Secrets of Bearhaven (22 page)

There wasn't any time to waste. As soon as Margo and Ivan got out—and Spencer had no doubt Grady's goons would show up to free them soon—they'd be ruthless. Still, Spencer looked around the room miserably. How could he leave the rest of the bears locked back in their cages?

“I will find you, Plain!” Margo shrieked. “You can count on that! Your parents are done for!”

Adrenaline shot through Spencer's veins. They had to go
now
. Ro Ro and her cubs lumbered over, anxiously trying to escape Margo's menacing voice. Spencer glanced around the room one last time.
I'll come back for you,
he wanted to say, but he didn't have the words.
“Anbranda!”
he finally shouted as he pulled open the steel door. “Thank you!”

Following Ro Ro and the cubs into the gray room with the elevator, Spencer realized that Ro Ro was still limping. The wounds on her neck and hind leg were bleeding again after her fight with Ivan, and she left a wet trail of blood on the cement floor as she nudged her cubs along. Spencer needed to get her out quickly. She needed medical attention. He raced to the elevator doors, slapping the button on the wall to open them.

Once they'd piled onto the platform, Spencer hit the button on the wall of the elevator shaft and the doors slid shut. But the elevator wasn't moving. He pressed the button again. The doors opened.
No . . .
He pressed it a third time. “Come on!” he shouted, startling the cubs. The doors closed again. The platform wasn't going anywhere.
How did Margo make it move before?
Spencer frantically searched his memory.
The remote control.
It must control everything in the building, but now it was lying busted in the cage.

The only way out was up. He knew that much. But if they couldn't move the platform . . . He looked up into the elevator's shaft. He could just make out the doors at the very top.

“Grauk?”
Ro Ro growled softly. She knew as well as he did that they needed to go.

Spencer swallowed hard and grasped his jade bear. They'd have to climb to safety. He didn't see any other way. He took a deep breath, then pointed up, to the doors at the top of the shaft.

“Shala,”
he said firmly. Releasing the jade bear, Spencer gripped the cable beside him with both hands, then climbed a few feet up. He dropped back down to the platform, looking to Ro Ro to make sure that she understood. One of the cubs wrapped itself around the cable without hesitating and started to climb it as easily as if it were a slender tree in the forest.

Spencer watched, relieved that he'd made himself clear, but Ro Ro huffed and shook her head. The cub stopped climbing and quickly made its way back down.

No?
Spencer told her again that safety was above them. The bear protested with another shake of her head, then dropped down onto the platform on her belly. Spencer knelt
next to her. She was wheezing a little. Blood was oozing from her neck, and she turned around to lick the wound on her hind leg.

It's too much for her,
Spencer realized. After the horrible bear baying and everything she'd just done to protect him and the cubs from Margo and Ivan, Ro Ro didn't have it in her to climb the cable. Whimpering, the cubs settled in around their mother.

We need help.
Spencer looked up into the elevator shaft again. They needed someone who could carry her up. They needed B.D. . . . He stood.
“Shala. Anbranda,”
he said, pointing up again. Ro Ro watched him intently. He pointed at the cubs.
“Grauk. Ko.”

Ro Ro nuzzled each of her cubs. They clung to her tightly. Spencer looked away. She had to know they weren't leaving her here.
It's not good-bye,
he wanted to tell them.

“Shala. Anbranda,”
he promised, miming someone climbing down the shaft to scoop her up and bring her to safety. Ro Ro nodded weakly. To the cubs, she growled a string of Ragayo Spencer didn't understand. She nudged them toward him. They scrambled back to her. She pushed them again, nipping them gently but firmly. This time, when Spencer grabbed one of the two cables and pulled it toward the cubs, the cubs hopped onto the cable one after the other and started to climb.

Spencer looked back to Ro Ro.
“Shala,”
he promised one last time, then turned to the cable and hoisted himself up. He wrapped his arms and legs around it.
Here we go
. Spencer looked at the cubs scooting effortlessly up the cable. He started to climb.

