Free Fire in the Sky by Erin Hunter

a bear! he roared inside his mind. I won’t forget…. I won’t forget…. I won’t forget….

CHAPTER EIGHT
Lusa
    “Wake up!”
    Lusa covered her nose with her paws and groaned.
    “Lusa! Wake up! Come on!” Toklo prodded her again. Through her half-open eyes, Lusa could see light through the walls of the snow cave, so she must have slept through the night. But it didn’t feel like long enough. She was still so tired.
    “Lusa, please!” Toklo barked. “I’ve been trying to wake you for ages . Ujurak is back!”
    “Oh,” Lusa said, struggling to open her eyes all the way. She tried to sit up and nearly fell over. Her paws felt like heavy useless fish at the ends of her legs. “Is he all right?”
    Just then Ujurak came bundling into the cave with Kallik right behind him, shoving him inside. His fur was soaking wet and he was shivering, and his eyes looked strangely unfocused, as if he were watching something inside himself instead of seeing his friends.
    Kallik and Toklo crowded around Ujurak, ushering himinto the center of the cave next to Lusa and curling beside him to warm him up. With a grateful sigh, Lusa lay back down and rested her head on her paws. Even Ujurak’s cold, wet side pressed against hers didn’t make her feel more awake.
    “Where did you go?” Kallik prompted. “You were gone for so long!”
    Ujurak stared down at his paws. “I was with a pod of other whales. I mean…a pod of whales. Not like me. Not bears.” He sounded almost as tired as Lusa felt.
    “Did you see any seals down there?” Toklo asked. “Are there any breathing holes close by?”
    “What was it like under the ice?” Kallik pressed, her eyes filled with curiosity. “Were you scared? You didn’t see any orcas, did you?”
    “Did you like being a whale?” Lusa murmured through a yawn.
    “It must be great to be able to swim so far,” Kallik said wistfully. “And to stay underwater for that long…I bet you saw all kinds of things bears never get to see!”
    Ujurak shifted on his paws. “I prefer being a bear,” he said.
    As the others kept pestering him, Lusa let herself start to drift off again. It was so cozy in here…so warm, and comfortable, and she was so tired….
    “LUSA!” Toklo shouted.
    Lusa jumped awake. Her friends were gone, and she was alone in the cave, except for Toklo’s grumpy face poking back in through the entrance.
    “What is the matter with you?” he growled. “Come on, the sun will wake you up. Get out here.”
    With a huge sigh, Lusa struggled to her paws and followed him out of the cave. She was surprised at how far up the sun was in the sky—it was at least halfway to its highest point. They must have stayed in the cave to warm Ujurak up for a while, although Lusa had slept through it all. She swung her head around to look for the small brown bear and saw him standing not too far from the crack in the ice. His head was bowed, and for a moment she worried that he might dive back into the dark water.
    “He won’t say if he saw any seals,” Toklo grumbled. “Or if there are any we could hunt around here. Absolutely useless.”
    “That’s all right,” Kallik said, sniffing the air. “I smell prey!” She nodded toward the sun.
    “Come on , Ujurak!” Toklo called. “We’re not going to get wherever you want us to go by standing around and staring into the water.”
    Lusa chuffed with laughter, but Ujurak just blinked, then turned and shambled up beside them. His paws crunched on the ice, and the shadows of the snow piles around them rippled across his brown fur.
    “Cheer up, whale-brain,” Toklo said, nudging Ujurak’s side.
    “Whales have perfectly good brains,” Ujurak retorted. He shook his head. “I mean, not as good as bear brains, of course.”
    “Well, of course!” Toklo said. He sprang after Kallik, whowas already trotting up a long snowy slope in the direction of the prey scent. Ujurak and Lusa followed more slowly after them.
    The bright sun warmed