Secrets of Bearhaven (15 page)

“Welcome aboard.”

Startled, Spencer looked up into the friendly eyes of a bear he didn't recognize. Only seconds ago he'd heard someone enter the cargo car and approach the box he was hiding in. He'd stiffened, his box shifting around him as the one on top of it was removed. Before he could do anything, the flaps of cardboard above him had been pulled apart.

“I'm Marguerite, and my nose never lies.” She gave an exaggerated sniff. “Right now it's telling me that
you're
not supposed to be here.” With a little blue cap perched on top of her head and a smile on her face, Marguerite looked practically cheerful to have discovered a stowaway on the train. Spencer sighed. Uncle Mark and B.D. wouldn't be nearly so happy to see him, but being discovered
was
part of his plan. He just hoped they were far enough along in the trip that they couldn't turn around and take him back to Bearhaven.

“Hi,” he answered, standing up and brushing himself off. “I'm Spencer.”

“Is that so?” Marguerite replied, and in one quick movement, she scooped Spencer out of the box with a
clawless paw and deposited him on his feet in front of her. She straightened her navy vest and patted a few of the gold-trimmed pockets lightly as though checking that all of the contents were still securely in place. “Pleased to meet you, Spencer.” He blinked at her, reeling from having been moved around like a sack of potatoes. “This way!” Marguerite trilled as she left the cargo car. Spencer followed.
Here we go . . .

They left the cargo car, passed through the medical car, and entered the wardrobe car—at least, that's what Uncle Mark had called it on his whirlwind tour of the train. Full-length mirrors and makeup tables lined either side of the car, and on each end there were closets. Uncle Mark hadn't told him what was in the closets, and Spencer couldn't imagine why the TUBE needed a wardrobe car at all, but he didn't ask Marguerite. He was too busy coming up with ways to make a case for himself.

Marguerite and Spencer entered the passenger car together, but Spencer stayed tucked behind the bear, trying to delay the moment when Uncle Mark and B.D. realized what he'd done.

“There you are, Marguerite. We thought we'd lost you.” The voice was B.D.'s, but the tone was one that Spencer had never heard the authoritative bear use before. He sounded . . . playful. But then Marguerite stepped aside, revealing Spencer, and any possibility of playfulness was sucked right out of the train.

For a moment, everyone was silent.

Avoiding B.D.'s eyes, Spencer looked around. On the tour with Uncle Mark, he'd been impressed by how cool the passenger car's interior was. The seats were pearl-colored
and looked like huge nautilus shells. Each chair was topped with a segmented hood and outfitted with a ton of high-tech features. Mom had done an awesome job, but now, under B.D.'s furious gaze, Spencer wished he were anywhere else.

Uncle Mark's legs were poking out of one of the cocoon-like seats. He didn't have a view of Spencer from where he sat, but something about the deathly silence that had fallen over the car got his attention. He leaned around the side of his seat, his neck craning to follow B.D.'s glare.

“Spencer!”

“As you can see, gentlemen,” Marguerite said quickly, “I've made a new friend. Now, I think I'll leave you three alone to sort this out. But don't you worry, I'll be back in, say . . .” She looked at a huge gold watch on her wrist. “Half an hour? Refreshments and snacks then, all right? All right!” With that, she turned and sashayed out of the car.

“I'm . . . I'm sorry.” Spencer broke the silence.

“Are you?” B.D. snarled.

“Spencer, this is really crossing a line.” Uncle Mark's tone was hard. “I thought I'd made myself clear.”

“You did . . .” Spencer began. “But . . . I guess . . . Well . . . I don't think I made
myself
clear.” His voice shook a little. B.D. gave a low, warning growl.

Follow your instincts.

