Jayfeather heard the WindClan warriors bounding away, then a thud as Lionblaze jumped back across the stream and landed beside him. His claws tore up the grass as they waited, as if his fury had to find some kind of outlet.

Jayfeather’s belly churned when he caught the scent of an approaching WindClan cat on the breeze. Just one: Crowfeather had come alone. He could feel Hollyleaf quivering beside him; her tail kept twitching, brushing against his pelt.

At last Crowfeather’s voice came from the other side of the border. “What do you want?”

Words choked in Jayfeather’s throat as the three littermates faced the WindClan warrior across the stream. He heard a sharp intake of breath from Hollyleaf.

But Lionblaze didn’t hesitate. “Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight are not our parents,” he declared. “Leafpool is our mother and you are our father.”

There was a pause. Then, “Don’t be mouse-brained,” Crowfeather snapped. “That’s impossible.”

He sounded so certain that for a heartbeat Jayfeather wondered if they could possibly be mistaken. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into Crowfeather’s mind. A tangle of undergrowth faced him, and he realized that he was standing at the top of the cliff above the stone hollow. Leafpool was clinging to the edge, her face upturned pleadingly as Crowfeather grabbed her by the scruff and hauled her back to safety.

Then he glimpsed them crouched together under a bush, and heard Crowfeather meow, “Come away with me, Leafpool. I’ll take good care of you, I promise.” Now the two of them were trekking side by side up a long slope of moorland, then in a hollow, talking to Midnight the badger. “I have to go back,” Leafpool mewed.

Caterwauling ripped through Jayfeather’s vision and he glimpsed the stone hollow full of warring badgers, while his Clanmates attacked them fiercely. Last of all, Leafpool faced Crowfeather in the clearing, among the debris of the battle. “Your heart lies here,” Crowfeather murmured; Jayfeather could hardly believe the warrior could sound so gentle. “Not with me. It was never truly with me.”

The vision had taken no more than a moment, but when Jayfeather let go of the WindClan warrior’s mind, he was sure that Yellowfang’s sign had not deceived him. Just as he was sure that Crowfeather had no idea he had fathered Leafpool’s kits.

“It’s true,” he meowed. “You didn’t know, did you?”

“No….” For a heartbeat, Crowfeather sounded dazed. Then Jayfeather felt anger growing within him. “I have one mate,” he snarled. “Her name is Nightcloud. We have one son, Breezepelt. I don’t know why you’ve come to me with these lies. Go home, and don’t come back. Why should I care about ThunderClan cats? You mean nothing to me. Nothing!”

Jayfeather heard a gasp from Hollyleaf, and the sound of Lionblaze’s claws scraping against stone.

Calmly he faced his father. “The truth is out now,” he warned. “None of us can hide from it again.”