Fire in the Sky Read Online Free PDF Page B

thoughts on how much farther it is to this seal?”
    Kallik pressed herself up to Lusa. The little black bear was swaying on her paws, her eyes rolling with exhaustion. “I think it’s more important to find shelter now,” Kallik said. “I’ll hunt first thing tomorrow.”
    “Shelter!” Toklo barked, looking around. “There is no shelter out here!”
    “Maybe not the kind you’re used to,” Kallik said. “But here…this will work.” She led the way over to a tall mound of compacted snow, a few pawlengths higher than her head. She tried to remember how Nisa had built their dens. Working steadily, she scooped out pawfuls of snow, packing down the sides so it didn’t collapse in. Soon she had hollowed out a cave in the snow, just big enough for the four of them.
    Lusa tilted her head doubtfully. “We’re going to sleep inside the snow?” she said. “That sounds…freezing.”
    “No, it’s lovely and warm,” Kallik reassured her. “And you’llbe out of the wind. Trust me.”
    Lusa didn’t argue. She climbed inside the cave and curled up in the center, away from the snowy walls. Kallik followed her in and bundled up beside her, trying to share as much of her warmth as she could. She didn’t feel the cold at all yet. To her, it was a relief not to be hot, not to have dirt clinging to her paws all the time.
    Toklo and Ujurak squeezed in next to them until the small space was full of fur. Kallik scraped snow across the entrance until they were neatly tucked in. The heat from their bodies warmed the air inside the cave quickly.
    “Today was fun,” Lusa murmured sleepily. “I like your ice, Kallik.”
    Kallik had a feeling Lusa was just being kind, but she nuzzled her friend’s side in appreciation.
    “I guess it is warm enough in here,” Toklo snorted, resting his head on Lusa’s back. “Surprisingly.”
    Kallik felt Ujurak’s snout flop across her back paws, and Lusa’s ears flicking next to her chin. As she drifted off to sleep, listening to the storm grow stronger outside, she thought of the bear spirits dancing in the sky above them. Like the spirits under their paws, the ones in the sky would watch over them as well.
    This was right. The ice was where they were meant to be.
     
    The next morning dawned bright and clear. The snowstorm had passed, leaving drifts of sparkling snow across the ice and a brilliant blue sky overhead. Kallik shouldered her way out ofthe cave, shaking snow off her paws. She took a deep breath. It was beautiful. How could the others not love it here?
    “I’m still hungry,” Toklo grumbled from inside the makeshift den. “Lusa, would you wake up already?”
    Kallik peeked back in and saw him prodding the sleeping black bear with his paw. Ujurak joined in, nosing her from the other side, until Lusa finally blinked awake and rubbed her snout.
    “Great thistles, you’re like bees in my fur,” she complained to the brown bears. “Can’t I sleep just a bit longer?” She buried her head in her paws again.
    “No!” Toklo barked, shoving her with his muzzle. “I’m hungry! Get up so we can eat!”
    “All right, all right, keep your fur on,” Lusa said with a sigh. She slowly got to her paws and stumbled outside, followed by Ujurak and Toklo. “Brown bears,” Lusa whispered to Kallik, shaking her head. “Remind me why we tried so hard to find them again?”
    Kallik woofed with amusement. “Don’t worry about Toklo,” she said. “I’ll find us a seal today. I know I will!”
    She could smell the scent that she’d been following last night; it seemed much closer now that the storm had passed and the air was clear. Keeping an eye on the spirit-bubbles under her paws, Kallik led the way across the snow. They’d been walking only for a short while when she spotted what she was looking for—a hole in the ice. “Look,” she hissed.
    “What is it?” Toklo asked.
    “A seal hole. Wait here.”
    The others sat down and watched her creep across the ice, putting