by Erin Hunter
On the other side, a meadow stretched into the shadow of Highstones. The cliff seemed to swallow half the sky. Cloud Spots was already bounding through the long grass toward two feline shapes moving at the far side.
“Pebble Heart!” Cloud Spots’s yowl rang in the cold night air. “Dappled Pelt! Is that you?”
“Yes!” Pebble Heart’s call echoed back.
Micah broke into a run. “Come on! We’re nearly there!”
Moth Flight hared after him. As the soft grass turned to stones beneath her paws, she reached the RiverClan and ShadowClan medicine cats. “I thought you’d forgotten,” she puffed.
Dappled Pelt’s tortoiseshell fur rippled along her spine. “How could we forget something as important as this?”
“I can’t wait to speak with the spirit-cats!” Pebble Heart’s eyes shone with starlight.
Micah paced back and forth, his tail twitching. “Cow and Mouse would never believe this.” He looked toward Highstones. The opening was just barely visible, a dark shadow in the face of the rock.
Cloud Spots followed his gaze. “Is that where we’re going?”
“Yes.” Butterflies fluttered in Moth Flight’s belly.
“Is it deep inside?” Pebble Heart’s mew trembled.
“There’s no need to be scared,” Moth Flight reassured him. “Once we’ve entered, you’ll feel the Moonstone calling you.” She remembered the strange calm that had enfolded her last time.
“Come on.” Micah began to cross the stones.
Moth Flight bounded after him, pebbles crunching beneath her paws as the slope steepened toward the foot of the cliff. “I bet you never thought, a moon ago, that you’d speak with dead cats,” she guessed as she caught up.
“I never thought I’d be living in a forest,” Micah returned.
Moth Flight blinked at him anxiously. Did he resent how much she’d changed his life? “Are you sorry you met me?”
Micah halted and met her gaze solemnly. “No. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Joy rippled beneath Moth Flight’s pelt. “I feel the same w—”
“Hurry up.” Cloud Spots slid past them, his black pelt hardly visible against the dark rock. Only his white ears and paws gave him away.
Dappled Pelt hurried after the black tom. Pebble Heart bounded behind, scattering stones in his wake.
Wincing as one hit her paw, Moth Flight glanced up at the dark opening. What would the others think when they saw the Moonstone for the first time?
“Come on.” Micah nudged her forward.
Pebble Heart had already leaped onto the shadowy ledge. The white spot on his chest glowed like a star. Cloud Spots hopped up beside him and stared blinking into the tunnel. Micah followed Dappled Pelt as Moth Flight scrambled up after them.
The icy stone felt familiar beneath her paws. She sniffed the shadows. The tang of stone and water washed her muzzle and she shivered, excitement swelling in her chest. “Follow me.” As she padded into the darkness, cold air flooded over her pelt. Behind her, the starlight faded. “We have to reach the cave by the time moonlight strikes the stone.” Her breath billowed, warm around her nose.
She heard the other cats’ paws scuff the stone as they followed. Eyes wide, Moth Flight peered into the blackness, relaxing as she let her whiskers guide her. Brushing the wall of the tunnel, she followed it down as it snaked deep into Highstones.
“Do you remember the way?” Cloud Spots’s anxious mew echoed behind her.
“What if you take the wrong tunnel?” Dappled Pelt fretted.
“I know where I’m going,” Moth Flight promised.
Micah’s breath rippled her tail-fur. “I can’t believe you came down here alone.”
“I wasn’t alone.” A purr trembled in Moth Flight’s throat. “The spirit-cats were waiting for me.”
“Are they there now?” Pebble Heart’s mew sounded from the blackness.
“We’ll see when the moonlight hits the stone.” Moth Flight quickened her pace. She didn’t want to miss it. Fresh air touched her nose. “We’re nearly there!” She rounded a corner and felt the tunnel open around her. Air swirled over her pelt and she blinked as she saw weak starlight rippling on the cave walls ahead. She paused, her heart pounding. Pebble Heart padded past her, nose twitching. Dapple Pelt and Cloud Spots circled the great rock.
Micah stopped beside Moth Flight. He stared at the hole high in the roof. “Who’d have thought starlight could reach down this far?”
