Seekers #6: Spirits in the Stars by Erin Hunter

“Toklo, what if this is the end of our journey? Helping these bears matters as much as helping any animals.” He hesitated, then added, “Besides, they’ve been waiting for Lusa.”
    Toklo huffed contemptuously. “That’s just a BirthDen story!”
    “It feels pretty real to me!” Lusa retorted, her fur bristling with indignation.
    Kallik tickled Kissimi’s belly lightly with her claws. “We should help the white bears,” she insisted, without taking her eyes off the cub.
    “You’re just saying that because you’re a white bear,” Toklo pointed out.
    Kallik rounded on him. “That’s not true! I’d help any bears who were starving to death because their food had been poisoned.”
    She flashed back to Yakone. His eyes were so tired and scared, even though he was acting brave around the other bears.
    An unfamiliar pain quickened in Kallik’s belly at the thought of what Yakone had suffered.
    Why do I feel like this? Why is Yakone different from all the other bears?
    “Please help the bears,” she begged, turning to Lusa.
    Lusa nodded, and brushed her muzzle against Kallik’s flank. “I’m going to try,” she promised. “But I’m not doing it on my own.”
    “Of course not,” Ujurak said instantly. “We’ll help you.”
    Kallik glanced at Toklo, who still looked unconvinced. “I suppose I’ve stuck with you this far . . .” he muttered.
    “That’s great!” Lusa blinked with relief. “First we have to find somewhere safe for the seals to live.”
    “Tomorrow,” Kallik said; Kissimi’s head was drooping, and he parted his tiny jaws in a huge yawn. “Now let’s get back to the den.”
    Gray dawn light gleamed on the snow as the bears set out the following morning to find a new home for the seals. A fresh breeze made Kallik’s eyes water, and she checked that Kissimi was bundled deep into the fur on her shoulders.
    “Did any of you notice that the sky was completely empty last night?” Ujurak asked as they left the den behind. “There were no spirits—not even the faintest trace of them. No Iqniq, as the white bears call them. Could they be right, that the spirits are abandoning us?”
    Kallik felt a stab of dismay at Ujurak’s words. Could my mother really be leaving me, now that we’re so close to the end of our journey?
    Desperately she tried to hear Nisa’s voice on the wind, or recall the touch of her fur, but there was only an empty silence.
    Mother, please don’t—
    Kallik’s frantic thoughts broke off as she realized that Kissimi was slipping off her shoulders. Halting, she boosted him back up. “Hold tight, little one,” she said gently, then hurried to catch up with her friends.
    Avoiding the no-claw denning area, they headed for the edge of the cliff not far away from where they had first seen Sura dragging her seal along.
    Lusa pointed with one paw. “The seal hunting ground is that way.”
    “Then we should go the other way,” Toklo suggested. “As far away from that stinking stuff as we can get to find clean water.”
    He took the lead along the edge of the island. Worried that Kissimi might fall, Kallik kept well away from the precipice, while the others searched for a way down to the shore.
    “We could try here,” Toklo reported, peering down over a dip in the cliffs. “I’ll go first, and for the spirits’ sake watch where you’re putting your paws.”
    He vanished over the cliff edge with Lusa after him and Ujurak a few moments behind. Kallik turned her head to look up at Kissimi. “Remember I told you to hold tight?” she asked. “It’s going to get bumpy now, but it won’t be for long.”
    Kissimi squeaked a reply as Kallik began edging down the broken rocks to the shore below. The others were waiting for her. She reflected that she would have climbed down quickly only a few days before, but that now she had her cub’s safety to think about.
    “Nice job,” Ujurak murmured as she reached the safety of the beach. He touched his nose to