Island of Shadows
Authors: Erin Hunter
SEEKERS
ISLAND OF SHADOWS
ERIN
HUNTER
HARPER
AN IMPRINT OF
HARPERCOLLINS
PUBLISHERS
Special thanks to Cherith Baldry
Excerpt from Seekers: Return to the Wild Book 2: The Melting Sea
Excerpt from Warriors: Omen of the Stars Book 5: The Forgotten Warrior
Lusa
Excitement tingled through Lusa's paws as
she padded down the snow-covered beach. Ice stretched ahead of her, flat, sparkly white, unchanging as far as the horizon. She didn't belong hereâno black bears didâyet here she was, walking confidently onto the frozen ocean beside a brown bear and two white bears. Ujurak had gone, but Yakone, a white bear from Star Island, had joined Lusa, Kallik, and Toklo. They were still four. And a new journey lay ahead: a journey that would take them back home.
Glancing over her shoulder, Lusa saw the low hills of Star Island looming dark beneath the mauve clouds. The outlines of the white bears who lived there were growing smaller with each pawstep.
Good-bye
, she thought, with a twinge of regret that she would never see them again. Her home lay among trees, green leaves, and sun-warmed grass, a long, long way from this place of ice and wind as sharp as claws.
Lusa wondered if Yakone was feeling regret, too. The bears of Star Island were his family, yet he had chosen to leave them so that he could be with Kallik. But he was striding along resolutely beside Kallik, his unusual red-shaded pelt glowing in the sunrise, and he didn't look back.
Toklo plodded along at the front of the little group, his head down. He looked exhausted, but Lusa knew that exhaustion was not what made his steps drag and kept his eyes on his paws and his shoulders hunched.
He's grieving for Ujurak.
Their friend had died saving them from an avalanche. Lusa grieved for him, too, but she clung to the certainty that it hadn't been the end of Ujurak's life, not really. The achingly familiar shape of the bear who had led them all the way to Star Island had returned with stars in his fur, skimming over the snow and soaring up into the sky with his mother, Silaluk. Two starry bears making patterns in the sky forever, following the endless circle of Arcturus, the constant star. Lusa knew that Ujurak would be with them always. But she wasn't sure if Toklo felt the same. A cold claw of pain seemed to close around her heart, and she wished that she could do something to help him.
Maybe if I distracted himâ¦.
“Hey, Toklo!” Lusa called, bounding forward past Kallik and Yakone until she reached the grizzly's side. “Do you think we should hunt now?”
Toklo started, as if Lusa's voice had dragged him back from somewhere far away. “What?”
“I said, should we hunt now?” This close to shore, they might pick up a seal above the ice, or even a young walrus.
Toklo gave her a brief glance before trudging on. “No. It'll be dark soon. We need to travel while we can.”
Then it'll be too dark to hunt.
Lusa bit the words back. It wasn't the time to start arguing. But she wanted to help Toklo wrench his thoughts away from the friend he was convinced he had lost.
“Do you think geese ever come down to rest on the ice?” she asked.
This time Toklo didn't even look at her. “Don't be bee-brained,” he said scathingly. “Why would they do that? Geese find their food on
land
.” He quickened his pace to leave her behind.
Lusa gazed sadly after him. Most times when Toklo was in a grouchy mood, she would give as good as she got, or tease him out of his bad temper. But this time his pain was too deep to deal with lightly.
Best to leave him alone
, she decided.
For now, anyway.
As Star Island dwindled behind the bears, the short snow-sky day faded into shadows that seemed to grow up from the ice and reach down from the sky until the whole white world was swallowed in shades of gray and black. When Lusa looked back, the last traces of the hills that had become so familiar had vanished into the twilight. Star spirits began to appear overhead, and the silver moon hung close to the horizon like a shining claw. The bears trekked between snowbanks that glimmered in the pale light, reaching above their backs in strange shapes formed by the scouring wind.
“It's time we stopped for the night,” Kallik announced, halting at the foot of a deep drift. “This looks like a good place to make a den.”
“I'll help you dig,” Yakone offered. He began to scrape at the bottom of the snowbank.
Lusa watched the two white bears as they burrowed vigorously into the snow. This would be Yakone's first night away from his family, away from the permanent den where he had been raised. Yet he seemed unfazedâenthusiastic, even, as he helped Kallik carve a shallow niche that would keep off the worst of the wind. The white bears' heads were close together now as they scraped at the harder, gritty snow underneath the fluffy top layer. Yakone said something that made Kallik huff with amusement, and she flicked a pawful of snow at him in response.
Lusa turned away, not wanting to eavesdrop. A pang of sorrow clawed once more at her heart when she spotted Toklo standing a little way off, watching the white bears without saying anything. After a moment he turned his back on Kallik and Yakone and raised his head to fix his gaze on the stars.
Looking up, Lusa made out the shining shape of Silaluk, the Great Bear, and close to her side the Little Bear, Ujurak. Seeing him there made her feel safe, because she knew that their friend was watching over them. It helped to comfort her grief.
But there was no comfort for Toklo. All he knew was that his friend, the other brown bear on this strange and endless journey, had left them. His bleak gaze announced his loneliness to Lusa as clearly as if he had put it into words.
“We're here, Toklo,” she murmured, too faintly for the brown bear to hear. “You're
not
alone.”
She knew that Toklo had been closer to Ujurak than any of them; he had taken on the responsibility of protecting the smaller brown bear.
Toklo felt like he failed when Ujurak died
, Lusa thought.
He's wrong, but how can any bear make him understand that?
Kallik's cheerful voice sounded behind her. “The den's nearly ready.”
Lusa turned to see the white she-bear backing out of the cave that she and Yakone had dug into the snow. Kallik shook herself, scattering clots of snow from her fur. “Are you okay, Lusa?” she asked. “You look worried.”
Lusa glanced toward Toklo, still staring up at the stars. “He's missing Ujurak. I wish I knew what to say to him.”
Kallik gazed at Toklo for a moment, then shook her head with a trace of exasperation in her eyes. “We're all missing Ujurak,” she responded. “But we know that he's not really dead.”
“Toklo doesn't see it like that,” Lusa pointed out.
“I know.” Kallik's voice softened for a moment. “It's hard out here without Ujurak. But think what we've achieved together! We destroyed the oil rig and brought the spirits back so the wild will be safe. Toklo should remember that.”
“Toklo just remembers that Ujurak gave his life for us.”
While Lusa was speaking, Yakone emerged from the den, thrusting heaps of newly dug snow aside with strong paws. Kallik padded toward him, then glanced back over her shoulder at Lusa.
“Ujurak has gone home,” she said. “He's happy now, with his star mother. There's nothing for Toklo or any other bear to worry about.”