“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.”

The three cats headed silently through the forest. Drops from the recent heavy rain spattered their pelts as they brushed through the undergrowth. A chill breeze sprang up, ruffling their fur. Above his head, Jayfeather could hear the first chirps of waking birds.

His mind was spinning. How could this have happened? Their mother was a medicine cat, their father a WindClan warrior. Both of them should have known they could never be together.

How can we be part of the prophecy when we should never have been born?

Padding along by Jayfeather’s side, Lionblaze was sending out steady surges of rage, a burning fury toward those cats who had abandoned the warrior code and piled up a heap of lies for the kits who were born as a result. On his other side, Hollyleaf was dazed, her whirling thoughts still too difficult to read.

At last Jayfeather could hear the gurgling of the border stream and taste the scent of fresh water. “It’s still early,” he remarked, “but we might spot their dawn patrol.”

They drew to a halt on the bank of the stream. Jayfeather’s legs were trembling with weariness; he would have liked to sink down into the long grass at the water’s edge, but he knew he had to confront his father standing on his paws.

Birdsong grew louder around them, and the bitter cold of night gradually eased. At last Jayfeather caught a whiff of WindClan scent; at the same moment Hollyleaf exclaimed, “There they are!”

“Owlwhisker, Gorsetail, and Weaselfur,” Lionblaze meowed. “Wait here. I’m going to talk to them.”

“Wait—” Jayfeather protested as he heard Lionblaze leap across the stream, but his brother was gone, too angry to worry about crossing the border.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Owlwhisker demanded.

All Lionblaze’s suppressed rage came out in his voice. “Fetch Crowfeather. Now.”

“What?” Weaselfur exclaimed indignantly. “Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?”

“Yeah,” Gorsetail added. “Get back into your own territory, or we’ll tear your fur off.”

A low growl came from Lionblaze; Jayfeather pictured him looming over the three WindClan cats, his golden fur fluffed out until he was twice his size. “Just do it!” he ordered.

“Okay,” Owlwhisker mewed, his voice shrill as he tried to conceal his fear. “But you can wait on your own side of the border.”