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Chapter Three

Twigpaw looked around him. He was in a flat clearing, and grass stretched far ahead of him, seemingly endlessly. A slight breeze blew, making the grass sway. To his left, though far off, he could see trees and bushes, which made out a forest. Not far behind him, water fell from the sky, landing and gathering in a large pool of water, spraying mist all about. Encircling the pool of water were large, black, soaked rocks. Moss grew on the rocks, pointing towards the center of the pool.

Where am I...? Twigpaw thought to himself.

He parted his jaws slightly, tasting the air for any other cat's scent. He caught a whiff of another tom, and unsheathed his claws in case he should have to use them. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

"Hello there!"

Twigpaw spun around, prepared to fight, but then relaxed at the other cat's friendly gaze.

"Who are you?" Twigpaw asked the new cat. He was larger than Twigpaw, but not by much. He was probably only two moons older. He was a tortoiseshell, his fur white with grey and orange blobs splashed over his pelt. Orange covered his left eye, stretching to the base of his ear. Grey stretched from behind his right ear to the base of his neck in an oval. The top of his right paw had orange, and both his flanks had orange streaking down them. From in-between his shoulders to his tail was white, the tip of it grey. His pelt shined, almost like stars were on it.

"I'm Pinepaw!" Pinepaw replied.

"I'm Twigpaw. Now, if you don't mind telling-"

"You where we are?" Pinepaw had seemed to read his mind! "Why, we're in Starclan... Starclan territory, at least."

Twigpaw froze. Did he just say Starclan? Starclan was where all the warriors, apprentices, leaders, medicine cats, elders, and even kits who didn't survive their kitting, went after they died.

Does that mean I...?

"And no, you're not dead."

Twigpaw had a puzzled look on his face. One again, Pinepaw had read his mind!

"Then why am I here?"

"Two important reasons."

Twigpaw's puzzled look faded.

"First," Pinepaw began, and lifted his paw to lick it. He continued in-between licks. "This is the less important reason. I'm here to warn you. A false tale is being spread about, to scare other cats. You know the tale already, you just recently learned about it. Tragedy will befall the clans if these cats believe the tale. You don't, but others do. If these cats continue to believe it, it will be bad. Cats will die, fighting will start, and many other problems will happen. You must find these cats, and convince them the tale is false, if the misfortune is to be avoided."

A task that big? And if I fail, bad times will befall the clans??

"Now, here's reason number two that you're here. This is far more important."

What in Starclan could be more important than that!?!? ...oh wait, I'm in Starclan, meaning something can be more important...

Pinepaw drew his paw over his head before continuing, giving it a wash. Twigpaw almost grew impatient as Pinepaw washed his head. After a short time, he stopped, set his paw down, and stared straight into Twigpaw's eyes, a serious look in his.

"I was lonely, and wanted some company."

Twigpaw nearly fell over from both relief, and irritation. _That's_more important than tragedy befalling the clans?

"Back to the actually important subject," Twigpaw began. "Who are the cats who believe Yewwhisker's prophecy?"

"I forgot to mention, I'm also bored, so if I told you who, I wouldn't be able to enjoy watching you struggle to figure out who."

At least he's honest... "Can you give me a hint?"

"It depends on how much information is given out in said hint."

"Are the cats who believe the prophecy inside Springclan?"

"Some are, some ar-"

"But everyone looked so sure when they nodded agreement to le-"

"Looked, Twigpaw."

Twigpaw didn't reply. Instead of asking another question for another hint, he decided to just try and figure out who the cats might be. I know it's not Cloudpaw... it wouldn't be Petalpaw... maybe it's Blossompaw? And the Summerclan cats all were very hesitant...

"So," Pinepaw broke Twigpaw's thoughts by talking. "As I didn't mention before, I'm in the mood for some fresh-kill. Want to hunt with me?"

"But I've got to get back and-"

"Relax, we have some time before you wake up."

"Okay then..." Twigpaw gave in, and followed Pinepaw as he led the way to somewhere they could hunt. They were heading towards the forest Twigpaw had noticed before.

As they walked, Twigpaw couldn't help but wonder why he'd seen so few cats. Shouldn't there be more than just Pinepaw? He'd been the only cat he'd seen so far...

*****

Twigpaw purred as he ate the mouse he caught with Pinepaw, who had caught a finch. Both the prey were very plump-more so than the prey in Greenleaf-and delicious. He ate slowly, savoring the flavor of the plump mouse. After a bit, they both finished their prey, and buried the bones in the ground. Twigpaw gave a second silent thanks to Starclan-even though he was there-for the prey.

"It's almost time for you to go back." Pinepaw told him.

"Okay." Twigpaw plainly responded.

"Now, don't forget. First, the prophecy is fake."

"I know."

"Second, you need to make sure that the cats don't believe it-"

"Or tragedy will fall. Got that too."

"Third, I'm still bored, so don't do too well on this so I can be entertained."

Twigpaw almost rolled his eyes, but restrained himself, and replied "I'll try."

"And, in three..."

Twigpaw wondered how it was going to work. Would he suddenly wake up?

"Two..."

Twigpaw then began thinking what cats were the ones who believed the prophecy again.

"One..."

Twigpaw braced himself, should somehow the transfer back be rough. A few moments passed, and nothing happened. Twigpaw blinked.

"Well, my timing must have been off. Shall we do something unt-"

Pinepaw's words were cut off as the world faded to darkness. Twigpaw could feel himself laying down, and he blinked open his eyes, letting them adjust to the morning light. He was back in the medicine cat den, and Berrystorm was still asleep. Twigpaw let out a silent purr at his mentor as he got up and stretched.

I should probably get to work on finding the cats who believe the prophecy... Twigpaw thought to himself, and padded to the entrance of the den. He stared out at all the cats moving about. Maybe some behavioral differences would show who. Every cat he saw seemed and acted normal.

Maybe none are in Springclan...maybe Pinepaw was wrong... but if not, how am I going to convince cats in the other clans?