Moth Flight’s Vision

Chapter 13

Moth Flight followed the tunnel upward, her paws trembling.

Was she really going to be responsible for any sick cats in her Clan? How would she explain it all to Wind Runner? Why did the spirit-cats want to speak through her?

Your curiosity, your dreams, your openness to the world around you.

She remembered Half Moon’s words.

The spirit-cats believe in me… Joy surged beneath her pelt, pushing her doubts away. Suddenly, the cold stone beneath her paws felt like it belonged to her. This was her place. She’d found it. Determination hardened in her belly. I won’t let you down, she promised silently.

Starlight showed through the darkness ahead, seeping like water into the tunnel. Moth Flight quickened her pace, breaking into a run as she neared the opening. She leaped from the ledge, sending stones clattering down the steep slope.

Micah, sitting on the wide stone below, turned, his eyes flashing in the moonlight. “What happened?” He bounded toward her and met her, breathless, halfway up the slope.

She skidded to a halt and stared into his starlit eyes. “It was amazing,” she breathed.

“I was worried. You were gone so long.” His gaze flitted over her pelt, as though he was checking that she wasn’t hurt.

“I’m fine,” she reassured him. She shuddered, realizing how cold she was. The dampness of the tunnel had reached to her bones. She fluffed out her pelt.

Micah began to steer her gently down the slope. “There’s still a little warmth from the sun left in the rock.” Nudging her up onto the wide stone where he’d been waiting, he joined her.

A dead mouse was lying in the middle. “I thought you might be hungry.”

“Thanks.” Moth Flight blinked at him gratefully. “But I don’t think I could eat anything right now. I’m too excited.” She could feel faint warmth beneath her paws and crouched, pressing her belly to the rock. Micah crouched beside her, his fur barely brushing hers, just close enough for her to feel the heat from his pelt.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Micah asked softly.

Moth Flight stared at him. “Of course. It was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me!”

Micah gazed at her eagerly.

“There was a cave at the end of the tunnel. Just like the one I saw in my dream. It has a big rock at the center and a hole in the roof and when the moonlight hit the rock, it blazed like a fire!

And then the spirit-cats appeared.”

“You saw them for real?” Micah widened his eyes.

Moth Flight nodded. “Even Gray Wing this time.”

Micah gazed at her blankly.

“He was part of our Clan until he died a moon ago,” she explained. “It was good to see him again.”

“Were all these spirit-cats once alive?” Micah asked.

“Yes!” Moth Flight could still hardly believe she’d spoken with them. “I didn’t recognize many.” The memory of Morning Whisker and Emberkit burned brightly in her mind. “I saw my dead littermates.”

Micah blinked. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know you’d lost—”

Moth Flight interrupted him. She didn’t need sympathy.

“I’m glad I saw them. They were so wise. They looked like kits still but they acted like grown cats.”

“You spoke to them?”

“They told me not to be scared of Wind Runner. She’s only stern because she cares about me.”

Micah’s breath stirred her cheek fur. “Didn’t you know that already?”

Moth Flight hunched her shoulders. “I always thought she was disappointed in me because I couldn’t hunt as well as Dust

Muzzle.”

Micah’s eyes flashed teasingly. “I guess she wishes you’d bring prey home instead of plants,” he joked. “But how could she not love you?”

Moth Flight shifted self-consciously. Micah’s stare seemed suddenly too intense to bear. Was he just humoring her? Did he think she was crazy? She was talking about dead cats! “You believe me, don’t you?”

“I’ve dreamed about you since I was a kit.” Micah’s ears twitched. “Now that I’ve met you for real, I can believe anything.”

Moth Flight felt relief sweep over her. She was lucky to have someone to share this with, someone who believed her.

She suddenly pictured her Clanmates. What would they say when she told them that the spirit-cats had told her she was special? But you’re a featherbrain! She imagined Swift Minnow’s scornful mew.

“Tell me what they said.” Micah’s voice jerked her from her thoughts.

“They told me I was to become a medicine cat and learn about herbs and healing and that they would send me omens and I had to explain the omens to Wind Runner.” Moth Flight’s chest tightened. “They said it was my destiny.” She gazed deep into Micah’s eyes, expecting uncertainty, but he stared back solemnly. “Do you think I can do it?” she asked anxiously.

“You have dreams about moths and spirit-cats and you love to collect plants instead of prey.” Micah sat up and stretched.

“You’ll do it brilliantly.”

