Teddycats

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eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-99884-7

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

CLOUD KINGDOM
, home to the Teddycats, was wedged between two dormant volcanoes in the middle of the jungle. Over the millennia, lava spillover had created a wide, smooth splash basin surrounded by insurmountable cliffs.

Well,
almost
insurmountable.

The Teddycats, with their long, razor-sharp claws, were one of the few species on the planet—and the only species in this particular jungle—that were specially equipped to scale the inverted rock faces that plunged down into the forest. Besides the steepness, there were other obstacles as well. For instance, the lava had hardened in unpredictable and slippery ways, ranging from the glassy to craggy; the altitude could induce anything from shortness of breath to full-on vertigo; and the heavy cloud coverage restricted visibility to near zero. While the Kingdom itself was extremely friendly—even nurturing—to all forms of life, it was not uncommon for
Teddycat scouts to discover fledgling trespassers on the far outskirts, either wounded from the climb or driven mad by exhaustion.

But inside the Kingdom, all was verdant and fertile. Fresh water trickled reliably down the peaks, and bright, polished sunlight encouraged bountiful gardens and lush vegetation. Fruit trees and passionflowers clogged the well-tended Teddycat trails, and orchids and monkey brush clung in bunches to the Wall that enclosed their rarefied domain.

On his way to visit his mother at the Sanctuary, a young Teddycat named Bill Garra took comfort in the sweet sunbeams as a warm breeze brushed his fur. The Sanctuary was where ill or injured animals, all of them approved and admitted by the Teddycat Elders, could rest and recuperate in the safety and seclusion of the Kingdom. Bill's mother, Marisol, worked there most afternoons. Bill was supposed to meet his friend Luke Selva down on the forest floor, but he found himself delaying his departure.

Luke had always been curious about Cloud Kingdom, but lately he'd become increasingly adamant about visiting. And Bill was running out of excuses. He'd already blamed the rigors of the sweetmoss harvest, renovations to the Garra family den, and two separate Blood Moons. Bill wasn't sure how much longer he could keep on putting off his friend, while still being able to call himself a friend.

Because it wasn't just geology and evolution that kept Cloud Kingdom secured. The Elder Teddycats, which included Bill's father, Big Bill, were responsible for enforcing many strict rules that kept Cloud Kingdom separate from the rest of the jungle. The Teddycats' home was beautiful and rare, but accompanying all of that was a seething preoccupation with security and an undercurrent of constant fear.

Cloud Kingdom was a fiercely guarded paradise.

But Bill had never understood what the big deal was. Luke was a friend. Bill had been welcomed into Luke's den a million times. But Luke was not a Teddycat. He was an Olingo, who lived amid the raw chaos of the jungle. He couldn't be expected to understand Bill's position, let alone the rules of Cloud Kingdom.

In fact, the two of them shouldn't have had so much as two words to rub together. But Luke was the one who saved Bill from a viper bite he'd received on one of his illicit trips to the jungle floor, and they became fast buds.

Now they were in the midst of a big building project: a fort in a grand tree that had been split down the middle in a lightning storm. Bill was anxious to get down there and get back to work, but first he wanted to check and make sure his mother would be too busy to notice his absence for the rest of the afternoon.

Bill wouldn't normally have taken such careful measures, but the whole Kingdom was a bit on edge
of late. Everyone was fretting about what happened to Sebastian, a Teddycat whom the Elders had recently banished from Cloud Kingdom. Right after the decision was made, a veteran scout named Diego escorted him, blindfolded, down to a remote part of the jungle and let him loose in the middle of nowhere, warning him never to return. Bill wasn't exactly sure of the nature of Sebastian's violation—the adults spoke of it only in whispers—but it must have been something very, very bad. Something almost . . . unimaginable. Bill had never really liked Sebastian, who always had a nasty smirk on his face and seemed to enjoy telling scary stories to young Teddycats, but he wouldn't wish banishment on anyone. Banishment from the Kingdom was the harshest punishment a Teddycat could receive. Everyone knew the jungle was a dangerous place, especially for Teddycats.

As Bill navigated the Sanctuary, he spied his mother amid the friendly bustle, tending to the wounds of a hobbled—but still intimidating—jaguar. The Sanctuary's admission process was mysterious and based, as far as Bill could tell, solely on the Elders' ever-shifting whims. Mrs. Garra always described it as a delicate balancing act between helping as many souls as possible and keeping the Kingdom a secret—and the Teddycats safe.

As Bill watched his mother with the jaguar, he stroked his ear thoughtfully. How simple it was for that big old cat to come up for a stay in Cloud Kingdom.
Why couldn't Luke come down with some minor, easily curable ailment? Then Bill could ask his parents if he could nominate him for the Sanctuary, Luke would get a look at the Kingdom, and everybody would be happy.

His ear went numb with a pinch of realization. Even if Luke
were
to get sick and come to the Sanctuary, it wouldn't take long for everyone to figure out that Luke and Bill were friends, and that Bill had regularly been sneaking out of Cloud Kingdom—another major Teddycat no-no. His thoughts turned again to Sebastian, all alone out there in the wild. Whatever he had done, surely it was much, much worse than sneaking down to the jungle or bringing a good friend up to Cloud Kingdom.

Bill craned his neck to get a better look at his mother pressing leaves and balm against the jaguar's wounds. This was a rare opportunity to safely observe one of the jungle's fiercest predators. While Bill wanted nothing more than to tell Luke about the jaguar—Luke would absolutely flip at the idea of an up-close look at a docile jungle cat—it would only intensify his demands to visit. Bill sighed. After one last look at the cat, he made his way to the Wall.

