Smoke Mountain by Erin Hunter Page B

together they set off towards the Big River. Lusa noticed that Kallik turned to look back once. Her eyes were full of sadness and her ears pricked forward hopefully. But she shook herself and kept walking, away from her brother and the other white bears. Lusa wondered if she could be that strong.
    Toklo took the lead, as usual, with Ujurak right behind him. Lusa padded next to Kallik. They were quiet for a long time. Lusa wasn’t sure what to say. The smells and sounds of the denning place grew stronger as they drew closer.
    â€˜Ujurak’s been trying to teach me to read the signs that lead us on our path,’ Lusa said finally. ‘I think finding you was a sign, actually. Don’t you? I mean, if we’re going to find the place where all bears canlive happily, then we should have one of each kind of bear – one black, one brown, one white – and now we do.’
    â€˜I didn’t even know there
were
brown and black bears until I met you all,’ Kallik admitted. ‘I only knew about white bears. What if there are other kinds of bears we haven’t met yet?’
    â€˜Other kinds of bears!’ Lusa exclaimed. ‘Like what – green bears? Pink bears?’
    â€˜Maybe bears that are black
and
white!’ Kallik said.
    â€˜I think that would look very elegant,’ Lusa teased.
    â€˜Would you two hush up back there?’ Toklo called. ‘Chatter, chatter, chatter! Are you bears or are you magpies?’
    Lusa and Kallik exchanged amused looks. Then Kallik’s eyes darkened. ‘Lusa,
I
saw a sign. I’m sure of it.’
    â€˜You did?’ Lusa stared at her in amazement. ‘When?’
    â€˜This morning,’ Kallik said. ‘One of the stars in the sky was blinking. And it was
moving
– in the same direction we’re going! I think it was a message from the spirits to tell us we’re going the right way.’
    Lusa bounced on her paws. ‘I bet you’re right! That sounds exactly like a sign!’
    It was getting close to sunhigh when they reached a BlackPath on the outskirts of the flat-face denning place. This cluster of dens was much smaller than the one around the Bear Bowl where Lusa had grown up. But it smelled strongly of flat-faces and firebeasts, and they could hear the clatter and hum of sounds that always came from flat-face dens. Lusa’s fur felt as if it were crackling from the sharp energy in the air. She shook herself from nose to tail.
    They stopped in the shadow of a tree that was surrounded by bramble bushes. Lusa touched her nose to the bark, wondering if the spirit inside was bothered by having the flat-face denning place so near by. There were several trees on this side of the BlackPath, but not many on the other side, around the dens.
    â€˜Let’s hide in here until it gets darker,’ Toklo suggested, clawing some of the brambles aside. ‘It’ll be easier to get through to the Big River when more of the flat-faces and firebeasts are sleeping.’
    â€˜If only it stayed darker for longer,’ Ujurak saidnervously. ‘I hope we can get across the river before they all wake up.’
    Lusa’s belly rumbled as she crawled into the dark space under the bushes. She felt hot and grubby and absolutely starving. Kallik’s heavy fur pressed against hers as they squeezed out of sight of the BlackPath, and Lusa wished briefly that she could throw herself into Great Bear Lake just for a moment. Then her fur might not be so dusty and itchy.
    There’s plenty of swimming ahead
, she reminded herself, thinking of what Qopuk had said about the vast, dangerous Big River.
Be careful what you wish for
.

CHAPTER TEN:
Lusa
    T he four bears settled down, and Lusa drowsed with her head on her paws, listening to the rumble of firebeasts a few bearlengths away. Their smell muddled all her senses, and her half-waking dreams were full of their glowing eyes as they prowled. Every so often, she