Secret

Prologue
It was a cold night. Sorreltail was just going back to camp when she heard the distinctive wails of a kit in distress. She bravely went over and found three kits.

One of them, a she-kit, had golden brown fur. The smallest kit lay beside the golden brown one and was a smoky grey tom. The third was a light grey tabby she-kit with a long tail.

"Poor little things!" she gasped out loud. "I'll take you with me."

Sorreltail took the kits and dragged them back to camp.

The recently appointed Clan leader, Bramblestar, came out of the leader's den. He glanced down at the kits and then at Sorreltail, his expression this time full of confusion and suspicion.

"Oh," he said. "You've found...whose kits are those?"

"I found them behind some bushes," she told him. "It looks like their mother must not have wanted them."

"That's too bad. I suppose I'll get a queen to nurse them."

Bramblestar went into the nursery and came back out with Brook Where Small Fish Swim, who had (along with Stormfur) returned to the Clan four moons ago.

"I've already got Darkkit and Heronkit. It couldn't hurt to have three more."

Sorreltail gave Brook the kits.

"Well?" asked Brook, seeming like she was expecting something. "You found them. I think you should name them."

"Oh no, you're mothering them. Shouldn't their mother name them?"

"If it weren't for you, they would probably have died out there. You should name them."

"Alright, if you insist. Goldenkit, Smokekit, Mistykit."

"Very sensible," nodded Brook.

The queen took the three newborn kits into the nursery and introduced them to the other queens and their kits. Soon all ThunderClan cats knew about Goldenkit, Smokekit, and Mistykit.

But had they been truly abandoned?