Jayfeather yawned. The beds in the villa were nothing like the ones at home. He dragged himself out of his room and made his way to the breakfast table. Hollyleaf, Heathertail, and Brightheart were already there. Jayfeather walked around the long, wooden table, and sat himself in between Hollyleaf and Brightheart.
"Morning!" Brightheart beamed at him, "I'm so excited for the game to begin!"
"Me too. I guess..." Jayfeather meowed in reply.
"It's gonna be AWESOME!" Hollyleaf leapt from her seat, jerking the table, and sending a bowl flying, "Whoops..."
When the rest of the cats had walked in, and started picking out what they wanted to eat, Quailwing strode into the room. Her tail was curling in delight. Then her face fell. Quailwing's gaze had rested on the broken bowl. She sighed, and muttered something that Jayfeather couldn't quite catch.
"Well, I see you're all enjoying your breakfast!" Quailwing spoke when everyone's eyes had rested on her, and the room was silent, "I don't want to interrupt you. Meet me outside once you've finished. I will leave you now. Enjoy the meal. For some of you, it will be your last."
Quailwing exited through some large, wooden doors. As she left, the cats looked at each other, their questioning gazes sweeping down the table.
"Wow!" Firestar exclaimed, "I didn't expect that…""I know right!" Mistystar agreed, standing up, and stretching, "Right, I'm going to get ready for our first mission."
"Goodbye!" Heathertail called after her, as she left the room.
After a few minutes, only Jayfeather and Ivypool remained in the room. Ivypool's gaze darted swiftly to the doors. She looked nervous about something, but Jayfeather couldn't imagine what. He rose from his chair, and made his way to the doors, leaving Ivypool alone in the vast dining room.
The line of twenty-two cats was long. Jayfeather was on the end of the line. On his right was Crowfeather.
"Players," Quailwing's mew rang out over the excited chatter of the contestants, "It is time for your first mission."
Quiet 'Oooooohs' rippled through the cats.
Quailwing continued, "Now, I would like you to split up into groups of four."
The gathered cats started to move to find their best friends. Poppyfrost bolted over to Berrynose, and Briarlight and Bumblestripe rushed over to join them. Firestar and Graystripe casually slid over to each other, closely followed by Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight. Jayfeather rushed over to Lionblaze and Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf beckoned Cinderheart over, and she gave a little jump, and ran to join them. The other groups were sorted, and Quailwing nodded approvingly.
"I see you are ready," she meowed, "For this mission, you will have to find items. Like a scavenger hunt if you would like to call it that. Two cats on your team must be chosen to become describers. The describers will get ten images. All groups will get the same ones. They will describe the objects on the image to the seekers. The seekers are not allowed to see the picture. Once the object is described to them, they must find the object, and bring it back to the describers. The team with the most objects at the end will win a chance to earn a special bonus power to help them throughout the game. There will be a time limit of 20 minutes. Each object is worth £1,000. So, if all ten items are brought back, then yes, you will win £10,000. Now, pick your seekers and describers, and I will start the timer. Oh, and one more thing… Imposters, you can sabotage the missions by doing nothing at all, or the minimum you must do."
The mission had started. Lionblaze and Hollyleaf stepped forward to be the describers and were now describing the first object to them.
"It's rounded, and has like a cat's head on the top, but the head is flat. It looks like it made of polished wood," Lionblaze described it to them, turning to Jayfeather, he added, "It'll be smooth, round, and has a flat bit with spikes on the top."
Jayfeather nodded, and chased after Cinderheart, who was already pelting through the woods. They halted at a dip in the ground.
"Jayfeather!" Cinderheart exclaimed, "I think this is it! You feel it!"
Jayfeather reached out, and touched the object, it sure felt smooth, and he felt it flatten out, then turn into a sharp point.
"This is it," he confirmed.
"Great!" Cinderheart grabbed the object, and ran back the way they came, Jayfeather sprinting after her. Once they came back to Lionblaze and Hollyleaf, they dumped the object, and listened for the next description.
The mission was finally over, and the cats had gathered around the host- Quailwing- to hear who won. Jayfeather could tell the cats were exhausted. They were panting as they waited for the results.
