"We have to find him!" Darkpaw yowled anxiously. "He must have left a scent!"

"Wait," Shadepaw murmured. "No. StarClan doesn't want us to. I can feel it."

"StarClan is against us!" Darkpaw protested bitterly. Shadepaw sighed and looked at Darkpaw determinedly. 

"Maybe they are," he meowed solemnly. "Maybe they are. But that doesn't mean they don't still guide our pawsteps; it means we are making bad choices." Darkpaw let out a wail and ran into the dark pine forest, feeling stares heat up her thin pelt

"I can't do this!" she yowled to the woods. "I don't want this, any of this! Please, StarClan, it isn't you; it's the pressure, the prophecy, the uncertainty!" She sunk to the ground, digging her claws into a twig. "No!" she exploded furiously. "It is you! You think you're so wonderful! You think you help us, and we believe you! Well, I won't be fooled!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "You're liars! I know you are!" She let out a furious screech. "Liars!" 

A bird chirped in the background and she lowered herself deeper into the ground. She closed her eyes. Stop it, Darkpaw. You're a mouse-brained foxheart. "I can't do this," she mumbled, getting up and spitting out dirt. She turned her head and began to lick her dirt-covered fur, letting the soothing feeling of her tongue calm her. She closed her eyes again, and when she opened them, she looked up at the sky. "I know you're there somewhere, even without the stars," she mewed in a level voice. "I know you can hear me." She sighed and padded through the pines, sniffing for prey.

"Darkpaw," a voice called. The apprentice spun around, her fur bristling. 

"Who are you?" she spat at a yellow tom. "Why are you in ShadowClan territory? Are you one of those SkyClan cats?" She studied the intruder; he looked well-muscled. She drew her lips back in a snarl, preparing for a fight.

"Relax," the tom rolled his amber eyes. "I'm Tree." Darkpaw froze, her fur flattening.

"Tree? But-bu-but I can't be the Clan Mediator," she mewled, sitting on her haunches worriedly. "I don't see ghosts!"

"No, you aren't Clan Mediator," Tree murmured. "You don't see ghosts... But you can see me."

"Why?"

"Think for a moment, apprentice," he mewed. "I, Tree, choose the Mediator for the clans, as I was the first. The Sisters have kin in each Clan, and any of those kin could be the next Mediator. Except Shadowclan. Frostpaw died moons ago. I'm sure you've heard of her, the young Mediator who died fighting a fox?" Darkpaw nodded slightly. "Good. So it isn't possible that you are the Mediator. Now, you want to know why you can see me, right?"

"Yeah,"

"It's very simple. As the first Mediator and a ghost, I can let any cat see me. And I can answer your questions, as I am also the Mediator for StarClan and GhostClan."

"GhostClan?" Darkpaw echoed. Tree nodded, his gaze solemn.

"Clan cats who have chosen to be ghosts in their afterlives." he explained. Darkpaw flattened her ears. There's a Clan we don't know about? 

"Okay... So you're here to answer my questions?" she wondered aloud.

"No. I can do that, but StarClan doesn't want me to... You have to tell the Clans..." he paused.

"What?" Darkpaw leaned closer to him. "What do I have to tell the Clans? Tree?"

"You have to tell them that a young cat is going to the dark side," he murmured. "You have to stop this apprentice before they destroy the Clans."

Mwa ha ha ha ha! Nice cliffhanger, right? Please vote if you liked this chapter, or comment. If you ask a question, I'll always respond! Sorry that Chapter Ten was so short... 

-Shadowstorm