Moth Flight purred. “Wait until the moonlight arrives.” She padded toward the rock and settled herself in front of it. “We have to touch our noses to it,” she told the others.
“How do you know?” Cloud Spots blinked at her.
“I saw another cat do it in a dream, and last time I came—”
Pebble Heart cut her off. “Look!”
Moth Flight followed his gaze. Through the hole, she could see the clipped edge of the moon. “Hurry!”
Fur brushing rock, the other cats settled around the Moonstone. Dappled Pelt’s eyes flashed with excitement. Pebble Heart shifted on his belly, pelt pricking.
Cloud Spots crouched beside him, a whisker from the stone. Micah settled beside Moth Flight. She felt warmth seeping from his pelt and closed her eyes.
Pebble Heart’s gasp made her blink them open.
Light blinded her. The rock shimmered in front of her muzzle, brighter than countless stars. Her breath quickened as she touched her nose to it.
The rock seemed to fall away. She was swept through the air, her head spinning, her heart pounding in her ears. And then she felt soft grass beneath her paws.
She blinked open her eyes.
Where was the cave?
She was on top of a hill. Green meadows stretched away on every side. In the distance, a forest lifted its branches to a clear, blue sky. She felt sunlight warm her pelt and smelled the fresh scent of newleaf.
Micah shifted beside her.
She caught his eye. “Where are we?”
“You don’t know?” He blinked in surprise.
“Last time, I never left the cave.”
Cloud Spots looked around, pelt bristling. Dappled Pelt leaped to her paws.
“What is this place?” Pebble Heart’s eyes were stretched with wonder.
A silky mew answered him. “These are our hunting grounds.”
Half Moon was climbing the slope toward them. More pelts shimmered into view, encircling the hilltop. Starlight shone in their fur.
Joy swelled in Moth Flight’s chest. The spirit-cats! They’d come!
Half Moon padded past Moth Flight and halted.
As Micah turned his head, surveying the ranks of starry cats, Pebble Heart stretched his muzzle and sniffed at Half Moon.
Dappled Pelt tipped her head, curiosity flashing in her eyes. “Stoneteller?”
“It is good to see you settled in your new home,” Half Moon purred.
Cloud Spots gazed into Half Moon’s dark green gaze. “Is it really you?”
“Of course.”
The ThunderClan tom’s gaze flitted to the other starry cats. “Jackdaw’s Cry! Bright Stream!” He raced from one cat to another, touching muzzles excitedly.
“Rainswept Flower!” Dappled Pelt darted toward a brown she-cat. She greeted her, then jerked her muzzle toward an orange she-cat. “Hawk Swoop!”
Micah shifted his paws, staring blankly at the spirit-cats.
“Turtle Tail!” Pebble Heart’s eyes lit up as he saw his mother. He nosed his way between the spirit-cats toward her.
Turtle Tail was already hurrying to meet him. “Pebble Heart!” Her eyes glowed with joy as she touched her muzzle to his head.
Purring, he rubbed against her. “I thought I’d never see you again!”
“We’re always close by.” Gray Wing slid from the crowd.
Pebble Heart jerked his muzzle around, delighted. “You’re both here! Together!”
Gray Wing purred loudly, his starry pelt
shimmering. “It’s good to see you, Pebble Heart.”
Half Moon lifted her chin. “Let us gather and share news.”
At her words, the starry cats closed the circle around Half Moon, Micah, and Moth Flight. Pebble Heart, Dappled Pelt, and Cloud Spots left their old friends and hurried to the center.
“You did well.” Half Moon’s green eyes glowed as she gazed at Moth Flight.
“Did I?” Moth Flight blinked at her anxiously.
“Yes.” As Half Moon dipped her head to Moth Flight, murmurs of appreciation rippled around the spirit-cats.
Moth Flight glanced at them shyly, pride surging beneath her pelt. “I just told the Clans, like you asked me to.” She remembered with a shudder Clear Sky’s scorn. And Tall Shadow’s disbelieving gaze. Even her Clanmates had thought she’d imagined the spirit-cats. “Thanks for sending the lightning.” Without it, the Clans might never have taken her seriously. “When you said you’d split the skies, I never guessed that’s what you meant.”
Half Moon gazed at her warmly. “You will get better at understanding us.”
