The snow white apprentice was sitting next to her friend from RiverClan, Mackerelpaw. She gazed at the rippling pelts of cats from all clans around her. The trees around the gathering place loomed above her.

The gathering was nearing its end, and the ShadowClan leader was finishing his report. A few warriors were already moving towards where their clan entered from. The apprentice's mentor was already moving through the crowd. The elders were the only ones not getting ready to leave, still buried in gossip.

A terrified scream split the humming buzz of the conversations. Everyone's fur bristled as they stood up to look around at what was going on. The apprentice could barely see something at the edge of the bushes near her clan—ThunderClan's—border. A dead warrior. Fear bolted through her body, screaming "Run! Hide! Fight! Do something! Freeze!" all at the same time. The leaders leaped from the Great Rock and ran to examine it. Everyone in the gathering were slowly scooting closer, and some mentors were hiding the younger apprentices from the sight.

"A sloppily slitted throat. The killer was never taught to efficiently kill, so it must be one of us." The oldest and wisest leader, Featherstar of WindClan, concluded. The other leaders nodded politely in agreement.

But who?