Secrets of Bearhaven (14 page)

Spencer had asked a lot of questions over the past few days, but as they made their way down the dirt path and into the clearing where he'd first met the Weavers, it occurred to him that he'd never asked Uncle Mark how he'd gotten from the abandoned railway tunnel where he'd parked the Porsche all the way into Bearhaven. Without a bear to carry him up the first tree to the hologram-covered bridge, it would have been impossible for Uncle Mark to come in the same way Spencer had. Besides, B.D. had said that they rarely entered Bearhaven by the bridge in the trees.

Spencer watched as B.D. approached the very same tree that had dropped him into the clearing. The bear touched a concealed button on the bark of the tree, and the door slid open, revealing the smooth, hollowed-out space inside the trunk, and the platform that Spencer knew would rise to the knothole above.

He wanted to ask Uncle Mark now, but B.D. was already cranky. “I wasn't aware I'd be chaperoning a field trip today,” the bear had huffed when Spencer and Kate followed Uncle Mark out of the Weavers' house.

Spencer caught Kate's eye and pointed up, questioning if they'd go back out the same way he'd entered Bearhaven. The cub shook her head and pointed down. Apparently the clearing wasn't the only stop the tree elevator made.

“It's a train,” Kate whispered, but not as quietly as Spencer would have liked. Uncle Mark turned. He was wearing his leather jacket and had an army-green canvas bag slung over one shoulder. He didn't look anything like a spy—or an
operative,
as everyone kept calling it—just his usual, cool self.

“Everything okay?” he asked Spencer. “You've been pretty quiet.”

“Yeah,” Spencer answered. “Just didn't know you were going by train, that's all.” Uncle Mark didn't say anything for a moment, and Spencer thought he saw some regret, or maybe sympathy, in his uncle's eyes.

B.D. grumbled, standing impatiently beside the open door. “Did you expect us to
walk
to Stantonville?” he asked gruffly. In an only slightly kinder voice he added, “Even a train can't take us anywhere unless we get on it. Shall we go down?” B.D. waved them all into the hollow tree.

Kate, who so far had been following Spencer's lead, staying quiet and well-behaved, bounded forward onto the platform.

“Reggie's going to be so jealous!” she gushed to B.D., who pretended not to hear her. “I don't think
any
of the other Bearhaven cubs have seen the TUBE! Not the ones born here, I mean.” She chattered on. Spencer followed, then Uncle Mark and B.D., who took up the last of the space inside the tree trunk. “Spencer!” Kate called as the door slid shut and they were cast into darkness. “Do you know what
TUBE
stands for?”

Before Spencer could answer, the platform started to drop, just like the one in the Lab, faster than any elevator he'd ever been on. He held his breath. It almost felt like falling—

“Traveling. Underground. Bear. Explorers!” Kate chirped into the dark. Uncle Mark laughed, and B.D. gave an exasperated sigh, then the platform lurched to a halt.

“Actually,” B.D. said as the door slid open, “it's Transcontinental Underground Bear Expressway.”

Spencer stepped off the platform and into a train station buzzing with activity. Three bears stood beside a sleek white train, polishing its tinted windows until they gleamed like new pennies, pinkish-brown and shining. Rolling carts stacked high with boxes sat on the smooth stone platform, waiting to be loaded. Some of the boxes were marked with a red cross.
Medical supplies,
Spencer assumed. Some were marked as containing food or drink, and the rest were marked with various symbols that Spencer couldn't take the time to decipher.

A medium-sized black bear who Spencer didn't recognize stood at the first car of the train, talking animatedly and motioning toward the sloped front window. A silver cuff on her wrist caught the light.
A member of the Bear Guard.
The bear shifted, revealing Aldo, who stood beside her.

“Aldo!” Kate squealed. B.D. quieted her.

“Better let him focus, young lady,” he explained. “Aldo's learning to run a TUBE security check.”

B.D., Uncle Mark, and the cub had filed out of the elevator behind Spencer. He turned just in time to see the door slide shut. Underground, the entrance to the elevator didn't look anything like the wide tree trunk that they'd entered above
ground; instead it had stainless steel doors with a button beside them.
We're really far below ground,
Spencer thought, and looked up. The ceiling, which at first looked like it was painted a marbled brown, was actually made of glass, allowing the natural webbing of intertwined roots to show through. The roots spread out above them like a canopy.

Uncle Mark slung an arm around Spencer's shoulders. “She's a beauty, isn't she?” He beamed at the train.

“Yeah,” Spencer said. He had to figure out how to get
onto
that beauty without anyone else noticing, and then he had to figure out how to
stay
on that beauty long enough for turning back to be out of the question.

And before he could stop himself, he had to ask. “But
how
? Where did it come from?” Had Mom and Dad built
Bearhaven
and
a railroad? Out of the corner of his eye Spencer could see Kate sneaking down the platform toward Aldo. B.D. grumbled and went after her.

