by Bryan Chick
“We just lost him. So did the tarsiers. He must have gone to the shadows again.”
Noah held his arms out to his sides. “This is nuts! How are we supposed to catch someone who can do this!”
Solana kept quiet. Her silence spoke the terrifying truth: No one really knew the answer to Noah’s question—not Solana, not the Descenders, not Mr. Darby or the others in the Secret Council.
“Why in the world was he at my house?” Ella asked.
Solana shrugged. “I wish I knew. Council’s exploring the possibilities.”
Everyone became quiet. After some time, Solana lifted herself onto the ledge of an open window and said, “We can’t worry about it now—let’s get to work.” She swung her legs around and jumped down to Koala Kourtyard.
Megan was the first to follow. Noah and Ella went next, and last came Richie, the not-so-courageous scout wriggling onto the ledge, his shiny running shoes reflecting light and spotting the ornate halls of Koala Kastle. He fell into the courtyard and jumped to his feet, smiling weakly.
The scouts followed Solana beneath several eucalyptus trees, ducking their lower branches. Toward the middle of the courtyard, a few curious koalas began to trail them. Solana stopped at one of the two wells. Standing as high as her waist, its circular wall had stone blocks fitted together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Solana placed her hand on the well. “Old castles—they used to have these.” She clapped her palm against the stone. “Take a look.”
Before the scouts could reach the well, a koala did. It jumped on the ledge.
“This is Ko,” Solana said. She reached out and scratched the koala’s head between its near-cartoonish ears. “She’s female.”
When Ko sniffed Solana’s fingers and suddenly jumped into the well, Richie gasped and pressed his hand over his mouth.
“I hope that thing’s not as deep as a real well,” Ella said. “If it is, Ko’s not going to be so cuddly cute anymore.”
From inside the well, Ko poked up her head and glanced around, her black snout wriggling. The scouts dashed forward and peered over the stone ledge. Ko was standing on a stone spiral staircase that wound its way into the dark depths.
“The Grottoes are just down there,” Solana explained.
“But what about that one?” Richie asked, his finger aimed at the other well.
“Take a look.”
The scouts jogged across the courtyard and peered into the second well. It was full of water. To Solana, Richie said, “Is this one real?”
“Nope. If we want water, we get it from the drinking fountains. That one leads to the Polar Pool, Penguin Palace, the Wotter Park—a bunch of places.”
The scouts stared into the water and considered this. Even after having trained with the Secret Society for a year, Noah still found everything amazing—all the tunnels and the wild way they connected the two zoos.
Ella reached into the well and flicked water at Richie, who stared flatly back at her, his cheeks and glasses spotted.
“Is that supposed to be funny?” Richie asked.
Smiling, Ella apologized. “Sorry—just felt like the thing to do.”
From behind them, Solana said, “C’mon—let’s go.”
The scouts hurried back to the first well. As Noah moved in beside Solana, he noticed her again. Her leather jacket, marked with velvet patches, stopped at her narrow waist, and her faded jeans clung to her muscular legs. When Solana unexpectedly met his gaze, Noah felt embarrassed for some reason and quickly looked away.
“Who wants to go first?” Ella asked.
Megan answered by taking a seat on the ledge. She threw her legs over the wall and dropped onto the spiral staircase beside Ko. Then she took a few steps down the stairs to make room for her friends.
Ella climbed over the ledge. With some effort, Richie went next, and Noah and Solana followed. As Megan led them down the stairs, Ko jumped onto Ella’s back and gripped her shoulders. Ella turned her head, a puzzled and somewhat frightened look on her face.
“Ummm … excuse me?” Ella said to Ko.
“She likes you,” Solana said with a chuckle. “You should feel honored—she doesn’t piggyback on everyone.”
“It must be your ears,” Richie said, referring to Ella’s pink earmuffs. “They look like hers, only pink.”
Ella discovered Ko’s hand on her left shoulder and said, “Ummm … why does this thing have two thumbs?”
“All koalas do,” Solana said. “It’s one of the things that makes them great climbers.”
