Lightpaw woke from a full night's sleep exhausted. The moment she opened her eyes she felt her fur prick with the feeling of being watched and the paranoia, never fully gone, rose again.

She had good reason to be careful. While some cats seemed to trust her immediately, or else were blinded by her skills, others remained skeptical. Nightchaser remained at the forefront, but she avoided him at all costs. Dewpaw was another, but avoiding him was tough considering training. DarkClan's insistence on keeping up her mask suddenly seemed much more useful.

Beetlepaw, on the other hand, assimilated into the group well in the moon they had been here. She was much more likeable here, in Lightpaw's opinion, and though her stubborn competitiveness still shone through she also tried harder to get along with the others. That group, of course, didn't include Lightpaw. The two hadn't spoken to each other in a couple of days.

Lightpaw found her littermate sitting near the freshkill pile, speaking with the large black and white leader of the former gang. He looked engrossed in her story, his tailtip twitching faintly near her own.

"Beetlepaw, can I have a word?" Lightpaw asked politely, approaching the two. Beetlepaw shot her littermate a reproachful look but realized she had an image to keep up.

"I'll finish that story later," she purred to Gannet, who nodded enthusiastically. Beetlepaw flicked her tail over his ear as Lightpaw lead her away.

When they stopped, a couple of tail-lengths away, Lightpaw rounded on her.

"Are you flirting?!"

Beetlepaw licked a paw and drew it over her ear nonchalantly. "Maybe. What's it to you? I'm trying to get close to some of the cats in this camp so I can learn more. It's more than you've been doing."

Her words stung. "I've been a little scared of being discovered. Oats made a comment about spies the other day, and Dewpaw clearly doesn't trust me – or you, for that matter."

Beetlepaw rolled her eyes. "Dewpaw's just jealous we can both fight."

"That still doesn't excuse the spying comment," Lightpaw said tersely. "And, besides, most of the alley cat trainees don't like us either."

"They're definitely jealous," the black she-cat replied. "Did you see the look of pure fury on Hazel's face the other day? Or Webpaw, she muttered insults under her breath the whole way back."

"How are we supposed to learn anything without giving ourselves away?" Lightpaw moaned, frustrated with their predicament.

"Do what I do."

"Pretend to be someone else?"

Beetlepaw's signature glare surfaced. "No. Be more likeable. I've got the gang covered, see if you can find an in with the alley cats. Make friends with the trainees, make up stories to get closer to them if you need to."

"Flirt?" Lightpaw offered.

Beetlepaw did not deem the suggestion worthy of a reply.

"Has it worked in your favour at least?" the tortoiseshell pressed.

The black she-cat looked around and leaned in closer. "I don't think we're the only spies here. Gannet has dropped hints that he knows of DarkClan, and more closely than an outsider would. I think that's why Rainpaw and Stormpaw were sent there – to link the gang with DarkClan."

The mention of the other mission made Lightpaw's worries about the two apprentices resurface. "You don't think they were punished for failing that mission."

Beetlepaw shrugged. "It wasn't their fault. Dawnstar probably wasn't too hard on them." Lightpaw wasn't convinced.

"Anyway, I should be getting back," Beetlepaw said, glancing back at Gannet, who watched her with warm eyes.

"Happy flirting," Lightpaw grumbled to her littermate before setting off to do some spying of her own.

//

The following training practice, Lightpaw did her best to downplay her fighting skills. She purred encouragingly at the other trainees and kept herself from correcting their strategies, though her tongue itched to do so. She congratulated them after successful rounds. On the way back to camp, she tried to seem attentive to their conversations, offering small pieces of her own.

"I'm starving," Hazel groaned as they settled around a large rabbit. It was thin from leafbare, but much larger than anything else in the freshkill pile.

"It was a rough practice," Soren agreed. "Wouldn't you agree Lightpaw?"

Lightpaw thought of the gruelling practices Rowanstorm would put them through, or of the hours of stealth training Oakshade mandated, or the fighting training Smoketalon nearly killed them with.

"One of the roughest so far," she said, taking a mouthful of rabbit.

"I find that hard to believe," Webpaw scoffed, taking her own bite. Lightpaw wondered if Webpaw's training in DarkClan had been just as hard as her own.

