Whitepaw gasped confusedly at Frost,who was standing on the mossy rock proudly. Her bluish-white eyes gleamed with craziness as the eerie wind whipped through her long,white pelt. Several white and silver cats surrounded the clan cats, taking their place among the crowd. Their gazes told Whitepaw that there was something going to happen. She looked up to see Leafstar's golden eyes glued to Frost in silence. Her jaws were opening and closing as if she wanted to say something.

The mist cleared away as Whitepaw looked up to the silver moon, it was still shining bright and clear. Nothing blocked it except for the faint,foggy mist. Starclan must have agreed with Frost interrupting the gathering.

"You can't just-"Darkstar started to protest angrily.

"Silence!"Frost interrupted Darkstar." I am the last leader. The leader of Frostclan...Don't try and fight because I've outnumbered you" she nodded to her big group of light colored cats.

"Frost!" Stonestar meowed and licked her ear. "Its been a long time sister! Were have you been all these moons?" He cuffed her ear playfully.

Whitepaw looked back and forth between the two. Sister? Whitepaw echoed in her head confused. She looked at Cuddlepaw and Spicepaw who returned the confused glances. Whitepaw turned her head back to the leaders suddenly aware of a towering white tom with piercing green eyes beside her. She tried hard to keep her sandy pelt flat.

"Froststar" Froststar hissed correcting her brother.

"Star?" Stonestar whispered narrowing his gray eyes. Murmurs rippled through the crowd of clan cats as they anxiously shifted away from the surrounding white cats.

"Stonestar! Did you have anything to do with this?" Darkstar hissed turning on Stonestar.

"N-no! I...-"

"Are you sure?" Darkstar growled

"Yes! I haven't even-" Stonestar was cut off as Leafstar finally spoke.

"She's not lying..." Leafstar meowed.

"What?" Darkstar whipped his head around to glare at Leafstar.

"I said she's not lying!" Leafstar yowled. "Shadowstar told her she was to join us and be leader of Frostclan... It is Starclan's decision! We must accept it!" Leafstar's meow echoed through the clearing.

Gasps and murmurs rose among the cats again like ripples in a disturbed pool of water.

"And who is Shadowstar?" Darkstar sneered.

"The first leader of Shadowclan," Froststar replied.

Darkstar and Stonestar stood confused on the rock. Leafstar shifted her paws.

"The gathering has been postponed until the leaders are finished talking!" Leafstar called out.

Whitepaw inched closer to her sister. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but Froststar can't just be leader all of the sudden!" Cuddlepaw meowed.

"Leafstar did! Stonestar and Darkstar did too!" Spicepaw whispered.

"Yeah well Leafstar was destined to be a leader. So was the others, but I don't know about Froststar . . . It's a little weird how she just showed up without knowing where the gathering place is," Cuddlepaw explained shifting her paws back and forth.

"And having all these strange cats with her. . . She must be spying on us!" Whitepaw added.

"Guys . . . . Maybe if you waited you would hear what happens next!" Nightwhisper leaned in and whispered to the apprentices.

"Yes, be quiet you three!" Sandwing scolded in a quiet tone. "Or you'll make everycat look!"

Too late! The white towering tom looked down at Whitepaw his cold gaze piercing into her soul. Whitepaw shuttered as she stared into his emotionless green eyes. She looked away quickly and scooted as far as she could away from that cat. It seemed like moons before the leaders finished talking.

"Cats of the clans. . . We would like to present Froststar, Leader of Frostclan!" Leafstar called out.

"Froststar! Froststar!" The crowd of cats chanted hesitantly.

"Because we have taken so long the gathering is over!" Stonestar yowled. "Stoneclan, we're leaving!"

"Same with Leafclan," Leafstar announced, jumping off the ground and into the ferns below.

All the clan cats moved around, and Whitepaw joined her mentor.

"This way," Nightwhisper meowed leading the apprentices away from the Frostclan cats. Everyone of them stared with cold eyes

🍂 🌱 🍁 🌿 🍀 🌲 🌳 🌸 🌴 🍃 🌾 🌿 🍁 🌱 🍂

Whitepaw woke up at dawn and padded out of the apprentice den. Icy claws of cold pierced through her fur as she stretched her jaws into a wide yawn. Tension seemed to fill the air of the Leafclan camp. She looked around at the cats surrounding the fresh kill pile. Nosing her way through the small crowd of cats she was shocked to see that the prey was infected looking.

"Starclan has sent us a bad omen," Leafstar meowed gravely.

"Rosethorn is sick with a disease!" Nightwhisper whispered in her ear.

Worry overwhelmed Whitepaw as she ran to the Medicine cat den, closely followed by her sister.

"Whitepaw! Wait up!" Cuddlepaw meowed catching up with her swiftly.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Whitepaw asked as she scrambled down the hole to see her mother.

Before Cuddlepaw could answer, Softsong turned to them and put a sweet smelling herb in front of them. She looked back at Rosethorn, who was groaning in pain, before returning her pale green gaze to the apprentices.

"I need you to go and find more of this herb, and fast! Rosethorn's life depends on it!" Softsong yowled quickly, with a serious look in her eyes.

This was it! Softsong was depending on her and Cuddlepaw to save their mother! Whitepaw nodded.

"There is some by the two-leg place where the dead aspen tree. Take Sprucepaw with you, he's been there before!" Softsong rushed them out of the den.

Like a flash of lightning Whitepaw zipped across the camp and headed for Sprucepaw. She skidded to a stop and quickly explained what their mission was. He nodded and they all took off with Sprucepaw in the lead. The sweet scent of the herb Softsong gave her wafted up her nose.

Dead bracken snapped beneath her paws as she toppled over them swiftly, following Cuddlepaw and Sprucepaw.

"Here it is!" Sprucepaw yowled. " Gather as much as you can carry!"

Whitepaw didn't like to follow Sprucepaw's orders but she leaped into action and gathered herbs.

After several heartbeats they where satisfied and turned to go.

"This way!" Cuddlepaw meowed taking the lead.

"No! That's not the way back to camp!" Sprucepaw tried to say around his mouthful of herbs.

"What?" Cuddlepaw turned her head while still running.

Whitelaw felt as if her heart stopped when she saw Cuddlepaw disappear into the ground. A sickening thud echoed out of a hole that Cuddlepaw had fallen into.

"Cuddlepaw!" Whitepaw and Sprucepaw yowled in union.