“Do you really think so?” She jumped to her paws.

“Do you want to do it?”

Moth Flight imagined herself treating cats, collecting herbs, advising Wind Runner and searching the stars for omens.

Anticipation prickled beneath her pelt. “Yes!” Her tail quivered.

“But it’s not just me,” she went on. “They want Cloud Spots to be a medicine cat too. And Pebble Heart and Dappled Pelt and—” She stopped herself. Was Micah ready to be told of his destiny? He’d only agreed to follow the moth with her, not to give up his life on the farm to live with the Clans. “I have to tell them. I have to tell all of them what I’ve seen.” She felt her paws begin to tremble again.

“Of course!” Micah swished his tail, excitedly. “They’ll want to know.”

Moth Flight dropped her gaze, feeling suddenly small beneath the wide starry sky. Could she really do this? As she tried to imagine telling her Clan that she’d spoken with Gray Wing and Half Moon and Emberkit, her paws pricked with alarm. “They already think I’m a birdbrain. This will just prove it.”

“Why?” Micah frowned, puzzled.

Hopelessness swamped Moth Flight. “I’ve done so many dumb things,” she confessed. “They won’t believe me.”

“They have to believe you!” Micah puffed out his chest. “I believe you.”

“You don’t know how dumb I can be.”

Micah padded around her, impatiently. “You’re not dumb.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Yes, I do!” Micah stopped and stared at her. “I’ve never met a cat who goes off chasing moths or disappears into strange tunnels in the middle of the night or tells me that she’s going to learn how to heal and read omens.” He paused, his gaze sparkling so intensely that her heart seemed to miss a beat.

“You’re wonderful!”

Moth Flight shifted her paws nervously. Would he think she was so wonderful when she told him about his destiny? “You’re part of it,” she blurted.

Micah stiffened. “Part of what?”

“You’re meant to be a medicine cat too.”

“On the farm?” He tipped his head, puzzled.

“No!” Moth Flight paced across the stone and looked over the trees to the distant moor, curving like a cat’s spine against the glittering sky. “You’re to be SkyClan’s medicine cat.”

“That’s your Clan, right?” Micah stopped beside her.

“No.” Moth Flight steadied her breath. “I’m from WindClan.

SkyClan is Clear Sky’s group. They live in the forest, not on the moor.” She felt Micah shift uneasily beside her.

“So I’ll live there, and not with you?”

Her heart lifted. He hadn’t said no. She turned sharply and faced him. “Do you mean you’ll do it? Become a medicine cat for the Clans?”

Micah returned her gaze, but she could read nothing in his eyes. “The leader of SkyClan,” he began. “He’s a tom, right?

Fierce. He likes bossing other cats around.”

Moth Flight’s mouth grew dry as he went on.

“Is he suspicious of other cats? And proud? Gray with blue eyes?”

Moth Flight backed away, startled. He was describing Clear Sky exactly. “How do you know?”

“I’ve dreamed of him,” he murmured. “I dream I’m bringing him catmint to help a sick kit.”

“Catmint?” Moth Flight pricked her ears.

“It’s an herb that grows behind the barn. It looks a bit like nettles but the leaves are smaller and they don’t sting. You’ll know if you ever see some. It smells great. And it helps coughs.” Micah whisked his tail impatiently. “I keep having the same dream. The kit’s always sick and the gray tom’s ordering me to hurry with the catmint.” He blinked at her. “But I can see now—it wasn’t a dream! None of my dreams have been dreams.

I’ve been seeing my destiny!” His fur rippled with surprise. He lifted his gaze toward the moor.

Moth Flight shifted her paws nervously. He’d just discovered that the life he’d planned was not the life that had been planned for him. “Do you mind?”

“Why should I mind?” Micah shrugged. “It’s pointless to mind your own destiny. You just have to face it.”

Moth Flight wondered how he could be so calm. Fear hollowed her belly as she tried to imagine the moons that lay head of her. “Aren’t you scared?”

“No,” he meowed softly. “One path is as good as another.

It’s not knowing which one to take that’s scary. Now that I know where I’m meant to be going, there’s nothing to fear.” He looked at her. “For either of us.”

“Do you promise?” Her mew quavered.

“I promise.” His green gaze was steady. Starlight sparkled in its depths.

Moth Flight reached out her muzzle and touched his. Her heart slowed as his nose brushed her cheek. She felt soothed by his stillness, aware of the moonlight washing their pelts.