As Ella followed Megan, she reached behind her and hoisted the koala by her rump into a more comfortable position, saying, “I swear … rip my jacket and I’ll rip off your ears.”
Ko simply sniffed at Ella’s neck.
The stairs were steep and tough to navigate. As the scouts and Solana left behind the natural light, wall-mounted lamps began to illuminate the deep shaft.
“How deep is this thing?” Megan asked.
“I’m not sure,” Solana said. “A hundred feet, maybe.”
A koala charged toward them from below. He cast the group a curious glance, lamplight gleaming in his dark eyes, and hurried past. As Ko turned her head to watch her companion go, her big ear scooped up Ella’s ponytail and flipped it into the air.
The cold air began to smell and taste like the earth. After a few minutes, a velvet curtain appeared in the wall, its bottom edge cut to fit the staircase. Megan stopped in front of it and looked back at Solana.
“This the one?” Megan asked. When Solana nodded, Megan added, “Anyone mind if I go first?”
Everyone answered no except Richie, who answered with his own question: “Anyone mind if I don’t go at all?”
With a smile, Megan adjusted her sporty headband, took a deep breath, and stepped from the depths of the well into the Grottoes.
CHAPTER 9
THE SECRET KOALA KASTLE
Noah followed his friends into a tunnel lined with the same stones that shaped the spiral staircase. Little more than five feet wide and ten feet high, it had ten branches, five on each side. A velvet curtain, each a unique color, hung at the mouth of each branch. As Noah walked, he read the metal plates above the entryways: “The Lions’ Lair,” “The Secret Metr-APE-olis,” “The Secret Arctic Town.” As he neared a tunnel marked “Little Dogs of the Prairie,” four prairie dogs charged out from beneath its orange curtain, leaving its yellow tassels dancing. They weaved through the scouts, stopping at Richie’s flashy shoes to give them a curious sniff.
“How’s P-Dog?” Richie asked.
One prairie dog looked up and yipped.
Richie turned to Ella. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Beats me. I don’t speak prairie dog.”
The prairie dogs ran circles through the Crossers’ legs, then disappeared back where they’d come from.
Ella turned to Solana. “What the heck are they doing?”
Solana shrugged. “The prairie dogs are crazy.”
“That explains their love for Richie.”
Megan stepped through an entrance marked “The Secret Koala Kastle” and everyone followed. As the curtain dropped down Noah’s back, he squirmed into a spot along his friends, who had all abruptly stopped to gaze out at the spectacle before them.
“Koala Hall,” Solana said. “The core of the Secret Koala Kastle.”
Koala Hall was half the size of a football field and more than forty feet high—a tremendous open space contained by stone walls and a ceiling of four stained-glass domes. More stained-glass windows were set in the walls, and the room seemed to bask in their color and patterns—ovals and diamonds and swirls of bright white light. Koalas were everywhere, resting on ledges, clinging to columns, and sleeping in eucalyptus trees, which stood all around. The koalas seemed to change color as they moved.
The Crossers stepped onto the top landing of a wide, winding stairway with rows of gold, braided balusters. Near the ground, the stairway widened,
spilling onto the floor like the train of a wedding gown.
Solana headed down and the scouts followed, a plush carpet soft under their feet. At one point, the stairway split to allow a tall eucalyptus tree to pass through. As the scouts walked around the tree, Richie reached out and stripped off a piece of loose bark. He twirled it in his fingers and studiously looked it over.
“Eucalyptus ovata,” he said.
Ella stared at Richie, her look of confusion bordering on concern.
“Swamp gum,” Richie said, as if this might explain something.
“Sounds tasty,” said Ella. “Does it come in sugarless?”
As the scouts followed Solana off the stairway, Megan pointed to Ko and started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Ella asked.
“She’s asleep!”
The koala had her legs drawn up against Ella’s body, her arms draped over her shoulders, and her claws stuck in her poofy pink jacket.
“You’re joking, right?”
Megan shook her head. “Should I get her down?”
Ella thought about this, then said, “It’s no big deal. I think my spine broke a few minutes ago anyway.”
