“I’m not scared,” Kallik insisted. “They’re trapped inside the ice, aren’t they? So they can’t come out and hurt me.”

“Not unless the ice melts,” Taqqiq said, trying to sound menacing.

“Hush,” Nisa growled, her eyes still fixed on the breathing hole. Taqqiq fell silent again, resting his head on his paws. Slowly his eyes began to droop, and soon he was asleep.

Kallik was feeling sleepy, too, but she wanted to stay awake to see the seal come out. And she didn’t want to fall asleep so close to the spirit that was still moving below her feet. She flexed her paws, trying not to nod off.

Suddenly there was a splash, and Kallik saw a sleek gray head break through the surface of the water. She barely had time to notice the dark spots on its fur before Nisa was lunging headfirst into the hole. With a swift movement, she seized the seal and flipped it out of the water onto the ice. It writhed and flopped for a moment before her giant claw sliced into it, killing it with a single blow.

Kallik couldn’t imagine ever being fast enough to catch a seal before it disappeared back under the ice again.

Nisa ripped open the seal and said the words of thanks to the ice spirits. Her cubs gathered around her to feed. Kallik inhaled the smell of freshly killed meat, the delicious fat and chewy skin. She dug her teeth into the prey and tore out a mouthful, realizing how hungry she had been.

Suddenly Nisa raised her head, her fur bristling. Kallik tensed and sniffed the air. A large male white bear was lumbering out of the fog toward them. His yellowish fur was matted with snow and his paws were as big as Kallik’s head. He headed straight for their seal, hissing and rumbling.

Taqqiq bristled, but Nisa shoved him back with her paw. “Stay close to me,” she warned. “Let’s get out of here.”

She turned to run, nudging her cubs ahead of her. Kallik sprinted as fast as she could, her heart pounding. What if the seal wasn’t enough for the strange bear? What if he came after her next? As they raced up the slope, Kallik glanced back and saw that the bear wasn’t chasing them. Instead, he was bent over the dead seal, tearing into it.

“It’s not fair!” she wailed. “That was our seal!”

“I know,” Nisa said with a sigh. Her paws seemed heavy as she slowed down to a walk.

“Why should that lazy bear get our meal, when you did all the work of catching it?” Kallik insisted.

“That bear needs to eat as much as we do,” Nisa said. “When seals are scarce, you have to get used to fighting for every meal. You can’t trust any other bears, my cubs. We must stick together, because we are the only ones who will look after one another.”

Kallik and Taqqiq exchanged glances. Kallik knew she would do anything to take care of her mother and her brother. She hadn’t seen many other bears, but when she had, they had been big and fierce and scary, just like the one that had stolen their seal. Maybe white bears weren’t meant to have friends. Maybe the ice didn’t allow it.

“We’ll be all right if we stay together,” Nisa promised. “There’s food to be found if you know where to look, and if you’re patient enough to catch it. So don’t get your head all matted with snow about it. I’ll be here to look after you until you’re strong enough to hunt on your own.”

She swung her head around to the left. “Can you smell that?”

Kallik sniffed. She did smell something! But it wasn’t seal ... it was something else. Something fishier, but not exactly fish. She didn’t recognize it.

“What do you think it is?” she asked Taqqiq. He was crouched down as if he was stalking something, and as she spoke, he leaped forward, pinning down a snowflake that had drifted to the ground. Kallik looked up and saw that it was snowing again. Her brother was happily batting at the snowflakes. It didn’t look as if he’d even tried to sniff for what her mother had scented.

“Taqqiq, pay attention,” Kallik said. “You’ll have to hunt for yourself one day, too.”

“All right, bossy paws,” Taqqiq said, twitching his nose dramatically from side to side.

“Come along, quickly,” Nisa said. “Try not to make too much noise.” They followed their mother across the ice, padding as quietly as possible. The scent didn’t seem to be moving away.

“Is it staying still?” Kallik asked. “Does that mean it doesn’t know we’re coming?”

“One way to throw off your prey is to hide your scent,” Nisa said. “Like this—follow me.” She led them to a channel of melted water in the ice and they swam across one by one.

“Blech, now my fur’s all wet,” Taqqiq complained, shaking himself as they climbed out the other side.

