Traps and Specters

by Bryan Chick

  The other officers ceased all movement and conversation. Other than the low, rumbling growl of Blizzard and the occasional snort of Little Bighorn, the room had fallen deathly quiet.

  A deafening crack erupted. As the brawny officer’s body rocked, so did Blizzard’s. The bear swung around, howling in pain. In his white fur, a bright red spot appeared. Just behind the shoulder of his right front leg, Blizzard had been shot.

  The cop steadied his shaky rifle, his fat cheek again ballooning over the wooden handle.

  Blizzard swung toward the officer. In any other circumstance, he would have charged up the bleachers and fought back. But not this time. This time he was doing what he’d come to do. To stand and protect his precious Secret Zoo.

  A second blast sounded and Blizzard’s body rocked again. As the gunshot echoed in the gym, Blizzard lowered himself to the ground, and a dull expression of acceptance found his face.

  Little Bighorn turned to his fallen friend. The rhinoceros knew what was happening—he understood that the officer would eventually turn the rifle on him.

  Noah heard whimpering and turned toward his friends. All the scouts were standing in shock, tears streaming down from their eyes. Ella had turned away, her hands pressed over her face.

  Solana grabbed Megan’s and Richie’s elbows. “C’mon—we got to get out of here!”

  The brawny cop readied himself for a third shot. As he did, Noah pulled away from his friends, dropped the velvet curtain from his arms, and charged across the floor, screaming, “No!”

  The cop fired but, having been startled, missed his target and instead struck the stage, splinters of wood showering into the air. As Noah ran across the court, all heads swung toward him. One officer yelled, and another screamed profanities. Before they could react, Noah reached Blizzard and dropped to his knees and began to frantically stroke the bear’s head.

  “You’re going to be okay—everything’s going to be okay.” But even as Noah said the words, he knew how ridiculous they sounded. Nothing was going to be okay.

  Blizzard turned his eyes to Noah. Countless emotions stirred in their dark depths. Then they settled, leaving Blizzard with one state. Peace. Noah could see what it meant for Blizzard to have him near—the boy he had shared so many adventures with in the past year. If Blizzard was going to die, he was going to do so bathed in Noah’s love.

  “It’s okay,” Noah said as his hand worked back and forth. “I’m here—I’m with you.”

  Noah felt something under his armpits, and his world blurred as he was pulled into the air. Inches from his ear, a voice erupted: “His legs! Get his legs!” An officer jumped in front of him and swept up his feet. The two men broke into a sideways jog and carried him off, Blizzard watching.

  Noah screamed in anger as the two officers rushed him away. In the bleachers, the man with the rifle raised his weapon again. Seeing this, Noah yelled to be let go. He twisted and squirmed and kicked. It was no use; the officers were too strong.

  A safe distance away from Blizzard, the officers dropped Noah, who immediately turned back to the stage and saw something that took his breath. Ella, Megan, and Richie were standing where Noah had just been. They were holding hands, their bodies as far apart as their arms would allow. Tears were still streaming down their faces. Just past their ankles lay the big white mound of Blizzard. The officers weren’t going to put another bullet in their friend—not without putting one through them first.

  Blizzard lifted his chin off the court and sniffed the air toward the three friends, taking in whatever scents came with their courage and love.

  The officers erupted in panic. Feet pounded down the bleachers and everyone converged on the scene, their guns held in front of them. Rubbery soles squeaked along the floor.

  The scouts didn’t move. They stood their ground in front of Blizzard, their hands clasped, their chests out. Noah saw that their tears had stopped. Their fear and sorrow had been wiped out by something else. Purpose.

  Noah rolled onto his knees and then stood like his friends. Goose bumps rose on his arms. Blizzard and Little Bighorn had come to do something—but so had the scouts.

  The stage curtain suddenly parted and out stepped two men. One had a rifle, but neither was dressed in the same blue uniform as the police officers.

  As the cops dragged Noah’s friends away, the man on the stage with the rifle fired a shot at Blizzard. The resulting crack! wasn’t nearly as loud as the others, and as a bright green spot appeared in Blizzard’s fur, Noah understood why. The rifle had fired a dart. The new weapon was a tranquilizer gun. The men on stage weren’t police officers; they were officers from Animal Control.

  A second dart was fired, then a third. Blizzard struggled to his feet, lumbered a few steps, and then his legs gave out. He lay on the basketball court, his front legs twisted beneath his body, his rear ones sprawled out. His eyelids sank half closed and his jaw dropped limply to one side as sedatives coursed through his body. He wasn’t unconscious, but he was on his way.

