-)HIDDEN(- -)BOOK ONE OF TRIAL OF FOUR(-

CHAPTER ONE

Cama walked through the snow, shivering with cold. He noticed that a thin layer of snow was starting to gather on him, and shook it off. Snow was unusual in HailClan and the surrounding territory- and this was thick snow. Cama wasn't used to being able to see himself in any way, so seeing his paw prints surprised him. The layer of snow showed his outline, but it fell off with every step. He looked around and saw a squirrel, silently eating an acorn. He walked up to it, downwind, and was surprised when it skittered up a tree. Of course, the snow would make me noticeable, he thought. He tried again with a vole a minute later, and successfully caught it. He would have normally brought it to the HailClan camp- the warrior code forbade him from eating before the elders- but the snow made him reconsider. He would obviously lead tracks, but he needed to get to the fresh-kill pile. If he buried the vole, it would freeze. Then, he noticed the river. It had frozen over with the snow, leaving a path of ice leading directly to HailClan camp. It would be dangerous, though- one wrong step, and he could die- or lose his cover. There was no other way to get it to the fresh-kill pile, though. StarClan help me, he thought, then went skidding down the frozen river. After a second of panic, he realized that his claws could grasp the ice, or at least provide some control. He took a second, finding the spot he wanted, then dug his claws into the ice. He proceeded a few steps before noticing that the sun was starting to rise. He went faster- if he didn't deliver the prey before dawn, the Clan would wake up and see a floating vole. He skidded and scraped his way to camp and quickly dropped the vole on the pile. The whole pile was frozen over. He jumped back onto the river, wishing that the snow would melt. His unprofessional landing cracked the ice a bit, and he edged away from it. The sun rose, and he turned to the apprentices' den.

Burnpaw, as always, was the first one awake, followed by his sister Leafpaw. They nudged Dapplepaw awake, and she snapped at them. His oldest sister needed to sleep in- otherwise she was miserable all day and as short-tempered as a snapping turtle. When she got her sleep, however, she was leading her siblings. Their mentors had noticed that the apprentices hated to be separated, and tried to keep them together. Cama followed his siblings everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. Dapplepaw finally woke up, and the three ran to the warriors' den to wake up their mentors. Burnpaw and Dapplepaw had thick fur, but Leafpaw was short-haired and shivering visibly.

Cama heard voices from the warriors' den- "All right, we're awake. Now we can go thaw the prey." The apprentices sighed and left the den sadly, clearly hoping to go hunting. They each took two pieces of prey and moved them to the med cats' den, which was warmer. Burnpaw and Dapplepaw went back to move more prey, but Leafpaw stayed inside the den. Cama arched his neck and saw that she was under a pile of leaves in the corner, shivering, as the warriors looked at her as if she were crazy.

"I'm just c-cold..." she chattered, wrapping her tail around herself and puffing up her fur to try and keep warm.

"You can warm up by doing a few laps around the camp," said her mentor, Jadestreak. Leafpaw sighed and reluctantly came out of the den. Cama noticed that snow was gathering on his fur and quickly shook it off. He couldn't let them see him... but he was stuck here. If he went up the river, he'd be stranded all day, plus he didn't know how thick the ice was.There was already that crack in the ice, and the sun was rising. Downstream, the ice was thicker, but also more slippery, and the border was that way. He was trapped. Could he slip into a bush and stay there all day? Even if he could get to a bush without being noticed, the chances of being discovered were too high. He chose to stay where he was. Leafpaw was still shivering, the movement not enough to warm her. Snow was uncommon in HailClan; it was CloudClan that got the majority of it. He couldn't see his pelt, but he assumed it was relatively thick because he felt warm, except for his pads. They were freezing! He brushed his tail on the ice, moving the snow so it looked more natural. He realized that he could cover his tracks this way, so he started slowly moving towards the border and out of camp. The sunrise was starting to come up, red-orange streaks of color obscuring Silverpelt. Cama worked his way out of camp, and by the time he reached the border it was almost sunhigh. He started patrolling around the area, like he had done so many times before. He was on the HailClan and MapleClan border, and made sure not to cross it. Then, he saw a rabbit. A beautiful, fat rabbit. He snuck up on it, forgetting the border. He crouched, then pounced...

And landed right on top of a MapleClan she-cat.