“That should make it harder to smell us coming,” Nisa said.

“And that big, old bear back there won’t be able to follow our trail, either, right?” Kallik said.

“Hopefully,” Nisa said, touching Kallik’s muzzle with hers.

As they got closer, the fishy scent got stronger, and Kallik could smell salt and blood and faraway ocean scents mingled with it. Soon she saw a dark shape lying on the ice. At first she thought it must be a giant seal, from the way the flippers were splayed out, but then she saw that it was the carcass of a whale. Huge chunks had been torn off it, and there were large bite marks and claw slashes in its side. The snow around it was covered in blood.

“It’s a gray whale,” Nisa explained. “Another bear must have killed it and dragged it onto the ice.”

Kallik stared at the carcass in awe. It must have been a very strong bear to overpower something so big and pull it all the way out of the water. Even with the large bites taken out of it, there was still plenty for the three of them to eat. Hungrily, she stretched out her muzzle and tugged a piece of meat free.

Nisa nudged her, making her drop the meat. “Don’t forget to express gratitude to the spirits of the ice,” Kallik’s mother said gently. “You must always remember that you are part of a bigger world.” She bowed her head and touched her nose to the ice. “We thank you, spirits of the ice, for guiding us to this meal,” she murmured. Kallik imitated her mother, whispering the same words, and Taqqiq followed. Then, with happy rumbles, they began to eat.

The fog had rolled away by the time night fell, and the stars shone brightly in a clear sky. Kallik sprawled on the ice, her full belly keeping her warm. Next to her were her mother and brother. Not a hint of a breeze stirred the fur on their shoulders; for once, the wind had died down and the sea far beneath the ice was silent.

“Mother?” Kallik asked. “Please tell me again about the spirits under the ice.”

Taqqiq gave a little huff of laughter, but Nisa touched her nose to her daughter’s side with a serious expression.

“When a white bear dies,” she said, “its spirit sinks into the ice, lower and lower, until all you can see is a shadow under the ice. But you shouldn’t be frightened of them, little star. The spirits are there to guide you. If you are a good bear, they will always be there to take care of you and help you find food or shelter.”

“I’d rather you took care of me,” Kallik said with a shiver.

“I’ll take care of you, too,” her mother promised.

“What about the ice spots in the sky?” Kallik said, pointing her muzzle upward. “Aren’t those the spirits of bears, too?”

“When the ice melts,” Nisa explained, “the bear spirits escape and drift up to the sky on the snow-winds, light as snowflakes, where they become stars. Those spirits are watching you, too, only from farther away.”

“What about that star over there?” Taqqiq asked. “The one that’s really bright. I’ve even seen it in the daytime, once, and it never moves like the others do.”

“That’s the Pathway Star,” Nisa said.

“Why is it called the Pathway Star?” Taqqiq prompted.

“Because if you follow it,” Nisa said solemnly, “it will lead you to a place far, far away where the ice never melts.”

“Never?” Kallik gasped. “You mean there’s no burn-sky? We could hunt all the time?”

“No burn-sky, no melting ice, no eating berries or living on the land,” Nisa said. “The bear spirits dance for joy across the sky, all in different colors.”

“Why don’t we go there?” Taqqiq asked. “If it’s so wonderful?” Kallik nodded. She felt a tingling in her paws, as if she could run all the way to this place where they would be safe forever.

“It is a long way away,” Nisa rumbled. “Much too far for us to travel.” Her black eyes stared into the distance, silvery glints of the moon swimming in their depths. “But perhaps we may have to make the journey ... one day.”

“Really? When?” Kallik demanded, but her mother rested her head on her paws and fell silent. She obviously didn’t want to answer any more questions. Kallik curled into a ball in the curve of her mother’s side and watched the ice shimmering under the moon until she fell asleep. In her dreams, bear spirits rose from the ice and began to dance, their paws light as fur as they romped and slid across the frozen landscape.

A strange creaking noise woke Kallik the next morning. It sounded like a bear yawning loudly, or the wind howling from underwater, but the air was still, and the noise came from the ice, not the sky. Her mother was already awake, padding in a circle around them with her nose lifted.

