Secrets of Bearhaven
Page 4
Up ahead, Professor Weaver was pushing open the door of one of the domed dwellings. Spencer squinted at the wooden door, examining the claw marks that seemed to slash threateningly across its surface. It’s a design! he realized. The claw marks weren’t accidental or scary, as he’d first thought when he noticed that they marked every door in Bearhaven. Instead, they seemed to be a carefully carved design.
“Come on, you two!” Bunny called. She stepped into Spencer’s view of the door and turned to usher him and Kate into the Weavers’ home.
“We’re here!” Kate sang as she burst into the house. “Aldo! Lisle! I brought Spencer Plain!”
Stepping through the doorway, Spencer braced himself to meet more bears. Instead, he was relieved to find Bunny quieting Kate. “Aldo and Lisle aren’t here. We didn’t want to overwhelm Spencer tonight.” Turning to Spencer, she added, “You’ll meet the rest of the family tomorrow.”
The rest of the family? How many more Weavers could they fit in this place? Spencer thought, then realized his mistake.
He was standing in the entryway of an enormous amber-colored room. Professor Weaver was stoking a pile of glowing embers in a fireplace so big that Uncle Mark could park his Porsche in it. A fluffy moss-colored carpet spread across the floor, and four oversized couches were positioned to face the hearth. Spencer briefly wondered what a bear looked like sitting on a couch, but waved the thought away, guessing it wouldn’t take long for him to find out.
Along one side of the room stretched a kitchen. Stone counters varied in height and depth, as though they’d been carved from a boulder that was there long before the house, maybe even before Bearhaven. Shelves climbed the walls, piled high with wooden platters, jars of thick-looking liquids, and bowls full of nuts and berries. Spencer couldn’t tell if any of the shiny devices throughout the kitchen were actually used for cooking, but decided that with the BEAR-COMs, state-of-the-art culinary equipment would fit right in here.
Through a curved doorway on the far side of the room, Spencer could just make out a set of broad steps leading down, deeper into the ground.
Of course! The bears’ home was built down, not up. The rows of rounded roofs that had looked so small from above were just the beginning. He’d only seen the very surface of Bearhaven.
Professor Weaver stepped back from the blazing fire. “Why don’t you come sit down, son,” he said. “I’m sure that Bunny wants to get you straight to bed, but something tells me you’re not going anywhere until your uncle arrives.”
Spencer nodded, glad that he wouldn’t have to wait in some guest room alone, and went to settle himself on a couch patterned with overlapping leaves. Kate followed and flopped down onto the carpet in front of the fireplace, stretching out on her back.
“You must be starving, Spencer,” Bunny said, but before Spencer could answer her, a sharp knock rattled the door. Spencer jumped, his bare arms and legs suddenly covered in goose bumps as the memory of Yude’s cold stare raced into his head. Professor Weaver rose on his hind legs, his head only a few inches from the ceiling when he stood at his full height, and Bunny bustled to the door.
Spencer reached for his jade bear, pushing Yude’s image out of his mind. There was nothing to be afraid of. He was safe here, he told himself, with a stone bear in his hand and a real one standing between him and whoever was out there.
“Spence!”
Uncle Mark stood in the threshold, a duffel bag in one hand and Spencer’s backpack in the other. He winked at Spencer. “I see you found the place.” He dropped the bags, crossed the room, and pulled Spencer up from the couch into a hug.
Stepping back, Uncle Mark looked him over. “I’m glad to see you’re still in one piece. I know I’ve got some explaining to do.” Some explaining to do? That was an understatement.
“How are Mom and Dad?” Spencer blurted out.
“Why don’t we all sit down,” Uncle Mark said, dropping onto the leafy couch. “Professor, Bunny, you’ll need to hear this, too.”
Spencer sank back down onto the couch next to Uncle Mark, Professor Weaver reclined on a couch facing them, but Bunny, crossing the room, suddenly cried, “Kate! That’s not yours!”
Everyone turned to see Kate pull her head out from the depths of Spencer’s backpack, a brown paper bag hanging from her mouth. Ignoring her mother’s glare, Kate trotted over to Spencer. She dropped the bag in Spencer’s lap.
