Read Online Island of Shadows by Erin Hunter - Free Book Online

going back the same way, though,” Kallik pointed out. Her gaze was fixed on the hills ahead, but Lusa thought she could make out worry in her eyes. She wasn’t as excited as Lusa would have expected her to be if she thought she was really close to home.
    Is there something Kallik’s not telling me? Lusa wondered. Does she feel something bad about this island, too?
    As they trekked on, Lusa kept spotting the marks of animals in the snow: bird tracks and the pawprints of hares, and bigger prints that must have been made by other bears.
    â€œThe hunting should be good around here,” Yakone remarked.
    â€œBut how can we hunt?” Toklo demanded fiercely, speaking for the first time since leaving the shore. “Any animal might be Ujurak coming back to us again.”
    â€œBut…” Yakone sounded as confused as he always did when the bears talked about Ujurak. “You said you killed him and buried him back there.”
    Toklo shook his head savagely but didn’t respond.
    â€œIf Ujurak could come back once, he could come back again,” Lusa explained, though she wasn’t sure how to make Yakone understand when she wasn’t sure she understood herself. All she knew was that Ujurak hadn’t abandoned them when he rose from outside the cave on Star Island and took his place among the stars.
    â€œWell, then, if he comes back, we haven’t really killed him,” Yakone pointed out practically.
    â€œWe haven’t killed him forever ,” Lusa replied. “But it must hurt, being killed. None of us would want to hurt Ujurak.”
    â€œNo, but…” Yakone shook his head, baffled. “His stars are always up in the sky, aren’t they? I’ve watched you all looking out for him at night. So how can he be down here as well?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Kallik admitted. “When he was with us on our first journey, the stars were always there, too. It’s as if he can be in two places at once.”
    â€œThat’s right,” Lusa said. “Yakone, Toklo’s right when he says that any of the animals we meet could be Ujurak in another shape.”
    â€œBut how are we supposed to recognize him?” Yakone asked.
    â€œWe can’t!” Toklo burst out in a frustrated roar, halting and facing the other bears. “Ujurak always caused problems when he was alive, and he’s still causing them now that he’s dead.”
    â€œBut that’s just it. Is he really dead?” Lusa pressed herself comfortingly against Toklo’s shoulder, but the brown bear shied away from her and stood with his back turned, staring down at the snow.
    â€œI don’t know,” he replied, his voice thick and choked. “Is he? Or has he turned into stars? He’s not a brown bear anymore. Maybe he never was one.”
    Lusa knew that Toklo had tried to hide his grief and the turmoil in his mind about Ujurak’s death. He thought that he always had to be strong.
    â€œUjurak was our friend,” she murmured. “Does it really matter what he was?”
    â€œIt matters to me,” Toklo snarled. “If he really was that hare, then I killed him!”
    â€œBut you couldn’t have known,” Kallik said, her eyes warm with sympathy.
    â€œI should have known,” Toklo retorted. “Lusa did.”
    Kallik glanced at Lusa, shaking her head. There didn’t seem to be any way of jerking Toklo out of his grief and anger.
    Yakone broke the silence. “None of this helps us decide what to do now,” he stated. “We have to hunt, or starve.”
    Toklo swung around on him, his teeth bared. “Then I’ll starve,” he growled. “You can do what you want. Kill him again. What do you care? He wasn’t your friend.”
    Yakone reared back, startled. “Hey, I never said I wanted to kill him.”
    Kallik sighed, touching Yakone’s shoulder briefly with her muzzle.