Howl by Karen Hood-Caddy Page B

like having to disobey her father, but hopefully he’d never know. She’d feed them until they were strong enough to survive then release them back into the wild. Her father would never find out they had even been there.
    She was just about finished feeding when she heard someone come into the barn. She tensed. She knew it wasn’t Griff, because she could hear the puppies way off in the field. Her father had already left for the clinic. But what if he’d come back for some reason? Or maybe it was Ari? No, Ari never came out here.
    Hurriedly, she tried to gather up the skunks, but they were spread out all over the hay — she didn’t have a chance of hiding them now. She heard footsteps coming closer and looked up.
    Her brother stepped around the corner. He looked as surprised to see her as she was to see him.
    “Squirm! What are you doing here?”
    He quickly moved a basket he’d been carrying behind his back. Seeing the skunks, he dropped to his knees. “Wow!” He laughed and began to touch them excitedly.
    Robin peeked into the basket Squirm had tried to conceal. She could see something moving beneath the cloth that was covering it. She steeled herself. “Look, we’re not supposed to take any more animals —”
    “You should talk,” Squirm said.
    Robin lifted the blanket. Cuddled together at the bottom was a nest of babies. Robin looked at their tiny sleeping bodies. “Squirrels?”
    Squirm grinned. “That wind must have knocked their nest down. Tom and I found them this morning.”
    “I hope you told him to keep his mouth shut.”
    Squirm tensed. “I’ll tell him when he comes over later to see them.”
    “He’s coming? Here? But he’ll see the bear and —”
    “So? Your friends are coming over. We’ll just swear everyone to secrecy.”
    Robin frowned. Keeping the animals secret was turning out to be as hard as keeping ants in a pocket.
    The baby squirrels were mewing for food, so Robin arranged a place for them and helped Squirm feed them. After they’d finished, she ran to the house for a shower. She tried on three different outfits and combed her hair several different ways. Finally, she threw the hairbrush into the sink. Enough. She was starting to act like her sister.
    A few minutes later, she heard Relentless barking and went outside to wave at Zo-Zo’s dad as he pulled away, leaving Zo-Zo standing there with a big pile of papers.
    “The eco-contests?” Robin asked.
    “Yup. All twenty-five of them,” Zo-Zo said. “I can’t wait to see how people did.”
    Brodie rode up just then on a new bike.
    Zo-Zo ran a finger along the shiny chrome. “Wow, your dad buy you this?”
    Brodie rolled his eyes. “You kidding? My dad only spends money on beer.” He rubbed the mirror with his sleeve. “Brittany’s dad got it for me.”
    Zo-Zo threw a glance at Robin. “You got this from Mr. Kingshot?”
    Brodie looked away. “I work for him on weekends. He gets me stuff sometimes.”
    He positioned the bike on its stand and followed them into the barn. “So, where’s this bear?”
    Zo-Zo whispered to Robin. “Maybe that’s why he hangs out with Brittany. To get stuff!”
    Robin stood still for a moment, considering this. Would Brodie do something like that? She followed Zo-Zo into the barn.
    Brodie stood in front of the bear cub’s cage. “Whoa.” His tone was hushed. “What happened to his arm?”
    Robin explained about the bear’s fall into the well.
    “Conner Kingshot wanted to kill him!” Zo-Zo said. “Isn’t that right, Robin?”
    Brodie looked troubled. “My dad hunts. He’s got a deer’s head in the garage. Freaks me out every time I go out there. This big animal head with glassy eyes, staring at me. My dad even bought me a gun. Wanted me to practice on rabbits in the backyard, but I couldn’t do it. I mean, how do you kill something as big and beautiful as a deer?” He shivered. “Or a bear? I’m probably just a gutless chicken, but —”
    A warm feeling of sympathy