Spencer pulled the jade bear from his pocket and held it out for B.D. and Uncle Mark to see. “This is the bear Mom and Dad gave me when I turned eight. It's always with me, because they aren't. When I'm nervous or scared, I hold on to it and remember that I can be like a bear.” He looked B.D. in the eye. “That I can be brave and strong and smart. But this
bear is more than that.” He looked at his uncle. “I've been learning about bears my whole life. In our family, bears are at the center of everything. I mean, Mom and Dad call me their
cub
. Bears are just . . . They're in my blood.” He took a deep breath. “The Plains rescue bears, and I'm as much a Plain as Mom and Dad. I'm
coming
on this mission. For my family. To help bring them home.” He clutched the jade bear and put it back in his pocket. Then he looked from Uncle Mark to B.D., waiting for the verdict.

B.D.'s demeanor softened ever so slightly. He nodded, then looked to Uncle Mark. Uncle Mark ran a hand through his hair.

“I understand, Spence,” he said quietly. “Your determination . . . It's really . . . your parents would be proud.”

“Please. I can help. I've even trained to be here.”

“If you get hurt, your mom will never forgive me.” Uncle Mark shook his head slowly.

“Just wait until you and Dad give me Grandpa's Mustang . . . Might as well get a head start on things she'll never forgive you for, right?”

Uncle Mark laughed. “All right, Spence, you're in.”

“All right,” B.D. said. “But there's one more thing. I've had just about enough of you showing up in places you're not supposed to be. You need to be where we tell you to be from now on.”

Spencer flopped into the seat next to the bear. He was going on the mission. B.D. could have the last word.

Spencer woke up inside the pod that his seat had transformed into. Marguerite had showed him how to pull the segmented hood down all the way, then press a button, causing the seat to unfold into a cozy, covered bed. He hadn't meant to fall asleep—he'd just wanted to test out the bed—but now he had no idea how long he'd been sleeping or what time it was.

Pressing the button that had made the seat unfold, Spencer felt his bed rise, tilt forward, and return to its original shape. Pushing the hood up, he opened his pod to the passenger car around him.

Earlier, when they'd all eaten Raymond's boxed dinners, the train car had been bright and inviting. Now, the lights were dimmed.

The hood of Uncle Mark's seat was closed and Spencer could hear soft snoring coming from within. Spencer turned to B.D.'s seat, expecting to see the hood drawn and hear the muted thunder of bear snores. Instead, he found the neighboring chair upright and B.D. awake, sipping from a mug cradled between his front paws.

Something about the way the bear's eyes never left the train's window, even as he sipped his drink, made Spencer
think that he shouldn't interrupt B.D.'s thoughts, but instead of pressing the button to turn his chair back into a bed, Spencer accidently pressed one that made music blare out of his headrest. Startled, B.D. turned as Spencer fumbled to shut the music off.

“Sorry,” he whispered, once he'd quieted his headrest. “I didn't mean to interrupt . . .”

“There wasn't much to interrupt,” B.D. answered, his voice free of its usual gruffness. The bear lifted his mug to his lips, and Spencer noticed that the familiar flash of silver was missing.

“Where are your Bear Guard cuffs?” he asked.

“I don't wear them outside of Bearhaven. If I have to slip into the woods, they can hinder Bear Stealth, or if I have to blend in with other bears—whatever the case may be, it's best if I'm not wearing the cuffs. Marguerite has already put them away for me. She's an important part of the rescue team, you know,” he added.

“Well, she's definitely good at sniffing out stowaways.”

B.D. chuckled. “Yes, Spencer, she is good at that . . . Of course, not all of the rescue missions use the TUBE, and not all of the rescued bears make Bearhaven their home, but for many, Marguerite is an important part of their journey.” B.D. turned back to the window. “A lot of bears have entered Bearhaven on this train over the years, and each of them was greeted with Marguerite's kindness.”

“Have you and my parents rescued every single bear who lives in Bearhaven?”

“Besides the bears who've been born in Bearhaven, yes,” said B.D., turning back to Spencer. And then, “No, that's
not right. There
is
one bear who came to Bearhaven on his own—who wasn't actually rescued, but who escaped from a terrible situation and managed to find us himself. No other bear's done that. Very unusual and very brave. But then, Yude is an unusual and brave bear.”

“Yude?!”
Spencer cried in disbelief, then clapped a hand over his mouth.

B.D. eyed him questioningly.

