The Quest Begins by Erin Hunter

birds. Without Nisa’s help, how would she know what to eat? She remembered Nisa’s stories about grass and berries, but she couldn’t see any “green whiskers” growing out of the ground. Would she recognize them if she saw them?
    She kept walking, watching the rocks get bigger as she got closer. Finally she reached a place where there was no more ice—nothing but water from here until the land. This was it…the place her mother had been leading them to. She had never intended for Kallik to come here alone.
    Kallik dove into the water and paddled hard. The waves picked her up and drove her forward, then sucked her back. They were stronger than anything, even her mother’s paws, and she couldn’t control where she was going at all.
    â€œSpirits of the white bears!” she called, gasping as water poured into her mouth and nose. “If you haven’t melted into the sky yet—if any of you are left in the water—please help me before you go.” Large floating pieces of ice pounded her on every side as she swam closer and closer to the rocky shore. She was nearly there when a wave seized her and smashed her into a large rock. A jolt of pain shot through her; she scrambled with her claws, trying to grip on to the rock, but the surfdragged her back into the open water again, shoving her under. Salty water surged over her muzzle, and she struggled desperately forward, scraping her claws on the rock as she wrapped all four paws around it.
    I can’t die now! she thought. Taqqiq might be waiting for me on land—he might be only bearlengths away.
    It took all the strength she had to haul herself onto the top of the boulder, but finally she heaved herself free of the sea and stood, panting for breath, on the flat, hard rock. From there she could jump to the next rock, and then clamber over smaller ones until at last she stood onshore, her paws sinking into a pebbly brown surface that she guessed was the dirt her mother had told her about.
    She shook the water out of her fur and breathed in deeply.
    She’d made it. She was finally on land.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Lusa
    Snow had fallen overnight, leaving the ground soggy and cold as it squelched between Lusa’s claws. Dirt clung to her fur whenever she rolled around playing with Yogi, and as they raced to get to their food, they left long streaks of churned-up mud behind them.
    Lusa shook herself, trying to get some of the mud out of her fur. She trotted over to her mother, who was lying limply under the tallest tree. Ashia had been eating less and less for days, and she was starting to look thin. Lusa buried her nose in her mother’s fur, which was no longer glossy and sleek but patchy.
    â€œMother?” Lusa whispered. “Are you all right?”
    â€œI remember a pool of water,” Ashia said, blinking. “Where is it? It was right there…and there were other bears…a cub named Ben, I think….”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Lusa asked, scared. “There’s no pool here. What cub? Mother, what’s wrong?”
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    â€œShe’s thinking of the first zoo she lived in,” Stella said, coming up beside Lusa.
    â€œBut why?” Lusa asked. “Doesn’t she like it here anymore?”
    Ashia pressed her paws to her muzzle, staring up at Lusa. “Who are you?” she asked. “You look like me. Where are the others?”
    â€œI’m your cub. Don’t you remember?” Lusa pleaded.
    â€œShe’s just confused,” Stella said. “Maybe she’s tired. We should let her sleep.”
    â€œDon’t you want to come into the den?” Lusa asked her mother. Night was falling, and Lusa knew it would be much warmer inside the stone walls. She patted her mother’s paws with her own. “It’s time to sleep. Let’s go inside.”
    Ashia covered her face with her paws and mumbled something, rolling away from Lusa.
    â€œIt looks