// Sequel to Unmasked "Are you not listening? We don't have time. The longer we wait the more of our own die. They grow stronger every day - the newest batch of apprentices will be trained in assassination, for StarClan's sake! And if they have the ability to pick us off, one by one, then who will remain to put an end to Dawnstar's reign?" Dewkit knows very little of the rebellion his mother took part in. For him, home is the brick walls and cardboard dens of the alley cat camp; a loving mother, a host of friends, and a just leader. Here, his twisted back leg and crumpled ears are of no significance - until the poison of DarkClan begins to spread closer and closer, endangering this peaceful life and bringing with it the threat of war. Lightpaw trains hard, day and night, to live up to DarkClan's standards - and her mother's and father's. Yet, as Dawnstar's cruelty grows and darkness looms over the Clan, Lightpaw finds herself wondering if the stories she heard from Nightchaser as a kit could have any truth to them. Her thoughts put her at risk, but can she truly live out her days as nothing more than a pawn in Dawnstar's game?

"It is forbidden for a reason, young one. Love makes you weak, a fraction of yourself. It keeps you from being the best you can be and that is why we must mask it. Ambition, intelligence, strength - now those are qualities that will get you through this harsh life. But being loving, compassionate, kind? Those are the best ways to get yourself killed." Generations after the Masked Uprising and the fall of StarClan, DarkClan's way of life is no less harsh. Emotions are strictly forbidden and any talk of the Old Life is considered treasonous and punishable by death. It is in this cruel setting that Nightpaw finds himself apprenticed to the only cat with an ounce of freedom: the truth-teller, a cat specifically chosen by the Masked to remember the history of DarkClan. Yet, Nightpaw doubts the truth in the truth-teller's stories and finds them even harder to reconcile when he is visited by someone he'd been taught no longer exists. Caught between fear and curiosity, the truth-teller's apprentice finds himself stuck between two versions of the Clan's history - two truths where there should only be one. And he will stop at nothing until the truth is unmasked. // I have the story rated as teen. Please be warned that there will be a lot of bloodshed and dark matters discussed in this novel.