The Quest Begins by Erin Hunter Page B

direction, dark and endless. The waves swelled around them so Kallik couldn’t see the ice they were heading for, and even her mother’s head vanished a few times. Her claws tingled with fear as a new scent filled her nose—a smell that reeked of blood and ripping teeth and cold menace.
    She spun in the water, batting frantically at the waves with her paws, trying to see what it was. There! A huge black fin was slicing through the water, bearing down on her much faster than she could swim.
    Nisa roared, anger and terror mingled in her cry. “Orca!” she bellowed. “Kallik, swim! As fast as you can!”
    Kallik flailed blindly, pushing with her paws as hard as she could, but there was nothing to press against here—no solid ice beneath her paws to lend her speed, no whirls of snow to urge her on her way. She was lost in the dark, cold water.
    More fins appeared behind the first.
    â€œFaster, Kallik!” Nisa roared. “Get out of here!”
    â€œMother!” Taqqiq screamed from the ledge of ice behind them. “Kallik! What’s happening?”
    Nisa swam in a circle around Kallik, clawing at the killer whales. Kallik felt the water surge around her as the orca smashed into Nisa with their massive heads. Then their tails slammed into her mother’s body and spun her around.
    â€œMother!” Kallik cried as the world flashed white and black around her.
    â€œGo!” Nisa butted Kallik with her head and turned to snarl at the whales again. Kallik caught a glimpse of a gaping jaw lined with yellow teeth and small, cold, black eyes.
    Whimpering with fear, Kallik swam and swam and swam. She didn’t know if she was still headed in the right direction or if she’d end up swimming out to sea forever.
    Suddenly her nose bumped into something solid. Her eyes flew open and she gasped. Ice! She’d made it to the other side!She dug her claws into the cold surface and thrashed her back paws in the water, trying to push herself up. But her limbs were so heavy and her waterlogged fur weighed her down.
    â€œHelp!” she shrieked, clutching the ice. “Please, help me!”
    Like a spirit sent by the Great Bear, her mother appeared beside her with a whoosh of sharp-smelling water. Nisa ducked under the surface and shoved Kallik upward. With the extra boost, Kallik was able to scramble up to safety. Immediately she spun around, reaching for her mother’s paws.
    â€œOut, out, get out!” she screeched.
    But Nisa’s paws were already sliding back out of reach, into the water. Her mother was falling, falling away from her, and the churning water was rising to suck her down, and the fins were closing in.
    â€œMother!” Kallik screamed. Nisa was still fighting, her claws leaving long gashes in the sides of the killer whales, but there were too many of them. The water that sloshed over the ice was pink now, staining Kallik’s paws, smelling of salt and blood and fear.
    Kallik lunged forward, stretching her muzzle over the water. “Mother! Grab on to me! I’ll pull you out!”
    An orca tail flicked out of the water and slammed into her. Kallik was knocked back onto the ice, crashing to the ground and sliding through the snow for several bearlengths. She lay there, too stunned to move. Beneath the ice, there was a hollow knocking sound, a roar cut off, the snap of teeth.
    When her ears cleared, she realized that she could nolonger hear splashing or roaring. A deep, mournful silence hung over the water. The killer whales had gone. And so had Nisa.
    â€œMother!” A voice sounded from far away. “Mother! Kallik! Mother!”
    Taqqiq! He was calling to them across the water. Kallik lifted her head, trying to see him. But the clouds were hanging low, hiding the cubs from each other’s sight. Kallik tried to climb to her paws and call back to him, but she was too winded. She couldn’t catch her breath to make a sound. I’m