Lightningpaw padded into camp, following Spiderpaw's tail. She felt her heart thump heavily with every step she took; guilt and anxiety weighed down on her like a boulder. 'I mustn't tell.' Oh, how difficult that would be!

"Hey!" Palecloud called, suddenly appearing from the apprentices' den. "There you are," he said. He tipped his head to the side in curiosity as he approached. "What were you doing out so early?"

'Witnessing our deputy's betrayal.' She bit her tongue and simply replied, "I couldn't sleep, so Spiderpaw and I went out to go hunt."

The light grey tom looked at the two apprentices sympathetically. "Prey's running thin, eh?"

"Yeah," the pale golden molly agreed. 'You can thank Owlfoot for that.' "Are we on patrol today?" She sorely wanted to change the topic - get her mind off of her recent discovery.

"No, Sorrelcloud and Acornstripe wanted to hold a group battle session today." The tom finally looked at Spiderpaw. "Acornstripe was looking for you, too. You should go find him before we start training."

With a nod, Spiderpaw padded off to find Acornstripe.

She watched as Spiderpaw found his and began a conversation with his mentor before turning back to Palecloud. "Why aren't we on patrol?" If she could catch one of those mousehearted BarnClanners on LakeClan's territory…

"You're only several moons away from your assessment," he said, "you should practice your fighting skills. It's more important than patrolling right now."

"Since when did you find fighting to be more important than patrolling?" she teased, finally finding it in herself to lighten the mood. 'Get your mind off of it.' She promised to deal with it later - with Spiderpaw.

"Not sure, actually," he replied with a light chuckle. "Are you hungry?" He motioned to the pitiful fresh-kill pile hidden safely in a fallen, hollowed log. "You should get some energy before you practice."

Before Lightningpaw could reply, her stomach made a low growling noise of agreement. Her whiskers twitched in embarrassment. "Will you share a mouse with me?" There was too little prey; Lightningpaw was used to sharing her food, lately.

He shook his head. "No, I ate with Juniperclaw."

Lightningpaw suddenly remembered Palecloud's blue-grey mate. "How is she?" Lightningpaw asked curiously. Last time she had peeped into the nursery, Juniperclaw had been quite busy tending to her two new kits - Bluekit and Pebblekit. Two mewling, tiny little bundles of fur.

"Tired," he said. "But she and the kits are doing well."

"That's good to hear." Lightningpaw was suddenly distracted by Spiderpaw who sat near the fresh-kill pile. Her black-furred companion was waving a beckoning tail to her - an invitation. "Spiderpaw is calling me," she said. Waving her tail farewell to Palecloud, she padded past him and towards Spiderpaw. As she neared, she noticed Lilypaw sitting a little behind him. "Hi," she greeted the two of them, twitching her whiskers to Lilypaw.

Lilypaw replied with a twitch of her tail tip, which Lightningpaw interpreted as an equally welcome reply.

"Let's eat," Spiderpaw suggested. "I'm hungry!" He turned towards the hollowed log, reared onto his hind feet, and stuck his head inside to examine the selections. When he turned back, he had a medium sized rabbit hanging from his jaws.

Then, all three apprentices settled together underneath a great tree and feasted.

After they had finished eating, their mentors showed up and lead them out to the Training Hollow. Lightningpaw followed silently while Lilypaw and Spiderpaw decided to race one another to the Hollow. Though she had earnestly tried to push off her discovery, the conversation continued to haunt her.

"You can't stop us."

"We did not agree to this."

"You have a lot to lose. Are you sure you want to challenge me?"

"Hey, Lightningpaw!"

"Huh?" Lightningpaw shook her head and blinked several times. Oh, they were here. The large stone wall of the Training Hollow loomed before her, along with all of its crevices. Her Clanmates stood in front of her with curious expressions.

"Daydreaming again, huh?" Spiderpaw teased.

"Oh." She shook her fur. "Yeah, daydreaming. Sorry, won't happen again."

"Hope so," Acornstripe said. Though his tone was light, his gaze was quite stern, and Lightningpaw shuffled her paws guiltily. The brown tabby began to walk towards the large, numerous crevices of the Hollow. "Today, we will be stimulating a Clan battle. Loyalty and trust is what binds us close together as a Clan, and that bond is truly tested when it comes to fights. We have to learn that our Clanmates have our backs, no matter what." While he spoke aloud, he also signed some words to Lilypaw with his tail, paws, and whiskers.

'Loyalty and trust.' If she didn't tell Beetlestar about what she knew, then would she be betraying her Clan?

"You three will fight us. Pretend we're badgers threatening the nursery. If any of you are held down for more than four heartbeats, then it's all over," he droned on. "Remember, claws sheathed. I don't want to bother Ravenleaf with your accidents." He studied the apprentices before nodding. "Begin."

Oh, she was sore. So sore. Lightningpaw groaned slightly as she licked a patch of pale fur on her shoulder; Acornstripe really did have strong paws. She pressed further in her own nest, comforted by the familiarity and security it provided her. "Stupid Spiderpaw," she grumbled to herself as she groomed her paws, which were stained with mud. Spiderpaw had neglected to come to her aid during the simulation. Even Lilypaw tried, and she couldn't even hear!

"Hey," Palecloud's voice came from the den's entrance. He poked his head and looked at Lightningpaw. "Owlfoot's assigned us on dusk patrol."

Now that caught her attention. Lightningpaw scrambled to her paws, wincing at the soreness. "Is she coming, too?"

"Nope. Said she has something to do." He chuckled. "Since when were you eager for Owlfoot's presence?"

"Just curious." Lightningpaw climbed out of her nest and stretched her legs, making a face at the pain.

"Now you know never to let a badger see your belly."

She flashed Palecloud a glare, though she knew very well that she had fully deserved it for being such a mousebrain during the session. Fighting had never been her forte, anyway. She exited the den with Palecloud following close behind, and headed towards the small group of cats at the camp's entrance.

"Hi," a bright golden molly said, welcoming Palecloud and Lightningpaw with a wave of her tail.

"Hi, Morningclaw," Lightningpaw said. "Where's Brambleflower?" Wherever Morningclaw was, her littermate was sure to follow. And Lightningpaw was eager to attend patrol with her mother - she hadn't done that before.

"She was moved into the nursery today," Morningclaw said. "She's getting much too big to be walking through the forest."

"Oh." She felt slightly hurt that her mother hadn't bothered to tell her, though she quickly shrugged it off. Brambleflower can be quite forgetful at times, anyway.

"Enough chitchat; we have to leave," said a black-and-white tom. He gave the trio a sharp green glare.

Lightningpaw rolled her eyes. Loonclaw was always so impatient. Impatient and ill-tempered, too. Nothing worse than that! "Alright." She followed after her elders, just as impatient as Loonclaw to patrol. Maybe she could find what was really going on. 'Can't hide your little secret forever, Owlfoot.'