by K. E. Rocha
“We need a new plan,” Aldo said. Spencer could tell the bear was trying to take charge, but Aldo didn’t sound confident at all. Spencer was scared, too. They were alone, with no way to communicate with Evarita or anyone else outside Hidden Rock Zoo. Half their team had been captured. Dora, the long-lost bear they had come to rescue, had turned out to be a violent beast, and they still didn’t have a single clue as to where Mom and Dad were being held.
Aldo was right, they did need a new plan. But they couldn’t stay here, standing in the dark in the middle of the zoo to plot their next move. Besides, Spencer was starving, and Aldo looked exhausted.
“First, we need a hideout.” Spencer reached for the Hidden Rock Zoo map Evarita had tucked into the side pocket of his mission pack. He looked for a building on the opposite side of the zoo from Pam’s party. “How does the Reptile Lodge sound to you?” he said, pointing out on the map what looked to be the farthest building from the Hidden Rock Zoo entrance.
“Is that the best we can do?” Aldo didn’t sound very enthusiastic.
“It’s as far away from Pam and Dora as we can get in this place,” Spencer answered. “And I haven’t seen any zoo animals yet. It doesn’t look like Pam is keeping real animals here—other than bears. If we get lucky, there won’t be a single snake in the place.”
“We aren’t exactly on a lucky streak, Spencer,” Aldo joked halfheartedly. “But I think you’re right. The farther we can get from the party the better. Lead the way.”
Spencer set off in the direction of the Reptile Lodge, hoping with all his might Pam hadn’t knocked it down, and that there weren’t any reptiles waiting for them inside.
Spencer stepped up to the door of a long, windowless building. According to the map, they’d found the Reptile Lodge. And for the first time since arriving at Hidden Rock Zoo, something seemed to be going their way. The building didn’t look like it had been changed since Pam bought the zoo. There were no bear sculptures or marble stairs, no waterfalls or glass pavilions, nothing that showed Pam cared about the building at all.
For a second, Spencer allowed himself to hope Mom and Dad were inside, that Pam had locked them up in a building he didn’t use and left them alone. He pressed an ear to the door, listening. He didn’t hear anything. Aldo bowed his head to the ground and sniffed.
“Think it’s safe?” Spencer asked.
“I don’t smell anyone.” Aldo sat back on his haunches. “Let’s go.”
Spencer agreed. They were both exhausted and hungry, and they really needed a place to hide out for the night. He put his hand on the door handle and pushed. It was unlocked. He let it swing open and peered into the building through the night-vision goggles. It looked like the coast was clear.
Aldo led the way inside. Spencer stepped in behind the bear and closed the door behind them. He scanned the wall beside the door and spotted a light switch. It’s worth a shot … He flipped the switch, and the Reptile Lodge lights came on. Spencer pulled the night-vision goggles down off his eyes to hang around his neck. He was glad the lights in the Reptile Lodge still worked, but he wished they were a little less ominous. Rather than illuminate the one long hall that made up the entire building, the only lights that blinked on were inside the glass animal enclosures that lined the walls. It looked like it was as bright as day inside the reptile habitats, but the hallway was only lit by the glow spilling out of the forgotten enclosures.
Spencer looked around. There was definitely no one here, but more important, and to his great relief, he didn’t see a single snake.
“No reptiles,” Aldo remarked happily. Apparently checking for snakes was the first thing on Aldo’s mind, too. He padded down the long room, peering into the glass cases. It looked like they’d been ignored for ages. The trees and plants inside were long dead, and the little stone pools were bone-dry.
At the far end of the room was a small foyer and exit. When Aldo reached it, he sat down, resting his back against the wall. Spencer caught up to the bear and dropped his mission pack and night-vision goggles to the floor. He slumped down beside Aldo, relieved to set up camp near an exit door, rather than in the middle of the empty snake cases.
For a second, he and Aldo sat side by side in silence. Then Spencer’s stomach growled. Aldo’s ears twitched at the sound.
“Are you as hungry as I am?” Spencer asked. He unzipped his mission pack and turned it upside down, emptying the contents into a pile on the floor.