As Solana escorted them across Koala Hall, Noah stared up at the domes and thought of four supernovas, stars exploding into waves of colorful light. His falling gaze happened to land on Solana, and he realized again how pretty she was. When Solana turned her head and accidentally met his stare, Noah smiled and felt the warm rush of embarrassment in his cheeks. Solana casually winked and looked away.
Something struck his hip, knocking him sideways. Next to him was Ella, her hands propped on her hips, her eyebrows pulled down.
“What?” Noah asked. “What’s the matter?” He realized he was keeping his voice low so no one else could hear.
Ella made a farting sound with her lips. “You have got to be kidding me!” As she walked into a new stream of reds and blues, she leaned toward him and whispered, “Was that … were you flirting with her?”
Noah cheeks began to burn. “What? I wasn’t—”
“She’s three years older than you! Not to mention she sort of lives in the ground. And she’s got quills!”
Noah glanced around to make certain no one was hearing their conversation and said, “Two.”
“To what?”
Noah held up a pair of fingers that turned green in a beam of light. “Two. She’s two years older.”
“Well … that’s two too many.” She pulled away and joined Megan, who was still admiring the castle.
Noah shook his head.
Their group reached the end of Koala Hall at a door marked “Koala Krossings.” As Solana pulled the handle, an iron rod shaped like a eucalyptus leaf, the rusty hinges squealed and then the five of them stepped out into the open air to be greeted by a loud, powerful wind. Megan’s pigtails and Ella’s ponytail whipped about. Ko awoke on Ella’s back. They walked onto a long wooden drawbridge. Across from them, the bridge ended at an opening in the side of a mountain, and beneath them was a deep ravine.
“The Cliff Barrier,” Solana half shouted to get her voice above the sound of the wind. “It’s what makes the Secret Koala Kastle a unique sector.”
“Koala Kastle’s surrounded by a mountain?” Noah asked.
“Mountains, actually. A range. The open areas between the mountains are closed with stone walls.” Solana pointed far down the cliff. “Like that.”
The scouts peered out to where a huge wall had been built between the peaks of two neighboring mountains. The top of the wall had a crenulated parapet—a walkway beside a low, protective wall.
Richie said, “I think we all know what’s on the other side of the mountain—and it’s not the bear.”
Noah turned to Solana. “The City of Species?”
Solana nodded.
Built into the mountain wall were turrets—small towers with cone-shaped roofs. Noah saw dozens. Thin poles stood on their pointed peaks, holding flags shaped like eucalyptus leaves. Battlements connected all the turrets, reaching out across the rocky slope, weaving around rocks and occasional trees. On several of the protected walkways, people were pacing about. Dressed nothing like castle soldiers, they seemed out of place with their surroundings. Noah peered close and realized they were teenagers, not much older than Solana.
“Who are they?” Noah asked.
“Descenders,” Solana said. “They’re posted at Koala Kastle.”
“How many?” Richie asked.
“Enough.”
“What are they supposed to be doing?” Ella asked. “Making sure the koalas don’t fall out of the trees?”
Solana shook her head. “DeGraff. We’ve stepped up our guard since last night.”
Noah walked farther out onto the drawbridge for a better look at Koala Kastle. The castle itself wasn’t all there was to this sector; he saw houses and halls of unnamable purposes. Towers rose from rocks, and arched bridges joined buildings. Fountains sprang from grassy courtyards crowded with eucalyptus trees. Flags whipped and snapped, each a flutter of unique color. Koalas were everywhere. Set in the rocky range of mountains, Koala Kastle seemed a world unto itself.
Solana and the other scouts headed over to Noah, Richie clinging to his cap and Ella her earmuffs. Still speaking against the wind, Solana said, “Four drawbridges connect Koala Kastle to the Cliff Barrier, one on each side.”
Richie walked to the side of the drawbridge and stared down into the ravine. “It’s a moat—we’re standing above a giant moat!”
Solana nodded.
Ella asked, “What’s that freaky-looking building over there?” She was pointing to a tall tower on an isolated part of the mountain. It had no walkways, and its dark windows were barred.
“It’s a prison.”
“A prison? For who—bad koalas?”