Spencer climbed quickly at first, trying to reach the top as fast as possible, but the higher he went, the slower he climbed. Thoughts of falling started to creep into his head. They clouded his vision. His arms started to shake.
Keep going,
he commanded himself.
Keep going. Don't think about—

Then it happened. Just like it always did. The jolt of panic. The terrifying flash of images: metal, blood, leaves whipping past his face as he fell, crashing through branches, and something else. Spencer saw something now that he'd never seen before in the familiar attack of images:
Yude
. He wanted to scream. A wave of nausea swept over him.

And then the moment passed.

Spencer clung to the cable, his eyes squeezed shut. Every muscle in his body was tensed. He couldn't move. He tried to turn his gasps into normal breathing. The thought of plummeting made it impossible. His lungs wouldn't fill with air.

Now what?
he thought, knowing that there was only one answer. The bears needed him. He couldn't give up. Not this time. He opened his eyes.

“Aaah!” he shouted, nearly letting go of the cable, he was so startled. One of the cubs had come back down and was hanging just above him, its snout poking right into Spencer's face.

“Grauk?”
the cub growled curiously. Spencer looked up the elevator shaft. He was halfway to the door. He tightened his grip on the cable.

“Grauk.”

The cub started climbing back up the cable. Spencer followed.

Don't. Look. Down.

Wrapped around the cable, the cubs were waiting patiently and peering down at Spencer from the top of the elevator shaft. Spencer tried to take another deep breath. It was no use. Deep breaths weren't an option.

He'd finally made it to the doors at the top of the shaft, but in order to open them he had to press a button on the wall in front of him. Which meant that he had to take one hand off the cable. He hadn't thought of that before he'd started climbing. Now he was sweating, and all of his muscles were burning from exhaustion. The idea of removing so much as a single pinkie from the cable meant risking a long, long fall.

“Grauk, grauk,”
the cubs murmured, reassuring him.

“Okay,” he said, staring at the button. It really wouldn't take much to press it. The doors themselves weren't more than a foot away, but even so, one wrong move this high up . . .
No.
He couldn't think like that. The longer he waited, the more tired they'd all become, and Ro Ro still needed help. They didn't have time for him to just hang around stalling. “Okay,” he said again, his voice a little shaky.
All I have to do is push that button,
he told himself.
Then we're home free.

“Grauk.”
The call to go came again. Before he could talk himself out of it, Spencer released his right hand from the cable and hit the button. As quickly as he could, he clamped his arm back around the cable. His pulse raced. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to calm himself down. When he opened them, he saw that the doors had slid open and they were looking out into a patch of moonlit trees.

Thump! Thump!
The cubs leaped through the open door and tumbled onto the ground. Spencer laughed. He let go of the cable and grabbed on to the door frame with his right hand, then unwrapped his legs from the cable to step out onto the ground. He pulled himself out of the elevator shaft in one smooth motion. They'd made it!

Spencer sank down beside the bears, who were batting at each other with their paws, full of pent-up energy. Through the trees, he could see Jay Grady's barn looming, but they were far enough away and it was dark enough now that he didn't think anyone would spot them. He relaxed a little, feeling some of his strength return.

Suddenly, the doors to the elevator shaft started to slide shut.
Ro Ro!

Spencer scrambled forward, trying to catch hold of one of the doors before it closed. There was no handle. He grasped the edge of the door, but it continued to shut. Spencer's arms were too tired to stop it. With his left hand on the door, he grabbed the jade bear from his pocket and jammed the figurine into the last sliver of open space. The door stopped.

“Spencer!” a voice called from behind him.

Uncle Mark!

Spencer turned. Uncle Mark was running toward him through the trees, with Evarita close behind. They were both still in their disguises, but it was clear that in their relief at finding him they'd abandoned their characters altogether.

Spencer felt himself starting to breathe normally again.
“Shala,”
he said to the cubs, who were pawing at the ground in front of the elevator door.

Uncle Mark dropped to the ground and grabbed Spencer, wrapping him up in an enormous hug. Evarita followed, hugging him, then holding him by the shoulders at arm's length to look him over. “You're all right?” she asked. Spencer nodded, too happy and relieved to get any words out.

