to forget!”
“We’re sorry,” Hollykit whispered.
“We thought if we could find the foxes—” Lionkit began.
“If you’d thought at
Hollykit glanced guiltily at the nursery.
Squirrelflight pawed the ground in small, frustrated steps.
Firestar nodded for her to speak.
“I’m so disappointed in you both!” she burst out.
“What about Jaykit?” Lionkit objected. “We didn’t force him to go with us!”
“We will speak to Jaykit when he’s recovered,” Brambleclaw answered. “Right now, it’s you two that concern us. You seem to have no more sense than hatchling chicks!”
“Are you going to stop us from becoming apprentices?”
Lionkit asked in a small voice.
Hollykit’s breath caught in her throat. Would their father really do that? She looked pleadingly up at him.
“If it were up to me,” Brambleclaw meowed, “I would make you wait another moon. But it is Firestar’s decision.”
The Clan leader narrowed his eyes. “I’m not going to decide right now,” he told them. “Go back to the nursery.
Ferncloud and Daisy will keep an eye on you, and it is up to you to make sure one of them knows where you are at all times. If you’re not where you are supposed to be, then you’re clearly not ready for the responsibilities of apprenticeship.”
“We won’t wander off again,” Lionkit promised.
“Hollykit?” Firestar prompted.
“I won’t do anything that might stop me from becoming an apprentice,” she vowed, meaning every word.
“Very well,” Firestar meowed. “I just hope you have learned something today. True warriors think of the Clan’s safety before anything else.” He turned away, padding to where Brackenfur was sharing tongues with Sorreltail.
His parting words seared Hollykit’s fur. She had let her Clan down. She glanced nervously at Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight. “We’re sorry,” she ventured.
