A Bear Named Boo

Moonrise

"Boo," Avani whispered.

The den was dark and damp and and heavy with the scent of pine needles. It was nowhere near sunrise.

I shifted and realized my paws were twisted awkwardly beneath Avani's head.

"Oh. Sorry."

I pulled them free with a grunt. They burned as the blood returned to them, prickling as though I'd just been slapped by a porcupine.

"It's fine."

I abandoned all thoughts of sleep. Avani, being polite? Something was up.

Carefully, I eased myself from between Mama's ribcage and the cave wall, turning so I could see my sister better. I sat carefully on a rock.

"What?" I asked.

She hesitated. Her eyes reflected the white moonlight that danced down the tunnel and into our den. She didn't look the least bit sleepy.

"I want to go to the north."

"WHAT?"

"Shh! Boo, please, I don't want to wake them up."

"Why not?" Cari demanded.

I jumped. The stone I'd been sitting on turned out to be Cari's skull. He shoved me off and then squirmed out from under Mama's belly.

"I'm hurt," he informed Avani loudly. "You don't trust me?"

"No, it's not that!" she whispered frantically.

We froze as Mama clacked her jaw in her sleep.

"Come with me?" Avani turned and trotted up the tunnel, away from Mama's rumbling snores.

After exchanging a nervous look, Cari and I followed.

The mountainside had been transformed, stripped of its color and engulfed in shadows. Only the tips of the trees and the distant cliffs were visible, dripping in silver moonlight.

We crept behind the monstrous tree that guarded our den. The gnarled roots looked like snakes in the darkness, but I held my breath and stepped over them.

"I didn't think you could move without waking Mama," Avani explained to Cari once we reached the crest of the hill. "And I don't want her to know."

"That you want to wander into a warzone?" I asked sarcastically. "Why, you don't think she'd be supportive?"

"Please, Boo. I need your help. Both of you. Mama would never say she wants me to leave, but it would be better for all of you if I wasn't here. Besides, maybe that's where I belong. I would blend in with all the snow and stuff, and be with bears that didn't think I was strange."

"Don't be stupid. You're not going anywhere."

"It's way too dangerous," Cari agreed.

"If the elders find out you're lying for me, we're all dead anyway," Avani said.

"We're not lying."

"Boo."

"We're not. You're our sister. You're a Grizzly Bear. No one has done anything wrong. If they find out you have weird fur, we'll just explain that you were born weird."

She laughed despite herself.

I looked Avani dead in the eyes. "Promise you won't run away," I demanded.

She ducked her head evasively. "What about this Gathering? Don't you want to know what it's about?"

"Obviously."