“Yes,” Aldo answered. “If I’d known we’d end up here tonight, I would have helped myself to some dessert while I was hiding in the catering truck.” He eyed Spencer’s pile of supplies.
Spencer sifted through the pile, looking for Raymond’s fuel bars. He had six altogether.
“This is all we have.” He passed three bars to Aldo. Each one was huge for an energy bar—at least twice the size of any granola bar he’d ever seen—but still, three each didn’t seem like very many, especially since they didn’t know when they’d be leaving Hidden Rock Zoo. “Maybe we shouldn’t finish them tonight.”
“Two tonight, one in the morning,” Aldo answered. “We’ll find more food tomorrow somehow if we have to.” The bear hesitated, then looked back to Spencer’s mission pack contents.
“I don’t have any honey if that’s what you’re looking for,” Spencer joked. Aldo was known for his sweet tooth.
Spencer unwrapped his first fuel bar. He looked back at Aldo, wondering if he should offer to unwrap the bear’s, but Aldo was already halfway through his first bar, wrapper and all.
“What? Why are you staring at me like that?” Aldo asked. Then his eyes landed on Spencer’s unwrapped fuel bar. “Oh, the wrapper is just pressed leaves. It’s edible for bears. It’s edible for you, too, but you probably won’t like it.”
“Well, in that case, you can have mine.” Spencer handed over the brittle wrapper and bit into his first fuel bar. It tasted better than he’d expected, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an oatmeal raisin cookie all in one. “Do you think B.D.’s okay?” he asked once he’d finished his first fuel bar. He pulled B.D.’s Ear-COM out of his pocket and added it to the pile of stuff beside his now empty mission pack.
“I hope so,” Aldo said. “I never thought his reunion with Dora would go the way it did … ”
“I know,” Spencer answered. “I didn’t think any of this would go the way it has.”
Spencer looked over the supplies he’d dumped out of his mission pack. When he filled the bag back on the plane, he’d felt prepared for anything, an operative with a mission pack full of gear ready for action. But in the Reptile Lodge his pile of supplies looked tiny, and Spencer wasn’t sure he even knew how to use half the things he had packed. “I thought we’d be on the way back to Bearhaven with my mom and dad by now,” he muttered.
He wanted to feel better knowing he was closer to Mom and Dad than he’d been in weeks. But he didn’t feel any better at all. How could they hope to rescue Mom and Dad, and B.D. and Uncle Mark, when they didn’t even know where anyone was?
“So did I,” Aldo said. “But just because the mission hasn’t gone the way we’d planned so far, doesn’t mean it’s over. We won’t leave Hidden Rock Zoo without your parents, Spencer. I promise.”
But how? Spencer reached for his jade bear, only to remember his pocket was empty. All the worries that were swirling around in Spencer’s head got worse.
“Just like we won’t leave without B.D. and Mark,” Aldo went on. Spencer could tell the bear was gaining confidence as he spoke. Spencer only felt more defeated. All he wanted was to see Mom and Dad again. He wanted to wake up in his bedroom in the morning and have them down the hall, or play a baseball game with his school team, the Cougars, with Dad watching in the stands. He wanted Mom to help him with his homework on a regular school night … Would he ever get to do those things with Mom and Dad again?
“What’s wrong?” Aldo asked after Spencer hadn’t answered him.
“What if we’re no
t … good enough operatives to save them, Aldo? You and I have only gone on a few missions before. I’m still in training!”
Aldo cocked his head, looking Spencer over.
“Well, we’re about to become good enough operatives. We’re not going to fail, Spencer, because we can’t, because there’s too much at stake, and because we’re a team. What one of us can’t do, the other one can. Right?”
Spencer thought about it. He hated to climb, but climbing came easily to Aldo, and he could carry Spencer on his back. Spencer could hide in places Aldo couldn’t, and he had hands, which meant he could work with rope and do all sorts of things Aldo’s claws weren’t capable of. Aldo was right: They complemented each other as a team. Together, they could do pretty much anything.
“I guess that’s true.” Spencer fell silent, lost in thought. “But what if making a good team isn’t enough this time, Aldo?” he asked after a second.
“Are you a Plain or aren’t you?”
Spencer looked at the bear, surprised. “I am.”