  Then the man fired several consecutive darts into Little Bighorn. The rhino stepped, staggered, and then collapsed to his stomach. His enormous head slumped, and his vacant stare fell to the floor.

  One of the Animal Control officers hollered, “Everyone out! Lock the doors! We got a confined space here—let’s use it! It’s going to take a while for these animals to fall asleep!”

  Officers quickly made for the double doors, holstering their guns along the way. Several officers seized the scouts’ arms and pulled them along. As Noah went, he peered back to see Blizzard’s side rising up and down with long, slow breaths. The bear turned his head, their eyes briefly met, then Noah was pulled out into the hall.

  The officers released the scouts. Noah hugged his sister and saw that Ella was crying again. He looked for Solana and realized she was gone. She must have slipped out during the commotion, hopefully undetected. He peered back into the gym and saw that the curtain was gone—Solana must have taken it.

  The final officer stepped into the hall. He unholstered his billy club and jammed it through the handles on the double doors, securing them. Noah was horrified at the thought of Blizzard being barricaded in the room. What would Animal Control do with him? What would happen to Little Bighorn?

  The officers, more than a dozen, turned to the scouts. The cop that had fired at Blizzard reached out and grabbed a handful of Noah’s shirt and one of Richie’s. “Are you out of your minds? I could’ve killed you in there!”

  Two officers intervened, pulling their coworker away from the kids.

  “You were shooting him!” Megan said. “You were going to kill him!”

  “He was following orders!” another officer spoke up. Noah turned to the voice and saw a man with tidy hair and a neatly trimmed mustache. His uniform seemed freshly pressed. To Noah, it looked like he was in charge. The man turned to the other officers and said, “Check the halls and the classrooms. Look for other animals or injured civilians.” The officers broke down the hall and split in different directions, their footfalls quickly fading.

  The man turned to the scouts and said, “I’m Officer Jones.”

  The scouts, huddled close, nodded.

  “You kids mind telling me what the heck you’re doing in here?” Officer Jones asked, his tone crisp and curt.

  “We heard the noise,” Megan said before her friends could respond. “We were walking by”—she pinched the fabric on her pirate uniform and held it toward the officer—“trick-or-treating. When we saw the commotion at the school, all the cop cars and stuff, we came inside.” She paused before adding, “It was probably a dumb thing to do, but this is our neighborhood. We were just concerned.”

  Officer Jones stared at Megan. Then he slowly looked at the other scouts, who were nodding in agreement. He lifted a single eyebrow and seemed to consider Megan’s story.

  “Is anyone hurt?”

  The scouts shook their heads.

  “And what about you, kid?” The man poin
ted to Noah. “That bear do anything to you?”

  “I’m fine,” Noah said.

  “Yeah, well … you came pretty close to getting your heads chewed off. That bear could have—”

  Just then, an officer came charging back up the hall. Seeing the frantic look on his face, Jones said, “What’s wrong?”

  “TV’s here!”

  Officer Jones threw back his head and muttered something under his breath.

  Ella turned to Richie and mouthed, TV?

  “Reporters,” Richie whispered.

  Jones waved the man away, saying, “Go! Keep them off the property!”

  The officer turned and ran.

  Jones turned back to the scouts and said, “No one else?”

  “Huh?” said Noah.

  “Just the four of you, right? No one else with you?”

  “Un-uh,” Noah said. “Just us. We were trick-or-treating and—”

  “Yeah, yeah … I got that already.” He became quiet for what seemed a long time. In the silence, Noah could hear faint footsteps as officers searched the halls. “You didn’t see anything I should know about?”

  They shook their heads.

  He seemed to consider something. Then he pulled a small notebook from his jacket pocket, flipped it open, and readied his pen on the page. “Give me your names and addresses.” Once they did, Jones stuffed the notebook back into his pocket and waved them off. “Go—get out of here. I got too much to worry about right now. I know how to find you if I need to.”

  The scouts turned to leave. But after only a few steps, Noah swung back, saying, “Sir?” He looked toward the double doors of the gym, where the police baton was wedged between the handles. “The animals … are they going to be okay?”

  “The bear … he took a few bullets—you saw that. And Animal Control … it’s difficult to know what they’ll do. We can’t have animals running through the neighborhood, kid. People could get hurt.”

  Noah stared at the door a moment longer—it was the closest he could get to seeing his friends. After a few seconds, he said, “People already did.”

