Star

by Jennifer Li Shotz

  Star kept barking until the bear was out of sight. Still, once she quieted down, she stayed on high alert. The boys stood unmoving behind her. Finally she turned to look over her shoulder at Julian, her tongue out as she panted from all the excitement. Julian gave her a thumbs-up. If he had ten thumbs, it wouldn’t have been enough to tell her what a good girl she was. He dropped to his knees, and she ran to him, nearly knocking him over. Bryan scratched her head while Julian petted her back, smoothing out the fur that had been standing on end. She leaned into Julian and licked his chin. Her tail was wagging so hard, she couldn’t sit still. She even licked Bryan’s hand and let him rub her belly. She was back to her sweet, gentle self, with no trace of the aggression she’d shown toward the bear.

  Star shook out her fur and took a few steps toward the trees. She looked back at Julian and Bryan, as if telling them to move it along.

  “We have to keep going before it gets dark,” Bryan said. “Unless you want to turn back.”

  Julian’s pulse hadn’t quite returned to normal, but he felt safe with Star. He owed it to her to save the shelter. Julian got to his feet and faced the woods. He swallowed hard. “No way. We have to find the treasure.”

  Bryan nodded. They were in this together. The boys looked at Star for any sign that something unexpected or dangerous was waiting for them beyond the tree line. She seemed calm and ready to explore the woods. They took a deep breath and crossed into the forest.

  ★ Chapter 17 ★

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  Julian and Bryan jumped at every little sound. Leaves rustled and twigs snapped all around them. The boys kept expecting the bear to reappear behind the next tree trunk. Star stayed close, but she didn’t sound the alarm. Even so, as they headed deeper into the woods, they wondered if this was a good idea.

  But it was too late to turn back. They were so close to Western Island and the buried treasure. The shelter animals needed them to find it. Star needed them to keep going.

  The boys moved as quickly as they could along the trail. They had to get to Western Island before dusk—and they had to keep up with Star. The happy dog bounded over logs and poked her nose in the underbrush. She picked up a stick and carried it for a couple of minutes before abandoning it to sniff at a bug crawling up a tree trunk. It was her first time ever in the woods, and she was having a blast. Her excitement was just one more reason Julian was glad they’d brought her along.

  “Bells!” Bryan said, smacking his palm against his forehead.

  “What?” Julian turned to look at his friend and almost tripped over an exposed root in the trail.

  “We should’ve brought bells or something to warn the bears,” Bryan said. “I didn’t know there were bears around Silver Lake. I didn’t see any sign of them when I was here before.”

  “Me neither,” Julian said.

  “Maybe it’s because we were here in the summer, when there are lots of people around,” Bryan said. “The bears are probably too scared to come out, so they stay deeper in the woods where there are plenty of berries and stuff for them to eat.”

  That made sense to Julian. “So you mean that bear was probably as surprised to see us as we were to see it?”

  “Exactly,” Bryan said. “It was probably just out looking for food, getting ready for winter.”

  They looked at each other and swallowed hard. They hadn’t just run into a bear—they’d run into a hungry bear. The boys suddenly realized how far they were from home. No one knew they were out here. It was just the two of them and Star.

  Bryan laughed nervously. “We should keep talking to make sure we don’t surprise the bear again.”

  “I’m starving,” Julian said. He knew it wasn’t much of a conversation starter, but now that they were out of danger, his stomach was grumbling loudly. “The bear won’t come after our food, will it?”

  “I think we’re safe.” Bryan dug the sandwiches out of his backpack. He handed one to Julian. “Besides, we’ve got Star to alert us.”

  Julian peeled back the foil around his sandwich. He tore off a piece of crust and gave it to Star as a reward. She gobbled it up. Julian trusted her to protect them, but to be on the safe side, he wanted to keep talking. He finished chewing his bite of sandwich and asked the first question that popped into his head. “So, do you have lots of dogs at home?”

  Julian realized that he didn’t know much about Bryan’s life, except that he had just moved to town over the summer and his dad was the principal. Bryan had been coming to Julian’s house to do homework. Julian had never gone to his, and Bryan and Principal Walter could live on a goat farm or in a castle and he wouldn’t know it. Julian had a feeling that no one in their class knew much about the real Bryan.

  “I can’t have any animals.” Bryan talked around a mouthful of sandwich. “My mom is super allergic. I have to change as soon as I get home from the shelter so I don’t get fur all over the house.”

  “What about your brothers and sisters?” Julian asked.

  “My little brother is allergic, too,” Bryan said. “My older sister says she’s going to get a cat when she goes to college, but I don’t know how that’s going to work, unless she never comes home.”

  “My brother used to pretend he had a dog when we were little,” Julian said. “Like, an invisible friend, except it was a puppy.” He smiled at the memory of running around with Henry after his beloved pretend pet. Now that he and his brother barely talked, he sometimes forgot how much fun they used to have together.

  Julian took a bite of his sandwich to cover his sadness. As much as he hated Henry’s teasing, he missed hanging out with him.

  “Are you going to adopt Star?” Bryan asked. “You have to, especially now that she saved our lives!”

