Little hedgehog Julek and his friends find strange footprints in the forest and follow them toward Forest Hill, where something hidden is waiting in the shadows.
In a bright green forest, where sunlight slipped through the leaves like gold dust, lived a little hedgehog named Julek. Every day he explored the paths with Clare the squirrel and Franek the frog. They knew the forest well, or so they thought.
One morning, on the way to Forest Hill, Clare stopped so fast her tail twitched. In the soft earth ahead of them were huge footprints, wide and deep, with long marks in the mud. They did not belong to any bird, fox, or deer the friends knew.
"Who made those?" Clare whispered.
Franek blinked. "Maybe something from the top of the hill came down in the night."
Julek leaned closer. The prints led straight beneath the oldest tree in the forest, where the roots curled over the ground like giant fingers. He swallowed hard, but his paws were already moving. The three friends followed the trail, quieter than leaves in the wind, until a faint rustling sounded from the dark hollow under the roots. Then something inside shifted again, just out of sight...