Chapter 13

                Crazypaw stood there, hardly able to speak for a minute. “Um, yes, I mean, no, I mean…” she stammered.

                “You mean yes, of course,” the WindClan apprentice meowed confidently, his beautiful blue eyes reflecting the moon’s bright glow.

                “Well…” she struggled to form a response. “Why did you come find me then?”

                He looked away. “I couldn’t get you out of my head,” he admitted after a few long moments of silence.

                “Me? I’m not…not anything special,” Crazypaw meowed.

                “Nor am I,” he countered.

                Crazypaw couldn’t find a reply. “What’s your name?” the young tom asked finally.

                “Crazypaw,” she answered. “Yours?”

                “Stonepaw,” he replied.

                That makes sense. He does have dark gray fur close to the color of a boulder. “Sorry about the tunnel-battle by the way,” Stonepaw meowed. “Smokewhisker was being a mouse-brain.”

                Crazypaw shrugged. “Not your fault,” she responded.

                “Yeah, well, it sort of is. I mean, he’s my father,” he said, sounding unhappy.

                It doesn’t sound like he likes his dad very much. They probably don’t get along. “Well, that’s not your fault either,” she insisted.

                Stonepaw opened his mouth to answer her, but was interrupted by a loud yowl from the Great Oak. Cloudstar stood at the edge of a thick branch. Crazypaw was surprised it held his weight. And he doesn’t look nervous at all. I would be petrified if I had to speak in front of all of these cats.

                “We gather before StarClan to discuss the happenings of the past moon and to uphold the temporary truce, as is the will of our ancestors!” the ThunderClan leader yowled calmly from the large tree.

                The chattering quickly changed to silence. The Clans stared at the four leaders, waiting expectantly. “Troutstar, would you like to speak first?” the white-furred leader asked.

                A she-cat with ginger fur and amber eyes nodded. “RiverClan has two new warriors to report,” the leader announced. “Hailpaw and Icepaw are now Hailcloud and Icewhisker.”

                The Clans all chanted the two warriors name and Crazypaw couldn’t help but feel envious. I wish that was me! All four Clans cheering for me and…wait a second, not every Clan is cheering. And that was true. ShadowClan, which she recognized by their pungent scent, was completely silent. Who stepped on their tails this morning?

                “Leaf-bare approaches swiftly, but the river hasn’t frozen yet and prey is still plentiful for RiverClan,” Troutstar concluded, dipping her head to the other leaders to show she was finished.

                Cloudstar spoke next. “ThunderClan has three new apprentices, of which one is present here tonight. Their names are Crazypaw, Streampaw, and Morningpaw.”

                Crazypaw raised her head with pride as the Clans called her name. That was, until she realized ShadowClan was cheering for her either. Seriously, what is their problem?

                Cloudstar glanced at the WindClan leader for a moment. “I am not a leader who likes to stir up hostility, but I cannot allow your warriors to continue trespassing on my territory,” the white tom meowed. “I warned you at the previous Gathering that if we scented your warriors again, I would be forced to turn this into an issue…”

                Most of the WindClan warriors had leapt to their paws and were yowling in protest. But Crazypaw noticed that Stonepaw was still sitting down and had his head bowed in what appeared to be shame. “Cloudstar, you have been falsely accusing my Clan of crossing your stupid borders for the past four moons! I will not allow these accusations to continue! If I must use claws to prove this point, then, for the honor of my Clan, I will!” Rabbitstar screeched furiously.

                “Go ahead. Try,” Cloudstar hissed calmly, a challenging tone to his voice.

                The ShadowClan leader, a massive jet black tom, entered the conversation. “I hate to agree with that ThunderClan fool, but WindClan is trespassing, at least on my territory. I’ve scented your warriors close to the border, but definitely inside of it. With a slight trace of RiverClan,” he meowed, looking pointedly at Troutstar.

                “Shadestar, if anyone from WindClan actually was trespassing, they would either have to pass through ThunderClan territory or RiverClan territory. It wouldn’t make sense if you didn’t smell one of them,” the RiverClan leader responded.

                “True,” Shadestar dipped his head, showing that he accepted her point. “But it would be a lot easier for these WindClan warriors if they made friends with some RiverClan warriors, so that they wouldn’t get reported back to you. And maybe these allies would help escort them safely to the border and help them spy.”

                “How dare you tell such lies…” the RiverClan leader suddenly stopped as gray clouds covered the moon and the clearing was plunged into darkness.

                A few cats whimpered in terror. “StarClan is showing their anger!” Crazypaw recognized the voice of Honeywhisker.

                “But I have done nothing wrong,” Shadestar’s voice was calm. “I am only defending my Clan from those who break the warrior code. Surely StarClan can’t be angry for that.”

                Now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, Crazypaw could see the dark silhouettes of the four leaders. They still stood in the same places, but Crazypaw noticed the tension in their shoulders. Battle was soon to come.

                “I refuse to let you all bring me into this as I do not wish to displease StarClan!” Troutstar yowled.

                “Well, I wasn’t asking for your permission,” Shadestar growled, leaping at the RiverClan leader.

                Rabbitstar sprang towards Cloudstar, knocking the ThunderClan leader out of the tree. The two of them hit the ground hard, snarling with fury. Around Crazypaw, the clearing erupted into battle.

                A cat leapt onto her back and Crazypaw fell to the ground. Her training with Thunder flashing through her mind, she twisted her head and caught her opponents left forepaw between her teeth. Next to her, Stonepaw was battling a ShadowClan apprentice, and seemed to be struggling a bit.

                The warrior she was battling, who had the scent of RiverClan, yowled in pain and pulled back, attempting to free himself from her grip. This lifted his weight off of her a little bit and she managed to roll out from underneath him. She scrambled quickly to her feet and leapt at him, raking her claws right above his eyes. While he was temporarily blinded, she swept his paws out from underneath him and ran to help Stonepaw.

                The ShadowClan apprentice had him pinned to the ground and was running his claws repeatedly down Stonepaw’s sides. Crazypaw dashed forwards and grabbed the ShadowClan tom by the scruff, dragging him off of the WindClan apprentice. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “We’re on your side for once!”

                “Yeah, well, I still hate ShadowClan,” Crazypaw snarled.

                Summoning all of her strength, she turned her head and flung him a little ways across the clearing. Then, she rushed over to Stonepaw. “Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

                The WindClan apprentice rose slowly to his feet. “Yeah,” he panted.

                Crazypaw sighed with relief. But suddenly, there was a deafening clap of thunder. She turned her head and saw a jagged bolt of lightning descending from the sky. It struck the Great Oak and quickly set it ablaze. The clearing was now illuminated in a bright orange glow and Crazypaw didn’t miss the fear in Stonepaw’s blue eyes.

                After a few moments of being frozen in terror, the Gathering exploded into chaos.