"Tell us more about training in DarkClan," came Leo's deep voice. He settled down next to Lightpaw and, from the surprised looks of the other trainees, assumed his joining them was not a common occurrence.

"Well... They definitely put us through our paces when necessary," she said. Soren and Finch looked at her wide-eyed; Hazel and Webpaw studiously ignored her gaze.

"Does everything need to be perfect before they let you move on?" Olive asked.

"They definitely expect perfection," Lightpaw said somewhat bitterly. "I haven't passed my stealth training."

"And you never will," Hazel pointed out before turning to Olive. "Sounds like you'd have a rough time there." Lightpaw gathered that Olive was a bit of a perfectionist.

"Tell us more about the fighting," Finch said. Leo and Soren inched closer, eager to learn.

Lightpaw shuffled her paws uncomfortably. "Umm... Well, they would pit us against each other from dawn till dusk. Kind of the way training is run here, but for much longer. The loser would always be punished with something like cleaning dens."

"Did they have you unsheathe your claws?" Leo asked.

"I bet they made you fight till you bled," Soren added.

"Until you killed another trainee," Finch continued.

Lightpaw found herself speechless.

"N-no, never to the death," she managed to stammer out once she had found her voice. Not with the other apprentices, anyway...

"I think you're lying," Hazel said loudly, diverting the attention to her. "There has to be a reason why you're so jumpy. You've killed someone before." Her eyes bore into Lightpaw.

"I've fought in self-defense," she replied.

"So you have killed someone," the other she-cat pressed.

"Hazel, survival is important," Leo said, trying to break the tension. The brown tabby, however, did not back down and kept her eyes locked on Lightpaw.

"It is," Lightpaw echoed, flashing a grateful look at the older ginger tom. He twitched his whiskers happily, which only seemed to infuriate both Hazel and Webpaw further.

Sensing she was no longer welcome, and her appetite gone, Lightpaw excused herself. As soon as she got to her paws, however, she realized she had nowhere to go. Scanning the camp, she found Beetlepaw sitting next to Gannet, Shard, and Flea. Oats and Crisp sat with Dewpaw who looked away quickly when their eyes met.

"You look like you need something to do." Lightpaw whipped around to see Beaver's amused face. Beside him, Cinderblossom blinked at her.

"We were about to head out on a patrol," she said. "We need another member, if you'd like to join."

Lightpaw thought she had never felt more grateful to have patrol duty. "Of course, I'd love to."

Beaver gathered up Killian and Cobalt, and the patrol headed out.

"We'll be taking a look at the far border," Beaver explained as they padded over the tall wooden walls of Twolegplace. "DarkClan's been checking it frequently, but they haven't crossed over the border as of yet."

"Think they're terrified of having their throats ripped out?" Killian asked.

Beaver growled. "That's rather graphic, don't you think?" He shifted closer to Cinderblossom.

"I've seen worse," she said, but her shoulders remained tense. Lightpaw knew exactly what she meant. She noticed Beaver cast a worried glance at the grey she-cat, but he said no more.

The rest of the patrol was silent, though Lightpaw noticed the subtle shifts between its members. Cobalt, for the most part, remained at the back. Killian wound in and out, refusing to stay in a particular marching order. Every time he came close to Cinderblossom her fur rose, and Beaver pressed even closer, as if protecting her.

Lightpaw watched Killian carefully. She already knew he'd been a loner before finding the alley cats. He seemed to be a trusted part of the camp but something about his behaviour reminded her of a predator. His eyes never stopped moving and he was always alert.

"We're going to split up," Beaver said. "If you encounter a Clan cat hold them off and yowl for help. We have a lot of ground to cover, so we'll have to each do a section alone."

Lightpaw received the centre section, as she was the youngest and it was deemed the safest. Beaver and Killian moved off in opposite direction to mark the far sides.

The scents swirling around her were familiar and Lightpaw inhaled deeply. She found she missed them – Stormpaw, Rainpaw, Yewpaw, Reedpaw, even Spiderthorn. Her worries about the greencough in camp and the failed mission hit her hard and she distracted herself with marking the border.

She had only managed a small section when she froze. The scent of DarkClan was suddenly heavier.

"Who goes there?"