  “I don’t know what would have happened without her,” Julian said. “As soon as that bear appeared, I turned into a robot with a dead battery.”

  Bryan shook his head. “That’s what I felt like, too. I thought we were prepared for everything. But I was not ready for a bear.”

  Julian went quiet for a long moment.

  “I really want to adopt Star,” he finally said. “I did even before we met the bear. But I don’t know if my parents will let me. They’re so busy, and they don’t think I’m responsible enough for a dog.”

  “That’s crazy,” Bryan said. “You’ve done everything for Star.”

  “Yeah, but . . .” Julian paused, searching for the right words. How could he describe how hard it was for him to do everything his parents expected of him? He could tell Bryan that he knew they loved him and wanted what was best for him, but he didn’t know how to say that he felt he was always disappointing them. Sometimes it seemed as if he spent his whole life being frustrated at school and then coming home and being frustrated with his homework—and being frustrating to his family. At least, that’s what it had been like before he started volunteering and found Bryan and Star.

  “It’s easier at the shelter, where I can just focus on Star,” Julian said. “But at home and in school, it’s hard for me to keep up with everything. It’s like when I saw that bear. I couldn’t remember whether you’re supposed to run or try to look big and scary. There were so many different thoughts going through my head that they got kind of jumbled together. And then it was over so fast, before I could untangle things. That’s what it’s like all the time.”

  Julian felt almost as vulnerable talking about what it was like in his head as he did facing the bear. But he knew that if anyone would understand, it would be Bryan. “I can’t keep up with reading, so I just get farther and farther behind,” Julian went on. “My parents try to help, but I don’t think they really get what it’s like. Especially since everything is so easy for my brother.”

  Bryan nodded thoughtfully as he crumpled the foil from his sandwich. “It must be hard with so many distractions at school.”

  “It is,” Julian said. “But it feels like everyone else is able to keep up, so then all the teachers a
nd my parents get frustrated with me.”

  “And then you land in detention with my dad,” Bryan said.

  Julian nodded. “He’s not so bad, and I’m glad you and I got to hang out. But I hate getting in trouble all the time.”

  “I feel like I can’t get in trouble.” Bryan ducked his head. “My parents know a lot about dyslexia and have really helped me understand it. But I feel like I have to be perfect all the time since my dad’s the principal.”

  “I never thought about that.” Julian gave the last bite of his sandwich to Star. It hadn’t occurred to him that Bryan worried about disappointing his parents, too.

  “My parents expect me to set a good example and get good grades, even though it’s harder for me than for most of the other kids,” Bryan said. “I feel like all the teachers are constantly watching me to make sure I don’t mess up.”

  Julian remembered how Ms. Hollin had singled Bryan out, and he knew that if he were in Bryan’s place, he wouldn’t be able to stand having teachers looking over his shoulder all the time. He hopped over a fallen log. “How does it feel to be breaking the rules?”

  “It’s a little scary,” Bryan said. “But it’s really nice to have a friend. Most of the time people just think I’m weird.”

  “People think I’m weird, too,” Julian said, shrugging.

  “We can be weird together,” Bryan said, grinning.

  Julian laughed. “Definitely.”

  Julian reached down to pet Star. Being there for each other had gotten the three of them this far. And up ahead, between the trees, he could see the sun sparkling off the lake. They were almost out of the woods.

  ★ Chapter 18 ★

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  The trees thinned out, and the dirt beneath their sneakers became soft and sandy. Star left a trail of pawprints as she pulled them toward the water. Julian and Bryan ducked beneath a low tree branch, and then they were standing on the shore of Silver Lake.

  Julian, Bryan, and Star stared across the water. Julian couldn’t believe they’d made it all the way out here on their own. Silver Lake was his favorite place in the world. He spent most of reading camp daydreaming about spending the weekend at the lake. When the winter snow turned to slush, Julian began counting the days until he’d be back here. Until he’d discovered the shelter and Star, this was the place where he’d felt most like himself.

  It made sense that the shore of Silver Lake was where he’d find his first real treasure. And of all the lakes in Michigan, this was the one where Bryan had spent his summer, too. Everything was coming together. Julian could practically hear the gold calling to them.

  Up ahead, a thin strip of land connected the woods to Western Island. The island’s trees and the cloudless sky were reflected in the lake’s surface like an upside-down world. In the summer, the illusion would be disturbed by boaters and swimmers, but at this time of year, there was no one else in sight. The sound of the water lapping gently at the shore was peaceful, but excitement brewed between the boys like a storm.

  “Is that really it?” Bryan asked.

  Julian nodded. “That’s Western Island.”

  He and his dad had canoed here once from their campground on the other side of the lake. He’d almost lost his paddle when it got tangled in some reeds, but he’d managed to hang on to it without capsizing the boat. Then he’d spotted a small stretch of beach that his dad hadn’t seen. He and his dad had gone ashore and eaten cherries and spent half the day exploring the woods, with no idea that there was buried treasure on the island. They might have walked right over it!

  This was the first time Julian had approached Western Island from this side of the lake, but he recognized the curve of the shore from the old map. They were definitely in the right place. All they had to do now was follow the path they’d drawn on the map—from the land bridge to where the treasure should be waiting for them.

