Free Island of Shadows by Erin Hunter Page A

pathway. They stood a moment looking around, muttered something to each other, then shrugged and vanished the way they had come, taking the torn vine stuff with them.
    â€œOkay,” Toklo murmured. “We can go.”
    â€œI don’t know the way,” Lusa said, standing up and shaking snow from her pelt. “Have you seen Kallik and Yakone?”
    â€œNo, but I know the bird didn’t get them,” Toklo replied. “We’ll find them.” He tried to sound confident for Lusa’s sake, though privately he felt doubtful. What will we do if we’ve lost Kallik and Yakone? “I’m guessing they’ll go back to the place where we scattered,” he went on. “I think it’s this way.”
    He led Lusa alongside the BlackPath, keeping to the shadows and hiding behind the drifts of snow when a firebeast snarled past. Creeping around a corner, Toklo found himself on the edge of an open space where several firebeasts crouched in rows. Harsh yellow light poured down from thin metal stalks that loomed over them. Toklo’s paws tingled with apprehension.
    â€œI think they’re asleep,” Lusa whispered, peering around his shoulder.
    â€œWe still have to get past them,” Toklo muttered. “Follow me, and if you think they’re waking up, run.”
    Gagging on the acrid tang of firebeasts and oil, Toklo slunk between two of the rows. The ground underpaw was hard, covered in snowmelt with an oily slick on the surface. He tensed at the sound of flat-face voices in the distance, but the firebeasts didn’t stir. Relief flooded over him as he reached the dark opening of a pathway at the other side.
    Toklo raised his snout to sniff the air, but he couldn’t distinguish any trace of bear beyond the overwhelming reek of firebeasts. “Kallik!” He raised his voice into a roar. “Yakone!”
    He thought there might have been a faint answering roar, but it was drowned out by flat-face shouting and the thump of approaching footsteps.
    â€œThey heard us!” Lusa exclaimed.
    â€œThis way!”
    Toklo bundled Lusa in front of him and fled down the pathway and around the next corner. The walls of a huge den rose up on one side, flat and featureless. On the other side was more piled snow, lining a BlackPath that seemed to lead to the edge of the denning place.
    â€œThank Arcturus!” Lusa panted, scrambling through the snow piles toward the pale outline of the hills beyond.
    â€œLusa! Toklo!”
    Toklo spun around at the sound of Kallik’s voice. The white she-bear rose from behind a huge snowdrift, scattering snow as she bounded toward them. Yakone followed her more slowly.
    â€œKallik!” Lusa hurried over to her friend and butted her head into Kallik’s shoulder. “I can’t believe we found you!”
    â€œSame here,” Kallik replied, giving Lusa an affectionate nudge. “We were afraid the big metal bird had gotten you.”
    Toklo greeted the two white bears with a rumble deep in his throat. He didn’t want to admit how pleased he was to see them again. At least to see Kallik again.
    â€œWe’d better get out of here,” he said.
    â€œWhat about food?” Lusa asked, glancing back the way they had come.
    â€œYou’re not suggesting going back there?” Toklo growled. “If you want the flat-faces to catch you again, go ahead. The rest of us are heading for the ridge.”
    Lusa nodded reluctantly. “Okay. I suppose you’re right.”
    Toklo led the way past the last of the dens, picking up the pace until they were moving at a fast trot. He breathed easier with every pawstep that took him away from this unnatural place.
    Behind him he heard Kallik ask, “What did Toklo mean, catch you again ?”
    â€œTwo flat-faces trapped me in some sort of mesh,” Lusa explained.
    â€œIt seems weird that they’d do that instead of hurting you with firesticks,”