Kallik scrambled to her paws and shook herself. Her coat felt heavy with moisture, and the air was damp and soft instead of crisp and clear like it had been the night before. She turned to her brother, who was lying on the ice beside her, apparently still asleep. She nudged him with her muzzle.

“Walrus attack!” Taqqiq bellowed, suddenly leaping to his paws and knocking her over. Nisa spun around with a snarl, but stopped when she saw that her cubs were just playing.

“Quiet,” she growled. “Taqqiq, stop acting like a wild goose. There is no time for playing. We have to get moving.” She started across the ice without looking back. Kallik and Taqqiq scrambled to catch up. Nisa’s grouchiness made Kallik nervous. Why would she scold them for playing now, when she’d let them roll around having fun the day before?

The creaking began again as they traveled across the ice. Nisa paused and swung her head around to listen. It seemed like the sound of the ice groaning and yawning underpaw was getting louder. Kallik could tell that her mother knew what this sound was—and that it meant something very bad.

Suddenly there was a loud crack and a horrible sucking noise, and Kallik felt the ground tilt below her. She was thrown off her paws and found herself sliding along ice that was no longer flat but sloped down steeply toward dark water. With a terrified squeal, Kallik scrabbled on the ice, her claws sliding helplessly on the slick surface.

A giant paw grabbed her and hauled her backward onto solid ice again. Kallik stumbled as Nisa bundled her away from the crack in the ice, where waves slapped hungrily against the new edge.

“Wow!” Taqqiq yelped. “The ice just snapped in two! Kallik, I thought you’d be swallowed up by the sea and we’d never see you again!”

Nisa hissed with frustration. Kallik peered around her mother’s legs and saw that the ice in front of them had broken into two large chunks that were drifting apart on the sea.

“Already?” Nisa muttered. “But we’ve had no time at all on the ice! How are we supposed to survive on land if we can’t hunt for long enough before?” She paced along the jagged edge of the ice, snarling at the waves that lapped at her paws.

“Mother?” Kallik whimpered. “What’s happening? Is it ... is it burn-sky?”

“It’s too early for burn-sky,” Nisa said. “But the ice-melt is coming earlier each season. We have less and less time to hunt.” She chuffed angrily. “It can’t go on like this.”

“What do we do?” Kallik asked. “What’s going to happen to us if the ice melts too soon?”

Nisa just growled, pawing the edge of the ice.

“Should we move to land?” Taqqiq asked. “Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do when the ice melts?”

“No,” Nisa said, lifting her muzzle. “We must continue to hunt, or else we shall not survive the long, hungry months of burn-sky.”

“But—” Kallik started, glancing at the surging water and broken ice before them. What if the ice all melted before they could get to the land?

“We must go on,” Nisa insisted. “We cannot go to the land yet — or we will all die.”

She moved off across the ice, and Taqqiq followed her. Kallik paused for a moment on the jagged edge, the dark water lapping at her paws. She stared at the broken chunk of ice floating across the water from her. How far was it to land? Was there enough ice left for them to get there? And if there wasn’t ... what would happen to them?

Author Erin Hunter is inspired by a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. She is also the author of the nationally best-selling Warriors series. You can visit her online at seekerbears.com.

More from TODAY David Duchovny not alone in sex addiction Help! My 'Cinderella' ran off, left the family   Spy movie inspires ‘Runway’ designers Transition your summer wardrobe to fall Kids bored with breakfast? Get creative Closet eater shapes up, loses 100 pounds Makeover!  New look for cancer-free life   Week in pictures  | More photos

MORE FROM AL'S BOOK CLUB

Al's Book Club Section Front

Club's new book: ‘Rapunzel’s Revenge’ Have questions about 'Rapunzel's Revenge'?  ‘Artemis Fowl’ a thrilling fantasy Club’s pick: ‘Brendan Buckley’s Universe’ Club’s pick: ‘Seekers: The Quest Begins’ A kid's crime story: ‘Chasing Vermeer’ Q&A with ‘Vermeer’ author Blue Balliett Club’s pick: Molly Moon’s next adventure Excerpt: ‘The Sisters Grimm’ Q&A with ‘Grimm’ author Michael Buckley Al's Book Club Section Front   Add Al's Book Club headlines to your news reader: