Seekers #6: Spirits in the Stars by Erin Hunter Page A

Kissimi’s tiny one. “Well done, little cub. You’re brave!”
    Kallik stared out across the frozen sea as she and her friends made their way along the beach. She felt they needed to get much farther away from the cove with the leaking pipe before they could be sure that the water was free of poison.
    Then, rounding a spur of rock jutting out from the cliff face, they found the way blocked by a pile of boulders stretching for many bearlengths above their heads.
    Toklo let out a growl of frustration. “We can’t climb that!”
    “Then we’ll have to climb the cliff again,” Ujurak said calmly. “I think I saw a place just back here.”
    Kallik’s shoulders drooped as she retraced her steps, padding behind Ujurak. Her legs ached with weariness, and her belly was grumbling for prey. Kissimi needs food, too.
    Ujurak led them to a place where there was a deep cleft in the cliff face, full of debris. “We should be able to claw our way up here,” he suggested.
    Without waiting for a response, he pushed his way into the cleft and scrambled upward, sending a shower of grit and pebbles and melting snow down on the bears behind him.
    “Ugh!” Lusa exclaimed, flicking dirt off her fur.
    She began to climb after Ujurak. Kallik waited for her to get well ahead before she started to follow, warning Kissimi again to hold on tight.
    “I’ll be right behind you,” Toklo said. “If he falls, I’ll catch him.”
    Kallik flashed the big grizzly a grateful look. Toklo might be grumpy, but I know I can trust him.
    She scrabbled her way to the cliff top, barely squeezing between the narrow walls of the cleft. Kissimi clung to her shoulders, squeaking excitedly as if this was a big adventure.
    Not long after they regained the top of the cliff, the land fell away steeply into a gorge, where bare, gray boulders poked up out of the snow. The bears half slid, half scrambled down into the bottom and hauled themselves up the other side.
    “We’ve got to get back to the beach,” Lusa panted. “We’ll never find a home for the seals at this rate.”
    “And we need to hunt,” Toklo added. “If we don’t eat, we’ll be too weak to help the other bears.”
    He headed toward the sea again. Kallik realized that the ground was sloping downward more gently here, and soon they came in sight of a huge bay, a wide half circle like an enormous bite out of the land. At each side the cliffs gradually sank to meet the shore, and between them a frozen river ran into the sea.
    “This looks promising,” Ujurak said.
    Lusa’s eyes were bright and optimistic. “It looks great!”
    Their weariness vanishing, all the bears picked up speed until they were racing down the slope to the edge of the river. Kallik loved the feeling of cold air flowing through her pelt and the keen scent of the ice.
    They reached the riverbank a few bearlengths away from the shore. Snow-laden plants hung over the surface, and the air was filled with a soft gurgling sound from the river water flowing underneath the ice. Kallik took a long breath and let it out again in a sigh.
    It’s so peaceful here. I hope we’ve found the right place for the seals.
    Ujurak headed farther down the beach, while Kissimi crouched down at the very edge of the river and reached out with one paw to pat the frozen surface. “Ice!” he squeaked. “Ice!”
    Kallik gasped with surprise. “Hey, did you hear that?” she exclaimed. “Kissimi said ice !”
    “He’s so clever!” Lusa marveled.
    Toklo groaned. “I suppose now he’ll never stop talking. Just like a certain annoying black bear.”
    Lusa turned around and kicked out with her hindpaws, showering snow over Toklo. “I’ll show you how I can be really annoying!”
    She dashed off, following Ujurak, and Toklo lumbered after her.
    Meanwhile Kissimi was still crouching over the river, peering in fascination at the shapes made by the flowing water.
    “Stay here and play, little one,” Kallik told him. “Don’t wander away.