Moth Flight hoped she was right. “What did you mean when you said later the stars would rise?” She tipped her head, waiting for the white she-cat to explain.
“You will know when it happens.”
Frustration pricked Moth Flight’s paws. Why couldn’t Half Moon just say what she meant? “When what happens?”
Half Moon narrowed her gaze. “This is your life. We cannot guide every paw step. If we did, you would only discover our path. You must discover your own.”
Moth Flight’s tail drooped. “I guess.” But it would be easier if you just told us what to do.
Half Moon seemed to read her thoughts. “It would be easier, but not better.” She turned to Micah. “Thank you for leaving your home to join us.”
“Us?” Micah’s ears twitched. He glanced uneasily around the spirit-cats. “I only joined SkyClan.”
“You joined the Clans,” Half Moon purred. “What are we, if not another Clan?”
Moth Flight’s breath caught in her throat. The spirit-cats saw themselves as a Clan. “You’re StarClan,” she breathed, remembering when she’d looked up at the stars and first thought of the name.
Half Moon’s eyes shone. “Yes.” She lifted her chin, surveying her starry Clanmates. “That’s exactly what we are.”
“StarClan!”
“StarClan!”
The word rippled around the sprit cats, their eyes lighting up as they spoke their new name.
Half Moon swished her tail, her dark green gaze returning to Micah. “You bring fresh spirit to the Clans, Micah,” she purred.
Moth Flight sniffed. “He would, if Clear Sky let him. He’s told Acorn Fur to watch him.”
“Clear Sky is the leader,” Half Moon reminded her. “He will do what he thinks best for his Clan. But he will see Micah’s worth.” Her gaze darkened. “I just hope he sees it soon.”
“So do I!” Micah fluffed out his fur.
Gray Wing padded forward and stopped beside Half Moon. “We are pleased to see the medicine cats learning skills from each other.”
Bright Stream lifted her tail. “We hope you will share more!”
“The Clans must pool their knowledge,” Rainswept Flower urged from among her Clanmates.
“But we know so little!” Moth Flight blurted.
Half Moon’s gaze flitted around the medicine cats. “You will learn more if you share.”
Excitement sparked in Moth Flight’s chest. Of course! Micah had told her about catmint and she’d used it to cure Rocky. If she knew everything Dappled Pelt, Cloud Spots, Pebble Heart, and Micah knew, she’d be able to help her whole Clan. She blinked at Half Moon. “We will share! I promise.”
The StarClan cat’s pelt began to fade. Around her, the spirit-cats were growing pale.
Alarm flashed through Moth Flight. “Don’t go yet!”
“We will return next half-moon,” Gray Wing called as he shimmered out of sight.
The green meadows and distant forest grew hazy as Moth Flight desperately tried to fix her gaze on them. She felt dizzy as they began to swirl. Blackness enfolded her and a chill swept her pelt.
She blinked open her eyes. She was in the cave once more, the Moonstone no more than a dull lump of rock.
Micah shivered beside her.
Pebble Heart pushed himself to his paws.
Dappled Pelt lifted her head, blinking. “Did you all see that?”
“We were on a hill!” Cloud Spots eyes gleamed in the weak starlight.
“Stoneteller!” Dappled Pelt jumped up, her pelt bristling. “She wants us to share what we know about healing!”
“Who’s Stoneteller?” Moth Flight tipped her head. Why did the older cats keep calling Half Moon by that name?
“She was our healer in the mountains,” Cloud Spots explained. “We called her Stoneteller.”
Micah sniffed. “If she’s a healer, why doesn’t she share what she knows with us?”
Dappled Pelt padded around him, her pelt pricking excitedly. “Healing was different in the mountains. There weren’t many herbs. She must want us to learn new skills.”
Pebble Heart’s eyes glazed, as though deep in thought. “We have the chance to become better healers than she ever could. She knows that. She wants us to be better.”
Moth Flight’s paws tingled. “We must try our best. We have to share everything we know.” She wanted to make Half Moon proud. She’s put so much faith in me. “A few days ago, Micah told me how to stop cuts from getting infected.” She looked at him expectantly.
“I made a poultice of dock and horsetail by chewing up the leaves,” Micah told them eagerly. “Blossom had a scratch that was turning sour, so I licked the poultice deep into the wound and it was better by morning.”
