The patrol paused for a moment, almost as if they didn't believe they had finally found the missing leader.

Then Silverstrike gave a small shake of his head and forced himself forward. The rest of the cats followed but kept a few paces back. They reached the bottom of the small den, craning their heads back to get a better view of the cat sitting there, ginger-brown coat darkened by the night.

"Acornstar!" Silverstrike called, his voice cold and harsh in the night air.

The she-cat whipped her head from where she stared at the sky, amber-brown eyes glowing faintly. She stood, prowling to the edge of the small den, and looked down at them. Ravenpaw couldn't read her expression. There was no shock, no anger, no anything. She just looked... tired.

"Why are you here?" she asked darkly, not exactly angry but definately not pleased. "Did the distance you had to travel not make you think I might not want to be found?"

"I would've given up a long time ago if I could've," Silverstrike sighed, tail twitching. Then he said, "did you really expect Eagleclaw to just leave you? Take over EchoClan without even trying to find you?"

Acornstar's eyes flashed with brief sadness. "She has been leading EchoClan from the shadows for too long. It was time for her to take over, even if StarClan won't let me die." There was a surprising note of bitterness in her voice. 

Is that what she really wants? Ravenpaw wondered sadly. Did she just want to die, so she could see Redcloud again? Did she feel as if her nine lives had been a punishment, forcing her to live so many moons without the cat she loved?

"Yeah, well, she won't take over until you're back in EchoClan," Silverstrike growled. "I don't care how long you come back for. You could come just to tell Eagleclaw to stop acting like a kit following their mother then leave for all I care, but you need to do something. Take some responsibility, and stop putting it all on your daughter."

Acornstar's eyes flashed with anger and sadness, twisting there like a storm. "I will never return to EchoClan!" she vowed darkly. "There is nothing you could ever say to convince me. So leave. Tell Eagleclaw whatever you must to get her to step forward. But I will not be there." She whipped around, settling back in the middle of the den's roof. She wrapped her tail around her paws, and returned her gaze to the sky as if the cats weren't there.

Silverstrike lashed his tail, a deep growl in his throat.

"What are we to do?" Shadefur murmured. "We can't exactly drag her back to the territory, can we?"

"No, we can't." Silverstrike hissed, lashing his tail. "Come on, we all need to get some rest. We'll come back tomorrow." He glanced up at Acornstar, raising his voice slightly as he added, "maybe when the sun rises, she'll stop acting like a spoiled kit who didn't get a moss ball to play with."

"And if she doesn't want to come tomorrow either?" Stonecoat asked the tom, but he didn't answer. The warrior sighed and turned to follow Silverstrike, casting a brief glance up at Acornstar. The other cats started to follow, slow and uncertain, but Ravenpaw felt as if his paws were rooted in the snow.

"I know it feels wrong," Jaypaw murmured, running his thick tail along Ravenpaw's side. "We'll come back tomorrow." He started along, but Ravenpaw didn't follow.

Silverstrike looked back, eyes harsh. "Ravenpaw, come on!"

Ravenpaw cast a glance back at Acornstar. He couldn't just leave her without saying anything, even just for the night. "Let me talk to her alone," he told the senior warrior, and without waiting for a response he turned and trotted to the den, jumping onto the first of the smooth, sharp-edged boulders. He realized they were made of wood, smelling rotten and weak under the snow. But he jumped up all of them without incident and landed quietly on the top of the small den. The roof was flat and wooden as well, a thin layer of snow built up on top.

Acornstar didn't look at him as he approached, still gazing quietly at the sky as if she was trying to look through the stars. Silently, Ravenpaw sat next to the she-cat, letting his fur softly brush against her's. This close, he could make out the lines of her body, her face thin and her ribs tight against her coat.

"Why are they silent?" she whispered, still staring at the sparkling warriors in the sky. "They refuse to talk to me... I just want them to talk to me..."

"Perhaps they have already spoken," Ravenpaw murmured, "you just haven't seen it."

"They haven't..." Acornstar whispered with a sad shake of her head. "I would know...I've looked for their signs every moment of every day." Her gaze turned to him. This close to her, the depression in her shattered gaze was heartbreakingly obvious. She was so sad, so broken... "The last time StarClan spoke to me was when I became leader," she said under her breath. "I tried to visit so often, going to the Moonstream almost every night... But they never came..."

She's cut off from StarClan, Ravenpaw realized. For her entire leadership, she had never been able to get guidance from her ancestors... How lonely she must feel...

