Mintleaf paused at the edge of the frozen stream, looking down into the clearing below. A mouse was creeping forward, searching for anything it could find. Stupid little thing, Mintleaf thought. Her full, gray fur was blending into the stone around her with perfect camouflage. Yet, she wasn’t after the mouse. What would that feed? She waited, crouching down and watching as the mouse began to dig, its tiny paws searching through the snow and hardened dirt. That’s when Mintleaf saw it. A shadow crossed over her and dipped down toward the ground. Mintleaf’s pelt prickled as the hawk appeared, snagging the mouse in its talons. She leaped from her place between the rocks, landing on the hawk’s back. The enormous bird opened its wings and began to rise from the ground. Mintleaf’s heart began to pound fast, afraid of being hoisted into the air. But she dealt the killing blow with quick precision. The hawk squawked one last time before it fell limp and crashed back into the ground. 

Mintleaf slid off the bird, breathing deeply to let her heart calm down. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever get used to the moment of terror when the prey began to take off. She shook her pelt and sat down, taking the dead mouse from the bird’s claws. She gulped it down quickly. She always preferred mouse over bird. She thought perhaps it had something to do with her SummerClan blood. She was half WinterClan, of course, but her taste buds were not always the same as the rest of her clan mates.