“Your parents and I refurbished an old rail line,” Uncle Mark explained. “It had been out of use for years. I bought it at auction, posing as an old geezer who collected train stuff as a hobby.” He paused and then, in a wavering old man's voice, said, “It was my ‘crown jewel.'” Spencer thought his uncle sounded pretty convincing, and he would have loved to see Uncle Mark in disguise. He was so used to seeing his uncle look like he'd just stepped out of a men's fashion magazine that he couldn't imagine him as an old man. “It's got tunnels and arteries all over the country and up into Canada,” Uncle Mark continued. “We closed or hid all of
the aboveground entrances, basically taking it entirely off the map. The hidden tunnel I mentioned the other night? That's one of the old stations. I parked the Porsche there and rode the TUBE the rest of the way into Bearhaven.”

“Wow.” Spencer couldn't help but be impressed. “Can I see the inside?”

Uncle Mark glanced down at his watch. “We can do a quick tour, but you have to stick with me. Exploring on your own will have to wait for another time, got it?”

Spencer's excitement threatened to give him away. “Got it,” he said, sounding as serious as he could.

“Good. Then let's start in the front. You're never going to believe what your mom did with the interior.”

Careful to look as glum as possible, Spencer thanked Uncle Mark for the quick tour and stepped out of the train. He set off down the platform to find Kate. Having memorized the order of the train's cars as Uncle Mark showed him around, Spencer had a plan, but they had to move fast. B.D. and Uncle Mark were heading up to the engine car to confirm the route, the last of the boxes had been loaded into the cargo car, and the crew of bears who had been preparing the train for departure had disappeared through a door on one side of the platform that read
Maintenance Staff Only
.

He looked around quickly and spotted Kate sitting on a wide stone bench swinging her legs, listening to Aldo recite the guidelines for a TUBE security check to his supervisor.

“Come on,” Spencer whispered urgently when he was close enough. Kate hopped off the bench and followed him back toward the train. Spencer headed straight for the cargo car. The last car in the row, the cargo car's door was open and locked into place above the car, like a beetle's open wing ready to fly.

On the walk from the Weavers' house to the TUBE, Spencer had been able to tell Kate that he was going on the
mission, he just wasn't sure how yet. She'd shaken her head, trying to dissuade him, but they'd been too close behind B.D. and Uncle Mark, and Spencer had gestured for her to be quiet.

“I need your help,” Spencer whispered now as they approached the cargo car. “I'm going to hide on the train.”

“Are you
crazy
?” she asked quietly. “What if they're right? What if it is too dangerous?” she rushed on. “Aren't you scared to leave Bearhaven?”

“I'm not scared.” Spencer stopped walking. He looked up and down the platform, but only Aldo and his supervisor were in view, and both bears had their backs turned.
This is it,
he thought. If they got caught now, he wouldn't have another chance.

He gave his jade bear a quick squeeze.
Bears are devoted animals, Spencer,
Mom had written in the letter,
and so are the Plains. No matter how far or how often we travel, your father and I will always come home to you.
Spencer pulled his hand from his pocket. This time, he was going to have to bring them home.

As soon as the thought came, he shook it away. This mission wasn't really meant to save Mom and Dad, but it was a start. For now, he'd have to help his parents by finishing the bear rescue they'd begun.

Spencer checked once more that nobody was watching, then looked at Kate, jerked his head toward the cargo car's open door, and jumped through it. The cub hurtled in after him, landing so hard that the car shook underneath them. He glared at her.

“Sorry,” she whispered, but was too captivated by the inside of the train to seem very apologetic.
This isn't even one
of the cool cars,
Spencer thought as Kate sniffed at the boxes piled high around them.

He went to one of the stacks and started moving things. “What are you doing?” Kate asked. Spencer took a medium-sized box off a larger one and put it on the floor, then opened the large box and started pulling out the blankets he found inside, stuffing them back behind other stacks of boxes.

“I'm going to get in here,” he answered once the box was empty and the blankets had all been hidden. “Once I'm in, close the top, and put that box back on the pile.” He pointed to the box he'd put on the floor. “It's not heavy. It won't crush me or anything.”

Spencer started to scramble up the side of the box, but it was harder than he'd thought. Kate pushed her head against it, holding the box steady so that Spencer could climb all the way up and slide in. “Thanks,” he said once he righted himself. “Oh, I almost forgot. Once you've hidden me, go to the engine—the front car—and find Uncle Mark. Tell him I was so upset that I wasn't allowed to go with them that I didn't think I could even say good-bye. Say I took the elevator up and went back alone.”

Kate nodded slowly, like she hadn't decided yet if she would let Spencer go hidden away in the boxes.

“This is what we trained for,” Spencer urged the cub. She was the only chance he had. “I'm ready,
anbranda
.”

“Okay,” she said at last.

Spencer crouched down while Kate closed the box flaps over him. He heard her replace the other box and then pause. “Good luck, Spencer Plain,” she whispered, then stepped away. Spencer listened to the light thumping of her feet as she ran off the train to deliver his message.

Long minutes passed. Spencer waited silently in the dark of the box, desperate to feel the train begin to move. The plan
had
to work! Uncle Mark
had
to believe that Spencer returned to the Weavers' alone!

After what felt like hours, Spencer heard a faint
hushhhh
and then a muted
click.
It took him a moment to place the sound, but when he did, he had to stop himself from letting out a cheer.

The door of the cargo car had slid down and locked into place.

Spencer felt a gentle lurch, and the boxes shifted around him. The train was leaving the station. They were on their way!