"I just want to see Redcloud," Acornstar whispered. "But he never came to me..."

"I-if you come back, I can try to talk to StarClan for you, tell them to visit you?" he suggested softly.

She instantly shook her head. "No. No, I can't go back. Not while she's there." Fear and anger twisted in the air around her. Ravenpaw realized she was shaking, but it wasn't from the cold. 

He almost asked, who? but he realized that he did know who. Blossompaw. Acornstar had, after all, left after trying to kill her. The leader was scared of the young apprentice. "Blossompaw doesn't mean to hurt anyone," Ravenpaw told her softly.

The she-cat let out a soft, sharp breath, almost like the beginning of a laugh. "You don't understand," she growled. Was that the hint of dark amusement in her voice? "That's not Blossompaw anymore. Brookstar has her claws in your sister's mind and she will never let go."

"Brookstar?" Ravenpaw was instantly confused. "B-but Brookstar's dead," he murmured softly. Was Acornstar's mind so messed up that she thought the long-dead traitor was alive in her Clan?

"Dead, but not gone," Acornstar spat, sounding disgusted. "She'll never be gone. Not until she takes over the Clans and destroys them all."

"I..." Ravenpaw's world was spiraling around him. "I don't understand!"

"Brookstar is visiting Blossompaw," Acornstar said simply. "Twisting her mind, trying to make her the best warrior...But Brookstar's version of the best warrior is a murderous traitor, one who won't stop even after they're dead."

"Blossompaw isn't like that!" Ravenpaw told her firmly. "She could never kill! You have no proof that Brookstar is visiting her, so don't say it!" Realizing he had raised his voice, he looked back at the other cats, but they were still settled quite far away, talking amongst themselves. Jaypaw was looking over, but Ravenpaw hoped he hadn't overheard.

"I do have proof," Acornstar whispered. "You saw it, too."

"I don't understan--" Ravenpaw began, but the she-cat cut him off.

"Her injury," she meowed. "Brookstar healed her."

"N-no, St-StarClan healed her," Ravenpaw stuttered, trying to hide the fear in his throat but doing quite a bad job.

"When was the last time you ever heard of StarClan healing an injured cat just because they felt like it?" Acornstar growled.

"They healed you!" Ravenpaw said in desperation, but then her broken, scornful gaze lowered to meet his wide yellow eyes. Fear tingled up his spine. "Didn't... Didn't they?"

Sadness pierced her gaze, and she watched him for one more moment before looking back at the stars with so much intensity it was like she was trying to figure out which star went to which cat watching them from the sky.

"Did... Did you train with Brookstar?" Ravenpaw felt terror rising in his heart, and his muscles tensed. He almost wanted to run, to run all the way back to EchoClan territory so he could tuck himself into his mother's side and pretend he never heard any of this.

"I was... lost when I was younger," she murmured, not turning to look at him. "I was desperate. Brookstar told me she could make me the best warrior, make the Clan love me, make my mother notice me... She convinced me everything that was said about her was a lie, that she just wanted to prove to StarClan she was good and pure... But she lied... She made me kill for her--first my best friend, then more. I... I thought I was doing the right thing, that it was StarClan's wish... But then she wanted me to kill Redcloud..."

Finally, she looked at him. Ravenpaw was shivering, and lowered slightly at her miserable gaze.

"I told her that I loved him, but she... she said I couldn't be a great warrior if I was taken by love... I finally realized what she was... but it was too late." She dropped her head to look at her paws, like it was too painful to look anywhere else. "I never told anyone what I did... Only StarClan knew until now... No wonder he won't visit me... He must hate me so much... I killed his littermates because Brookstar ordered it so..." Her body began to slump as if she didn't have the strength to stand tall anymore.

Ravenpaw opened his mouth, but his throat was dry. Acornstar, a leader chosen by StarClan, had killed. She had killed her own Clanmates in cold blood because a known killer had asked her to. He suddenly felt very, very small in a very, very big world. 

"But even after I left her, Brookstar still had her claws in me," Acornstar whispered. "I didn't want to be leader, but I couldn't say no to Dovestar... Then she died, and she left me... Everyone left me--Brookstar promised to take everyone and she did! Larkpaw was only seven moons old." Her broken gaze returned to Ravenpaw, weak and desperate. "She was innocent! My darling kit was innocent..."

Larkpaw... She must be Eagleclaw's littermate. 

"They were all innocent," Acornstar murmured, her eyes once again returning to her paws. "But she took them, she kept taking them and StarClan didn't stop her! She took Redcloud, she took Appleleaf... she took Berrywhisker..."

