‘Something guiding you?’ Lusa echoed. ‘Is it bear-spirits?’ She raised her head to gaze up at where the Bear Watcher blazed in the cold sky. ‘Did they bring us here?’

Ujurak nodded, his gaze following Lusa’s to the stars. ‘The Great Bear, Arcturus, watches over us always,’ he whispered. ‘She has brought us here to save the wild.’

‘We’re really going to do it,’ Lusa whispered. ‘We’re going to save the wild.’

Toklo glanced from Lusa to Ujurak and back again. ‘I’ve got this awful feeling that I’m about to find out what you’re talking about.’

Lusa turned to him. ‘Toklo, you remember when I was hurt on Smoke Mountain, and we all thought I was going to die?’ Toklo gave her a curt nod. ‘Well, I had a dream. I thought I was back in the Bear Bowl, with my mother and King and Yogi.’

Toklo let his breath huff out. ‘Not the Bear Bowl again!’

‘My mother said I couldn’t die. I had to come back because I had a task to do. I had to save the wild.’

‘You?’ Toklo said disbelievingly. ‘All on your own?’

Lusa ducked her head. ‘I know . . . I thought it was impossible too. But I’m not alone now. And if the bear spirits are helping us, there’s nothing we can’t do!’

Kallik gazed in awe at her friend. She envied her courage and her certainty. I can’t feel it like you do, she thought to herself. But if there’s any way I can help you, I will.

‘The wild is in great danger,’ Ujurak went on. ‘The flat-faces are so desperate for oil that they’ll spread their buildings and their BlackPaths everywhere. The flat-faces won’t stop until everything is destroyed.’

A cold wind whispered over the shingle, making them all shiver. Toklo fluffed out his fur, as if he was trying to deny that the cold outside had awoken the icy touch of fear within.

I know how he feels, thought Kallik.

‘So where do we go now?’ Lusa said. ‘What should we do?’

‘I don’t know,’ Ujurak admitted. ‘We wait for a sign.’

Kallik took a step back as Toklo’s fear and impatience erupted. ‘A sign!’ he barked scornfully. ‘Oh, really? And what sort of sign are we looking for, Ujurak? Are those four big rocks over there a sign? Are these leaves a sign?’ He tore a mouthful from one of the spiky bushes and shoved the sprays of foliage into Ujurak’s face.

‘Toklo, don’t –’ Kallik began.

Toklo swept on, ignoring her. ‘Oh, look, there are four mountain peaks over there! Does that mean four bears? Oh, yes, that must mean we’re supposed to go that way!’

He reared up on his hindpaws and glared up at the stars. ‘Hey, spirits!’ he roared. ‘Are you there? Are you listening, star-bear? What are we supposed to do? Where should we go?’