Island of Shadows by Erin Hunter Page A

shoulder, she couldn’t see them in the pitch darkness.
    â€œToklo!” she called again, her voice sounding puny and insignificant in the black depths ahead of her. “Toklo, it’s me, Lusa! Are you there?”
    Still no reply. Stifling a whimper of fear, Lusa plodded on. For a while she didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. She could see nothing, and she could hear nothing except for the pad of her own paws and the paws of her friends behind her, and now and then a drip of water that seemed to echo unnaturally loudly.
    Then Lusa began to realize that the darkness wasn’t quite as thick as before. A pale gray light was seeping down the tunnel in front of her, growing brighter as she walked forward. There was enough light that soon she could see the tunnel walls and roof, still lined with slabs of wood holding back the earth and stone, and the smooth brown floor that was littered with twisted scraps of metal glinting in the half-light. There was only one creature Lusa knew that would leave behind something like that.
    â€œWhy were flat-faces all the way down here?” she wondered out loud. “What were they doing?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Kallik pressed up close behind Lusa as the light grew stronger. “I hope we don’t meet any.”
    A few pawsteps farther on, Lusa discovered the source of the light. High above her head was a ragged-edged hole, partly blocked with snow that turned the light shining through it to pale silver.
    â€œIs that where Toklo fell through?” Kallik asked. “Why isn’t he here?” She raised her voice. “Toklo!”
    â€œNo, this can’t be the place,” Lusa responded. “There hasn’t been time for snow to block Toklo’s hole again. And there’s no fresh snowfall down here. That must be a different hole.”
    Kallik sighed. “How many holes are there?”
    Yakone stretched his neck out and pressed his snout reassuringly against her side. “Don’t worry. We’ll find Toklo.”
    For a moment all three bears stood gazing up at the hole, as if it might tell them something. Lusa was the first to break away, though her heart sank as the light began to die away behind them again, leaving them to face the unbroken darkness once more.
    Before the last of the light had vanished, Lusa became aware of faintly moving air ruffling her fur, and she halted at a spot where the tunnel they had been following split into two. A slight breeze, barely noticeable, came from one of them.
    â€œNow what do we do?” she wailed, gazing in confusion from one dark hole to the other. “How do we know which way to go?”
    Kallik squeezed past her and sniffed at one of the openings, then the other, before turning back to Lusa and shaking her head hopelessly. “There’s no scent of bear either way.”
    Turning back toward the nearer of the two tunnels, she let out a roar. “Toklo!”
    Lusa waited, her belly churning with anxiety, until the sound had died away, then tried the other tunnel. “Toklo! Please—answer us!”
    But there was no sound except the eerie echoes of Lusa’s voice, nothing to tell them which tunnel they should follow.
    â€œLet’s think,” Yakone said. His calm voice helped to draw Lusa back from the edge of panic. “The tunnel has led us straight so far…. That means Toklo should be somewhere in that direction.” He pointed with one paw to the nearer tunnel.
    â€œAre you sure?” Kallik asked doubtfully. “I’d have thought he’d be over here.” She angled her snout toward the other tunnel. “This is where the breeze is coming from.”
    Lusa wanted to stamp her paws with frustration. “We can’t stand here forever!” she burst out. “If Toklo’s hurt, we don’t know how much time he has left. We have to choose.”
    â€œThat way, then.” Kallik pointed toward the tunnel