Free Secrets of Bearhaven by K.E. Rocha

the hallway, the room was filled with tables of electronic equipment. Each table was equipped with a robotic arm, and at the end of each robotic arm was a mechanical replica of a human hand. Creepy.
    Sure that nobody was inside, Spencer stepped into the room to get a closer look. The metal parts and wires spread across the tables reminded him of his computer project, lying untouched and unassembled on his desk at home. Of course. They need the robotic hands because huge bear paws can’t work with such small mechanics. Maybe Professor Weaver could give him a tour of the Lab later. If he wasn’t too mad that Spencer had gotten in on his own.
    Poking his head back out into the hallway, Spencer checked for bears, then left the room. As cool as the Lab was, he had to find that Bear Council meeting.
    Spencer crept down the hallway, passing a few closed doors before finding another open one. He flattened himself against the wall, and then leaned over just enough to peek inside. Quickly, he pulled back, his pulse racing. The room wasn’t empty, and it didn’t look anything like the last one.
    “Yeah, I’ve got her on camera two,” a voice said. Spencer guessed the speaker was the bear whose back was turned to the door. There was a reply, but Spencer couldn’t make out the words: It was fainter, and even more electronic. He must be using the BEAR-COM like Professor Weaver and B.D. did last night. Like walkie-talkies. “More fog to the northeast perimeter,” the bear said. “Yes, I’m sure. ”
    Spencer leaned in to get another glimpse of the room. He looked beyond the bear to a long, crescent-shaped console lined with oversized computer monitors. His eyes immediately went to the second screen in the row.
    The monitor showed a girl in the woods. He thought she might be a little older than him, though not much—but what was she doing?
    “Where’s that fog?” the bear boomed into his BEAR-COM, making Spencer jump. “She’s taking more photographs.”
    The bear was right. The girl on screen was aiming her phone at the plants and roots at her feet and taking pictures. She reached for the pen that was tucked behind one ear, then suddenly, it got harder for Spencer to see her. Within seconds, the image on the screen was almost totally obscured by silvery fog. The fog! The same fog that Spencerhad gotten caught in last night. It was being produced by the bears!
    “Aldo,” said a gruff voice from a part of the room that Spencer couldn’t see. He pulled back, pulse racing, and started to slide down the hallway, staying flat against the wall.
    “What’s going on here?”
    “Nothing to worry about. It’s definitely Kirby this time. Just sent more—” The answer was cut off by a low growl.
    “No. Here.”
    B.D. stepped into the hallway.

“Aldo, have you had the pleasure of meeting Spencer Plain?” B.D. asked as he maneuvered his massive body in a way that left Spencer no choice but to enter the room. Spencer noticed the silver cuffs on B.D.’s front legs. The bear hadn’t been wearing them when they’d met in the woods yesterday, and somehow, the cuffs of the Bear Guard made B.D. look even more powerful. Spencer gulped.
    “Uh, nice to meet you,” he said to Aldo, who was staring at him accusingly. “You’re one of the Weavers, right?”
    “He is also new to the guard,” B.D. said gruffly. “Obviously. Since yesterday he so skillfully sent fog down on both of us, and today he chose to focus on a child miles away in the woods, rather than the one right here, who broke in under his nose.”
    Aldo mumbled an apology and cast a dejected glance back at the fogged screen of camera two.
    “Who is that girl?” The moment he’d asked, Spencer regretted it. Apparently B.D. didn’t think he was in a position to be asking anything.
    “I don’t make a habit of sharing security concerns with trespassers,” B.D. answered tersely. “We can discuss how yougot into this facility later. It seems you are smarter and more