“Well, I’m a Weaver. And Plains and Weavers are known for something. Disconnect.” Aldo turned off the Ear-COMs so he could say his next word in Ragayo. “Wanmahai.”
“Wanmahai?” Spencer growled back. “Aldo, what is that?”
“It means coming together to build something,” Aldo answered. “It means teamwork. And when it comes to Plains and Weavers, teamwork has always been enough. Our parents worked together to build Bearhaven, didn’t they?”
“Yeah,” Spencer answered. Professor Weaver and the BEAR-COM technology he’d created had given Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark the tools they needed to make their first rescue at Gutler University. Then Spencer’s family, Professor Weaver, and B.D. had founded Bearhaven and started rescuing more bears in distress and transporting those bears to safety.
“So we’re going to use teamwork to save it,” Aldo said. “Just like we’re going to use teamwork to save your family and B.D. from Pam tomorrow, or the next day, or whatever day it is that we get them out of here.”
“Wanmahai,” Spencer repeated. Aldo was right. He didn’t know exactly how they were going to save everyone and get out of here, but he did know that whatever happened, their wanmahai was going to be a whole lot stronger than anyone or anything that tried to stop them.
Hissssss.
Spencer woke with a start on the floor of the Reptile Lodge. Snakes! was the first thought that popped into his mind. He sat up quickly, throwing the chef’s jacket he’d used for a blanket aside, and frantically searched the floor around him for snakes. He didn’t see anything, but the hissing continued.
“Aldo,” Spencer whispered, waking the bear who had slept on the floor beside him. “Do you hear that?”
Aldo was awake and alert in an instant. His ears immediately began to twitch. He got to all fours, sniffing rapidly. He padded over to the exit door, lowering his snout to the crack at the bottom. “It’s coming from out there,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a snake.” Aldo stepped back from the door, giving Spencer space to open it a crack.
Spencer opened the door, and heat and sunlight poured into the Reptile Lodge. The green lawn outside was being watered. Spencer closed the door.
“False alarm,” he said sheepishly. “It’s just a sprinkler system.”
“That’s okay.” Aldo returned to the spot where they’d slept for his last Raymond’s fuel bar. “We should get moving anyway,” he said, between bites.
“Yeah.” Spencer rolled up his chef’s jacket and stuffed it into his mission pack. He gathered the rest of his supplies and packed them up, too. Last night, before falling asleep, he and Aldo had decided the Reptile Lodge would be their home base. If they got separated at any point, it was where they would go to meet. Still, Spencer didn’t want to leave anything behind. There was no telling what he would need on the next phase of the mission. He unwrapped his last Raymond’s fuel bar and took a bite.
“So where do you think we should start?” Spencer asked. Their first order of business was to locate everyone. Once they knew where Mom and Dad and B.D. and Uncle Mark were being held, they would come up with a plan to free them and get out of Hidden Rock Zoo. He spread the old zoo map out on the floor between himself and Aldo.
“I think we should stick to the perimeter of the zoo.” Aldo ran a claw around the border of the map. “And make our way back to the parking lot with the catering trucks. I might be able to pick up some more clues about where Margo and Ivan took B.D. and Mark from there, now that it’s daytime.”
“All right, let’s do it.” Spencer popped the last of his Raymond’s fuel bar into his mouth and swung his mission pack onto his back. He folded up the map and stuffed it into his pocket.
They returned to the exit door, and Spencer opened it a crack. Aside from the sprinklers, the lawn beside the Reptile Lodge was empty. According to the map, the next section of the zoo on the perimeter was called Alligator Alley. It was made up of a series of pools and ponds where the bigger reptiles would have been held, and was surrounded by a stone wall. Spencer squinted across the lawn between the Reptile Lodge and Alligator Alley. He could just make out a low stone wall. It looked like Alligator Alley might still be intact.
“Okay.” He turned back to Aldo. “Let’s get to the stone wall. It’ll give us some cover, I think, but we have to get across this open lawn first.”
Aldo nodded and crouched down beside Spencer. “The faster we move the better, little man.”
Spencer climbed onto the bear’s back. “Ready,” he said as soon as he had a good grip.