“I smelled it!” she told him cheerfully.
Surprising himself, Spencer laughed. “My lunch!”
He was exhausted and anxious to hear news about his parents, but he was also starving. He’d forgotten all about the extra peanut butter sandwich that Evarita had tossed into his backpack that morning. “Fuel for the rope,” she’d called it.
“Thanks, Kate,” he said.
“You said he was hungry!” Kate bounded out of the room before Bunny could reply.
Unwrapping his crushed, soggy sandwich, Spencer saw Bunny shoot Professor Weaver a look as she sat down beside him. The professor stifled a chuckle, then turned his attention to Uncle Mark, an expression of total seriousness on his face.
“What can you tell us, Mark? How are Jane and Shane?”
“Where are they?” Spencer asked through a mouthful of sandwich. Uncle Mark ran a hand through his hair and turned to face Spencer. And at that moment, Spencer knew. They hadn’t pulled the emergency brake as a precaution. Something was really, really wrong.
“Spencer, your dad’s been captured.”
“Spencer, dear, are you all right?” Bunny exclaimed.
Spencer was coughing, choking on bread and peanut butter. Gulping for air, he finally managed to swallow. “Maybe it’s too much,” Bunny said protectively.
“No!” he gasped. “I’m okay.” But he was definitely not okay. Dad was . . . captured?
“Do you want me to go on, Spence?” Uncle Mark asked gently. Spencer nodded, setting the sandwich, half-eaten, in his lap.
“He was taken from the mission site around ten o’clock this morning. Your mom wasn’t with him at the time, but she’s gone undercover so that she can stay close by.”
“Where are they?” Spencer asked again.
“We don’t know.” Uncle Mark ran a hand through his blond hair once more. That was the only way Spencer had ever been able to tell that his uncle was upset. Catching his eye, Uncle Mark dropped his hand, quickly regaining the air of total coolness that Spencer was so used to.
“The rescue mission seemed to have been going fine. Then things went haywire. There’s no way of knowing when Jane will be able to send further communication. Obviously, the security surrounding whoever’s behind all of this is higher than any of us had expected.”
“Behind all of what?” Spencer broke in, getting the feeling that they were talking about more than just his missing parents. Uncle Mark hesitated, and then seemed to decide against telling Spencer that he’d explain later.
“For the past several years while your parents have been on rescue missions, they’ve also been working to uncover who’s behind a large network of bear abuse.” Years? All of this had been going on for years?
“We think they’ve gotten much closer, as of late,” Professor Weaver added, rising off the couch and starting to pace behind it. “We’re well equipped, Spencer. We’re going to bring your parents home safely.”
“Of course we are!” Bunny assured him, as though any alternative wasn’t worth considering. But it was all of those alternatives that kept popping into Spencer’s head, bringing him closer and closer to really freaking out.
“Spencer, you look absolutely exhausted,” Bunny said with concern. She stood and dropped to all fours. “It’s time we got you out of those filthy, wet clothes and into bed.”
“But—” Spencer tried to protest. Uncle Mark had promised to tell him everything! Before he could say so, Bunny was beside him, using her strong muzzle to gently push him off the couch and onto his feet.
“No buts, dear. I promised your
parents that I’d look after you, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Off we go.” Spencer felt himself being carefully navigated toward the stairs, but he wasn’t ready to leave Uncle Mark yet. He would never be able to sleep, not with so many questions unanswered. He tried again to make Bunny wait.
“Bunny’s in charge, Spence,” Uncle Mark chimed in. “But we can talk before you go to bed. I’ll meet you in your room.”
Before Spencer could say anything else, Bunny had him descending the stairs, which were almost more than his exhausted body could handle.
Bear-sized, each step demanded four strides for Spencer to cross, and the drop from one to the next took him as far as three steps at home would. Patiently, Bunny followed along behind.
When Spencer dropped down off the last step, he found himself in a long hallway. Beehive-shaped lights lined the walls, illuminating the cavernous space, and doors stood open along both sides. As he followed Bunny down the hall, she pointed out various things about each room they passed.
