There was a certain tension about the camp in the days following Nightchaser's confession. Dewpaw found Beetlepaw less agreeable, as if she were angry about the DarkClan healer's death, and a cloud of gloom followed Lightpaw, who hardly spoke.

    With the expectation of a retaliatory attack, Jaystrike, Beaver, and Roxanne had stepped up the intensity of training once more, taking the trainees out for their first round before sunhigh, stopping by camp for a quick bite of freshkill, and putting them through a second round before sunset. Dewpaw longed for a day off by the end of a quarter moon.

    "We're doing some extra training today," Jaystrike said as he passed Dewpaw, Oats, and Crisp on his way to the camp entrance. "Would you like to join?"

    Oats got to his paws immediately, Crisp following soon after. Dewpaw noticed Flea and Penny heading for the meeting spot as well.

    "I can't," Dewpaw mewed back. "I was asked to go on patrol by Condor."

    Jaystrike waved him off with a flick of his tail, already on his way to training.

    Sprucetail was gathering up her own patrol of Roxanne, Killian, Leo, and Lightpaw. Dewpaw narrowed his eyes at the tortoiseshell, who was shuffling her paws awkwardly at something Leo had said. Not far from them, Webpaw and Hazel glared at her too. Even after her extended stay at the camp, Dewpaw still couldn't place why he felt so off about her.

    "Ready to go?" Condor asked, passing him with Shard at his side. The two toms had grown rather close after the junkyard gang joined their cause. "Gannet and Hazel will be joining us shortly." Dewpaw's eyes flicked to Gannet, who was busy play-fighting Beetlepaw, and found he disagreed.

    Sure enough, Gannet was the last to join them. Hazel scoffed quietly as he approached, his fur a mess. Realizing his dishevelled state, the black and white tom quickly licked down some of his stray patches of fur.

    "Where to?" he asked. Dewpaw looked the tom over, remembering his and Killian's conversation. Whose side was he on?

    "The fence closest to the DarkClan border," Condor replied, already setting a brisk pace. "We haven't encountered any cats there since Beaver's patrol a half moon ago, but we need to keep checking..."

    In case they are planning to attack, Dewpaw filled in. The rest of the patrol seemed to do the same.

    Along the way, Gannet managed to corner a mouse against a fence, killing it with one swift bite. Dewpaw had to admit that, if he was a spy, he was fitting into their camp nicely.

    They arrived at the border just after sunset, the inky blackness making it hard to discern where the others were. Gannet's white fur shone brightest, the black on him disappearing into the darkness. Dewpaw followed him most closely.

    "Mark the border quickly," Condor said. "I smell DarkClan, and I wouldn't want to get caught out here in this darkness."

    The patrol did as told, moving along the borderline swiftly. Dewpaw arrived at their meeting point first, followed by Hazel and Condor, and finally Shard. As they waited for Gannet, who had been given the section furthest from them, Condor suddenly stiffened.

    "Are those rebels I smell?" The voice coming out of the darkness dripped poison and cruelty. From the shadows emerged five cats. In the low light, Dewpaw saw that two were ginger, two were grey, and one, the smallest of them, was black.

    "We'll mark our territory and be on our way," Condor assured them, though he remained tense.

    "Very well." The leader of the patrol seemed to be the larger of the two grey toms. He stepped forward, closer to them, and Dewpaw's eyes widened.

    The DarkClan tom looked exactly like him. His grey, short fur and the size of his paws; the length of his tail, and the hazel of his eyes. The only difference, as far as Dewpaw could see, was his lack of deformities.

    "You forget that you are on DarkClan territory, however," the tom continued, voice lowered. "Your territory is on the other side of this wall." Behind him, the other members of his patrol unsheathed their claws.

    The grey tom surveyed the rebel patrol, eyes sliding lazily over each member. Finally, they came to a stop on Dewpaw, who shrank back. The light in his hazel eyes was hard and menacing, almost revelling in his cruelty.

    His whole life, Dewpaw had believed he looked like his mother, that the grey fur and hazel eyes came from her. Yet, the longer he held this tom's gaze, the less sure he was of it.

    The DarkClan tom, if he had any inclinations towards the same thoughts, did not give them away. His gaze returned to Condor.

    "So, unfortunately, we have no choice but to kill you for trespassing."

    The DarkClan cats moved so quickly Dewpaw lost sight of them within the span of a blink. The force that hit him sent him flying and hitting the fence at his back. The grey tabby on top of him bared his teeth, sinking his head lower to Dewpaw's face. The grey trainee struggled, yowling pitifully as the tabby's claws pierced his shoulders.

    This is it, he thought, this is how I die. Cinderblossom's face flashed through his mind. Still, the tom's head moved closer to his throat.

    But the DarkClan tom moved past his throat and instead whispered in his ear.

    "Are they alright? Tell me that Lightpaw and Beetlepaw are alive."

    Dewpaw, mouth dry, could only nod his head. The grey tabby seemed to relax.

    "They're being treated well, fed?"

    Again, Dewpaw nodded.

    "Can you tell them... Tell them that Stormpaw said they shouldn't come back. That life is not worth living in DarkClan after they've had a taste of freedom. Can you do that?"

    Dewpaw, taken completely by surprise by Stormpaw's request, croaked out a soft, "Yes." His reason for not trusting the two she-cats suddenly became apparent too: they hadn't been cast out of DarkClan, they were spying on the rebels.

    Stormpaw nodded his head, pulling back from Dewpaw's head.

    "I'm so sorry about this, but I need to stay alive too," Stormpaw said, his voice genuinely apologetic. Before Dewpaw could ask, he felt a searing pain in his shoulder as the grey tabby ran his claws down it, carving a path down into his chest.

    Screeching in pain, Dewpaw battered the grey tabby with his back leg, who jumped back off of him.

