Read Online The Blazing Star by Erin Hunter - Free Book Online Page B

amazement came from Sparrow Fur. She and her two littermates hadn’t been in the battle or the latermeeting, and now they were drinking in every word Gray Wing spoke, their eyes wide and excited.
    â€œSpirit-cats?” Mud Paws gaped with astonishment, exchanging glances with his two friends. “Are you sure you weren’t . . . well . . . a bit confused after all that fighting?”
    Gray Wing shook his head. “Every cat who was there saw them and heard them. The spirit-cats told us to unite or die. They also told us to meet them again by the four trees at the next full moon.”
    â€œSo that’s where you all went the other night,” Holly meowed. “I thought you’d just gone out on patrol.”
    â€œYes,” Gray Wing continued. “Perhaps we should have told you, but . . . We saw the spirit-cats again, and that’s when they gave us the warning. They told us that a claw still blights the forest. To survive, we must grow and spread like the Blazing Star.”
    Holly let out a snort of disgust. “Your spirit friends certainly like being vague, don’t they?” she mewed tartly. “What in the world is that message supposed to mean?”
    â€œThe claw might be the sickness that killed the mouse,” Cloud Spots murmured thoughtfully.
    â€œAnd the Blazing Star,” Mouse Ear repeated. “Isn’t that some kind of five-petaled plant?”
    â€œWhat plant?” Gray Wing asked. “Where—?”
    His voice was drowned out as excitement flared up among the listening cats at Mouse Ear’s suggestion, and they crowded around, eagerly offering their own ideas.
    â€œI think it means we should go back to the mountains,” TallShadow meowed. “A plant like that grows there.”
    Gray Wing stared at the black she-cat, hardly able to believe he had heard those words from her. After all we’ve been through! But he had no chance to object, because all his denmates were calling out their own explanations.
    â€œI think it means we should follow a shooting star to a new territory!” Owl Eyes squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.
    His sister, Sparrow Fur, gave him a shove. “When was the last time we saw a shooting star, mouse-brain?”
    â€œA blaze . . .” Wind Runner murmured anxiously. “I’m afraid that might mean another fire somewhere. We could end up racing away from it, splitting up forever.” Bending over her kits, she drew them closer, covering their ears with licks. “I won’t let that happen,” she promised.
    Gorse Fur pressed himself to her side. “Whatever comes, we’ll stay together.”
    â€œWait!” Jagged Peak added his voice to the rising clamor. “Maybe it has to do with the plant Mouse Ear just mentioned. He said it has five petals, right? I think I remember seeing it in the mountains, too. Maybe we need to divide into—”
    â€œThat’s enough,” Gray Wing interrupted, becoming flustered by all the different ideas. “Have you all been quietly hatching your own explanations? You haven’t been discussing this with any other cat at all? No wonder you’re coming to such ridiculous conclusions!”
    The other cats were silent, looking up at him with disconcerted expressions, as if they didn’t know what was makinghim so irritable. Jagged Peak in particular looked hurt.
    Well, I’m sorry, Gray Wing thought. But they have to learn that panic and wild speculation will get us nowhere.
    â€œWe all need to calm down,” he meowed. “Now, Mouse Ear, where exactly is this plant—the ‘Blazing Star’—growing? If we can find it and bring it back to camp, maybe it will give us a clue about what the spirit-cats were telling us. One thing at a time, okay?”
    The cats muttered their agreement, though Gray Wing could see that they still weren’t happy with him. But that’s