Spencer kept hold of his jade bear and swiveled his head back and forth, trying to be polite. He could tell that Bunny wanted to make him feel at home or take his mind off his parents, or both, but Spencer didn’t need to feel at home here. He had a home, and nothing could distract him from the fact that he didn’t know when he’d see his parents again.
Voices spilled out into the hallway from the family room as they passed. “It’ll take more than that to be the Salmon King!” someone taunted. Spencer was surprised to recognize the sounds of a video game being played. Interested despite his determination not to be, he stopped to look in.
Winston and Jo-Jo were tussling in the middle of the large room. Surrounded by slouchy chairs and oversized toys, both wore sleek silver helmets and gloves that looked like oven mitts. On a gargantuan screen in front of them, two animated 3-D bears fought to catch salmon as they leaped from a raging waterfall.
“I am the Salmon King!” Winston howled, ramming his shoulder into Jo-Jo’s.
“You’d be lucky to catch your reflection,” Jo-Jo answered, darting away.
On the screen, the bears fought over the leaping fish. Each time a virtual bear hugged a salmon to its belly, the fish glowed silver, then transformed into a skeleton before evaporating into a sparkling mist.
“Ten more minutes, boys,” Bunny called over Spencer’s shoulder as she passed.
“Winston’s going to bed hungry!” Jo-Jo replied without taking his eyes off the game. His on-screen bear snatched another salmon.
As Spencer turned to leave, Winston called out, “Come play, Spencer!”
“Tomorrow,” Bunny said from the hall.
“Thanks,” Spencer added. “I’ll definitely play tomorrow.”
Bunny was standing beside a closed door, waiting for him. “And this is your room,” she said as he approached. “It’s been your mom’s project for some time now.”
His mom? What could Mom have to do with a guest room in the Weavers’ house? Bunny opened the door to reveal Spencer’s room.
Spencer gasped.
“She wants you to feel like you’re home.”
Spencer stepped into a room that was identical to his bedroom at home. The same blue-and-silver comforters were on the bunk bed, and a Cougars baseball pennant hung above the top bunk, just like his had for years. The pictures of race cars that Spencer had taped to his wall at home were arranged in the very same order on the wall above the same white desk, and his favorite books and games filled the bookshelves.
Mom had done all of this for him. He imagined her taping up the pictures herself, adding books to the bookshelf here whenever he got new books at home. He examined the short length of rope that was looped around one post of the bunk bed. It looked identical to the one at home, but Spencer could tell it wasn’t the one Dad had used to teach him knot tying. He’d practiced on that rope until it was soft and frayed. Still, it seemed like Mom had tried to break in this length of rope herself, matching it as well as she could to the one that Spencer knotted and untied whenever he couldn’t fall asleep. He should never have said that Mom cared more about bears than about him. Even when she was here, surrounded by bears, she’d been thinking about him.
He went to the window, where the same blue curtains hung, the shade drawn behind them. Aren’t we underground? he thought as he pushed one of the curtains aside and peeked behind the shade. Yup. Belowground. Behind the curtain there was a solid white wall, but it didn’t matter. With the curtains closed, the room looked exactly like home.
“There are clothes in the dresser for you,” Bunny said after giving Spencer a moment. He walked over to the familiar white dresser and opened the top drawer. On top of the stack of clothes sat a letter. “Is there anything else you need, dear?”
“No,” he answered quickly. “Thank you,” he added, turning back to Bunny.
“All right, then,” Bunny said, and dropped her head to Spencer’s shoulder for just a moment, her soft fur grazing his neck. “Sweet dreams.” Her voice was melodic, like she was singing a lullaby. “Sweet dreams.”
After Bunny left and shut the large door behind her, Spencer picked the letter out of the drawer. He opened the envelope and unfolded the single sheet of paper, realizing at once that he’d seen it before. It was an exact copy of the letter Mom had given him on his eighth birthday, explaining why she and Dad were giving him the black jade bear. He put the letter back in its envelope before crossing the room and stuffing it under the pillow on the top bunk. He would read it later, before he fell asleep. Uncle Mark would be coming in any minute, and he needed to change into clothes that didn’t look and feel like they’d been chewed up and spit out by a . . . well, by a bear.
