The Melting Sea by Erin Hunter Page A

know that he’s always with us,” she said.
    Toklo grunted. “It’s not the same.” Hesitating, he added more fiercely, “Do you promise you’re telling the truth?”
    Lusa drew in a shocked breath. “Of course! Ujurak is watching over us all,” she insisted. “But I was the one who got into trouble and needed his help.”
    Yakone nudged Kallik and drew her a little ways away. “Do you believe Lusa?” he asked.
    â€œOf course I do,” Kallik replied. “Ujurak would never abandon us.”
    Yakone looked doubtful. “He wasn’t there when the no-claws chased us on their pawsticks.”
    â€œWe saved ourselves that time, didn’t we?” Kallik retorted, determined not to hear a word said against Ujurak.
    Yakone sighed, nodding. “I know how important Ujurak was to you. I liked him too. I just don’t want you to put yourself in danger because you think he’ll save you every time.”
    â€œI won’t,” Kallik promised. And I hope the others won’t either , she added silently to herself.
    Toklo padded back to the white bears with Lusa limping by his side. “It’s time we headed for the Melting Sea,” he announced.
    â€œWe can’t,” Kallik objected. “Lusa needs to rest.”
    Toklo glanced at Lusa, clearly realizing that Kallik was right, though he said nothing.
    â€œWe need food, too,” Yakone pointed out, “or none of us will be strong enough to travel. Look, suppose Kallik and I—”
    â€œI told you before, we’re not splitting up,” Toklo interrupted, a trace of aggressiveness in his tone. “Come on, Lusa, I’ll carry you.”
    Lusa looked embarrassed, but she didn’t object as Kallik gave her a boost onto Toklo’s shoulders. “I’ll be fine soon,” she insisted, “and maybe you could find this herb that Ujurak told me about. He says it grows beside streams under the snow and will help me feel better.”
    â€œWhat does it look like?” Yakone asked.
    â€œIt’s a low-growing plant, with narrow, grayish leaves,” Lusa told him, remembering how Ujurak had described it.
    â€œSure, we’ll find that for you,” Yakone promised. “Come on, Kallik. Let’s look.”
    â€œJust don’t go wandering off and get lost,” Toklo warned them.
    â€œWe won’t,” Kallik assured him as she followed Yakone, glad that there was something she could do for Lusa.
    Yakone halted when they had padded several bearlengths away from Toklo and Lusa. “We have to find a stream running through the snow. Do you know how to do that?”
    â€œYou’re the expert,” Kallik replied.
    â€œBut you’re learning.” Yakone’s eyes were filled with amused affection. “Try to show me what you know.”
    â€œOkay.” Kallik raised her head and tried to pick up the scent of running water, but the scent of snow, firebeasts, and the distant salt tang of the Melting Sea drowned out anything else she might have smelled.
    So I need to look at the surface of the snow. There have to be signs... .
    Glancing at Yakone, she padded forward, keeping pace with the distant Toklo, who was trudging onward with Lusa on his shoulders. At first she thought the ground all looked the same under its covering of snow, except for humps that meant there were buried rocks or bushes.
    Yakone was watching her expectantly, and Kallik realized that he had already spotted what they were looking for. He knows I can find it , she thought with a twinge of excitement.
    Beginning to enjoy the puzzle, Kallik scanned the ground more carefully. At length she noticed that some of the humps in the snow formed a curving line. Bushes often grow on the banks of a stream … Beyond the humps was a swath of flat snow, about a bearlength wide, smoother than the surrounding ground and following the same curve.
    â€œOver there!”