"Congratulations! You found nine of the items in the time given to you. That means you have £9,000," Quailwing sounded genuinely pleased with them, "Moving on, the winners are…"
Jayfeather's breath stopped in his throat. He scrunched his eyes and begged that his team was the one that won.
"Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, Cinderheart and Jayfeather!" Quailwing announced, her gaze resting on the four chosen, "You will meet me in the library when you get back. As for the rest of you, better luck next time!"
Jayfeather sat beside Hollyleaf in the library, as Quailwing was explaining the instructions.
"You will go into this room," she gestured to a door on her right, "In there, you will find a pool. If you stare into it, it will tell you whether you won the power or not. It will then inform you (if you were the one to get the power) which power that is. Hollyleaf. Why don't you go first?"
Hollyleaf stood up and entered the room. All was silent as the waited for her to emerge from the doorway. About a minute later, she came back in. She betrayed nothing as she sat back down. It was like a thorn barrier had formed around the memory of what happened in that room, and Jayfeather couldn't get around it. Cinderheart went in next, then Lionblaze, until it was Jayfeather's turn. Jayfeather came to the pool in the room. He looked into it. It shimmered in the dim light.
'You have been proven worthy of a power.'
Jayfeather hold back a yelp of glee.
'You're power is to call upon your ancestors for support.'
'OK…' Jayfeather thought. He took a deep breath before he strolled back into the room. Trying to look as casual as possible, Jayfeather followed the others as they left the library.
"So, who do you think the imposter is?" Jayfeather asked Ferncloud.
"Well, Cloudtail didn't do anything in the mission. It was all me describing the things. He didn't add anything. Not one word."
Jayfeather frowned, "Huh, that's strange."
"Yep, it sure is."
"Have you any more suspects?" Jayfeather questioned her casually, he wanted to know what everyone was thinking before the banishment.
"Nope! Not one!" Ferncloud told him.
The banishment room was huge. Jayfeather sat in a random space, as he sensed the other cats swarming around the table.
Quailwing began to speak, "Welcome to the banishment room. Here you will banish one of your fellow players. But first, I will give you some time to discuss. Who would like to start?"
"I would like to begin!" Ferncloud's voice echoed through the hall, "Cloudtail, you did not help during the mission. You didn't say one word to describe the objects. I had to do it all."
"Well… I…I…" Cloudtail stammered, "I was, well… I was… very tired from the night before, and I… well… because I didn't get much sleep."
Tigerstar snorted, "Ha! A likely story! I am telling you guys! CLOUDTAIL IS THE IMPOSTER!"
Cloudtail started to get frustrated, "LISTEN HERE TIGERSTAR! I AM NO- "
"NO! I WILL NOT LISTEN TO AN IMPOSTER!"
"BUT I'M NOT AN IMPOSTER!"
"HOW ABOUT WE FIND OUT!" Tigerstar spat.
"Time for discussion is over," Quailwing had to shout over Tigerstar and Cloudtail, "Please write down your votes on your papers."
The scratching of chalk echoed through the room. Jayfeather wrote down Cloudtail's name. It was an obvious option.
"You will now reveal your votes. We'll start with you Jayfeather. What do you think?"
"Cloudtail, I'm so sorry…"
"Cloudtail, what do you think?"
"Tigerstar!" He snarled.
"We'll carry on from Cloudtail," Quailwing explained.
"Cloudtail."
"Cloudtail."
"Cloudtail."
"Cloudtail."
"Cloudtail."
"Cloudtail."
"Cloudtail."
Cloudtail's name was repeated again and again.
"Well," Quailwing mewed, "we have a clear winner. Cloudtail, come to the front and reveal your identity."
Cloudtail stepped onto the raised step at the front of the hall.
"I am an Innocent." He glared at Tigerstar and Ferncloud as he walked out of the villa. He disappeared behind some curtains and exited the building.
Jayfeather yawned. He had gotten through his first day here. That was an achievement. As he slumped onto his bed, he wondered what tomorrow would bring. Would he even last another day? Only Starclan would know.