Aldo crossed the lawn in ten long strides and leaped over a small stone wall, landing in what must have once been Alligator Alley. He padded quickly and quietly through the old alligator enclosure. It was made to look like a swamp, with tall grasses and droopy, willowy trees. A murky river wound through it.
“I guess he did get rid of all the animals,” Spencer whispered.
“That’s okay with me,” Aldo answered. “I don’t really want to run into an alligator right now.”
Aldo paused when they came to the stone wall, looking out over the next landscape. It was called the Savanna on the Hidden Rock Zoo map. Again, Spencer didn’t see any animals—not that he was hoping they’d have to navigate giraffes and rhinos. Aldo climbed the fence and broke into a run immediately, sticking close to the wooden fence as he flew across the dry grass and dust. Halfway through the Savanna, the next section of the zoo came into view.
Aldo didn’t slow his pace. Spencer squeezed his legs, clamping himself tightly to Aldo’s back as the bear launched himself straight over the wooden fence, across the small lawn separating the Savanna and the Shetland Pony Shed, and through the open stable doors.
The moment Aldo landed on all fours inside the Shetland Pony Shed, Spencer started to panic. The building was far from abandoned. In fact, the inside had been completely redone. Now it was a luxury garage, filled with the kinds of cars Spencer knew Uncle Mark would love to drive. There wasn’t a single pony in sight, but the stables were definitely not clear of animals. Instead, worse than any zoo animal they could have stumbled upon, there was Ivan Lalicki.
Aldo lunged into the closest stall in the Shetland Pony Shed. Spencer could feel the bear’s heart pounding, and his own heart hammering in his chest. Ivan was standing in the open door at the far side of the stables. His back was turned. He hadn’t seen them. But Spencer knew if Ivan was here, Margo probably wasn’t too far away. Then Spencer heard her.
“What’s taking so long, Ivan?” Margo snapped. “We have a flight to catch, and the boss is not going to be pleased if we don’t tow that stupid truck before we leave. Creative Pastry,” she spat. “Ha! Like we wouldn’t have seen through that phony business.”
Spencer clenched his fists angrily. Margo was wrong. The Creative Pastry front had worked just fine. If it hadn’t been for Dora, Bearhaven’s team would never have been caught!
“At least now Pam has a full set of bears in the Caves a
gain,” Margo added. The sound of footsteps continued. The Lalickis were coming toward Spencer and Aldo. Spencer willed them to stop walking.
“Not for long,” Ivan said slowly, his deep voice booming through the stables.
Margo cackled out a loud laugh. “You’re right. That bear sold for thirty-five thousand dollars last night. He’ll be a bearskin rug before long.”
Spencer shuddered. He hadn’t told Aldo about the auction. He could hardly stand to think about it, and news of B.D. being sold for thousands of dollars to one of those horrible people at Pam’s party made Spencer’s stomach twist into knots. They had to get B.D. out of Hidden Rock Zoo, and fast. The footsteps stopped. “Come on, get in the truck,” Margo ordered.
Spencer listened to the sound of car doors opening and closing. An engine rumbled on.
“They’re leaving,” Spencer whispered. Aldo nodded. Once they heard the truck pull out of the Stables, Spencer slid down off Aldo’s back. “That was close!” he whispered.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I ran in here without checking. We were just so exposed in the Savanna—”
“Don’t worry,” Spencer interrupted Aldo’s hushed apology. “They didn’t see us. We’re still okay.” He pulled the Hidden Rock Zoo map out of his pocket.
“What did they say?” Aldo asked. Margo and Ivan’s conversation had been a mystery to him. He could only understand humans who were wearing Ear-COMs connected to his own.
Spencer didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t explain the auction to Aldo and tell him that B.D. had been sold for lots of money. It was too terrible, and he would have to explain that Aldo himself, Professor Weaver, and Kate had all also been sold last night. Spencer’s hands were shaking as he held the map between them. “They’re towing our catering truck, then leaving Hidden Rock Zoo,” he finally managed to choke out some words. “And I think Margo gave away B.D.’s location. She said Pam has a full set of bears in the Caves. Look.” He pointed to a part of the map labeled The Caves. Its illustration showed bear enclosures. “They must be keeping B.D. there.”
