Spark and the Grand Sleuth by Robert Repino

Author:Robert Repino [Repino, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quirk Books
Published: 2021-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

The bears closed in around her.

“How did you figure it out?” Mason asked.

There was no use lying. Besides, maybe she could stall them with the truth. “You have Loretta’s knife,” Spark said. “That means you were snooping around in the abandoned hospital wing after the children left. You’re hiding something there. And then you didn’t destroy the portal like you said you would.”

Mason nodded his head grudgingly.

“You have some kind of scratcher under your fur,” Spark said. “That’s why you’re so fast.”

“I will have you know that I am quite fast without it. But yes, it is a scratcher. A prototype. I based its design on the scratcher that Jakmal stole from us. But it only works in this world—it cannot get you to another. Not yet.”

“You’re not trying to close the portal,” Spark said. “Why?”

Two bears stood on either side of her. They gripped her arms and forced her to stand.

“What have you done with the Grand Sleuth?” she asked.

Everyone turned to Agnes. “Spark, we are the Grand Sleuth,” she said. “What’s left of it. We are the only ones standing between this world and the apocalypse.”

“What do you mean? Why are you messing with the portals?”

“My child,” she said, “there is so much to explain.”

“Then answer me!” Spark said.

“We are trying to build a new scratcher. We have no other choice.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing!” Spark said, scanning the crowd for anyone who would listen. “The portals are unstable. You said so yourself. They can swallow an entire city if they get too big. They could—”

“We know the risks,” Agnes said.

“We do not have to tell her anything,” Mason said. He stood before Spark, sneering at her. “I told you this bear was trouble. We have come too far to let her interfere. She’s only got a few weeks left anyway. A few months at best.”

“Until what?” Spark said.

“Until the final light!”

He said it to hurt her. And it worked. The words hit her like a fist in the jaw.

“That is enough,” Agnes said. “This bear is one of us. She has proven herself. So she deserves to know the truth.”

The guard bears relaxed, though their paws still held Spark secure.

“The League has always been at war with the monsters,” Agnes said. “But the Grand Sleuth is working toward peace.”

“Peace!” Spark shouted. “Peace? The monsters steal children! What’re you gonna do? Talk to their lawyers?”

Agnes stepped closer. “I understand your anger. I really do.”

“So how does your peace work?” Spark said. “What do the bears get out of it?”

“We have to open another portal,” Agnes said. “That’s why we need to study this one, to learn how. After that, the war will be over.”

“After that?”

“Spark, please—”

“But what happens during?”

“Spark. This is the only way we can prevail. If we do not make this sacrifice, the price that comes later will be unbearable.”

“Sacrifice,” Spark hissed.

She could see the determination in the other bears’ eyes. Each of them must have had doubts when they first heard this plan. And yet Agnes had convinced them all.

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