Spencer pulled on a pair of gray sweatpants and a Car and Driver T-shirt just like the one he had at home. As soon as he’d transferred his jade bear from the dirty heap of his school uniform and into the pocket of his sweatpants, there was a knock on the door, and Uncle Mark poked his head in.
“Not too shabby, huh?” he said as he pushed open the door and came in. “Your mom did a great job. You like it?”
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Spencer said.
Putting Spencer’s backpack down beside the desk, Uncle Mark tossed his own duffel bag onto the bottom bunk. “How are you holding up, Spence?” he asked, shrugging out of his leather jacket.
“Uncle Mark!” Spencer exclaimed. Holding up? Is Uncle Mark serious?
“Right.” Uncle Mark hung his jacket on the back of Spencer’s desk chair, and then pulled it out to sit. “Might as well get comfortable.” He nodded to the bunk bed. Spencer pushed the duffel bag aside and sat down. As soon as he had, the questions started tumbling out.
“How’d you get away from that car? Do you think Dad’s okay? Wherever they’re keeping him . . . He’ll be all right, right? Until—”
“One thing at a time, Spence. I managed to outpace the Corvette long enough to make it into a hidden railway tunnel. It’s another entry point for Bearhaven, and it’s big enough to pull the Porsche into, but I had to lose the Corvette first. As for your dad, he’ll be all right until we can get him out of there. Your mom is going to do everything she can to make sure of that.” Uncle Mark sat back in his chair, looking at Spencer solemnly. “Why don’t I start at the beginning.”
“Okay,” Spencer answered, not sure he even knew what the beginning was.
“Honestly, Spence. I never agreed with your mom’s decision to keep Bearhaven from you,” he started. Sometimes Uncle Mark and Mom didn’t agree on things, but Spencer figured that was just typical brother/sister stuff. He didn’t know it had anything to do with him. “She kept it secret for so long in order to protect you and to give you a normal life. But Bearhaven is in your blood. It was just a matter of time before—”
“But what is Bearhaven?” Spencer cut in. “And how did these bears become—”
“These bears? It’s a long story.”
“Back when your mom, dad, and I were in college together,
Gutler University kept three bears on campus as mascots,” Uncle Mark began. “They were treated badly, and that didn’t sit well with us. Your dad and I were in the science department. We’d gotten close to one professor, a brilliant bear biologist and a really wonderful guy named Weaver. Aside from his work at the university, the professor had been working on his own secret project, and when we went to him with our concerns about the bears, he finally revealed the details of his work to us.”
Uncle Mark leaned forward in his chair, resting his forearms on his thighs. There was excitement in his tired eyes.
“With the help of a bear that he’d found as a cub and raised in his home, Weaver had developed the very first prototype of the BEAR-COM. When we went to see the technology, and when we met his bear, we all realized that there was no going back. Weaver and this bear were able to communicate!”
“Weaver?” Spencer broke in, the name finally clicking into place. “Professor Weaver?”
“Right. Our professor at Gutler passed his name on to his cub and secretly designed the BEAR-COM with the bear’s help. That bear is the Professor Weaver you met tonight.”
“No way!” Spencer exclaimed. “And the mascots?”
“We were able to spring two of the mascot bears from Gutler, and with the help of the Professors Weaver and their BEAR-COM, we set up Bearhaven.”
“So you and Mom and Dad and a bear made this place?”
Uncle Mark nodded. “For the bears from Gutler, but also as a haven for other bears that have been rescued from dangerous situations. Over the years, hundreds of abused bears have been brought to Bearhaven to recover. If the bears want to be restored to their natural habitat, to live like other bears in the wild, they can get treated here first, then they move on. Some, like the Weavers, choose to stay in the hidden safety of Bearhaven and help other bears in trouble.”
Spencer couldn’t believe it. Why wouldn’t Mom and Dad want him to know that they were doing something so awesome to help bears? He tried to imagine his parents at Gutler, making their very first rescue—