Uncle Mark looked at the cubs. They'd started sucking each other's paws again, humming loudly like Spencer had heard them do before.

“They need their mother,” Spencer said urgently. “Ro Ro's badly hurt. Her neck and her back leg. She needs help.” He nodded to the door. “It's an elevator shaft. We had to climb the cable to get out. I promised.” His voice shook. “I promised we'd go back for her.”

Uncle Mark stood and went to the door. “Spence, did you do this?” he asked, pointing at the jade bear.

“Yeah, I had to keep the door from closing.”

“Good thinking.” Evarita sounded impressed. “Very resourceful.”

“You're turning out to be quite the operative, Spence,” Uncle Mark said.

He swung a black backpack off and retrieved a pair of pliers. As he approached the door, the cubs shrank away from him, blocking the entrance to the elevator shaft.

“Hruk,”
Spencer said gently, urging them to come to him.

The cubs scrambled over, tumbling onto the ground beside Spencer. Together, they watched Uncle Mark put the pliers in the space that the figurine was holding open. He examined the black jade bear, turning it over in his palm. “Your mom's gonna love this story,” he said, tossing the jade bear to Spencer. Catching it with both hands, Spencer wrapped his fingers around the familiar stone. Mom
would
love this story—but wait! He had to tell Uncle Mark and Evarita everything that he'd seen!

“About Mom, Uncle Mark.” The words started tumbling out. “I saw—”

“Wait, Spence.” Uncle Mark stopped him. “We'll have plenty of time to debrief after we get Ro Ro out of there safely. I'm sure you saw a lot down there, but for now focus on keeping the details fresh in your mind. We'll want to hear everything as soon as we get back to transport.”

Spencer nodded. “Right. Transport.” Uncle Mark was right; this was no place to talk about Mom. Uncle Mark and Evarita may have dropped their accents, but they were still on Grady's land, and Margo was
way
too close to take any chances. Even if she was still locked in the bear cage.

One of the cubs padded back to the elevator doors, creeping up beside Uncle Mark to sniff at the crack that the pliers now held open.

Uncle Mark took hold of the pliers. “All right, let's get Ro Ro out.”

Spencer called the cub back again.
“Hruk.”

Prying open the pliers' handles, Uncle Mark began to push the doors apart. As the pliers opened, the crack
between the doors widened. Evarita jumped up to help. Once the opening was wide enough for her to get her hands around the edge of one of the doors, she started to push, forcing it to slide back into the wall. Uncle Mark dropped the pliers and put both hands on the edge of the opposite door, forcing it back. Within seconds, the entrance to the elevator shaft stood completely open. Uncle Mark fashioned two door stops out of rocks to keep the doors from sliding shut again, then he and Evarita looked down into the shaft.

“We have to get her out,” Spencer said. “I promised!”

“Don't worry, Spence,” Uncle Mark said as he stepped away from the shaft. “Ro Ro's coming back to Bearhaven with us. You'll keep your promise. But you've already rescued two bears today; time for the rest of us to do some work.” He clapped his hands. “Evarita, take Spencer and the cubs back to the TUBE in the Cadillac. Stop at the truck and tell B.D. that we have to get Ro Ro up the shaft on a cable. She can't climb if she's got a bad leg. He'll know what to bring.”

“Got it.” Evarita nodded. Uncle Mark and Evarita looked at Spencer.

“Got it,” he said, swelling with pride. He was a real operative now.

Uncle Mark slung his backpack on. “I'm going down to Ro Ro. We'll meet you at the TUBE as soon as we can.” He leaned out into the elevator shaft and grabbed hold of the cable with both hands. Without hesitating, he swung himself out into the open space, wrapped his legs around the cable, and started to descend.

Spencer stood up on exhausted legs. The cubs ducked their heads down into the elevator shaft, loudly grumbling Ragayo.

“Uncle Mark?!” Spencer called down the shaft, “Be careful! Margo and Ivan, they're—” he started, not sure how much he should say right now. “They're really . . . angry. I, uh . . . I left them locked in a bear cage.”

Uncle Mark tilted his head back and laughed. “Of course you did, kid.”