She turned and came face-to-face with another cat. He was so close she could feel his breath stirring her whiskers. The menacing green eyes shifted quickly to surprise.

"Lightpaw?"

The tortoiseshell took a moment to take in the DarkClan tom. "Shademask."

He stepped back to give her some room and her breath left her in a gust.

"You scared me," she said, heart still pounding. "I didn't hear you coming."

Shademask licked the top of his chest. "Well, I am one of the stealthiest."

"Mine's not getting much better," Lightpaw admitted.

"I'm sure you'll get there," he said encouragingly. They stared at each other for a moment, unsure what to say. He looked away first.

"Any news?"

Lightpaw shook her head, studying her paws. "We haven't learned much yet. We know their training isn't as structured as ours, and their trainees won't stand a chance against DarkClan. They've stepped up the training since we arrived, but I don't think it will be enough."

"What about Nightchaser?" Shademask said. "Have you seen him?"

"He tried to kill Beetlepaw and I when we first arrived," Lightpaw replied. "He seems unstable, out of his mind. Everyone seems to be scared of him."

"Dawnstar's been obsessed with finding out about him," Shademask admitted. "Sometimes, I think all of this is just about her getting her claws on Nightchaser. Everything and everyone else doesn't matter."

All of a sudden, he looked defeated. Lightpaw noticed the tiredness in his eyes and, on his flank, faint but noticeable scars. She didn't remember them being there before.

"What about camp?" she asked.

"She grows more restless every day. Spiderthorn tries to keep her in check, but her actions are more and more unpredictable. After Rainpaw and Stormpaw came back – "

"They didn't have anyone to spy on," Lightpaw blurted out. "The gang no longer exists. They're with the alley cats now."

Shademask nodded. "They tried to explain that there were no cats and, that when they attempted to track their scents, they were long gone. But Dawnstar wouldn't listen." His face looked almost fearful, but Lightpaw had to know.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"They were punished. I don't think they would have survived without Reedpaw helping them."

"And Reedpaw? How is he?"

Shademask seemed taken aback by the pleading tone of her voice. "He's alright. Spiderthorn survived the greencough, otherwise I'm not sure what would have happened to him." His tone was fearful, something Lightpaw had never heard in Shademask's voice before.

"What about Yewpaw?" she pressed.

His expression changed to one of sorrow and Lightpaw didn't need to hear his words to know what happened.

"I'm sorry, Lightpaw, he didn't make it."

The grief shot through her from chest to tail and she thought she might be sick. She felt Shademask's tail come to rest on her back lightly, and she buried her head in his chest, closing her eyes tight. Her littermate, gone. And she hadn't been able to say goodbye to him.

"I never got to say goodbye to my littermate either," Shademask said softly. He stiffened immediately afterwards. "I hear footsteps."

They sprang apart and the adrenaline coursing through Lightpaw forced her into a crouch.

"Tell Dawnstar she's made a grave mistake," Lightpaw hissed. Shademask growled in return, tail lashing.

"Your days are numbered," he replied. His eyes flashed, but they were not threatening.

Come home, they said.

"As are yours," Lightpaw managed. The footsteps grew closer and Shademask, looking about, turned tail and fled into DarkClan territory.

"Lightpaw, are you alright?" Beaver gasped out. The entire patrol had surrounded her and Lightpaw, in the middle, shook. Just over Cinderblossom's shoulder, she could see Shademask's retreating form, looking back at her. The grief of Yewpaw's death hit her all over again.

"I'll be alright," she said. "It's just that this is the first time I've seen any of them since..." She let each member of the patrol fill in the rest.

Beaver nodded understandingly. "We should head back, let Bronco and Sprucetail know what happened."

As Lightpaw turned to move, she noticed Cinderblossom's eyes on her. They were narrowed, suspicious; it was obvious the grey she-cat had seen something that left her unconvinced.

Lightpaw followed the patrol but Cinderblossom blocked her path. The tortoiseshell's heart beat faster and meeting the older she-cat's eyes took all of her willpower. The hazel eyes were hard.

"I didn't turn my own littermate in, and I won't turn you in either," Cinderblossom said quietly. "But I will tell you to choose carefully."

Her eyes softened, their usual warmth filling them. "I know you'll do what is right."

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