Cloud Spots’s whiskers twitched excitedly. “Clover kept chewing at a wound on her paw, so I smeared some mouse bile on it. She didn’t put her nose near it again.”
“Shattered Ice got a bellyache from eating a stinking fish,” Dappled Pelt put in. “I gave him watermint. He felt a lot better.”
“I’ve been trying to work out if pinesap is good for anything,” Pebble Heart mewed thoughtfully. “So far it only seems useful for sticking leaves over wounds to keep dirt out.”
As the others looked expectantly at Moth Flight, guilt wormed beneath her pelt. I haven’t discovered anything! Except that too much catmint makes cats crazy! “I guess I could see if heather is good for anything,” she mewed tentatively. “But what if it’s poisonous?”
“It can’t be,” Cloud Spots reasoned. “WindClan cats must be covered in heather dust. And you don’t get sick when you wash.”
Why didn’t I think of that? Moth Flight began to feel hot. “Perhaps I should have brought Reed Tail with me,” she mumbled. “He knows a lot.”
“So does Milkweed,” Cloud Spots mewed. “She’s the one who suggested mouse bile.”
Micah’s tail twitched. “Instead of bringing every cat who knows something about healing here, why don’t we travel to each other’s camps?”
Moth Flight frowned. She wasn’t sure what he meant.
“It would only take one or two of us to travel around, learning and sharing knowledge.” Micah paced in front of the Moonstone. “What if Moth Flight and I traveled to another Clan’s camp and learned everything we could? Then we could move on to another Clan and share what we’d learned and pick up new skills.”
“What about the Clan you’d left behind?” Cloud Spots argued. “They’d only learn what you knew.”
“We could take turns,” Micah suggested. “You could travel with Dappled Pelt, or Pebble Heart. So long as we keep learning and sharing, it doesn’t matter who travels where.”
Pebble Heart nodded. “It sounds like a good idea.”
“How can we leave our Clans?” Dappled Pelt argued. “They need us.”
Moth Flight shifted her paws. “I know so little that WindClan woul
d be just as safe with Reed Tail in charge.”
“Milkweed knows enough to look after ThunderClan while I’m gone,” Cloud Spots added.
“You see?” Micah’s eyes glowed in the half-light. “The sooner we get started the better.”
Dappled Pelt tipped her head. “Why don’t you and Moth Flight come visit RiverClan first? River Ripple will welcome you. He thinks medicine cats are a great idea.”
“It might be hard to get Tall Shadow to agree to have strangers in her camp,” Pebble Heart murmured.
Micah blinked at him. “Do you think Clear Sky is going to let me leave without an argument?” He swished his tail. “We have to persuade our leaders that it’s for the good of their Clans.”
Pebble Heart nodded slowly. “The more we know, the better we can help our Clanmates,” he agreed.
“Then it’s settled.” Micah turned to Dappled Pelt. “Moth Flight and I will visit you the day after tomorrow.”
Moth Flight’s ears twitched. “What if Wind Runner stops me?”
“You’re WindClan’s medicine cat now,” Micah told her. “She has to listen to you.”
Moth Flight blinked. He was right. She wasn’t a kit anymore. She wasn’t even an ordinary Clan cat. “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll meet you at the stepping-stones, the day after tomorrow.” She’d seen stones dotting the river where the forest gave way to the reed beds of RiverClan’s territory.
Micah purred. “Great.”
Pebble Heart shook out his pelt. Cloud Spots stretched, shivering, while Dappled Pelt swallowed back a yawn.
Moth Flight guessed they were cold and tired. “Let’s go.” She headed for the tunnel. “We’ve got a long way to travel.”
Micah fell in beside her as she ducked into the shadows. “How’s Rocky’s cough? Did the catmint work?”
“Yes.” Moth Flight purred. Rocky had slept the whole day away after he’d swallowed the leaves, but he’d woken brighter and his cough was clearing up.
Pebble Heart’s mew sounded from the darkness behind. “Is he the only cat in your Clan with a cough? Sun Shadow and Raven Pelt have been coughing for days.”
“Dew Nose was a bit wheezy this morning,” Moth Flight told him. “But I think it’s just pollen making her throat tickle.”
