Sunrise

“It’s hard to give birth to kits in leaf-bare,” Ferncloud mewed. “Whitewing has done really well.”

“She’ll raise them well, too.” That was Mousefur, sounding less crotchety than usual. “Whitewing is one of the best cats in this Clan. When she was an apprentice she always made sure we had fresh moss, and it was dry, too.”

“We’ll all have to watch our tails when these kits are old enough to leave the nursery.” Dustpelt’s voice held a hint of amusement. “They have your blood, Cloudtail, and we all know what a hard time you gave Firestar when you were a kit.”

Cloudtail snorted. “They’ll be fine warriors, Dustpelt, and I’ll claw any cat who says different.”

Jayfeather, who was eating his prey, paused for a heartbeat as Hollyleaf and Lionblaze padded up and sat down beside him, listening to the cheerful talk in silence. None of them wanted to join in, but Jayfeather sensed that all of them felt cut off from one another, too.

“I remember when you three were kits,” Brackenfur meowed; paw steps approached and the golden brown tabby flicked Jayfeather on the ear with his tail. “Chasing foxes! It’s a wonder any of you survived to be apprentices.”

“Yeah, right,” Jayfeather muttered. Suddenly the happiness of his Clanmates was more than he could bear. Without another word, even to his littermates, he swallowed the last mouthful of vole and headed for his den.

Curled up in his nest, Jayfeather woke to the sound of paw steps, and opened his eyes to see a skinny gray she-cat bending over him.

“Yellowfang!” he exclaimed, sitting up. He was still in the medicine cats’ den, bathed in the pale glow of moonlight. Leafpool was curled up asleep a couple of tail-lengths away.

The former medicine cat dropped a long dark feather onto the moss of Jayfeather’s nest. “The time for lies and secrets is over,” she meowed. “The truth must come out. StarClan was wrong not to tell you who you were a long time ago.”

“Then what—?” Jayfeather began, but already Yellowfang’s shape was beginning to fade, melting into the moonlight until she was gone. The moonlight abruptly vanished, leaving Jayfeather in darkness as he woke from his dream.

“Mouse dung! Why can’t any cat speak straight out?” he hissed. But an icy weight in his belly made him realize that Yellowfang had told him all he needed to know.

Feeling around his nest, he found the feather she had dropped, and drew his paw down the long, smooth length. He could picture how it had gleamed black in the silver moonlight.

“She brought me a crow’s feather…,” he whispered.

Scrambling out of his nest, he padded softly out of the den, taking care not to wake Leafpool. Once he was in the clearing, he bounded over to the warriors’ den. He crept around the outside of it, tasting the air until he located Lionblaze sleeping close to the outer branches.

Jayfeather scrabbled around to find a loose bit of branch and poked it through the thorns until he felt the other end prod Lionblaze.

“Uh? Get off!” Lionblaze swatted at the branch.

“Lionblaze!” Jayfeather hissed, pressing as close as he could to his brother inside the den. “I have to talk to you. Fetch Hollyleaf.”

“It’s the middle of the night!” Lionblaze protested.

“Keep your voice down! Do you want to wake every cat in the camp? This is important! We have to go somewhere.”

“Okay, okay, keep your fur on.”

Jayfeather waited impatiently until his littermates pushed their way out through the branches.

“What do you mean, ‘go somewhere’?” Lionblaze whispered. “Where?”

“Into the forest. Somewhere we can talk.”

Hollyleaf yawned. “This had better be worth it.”

“It will be,” Jayfeather promised.

All three cats slid out of the camp through the dirtplace tunnel, clinging to the shadows so as not to alert Poppyfrost, who was on watch. Then Jayfeather led them through the trees in the direction of the WindClan border.

“It’s freezing out here,” Hollyleaf complained. “I’m not going another paw step until you explain.”

“Okay.” Jayfeather turned to face his littermates. “I know who our father is.” He hesitated, almost knocked over by the sudden surge of feelings that came from his brother and sister. He took a deep breath and went on. “It’s Crowfeather.”

For a few heartbeats there was silence. The emotions that churned out of his littermates now were so complex that Jayfeather knew he could never unravel them.

“We’re half-Clan?” Hollyleaf choked out at last.

“How do you know about this?” Lionblaze sounded baffled.

“Yellowfang came to me in a dream,” Jayfeather explained. “She told me it was time we knew the truth, and she brought me a crow’s feather.”

“But that still might not mean…” Hollyleaf’s protest died away. All three cats knew the meaning of the sign. There was no point trying to pretend it wasn’t true.

“Does Crowfeather know about this?” Lionblaze demanded.

“Is that why Leafpool had to keep us a secret?” Hollyleaf put in.

Their questions battered at Jayfeather. “I don’t know,” he told them. “We have to talk to Crowfeather. Come on.”