“For”—Solana seemed to search for an answer—“for others.”
Noah thought this more than a bit strange. Who was the Secret Society keeping prisoner? The sasquatches? Until recently they’d all been barricaded in the Dark Lands.
“C’mon,” Solana said as she brushed past the scouts. “Let’s finish crossing.”
The scouts followed Solana across the bridge. Above them, slender eucalyptus leaves dangled and swayed like palm fibers on a hula skirt. They passed groups of koalas which largely ignored them, their dark eyes focused on other things.
The drawbridge ended at a turret mounted to the Cliff Barrier, where a doorway was covered with a velvet curtain. Along the bottom edge of the curtain, windblown tassels brushed fallen leaves back and forth. Following Solana, Noah pushed through with one shoulder and swept the curtain across his back, feeling the magic course through his body once again.
CHAPTER 10
THE CITY STREETS
As the scouts stepped into the City of Species, the view still managed to take their breath away. Trees and buildings shared the streets. Weighty limbs punched through stone walls, and waterfalls spilled from balconies. Like a leafy canopy, branches blotted out much of the sky, their leaves flitting down in momentary streaks of autumn color. A steady breeze moved clouds of mist.
Rhinos and elephants plodded across concrete courtyards. Geckos and frogs spotted brick walls. Lemurs and tarsiers crowded the treetops. Most of the buildings housed sectors, and each had at least one doorway draped by a velvet curtain, a magical passageway to get inside. Above the curtains, colorful flags displayed sector numbers. With a glance down the street, Noah saw Sectors 4, 28, 53, and 34.
In the distance, Noah spotted the Secret Wotter Park, a sector inside a skyscraping water tower. The only way down from it was on glass slides that wound through the streets and dumped into large fountains. Noah had once ridden one of them. He’d never forget diving through the city on a rush of bubbling water, his body tunneling through treetops and hooking around the corners of buildings.
Several blocks over from the Secret Wotter Park was the octagon-shaped Library of the Secret Society, its t
owering walls ending at a domed glass roof. A year ago Noah had ridden Blizzard through its maze of massive bookshelves. The library was where Mr. Darby, sitting with Tank and the Descenders at Fountain Forum, had officially invited the scouts to join the Secret Society as Crossers.
An ostrich bumped into Ella and rustled its feathers, startling Ko. The big flightless bird poked forward its knotty head and hissed, prompting the koala to reach across Ella’s shoulder and swat its beak, sending the ostrich off in a rush.
Ella glanced back at Ko. “You go, girl!”
Ko let down her guard and settled back into position, holding onto Ella’s shoulders.
An unexpected voice rose up: “I see Ella has made a new friend.”
The scouts turned to see Mr. Darby. Sunlight caught in the old man’s gray hair—his ponytail, his eyebrows, the poof of his bushy beard. He wore dark sunglasses, and wrinkles bloomed from the hidden corners of his eyes. As usual, he was wearing a velvet trench coat, this one orange. Mr. Darby’s normal playful manner was nowhere to be found. His face was tight with tension—no doubt because of DeGraff.
Beside Mr. Darby was Tank, the biggest, toughest, and one of the kindest men Noah had ever known. Standing close to seven feet, his entire body was a collection of muscles; they bulged like bendable balloons tied in knots. He had dark skin and a shiny bald head and stood with his arms crossed and the corners of his lips curled down. Like Mr. Darby, he was strictly business today.
Around the two of them were some of the animals assigned to the scouts’ crosstraining. Blizzard, a mighty polar bear with a back long and strong enough to simultaneously carry all the scouts. Little Bighorn, a rhinoceros with a bad temper and a knack for barreling through walls. Podgy, an emperor penguin who’d learned to fly. And Marlo, a thumb-size malachite kingfisher assigned to carry messages between the scouts and a few people in the Secret Zoo.
Blizzard nudged Noah with his heavy snout, nearly knocking him over. Marlo touched down on his shoulder and chirped. Ko leaned over and sniffed curiously at Little Bighorn.
To Solana, Mr. Darby asked, “How much time until the scouts must find their way home?”