Berrywhisker? Ravenpaw looked at the leader in shock. He... he hadn't known. He had no idea that Acornstar had been close with the elder. He didn't even remember seeing her the day that Berrywhisker died. 

She almost seemed to sense his confusion. "She was my mentor," she explained quietly, softly moving a paw forward and tracing a line in the snow. "She was always there for me, even after I became a warrior. I watched her kits when she wanted to go back to the territory, I taught them games and how to catch tails." A brief heartbroken laugh touched her voice, then it instantly broke. "So... so when Boulderclaw was taken by that eagle I knew I had to try..."

"Brookstar healed you," Ravenpaw realized quietly.

She gave a slow nod. "She was angry, but I promised to do anything to make it up to her... She held it over me for so long, until... well... Redcloud..." She suddenly collapsed onto her stomach, a soft whimper in her throat. "I just want to die," she whispered. "I just want to be with him..."

Ravenpaw didn't know what to say. What could he say? Finally, he convinced himself to move his tail, letting it softly settle on the she-cat's back.

"I never wanted to lead," she muttered. "I just wanted Redcloud..."

Eventually, words formed in Ravenpaw's hoarse, quiet mew. "Come back to EchoClan," he whispered. "Go to the Moonstream and get your lives taken away--let Eagleclaw become leader like she was always meant to. You could join the elders, rest until it's your time."

Acornstar was shaking her head before Ravenpaw even finished. "No. Not with Brookstar's claws surrounding us, ready to take any life possible..."

"Blossompaw isn't like that," Ravenpaw promised. "I can talk to her, tell her the truth. You can, too. If we convince her Brookstar is lying, she won't listen to her anymore."

Acornstar looked skeptical, her eyes still uncertain.

"Please, we at least have to try, don't we?" He looked at her with desperate eyes. Finally, the old she-cat gave a quiet nod.

She stood slowly, her legs weak and unsteady. But as she made her way to the edge of the top of the den, she seemed to strengthen. She went slowly down the wooden boulders, Ravenpaw close behind her as she jumped. By the time they touched the ground, the patrol was already coming over, having seen their descent.

"Acornstar has agreed to come back to EchoClan," Ravenpaw told Silverstrike softly. "She is going to visit StarClan to get her lives taken away, then she'll join the elders."

"Can StarClan do that?" Shadefur asked in surprise.

I really, really hope so, he thought, but he didn't want to voice his doubts out loud. "If they can give lives, I think they may be able to take them away, too."

"Let's hope so," Silverstrike growled. "We'll stay here for the night, then leave in the morning."

Ravenpaw flicked his tail in uncertainty. "We should stay a few days," he mewed softly, ears flicking nervously when the large warrior looked down to him. "Acornstar is weak and needs to get up her strength, and you need to rest your paw. It'll take me a little while to find herbs and cobwebs for it, too. That goldenrod in the park was really lucky..."

Silverstrike snorted, his tongue flicking over his muzzle, then he gave a stiff nod. "Alright, fine. Shadefur, Stonecoat, look around for a place to nest for the night. Frostfall, you head with Jaypaw and Ravenpaw to look for herbs. Rain, keep watch."

But before any cat could move, Frostfall raised her head, whiskers twitching. She opened her jaws, taking in the scents of the air. Silverstrike copied her, and his eyes went wide. "Dogs!" he said.

A growl interrupted any chance to speak. All the cats whipped around to look at the entrance to the garden, where four large animals stood blocking the way. Ravenpaw was washed back to the day Blossompaw had been injured. One dog had been fierce and strong, but now four of the creatures, just as large with gleaming eyes and huge fangs, faced the patrol. Growls rumbled in their powerful throats, but they were still, as if waiting for the cats to make the first move.

"When I say, get to the fence," Silverstrike said under his breath.

"No," Rain argued quietly. "It's too weak, it won't hold us. We'll have to get past them if we want out."

Ravenpaw looked to the small Twoleg den in the garden. If they climbed to the top, they could jump over the fence... For a moment he thought of telling the patrol to go that way, but he knew it was tall enough that it could severely hurt Silverstrike's leg.

The dogs will hurt us more, he thought. But when he tried to open his muzzle, Silverstrike was already talking.

"Frostfall, the moment we open a way, take the apprentices and run. Don't look back," Silverstrike ordered, unsheathing his claws.

"Silver--" Ravenpaw began, but then the tom let out a challenging yowl to the dogs, and, instantly, they charged for the cats.