The Blazing Star by Erin Hunter Page B

side and touched noses with him. “Morning Whisker will be okay, won’t she?” he asked anxiously.
    Gray Wing let out a long sigh. “I don’t know.” There’s so much I don’t know these days. . . .
    Gray Wing padded over to Gorse Fur and Wind Runner, laying his tail comfortingly over the distraught she-cat’s back. “Morning Whisker will be okay,” he told her, wishing he believed his own words. “You mustn’t lose hope.”
    Wind Runner broke off her pitiful yowling and sank to the ground. “That’s easy for you to say,” she whimpered. “All yourkits are alive and healthy.”
    Gray Wing rested a paw on her shoulder. “My kits may be alive,” he mewed gently, “but my mate is gone, and I know grief as well as you. You cannot let the misery overwhelm you. Your other kits still need you, and you must focus on helping them.”
    Wind Runner blinked and turned her head away, still trembling, but Gorse Fur gave Gray Wing a grateful nod. “We don’t know what will happen,” he murmured to his mate.
    Gray Wing padded away, leaving the two cats to their suffering. Then he realized that one of his kits was still unaccounted for. Beckoning to Owl Eyes, he asked, “Where’s Sparrow Fur?”
    â€œShe went to find our father,” Owl Eyes replied.
    Gray Wing flinched, though he tried to hide the pain he felt to hear one of the kits call Tom his father. Even though it’s true . . . “Wait a moment,” he meowed. “Why would she go off into the forest without telling me?”
    Owl Eyes scrabbled at the ground with his forepaws, not meeting Gray Wing’s gaze. “Jagged Peak said it was okay. Anyway, we’re all one big group now, aren’t we?”
    â€œSort of,” Gray Wing responded, wincing as he realized he wasn’t sure what the rules were anymore. He couldn’t help thinking of Tom’s treachery in the past—the way he had stolen the kits, and that he might have been involved in Turtle Tail’s death.
    â€œNo, this isn’t right,” he growled, glancing around wildly. Fear surged over him as he imagined what Tom might do to Sparrow Fur, or what other dangers the kit might encounteralone in the forest without him or any of her denmates. Foxes, dogs, Twolegs . . . she might meet any of them! “We have to form a search party. We have to get her back.”
    He spotted Jagged Peak, who had joined Holly and the other newcomers, and beckoned him over with a commanding flick of his tail.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Jagged Peak asked as he limped up.
    â€œSparrow Fur— my kit—went off to find Tom the kittypet, and Owl Eyes said you gave her permission!”
    Jagged Peak’s eyes widened with surprise. “Yes, I did. Is there a problem?”
    â€œA problem ?” Gray Wing was stunned. “You let her go? She’s just a kit!”
    Jagged Peak began to look uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. I thought it would be okay. After all, he is their father. And she’s not a tiny kit anymore.”
    Gray Wing had to admit that his brother was right. The kits were growing up. And Sparrow Fur always knows what she wants, just like her mother.
    Gray Wing’s heart pounded as he thought over what Jagged Peak had just told him. It sounds so reasonable, he thought. And yet . . . “They have no mother now,” he meowed. “I’m all they have. I must protect her.”
    Jagged Peak twitched his whiskers to show he understood. “That’s true,” he responded gently. “But the kits are nearly grown. They aren’t helpless anymore. They’re old enough to make their own decisions, and all three of them wanted to train with Tom.”
    Gray Wing shook his head. “But what if . . . what if . . .”
    â€œWhat if what?” Jagged Peak asked, amusement glimmering in his blue