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the glade and gathering mouthfuls of acorns. She even managed to catch a vole, but as she brought each to the child, it pushed them away with chirps of protest.
    Casseomae sighed and was about to try something else when she caught the child putting its mouth to its upper arm. At first, she thought it might be licking a wound or cleaning the strange furless pelt covering its body. But then she heard a slurping noise.
    She edged closer to see what the cub was doing. A tube protruded from its hide. There were lots of the strange protuberances and pouches along its body, none of which made any sense to her. As she watched, the cub’s cheeks drew in and its throat lumped with a swallow.
    It’s drinking, she realized. But how could the creature drink moisture from its own body? She shuffled away a short distance to sit down and think.
    This was no bear cub—this was a Skinless One. It was unlike any creature in the Forest. She couldn’t communicate with it. She couldn’t understand it. What was she doing protecting it?
    The cub took its mouth from the tube and settled back against the doorway of the den. It looked up at the sky, where the clouds were turning orange and pink with the setting sun.
    It needs me, she reminded herself.
    She heard something coming through the brush beyond the nearest of the vine-tangled cars. Something scraping along the ground. “Haven’t you been eaten yet?” she called.
    “Nice to smell you too, you big lump,” Dumpster called from the thick grass. “How about coming over here and helping me?”
    “What’s the matter?” she said, lumbering toward him.
    “Nothing’s the matter. I’ve only been dragging this stinkin’ thing halfway across the Forest.”
    As Casseomae pushed aside the weeds, she spied the rat pulling something with his teeth—a square container with the distinctive sheen of the Skinless objects.
    “What is that?” she asked.
    “It’s plastic. A material the Old Devils could make.”
    “I’ve seen it before. Why are you carrying it?”
    “It’s for the cub,” Dumpster said before going around to the other side and pushing against the box with his head to scoot it forward.
    “For the cub?” Casseomae asked.
    Dumpster twitched his whiskers. “Yeah, for the cub. The Old Devil over there.” He sighed. “To eat.”
    “They eat plastic?”
    “No, you idiot bear. The food is inside.” Dumpster gnawed at a corner with his teeth before prying at the top of the box with his narrow paws and popping the box open. Inside were neatly stacked rows of small shiny packages. Dumpster pulled one out and dropped it before Casseomae.
    She lowered her nose and sniffed. Dumpster hadperforated the package with his teeth, and a strange, sweet odor came from inside. “There’s hardly enough in here for a meal.”
    “It’s plenty, believe me,” Dumpster said. “A little goes a long way with this Old Devil food.”
    “Where did you get these?”
    “From a squirrel’s nest,” Dumpster said in his acid tone. He snapped his tail and pointed with his nose. “I got it from that crashed passering out there. The cub won’t eat our food. I’ve seen the remains of their food caches back in my city and believe me, the Old Devils hardly ate anything that we scratchin’ eat. They like this stuff. Go ahead. Give it to the pup.”
    Casseomae picked the crinkling package up with her lips. The plastic left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she was glad when she was finally able to drop it before the child. The child sat up sharply, its eyes fixed on the package.
    Dumpster scampered to peer from around the bear’s back leg. “What’s it doing? Did it eat it?”
    “Not yet. It’s not even touching it. Are you sure that’s food? It tastes awful.”
    “Yeah, that’s just the wrapping. They used plastic shells to protect their food. Trying to keep us rats from eating their cache.” Dumpster looked up, giving a smug twitch of his whiskers. “We got into it anyway, of course. Idiot