  Bryan bounced on the balls of his feet, like he wished he could just leap across the water. “I can’t believe we’re so close,” he said.

  Julian took the map out of his backpack. He double-checked their route and landmarks. Then he looked at Bryan and grinned. “Let’s go find the treasure.”

  Star sniffed at the ripples of water as they walked along the beach. When a small wave tumbled over her paws, she jumped back in surprise. Then she lowered her chest onto the wet sand, raised her rump high in the air, and gave a short bark at the lake. When the next wave rolled in, she snapped at it playfully. The boys laughed and ran with her to chase the never-ending waves.

  They paused halfway across the land bridge, smiling and panting. Now that they were out from under the canopy of the woods, they could see the sky darkening from blue to purple as night crept closer. Bryan watched the orange line of the setting sun drop behind the island. “It’s gotten really late,” he said. “What do you think our parents will do when we’re not home for dinner?”

  “Hopefully they’ll think I’m at your house and you’re at mine,” Julian said. “And hopefully no one will call to make sure.”

  “I don’t know if my dad will fall for that. He’s probably already tried to call me.” Bryan dug his phone out of his backpack. When he checked the screen, his face clouded with worry. “I don’t have any signal out here.”

  Julian unzipped the small pocket on his backpack and checked his phone. “Me either.” He quickly stuffed the phone back into his bag. “It’s okay,” he said, trying to sound like there was nothing to worry about. “We know exactly where we are, and we have Star to keep us safe.”

  Bryan looked across the water, back the way they’d come. “What if Ms. Khan knows that Star’s gone by now? She’ll be really worried.”

  A pang of guilt squeezed Julian’s chest even as he watched Star play. “It will all be worth it.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Bryan didn’t sound convinced, but Julian felt in his bones that they were close to digging up life-changing loot. He wondered what half a million dollars in gold looked like. Or how much it weighed. He hoped they’d be able to fit it all in their backpacks. They might have to leave their supplies behind and come back for them another day.

  They reached the far end of the land bridge and passed a large rock formation that looked like a giant’s boot. Everything was exactly as the map said it would be. There was the tree with a trunk curved like a pointing finger. And the bend in the trail, like a slithering snake. Julian was so excited he didn’t have room in his thoughts to worry about whether he’d get into trouble for all the rules they’d broken today.

  They reached a small clearing that was far enough inland to conceal people burying a treasure, but not so far that it would’ve been hard to get there quickly. Julian and Bryan looked around for the telltale sign: two trees growing so close together that their trunks crossed in an X, marking the spot. They figured that the bandits had needed a way to find the spot again, and the twisted trees—neatly drawn on the map—were the perfect landmark. But all the trees stood tall and straight.

  Bryan wandered across the clearing, his brow furrowed. Julian felt doubt slipping over him like a blanket. Maybe they’d been wrong about one of the clues left behind by the thieves and other treasure hunters. He triple-checked the map. He knew exactly where they were on the island. He ran his finger over the landmarks they’d passed on the way to the clearing. He was certain this was the right place. Those trees had to be here somewhere.

  “Over here!” Bryan shouted.

  Julian and Star ran over to where Bryan was crouched close to the ground.

  “Look how close these stumps are to each other,” Bryan said. “You can see them kind of leaning toward each other. I think someone cut down the trees.”

  “They look like they’re sharing a secret,” Julian said.

  “A secret treasure.” Bryan’s face broke into a huge smile.

  “Okay—where do we start digging?” Julian asked.

  Bryan dropped his backpack and took out a trowel. He paced around
the stumps, studying the ground. He tugged at his hair and narrowed his eyes. Then he used the edge of the trowel to draw a big X in the dirt between the stumps. “It should be right here.”

  Julian and Bryan knelt down and began scraping at the ground with their garden tools. Once they’d loosened the crust, they used the trowels and their hands to scoop dirt away. It had gotten dark enough on the island that they could only make out the shapes of the stumps and trees around them. But they didn’t need to see what they were doing. They just needed to dig.

  Star poked her snout between them. She whined and licked at Julian’s face. He paused to scratch her chin, then got back to work. He didn’t have a hand signal to tell her what was going on, but once they found the gold and she was safe, he’d give her a million belly rubs.

  Star gave an impatient bark. Then she wriggled her way between Julian and Bryan and began digging at the hole with her paws, flinging dirt everywhere. The boys shielded their faces from the flying dirt. They shifted around to get out of Star’s way and scooped the loosened dirt out of the hole as she dug. Together, the three of them kept digging and scooping. With every handful and pawful of dirt, it felt like they were getting closer to striking gold.

  Julian’s fingers brushed against something hard. He tapped Star’s shoulder and gave her the signal to sit. She lay down instead, her front paws and head hanging over the edge of the hole. Bryan sat back on his knees, his eyes wide in the growing darkness. Julian was pretty sure he’d hit a rock. But his hand was shaking as he stuck his trowel into the hole to loosen the rock from the dirt. The tip of the blade hit a flat, solid surface. Julian reached down to wipe away a layer of dirt, revealing the smooth top of an old rusted metal box.

  ★ Chapter 19 ★