AS BILL DESCENDED
into the leafy canopy, his heart began to beat at a different rate. The forest floor held
an energy he craved. In some ways it suited him better than home, and no amount of stern warnings had kept him away. He swung from vine to vine, limb to limb. Crystals of dew collected on his fur, and his eyes watered from wind and joy.

Today was the day Bill was supposed to take the loose fronds and downed limbs Luke had been collecting, and cut and fashion them into tools and supplies with his claws. And here was yet another violation of Teddycat regulations. Cloud Kingdom security was a big deal, but claws—the things that got the Teddycats up into the lofty branches in the sky in the first place—were an even bigger one. The Teddycats' claws were to be used only for clearly defined situations of basic survival, such as hunting and gathering and securing shelter. Brandishing a single claw for anything other than a life-or-death situation could get a Teddycat in serious trouble—maybe even banished.

Bill knew the Elders had good reasons rooted in Teddycat history to make these rules, but he still often wondered why they were so intent on controlling their subjects. He personally felt Teddycats should be free to use their claws however they saw fit, and he figured that while he was down in the jungle, the rules didn't apply.

He arrived at the fort to find Luke already there, arranging the fronds and limbs. Bill apologized for his lateness, and the two quietly set to work.

The fort was coming along nicely. They had been
working on it for months. It would serve as a home away from home, a hideout, a place to relax away from the restrictions of the Kingdom. In many ways, Luke was the ideal partner. He worked largely without complaint, listened when Bill needed to vent about his parents or the Elders, and indulged Bill's more harebrained dreams and schemes. But today Luke had been bristling from the moment Bill had arrived, and Bill had no doubt that it had to do with his frustrations about Cloud Kingdom.

They were digging for stones and then lugging them over to the creek. The idea was to plug the stream, which would eventually swell into a combination swimming hole and protective moat. The stones clacked, rolled, and settled as the two grunted in the stifling humidity.

“Hey, Bill?” ventured Luke, and Bill bit his lip, awaiting the inevitable.

“Yeah?” Bill asked. He scratched his head with his claw, a bad habit, but one he often lapsed into in the jungle.

“Well,” Luke said, “I've pretty much shown you everything there is to see in the jungle, wouldn't you agree?”

“You've been a top-shelf ambassador, Luke,” Bill said. “There's no denying that.”

Since the very first day they met, Luke had always been willing to show Bill the forest in all of its chaotic glory. The everyday dangers of gathering places
and hunting grounds, secret paths and cooling pools. They swiped colorful feathers from high nests, collected fruit, traded plans for the future as frogs serenaded them from the trees.

“But I'm still left wondering,” Luke said slowly, “when are you going to return the favor? You keep saying you're going to show me Cloud Kingdom, but there's always some reason or another why you can't.”

“What's mine is yours,” Bill said, pointing to the thatched roof of the fort. “You know that.”

“This has nothing to do with the fort,” Luke said. “I'm talking about real life. I've introduced you to my family. You've been a guest in my home. I'm proud to call you a friend!”

“Yeah, and I love Doris and Freddy Selva and all the Olingos!” Bill said, growing very uneasy now. “So what's wrong?”

“Your whole life is a secret! All I know about your home and your family is what you accidentally let slip, usually while you're complaining about the Elders. But I have no idea where you lay your head down at night. I can't even imagine it, and that's not fair.”

Luke plopped down in the creek. Water beaded on his fur, and he seemed to expand with disappointment.

“Listen, Luke,” Bill said, having no choice but to speak frankly, “there are things about me, details about Cloud Kingdom, that I just can't get into, no matter how badly I want to share them with you.”

“I know,” said Luke, rolling his eyes. “But at a certain point you have to decide whether or not you trust me. That's what friends do, Bill.”

Sometimes Bill felt like he was always playing two sides, leaving everybody miffed. “Believe me, I wish things were different.”

The Olingos and Teddycats had once been fierce allies. They were similar in appearance (the Olingos were a bit clumsier, with duller claws and grayer fur) and had complementary skills. But when the Teddycats moved to Cloud Kingdom, they left the Olingos behind to fend for themselves. And the Olingos never forgave them. Historically, the Teddycats—the colder, more pragmatic of the two species—treated this rift and the pain and guilt it caused as just part of the price they paid for safety. After all, they had to look out for themselves.

But if anyone ever bothered to ask what an Olingo thought of the Teddycats, he would likely describe them as selfish cowards. A Teddycat, on the other hand, might say the Olingos lacked conviction and discipline. The truth was, they were stronger together (as Bill had discovered through his friendship with Luke), but it was hard to imagine them joining forces again.

“If you really wanted things to be different, you'd take me up there with you,” Luke said.

“I can't!” yelled Bill. “I'm sorry. I know I said I would, I know I keep stalling and telling you that someday we'll be able to go. But the truth is, you aren't
allowed in Cloud Kingdom, and I'm not allowed to take you. That's one thing I can't do, so please, just drop it.”

Luke turned away. Bill immediately regretted his outburst.

“Anyways,” Bill said, trying to salvage the day—and his friendship, “the swimming hole is really coming along. I bet by tomorrow we'll be doing backflips and belly flops!”

“I'm busy tomorrow,” Luke huffed.

Bill closed his eyes. Sounds of the wild filled his head. Creaking fronds, swaying vines, the hum of insects and birds, the darting tongues of creatures in the trees. His eyelids turned pink with the sunlight slanting through the canopy at a disturbing angle. His eyes snapped open. He had lost track of the time.

“Uh-oh,” Bill said. “I'm really sorry, Luke, but I have to head back.”

“I guess it's true what they say about Teddycats,” Luke said.

“What's that?” Bill asked, already wincing.

“They only care about themselves.”