    "Run," Stormpaw hissed at him, reaching out to rake his claws across Dewpaw's face. "You can't win this fight." The rebel trainee blocked the blow and turned tail, leaping for the top of the fence. His shoulder burned as he pulled himself up, single back leg of very little use. The blood from his wound stained the wooden slats.

    "Retreat!" came Gannet's muffled howl, jumping up onto the fence beside Dewpaw. Grasped tightly in his jaws was the scruff of an injured Hazel. Her eyes were half-open, blood streaming from the deep wounds in her side and stomach.

    Shard and Condor followed, both breathing heavily. The patrol took off at a run. Dewpaw pushed past the pain, the adrenaline of being followed spurring him forward.

    When they were certain they had outrun the DarkClan patrol, the rebels slowed down. Gannet, who must have joined in the fight when he'd returned to the meeting point, was the least injured. Shard had a set of claw marks on his right side and a deep bite on his back leg. Condor's pelt was matted with blood, making it difficult to see where it was coming from. When he turned his head, Dewpaw gasped at the claw marks criss-crossing his face; thankfully, his single good eye was still in place.

    "We need to get back to camp quickly," Condor breathed out, whisking his tail at Hazel weakly. "She won't make it if we do."

    Gannet picked Hazel back up, who gave out a moan of pain, and the injured patrol continued on.

    Sprucetail met them before they made it back to camp, Bronco at her side.

    "We smelled the blood, what happened?" she asked, taking them in.

    Gannet rushed right past her, carrying Hazel straight to the medics. Bronco followed, leaving Sprucetail to question the remaining patrol members.

    "We were marking the border," Condor said, swaying slightly. "A DarkClan patrol approached us. It was that Smoketalon you'd told us about, he was the leader of the patrol. There were two ginger warriors with him, and two male trainees."

    "Newtfang and Flamestrike, most probably," Sprucetail said, filling in the gaps. "Stormpaw and Antpaw were likely the apprentices."

    "Stormpaw let me go," Dewpaw said quickly before they could continue. "He told me he was sorry before he attacked me."

    The older cats froze, staring at the trainee.

    "Did he say anything else?" Sprucetail asked breathlessly.

    "He asked me to give a message to Lightpaw and Beetlepaw," Dewpaw continued before stopping short. If he told Sprucetail all he'd heard, she would know Lightpaw and Beetlepaw were spies. If they couldn't stay here, and Stormpaw was telling them not to return to DarkClan, where would they go?

    Dewpaw squared his shoulders. That was not his problem to face.

    "He told me to tell them they shouldn't come back." He expected Sprucetail to have some sort of reaction, but the black she-cat remained still. "He said that life is not worth living in DarkClan."

    For a moment, he thought Sprucetail had frozen with shock. Then, her eyes glinted with pride.

    "Perhaps we have more of an advantage over DarkClan than we thought," she said.

    It was Condor who stepped forward, livid. "Are we just going to ignore the fact that those two she-cats are clearly spying on us for DarkClan?" His voice grew weaker but his anger was apparent.

    Sprucetail nodded. "I've known for some time, as have others. We have our own spies in the DarkClan camp who have been feeding us information."

    Condor stared at her incredulously. "What if this information gets out? What if DarkClan learns of our weaknesses because of them?"

    The she-cat's eyes narrowed. "Are you challenging my decisions as a leader?"

    Dewpaw watched in amazement as the tom, larger than Sprucetail, shrank back.

    "I learned something as well," Shard said quietly, looking between the two cats. Sprucetail flicked her ear at him but kept her gaze on Condor.

    "In between blows Smoketalon let slip that DarkClan had other spies in the camp," the former gang cat continued. "Someone who had been here before Lightpaw and Beetlepaw showed up, someone who had gained our trust."

    Sprucetail was now on high alert. "Do you have any idea who it might be?"

    Shard shook his head. "No, I couldn't bait it out of him."

    But the gears in Dewpaw's mind were suddenly turning. He thought of Gannet helping Hazel and play-fighting with Beetlepaw. He'd changed since being in the camp, become friendlier and more trustworthy. It would also make sense if Shard was protecting him – they were, after all, both former junkyard cats.

    Yet, why would Shard have brought up a spy at all if it was someone he cared for? That left the only option to be anyone else who had joined before the rebels annexed the Junkyard Gang.

    And the only cat who had joined their group before was...

    "Killian," Dewpaw and Sprucetail said at the same time. His eyes met hers and the anguish in them took him aback.

    "I'll deal with him before the attack," she said. "In the meantime, do not tell anyone what you have learned. He needs to be unaware of our knowledge."

    The patrol nodded their heads respectfully before heading for the medic's den.

    //

    Dewpaw woke in the middle of the night with a start. His shoulder and chest felt stiff, the cobwebs and poultice of herbs having hardened. Crowpaw had looked them all over once and returned with the appropriate herbs within a heartbeat, much to the approval of Mothpelt.

    Hazel lay not far from him, her breathing ragged. Gannet slept next to her, though he had been allowed to leave the den because of his lack of life-threatening injuries. Condor and Shard had been patched up too, but lay closer to the front of the den.

    There was one more cat lying next to him, Dewpaw realized, and he rolled over slightly to catch a glimpse. The grey fur caught him off-guard but the cat did not awaken.

    It was Cinderblossom.

    Suddenly, the guilt of not having yet spoken to her caught up with him. Perhaps Robin had been right and he needed to get this off of his chest before it was too late.

    Cinderblossom slept on peacefully and Dewpaw, not wanting to wake her, decided he would speak with her in the morning. He drifted off into a restless sleep, images of Killian, Lightpaw, and Beetlepaw turning them all in one by one filling his head.

    When he woke at dawn Cinderblossom was already gone.