“He's so . . .
mean
,” Spencer said quietly, trying to explain himself. “He doesn't want anything to do with me.”

“Yude isn't mean exactly, Spencer. He's gruff. He's impatient. And he's had some painful encounters with humans that have left him suspicious and bitter. But he's also a brilliant strategist—he has to be to have found his own way to Bearhaven. And he wants what's best for the bears there.”

“I don't know . . .” Spencer shuddered as he recalled Yude's anger in the council room.

“It's sad, actually, that Yude's never been able to fully understand how good and kind Mark and your parents are.” The bear paused for such a long moment that Spencer thought the conversation might be over.

“You know, Spencer, I consider them my family, too—your mom and dad and your uncle.” B.D.'s gaze returned to the window. “They saved my life,” he said a moment later, as much to the tunnel beyond the window as to Spencer.

“What? When?” Spencer asked carefully. He didn't want to break whatever spell B.D. seemed to be under.

“Before Bearhaven.”

Before
Bearhaven
? How was that possible, unless—

“Were you—?”

“One of the first,” B.D. said quickly. “One of the mascots.”

“From Gutler University?”

B.D. nodded. “I was sold to Gutler with my brother and sister when we were young. They wanted us for mascots, to parade us around at sporting events, but they treated us terribly. The handler—Margo Lalicki, whom your uncle's told you about?” Spencer nodded. “That woman drugged us and kept our teeth and claws filed down to nubs so we had no natural defenses. It made eating painful, not that there was much to eat. They kept us in a cage half the size of this train car, and let us starve.” B.D. shook his massive head, as if he was trying to shake the memory away. “Dora was my older sister,” he went on. “She protected my brother, John Shirley, and me whenever she could. Even when her own ribs showed, she'd share her food with us. She was smarter than my brother and me, too, and tough.” B.D. turned back to Spencer. “Dora would've done well at Bearhaven.”

“What happened to her?” Spencer asked, remembering what Uncle Mark had said about the female bear being recaptured at Gutler.

“Dora never made it out.” B.D. paused. “Your parents and Mark staged a rescue . . .” He hesitated again before continuing, and when he did, Spencer could tell that the bear was choosing his words carefully. “It was the first rescue, for all of us. Things were bound to go wrong. Dora was the last to be brought to the truck, but before she made it, guard dogs and floodlights surrounded us. We had to leave her. It was the only way any of us would have gotten out.” B.D.'s voice was filled with regret. “We knew Dora would've been
hurt and angry that things didn't go as we'd planned . . . that she was left behind . . . So at the first opportunity, your mom and dad went back for her. They searched, but couldn't find her. It was like she'd disappeared. All they found was a scrap of her Gutler football jersey.”

“Her what?”

“Gutler made us wear green-and-gold jerseys during their football games. We fly the scrap we found from her shirt on the flagpole in Bearhaven, to always remember what we've sacrificed, and what we've gained. And to remember Dora.”

Spencer looked down at his hands. He remembered that flag from his tour of Bearhaven, but he never imagined it could mean so much. “And what about your brother?”

“John Shirley? He's out there.”

Spencer counted twelve tunnel lights flash past the window before B.D. spoke again. “Bearhaven was never going to be home for John Shirley. After what we'd been through, he wasn't interested in communicating much with humans. He appreciated the rescue and what your family did for him, but he didn't want a lifestyle that too closely resembled theirs. Many bears feel that way.”

Spencer nodded, but didn't really know what B.D. meant. Seeming to sense this, B.D. added, “For many of us, Bearhaven is a safe community, but for some, it's a reminder of what we've suffered.”

“Do you ever see him? John Shirley?”

“Every now and then,” said B.D. “Not often, and I never know which time will be the last. We know how to find each other, though, in case we need to . . . In case either of us finds Dora.”

Spencer leaned back in his chair as they lapsed into silence. B.D. understood what it meant to miss your family, to want to save them from something.

Poor Dora,
Spencer thought.
After all she'd done to protect her brothers at Gutler, she'd never seen them again.
He wondered where she was, if she was even still alive. He turned to B.D. but found the bear asleep, his empty mug resting between his paws.