  Noah watched confusion twist the officer’s face. Then he turned and left without another word.

  The scouts headed down the hall. They pushed through the main entrance and walked out onto the concrete courtyard to an assault of bright lights, noise, and commotion. At least fifteen police cars were parked around, their roof-mounted light bars flashing red and blue across everything: the grass, the school, even the cops themselves. Several cars had their door-mounted spotlights turned toward the main entrance—bright streams in the still-foggy air. In the street, a crowd was gathered: mothers and fathers, and kids dressed in costumes, some carrying bags full of candy.

  The scouts left the scene and headed down Jenkins Street. Noah, staring straight ahead, declared, “We won’t let them die.” He paused, then added, “None of them. Blizzard, Little Big, the Descenders … we’ll get them all back.”

  It wasn’t just a remark—it was a vow. And on the dark, foggy street, the other scouts nodded and pledged the same.

  CHAPTER 62

  KEEPING SECRETS

  When police officers discovered a classroom and two rows of student lockers in ruins, they assumed that Blizzard and Little Bighorn had caused the damage. Had they investigated the school minutes before, they would have learned the truth.

  During the confrontation in the gym, a group of six girls had arrived at Clarksville Elementary. They divided into pairs to search the school. Their intent was simple: to discover the bodies of the sasquatches and bury them in the secrecy and magic that literally crawled along the girls.

  In the upper-el wing, Evie and Sara found a sasquatch lying on the floor, its long, limp tongue dangling over its slack jaw. As they rushed toward it, they each held open one of their pockets, releasing chameleons from the Portal Place in the Secret Zoo. Hundreds spilled out across the floor and crawled onto the sasquatch, squirming through its mangy fur. Within seconds, the beast seemed to disappear.

  In front of the media center, Lee-Lee and Elakshi discovered the body of a second sasquatch and did the same.

  Both pairs of Specters then went to work on getting the sasquatches out of Clarksville Elementary. For this, they relied on the chameleons again. Using their massive numbers, the chameleons could lift things many times their size. Countless chameleons squirmed beneath each sasquatch, taking its incredible weight onto their backs. Then they carried each beast in secrecy through the halls and out the broken doors of the lower-el wing.

  Outside, the Specters led the chameleons across the foggy stretch of the playground. They secretly crossed Jenkins Street and headed toward the gates on the west side of the zoo. Once behind the cover of the concrete wall, the Specters appeared and flagged down several guards to take over the sasquatches. As the girls rushed back to Clarksville Elementary, the chameleons swarmed up their legs and vanished back through the portals in their pockets.

  All six Specters met up on the playground, where six fallen sasquatches lay. They opened their pockets and quickly went to work. The chameleons lifted the sasquatches again and followed the Specters in perfect secrecy across the playground and to the zoo. Then, their work done, the chameleons crawled back into the Specter’s pockets, and Evie and her friends fully appeared. Without a word, the six girls turned and headed deeper into the zoo.

  Near Metr-APE-olis, a voice called out to them: “Evie, wait!”

  Across the zoo grounds, Solana came running. She stopped in front of Evie, took a deep breath, and asked, “How did you know?” When Evie’s only response was a blank expression, she added, “How did you know to come to the school?”

  Evie considered the question. Then she reached into one ear and plucked out a bone mic. She tossed it to Solana, who instinctively caught it. Solana looked at the mic for a second and then held it out to Evie. “Here,” she said. “You should keep it.”

  Evie crossed her arms.

  With her hand still reaching out, Solana said, “Things can be different. We can make this work again.”

  All the Specters but Evie looked away.

  Solana said, “DeGraff—he captured my friends. Sam, Tameron, Hannah—he got them all. Maybe … maybe you could help.”

  Seconds passed. Evie started to say something and stopped. Then she turned and walked off, leading her group deeper into the zoo and leaving Solana with the bone mic in her hand.

  Solana stood and watched her go. She glanced at the headset. Then she called out, “Evie, hold up!” and charged after the girls.

  Hearing Solana, the Specters opened their pockets and invited the chameleons to crawl along their bodies again. Then the six girls escaped Solana by escaping the world.

  CHAPTER 63

  THE CONSTRUCTOR

  As the Specters disposed of the sasquatches, an officer named David Banks entered a room beside the school cafeteria marked “Maintenance and Electrical.” As he searched with his gun drawn, he noticed an open door and peered through it to see a short flight of steps leading down to an old cellar. Grotesque insects were crawling on the concrete walls: bulbous beetles, thick-legged spiders, and long, slinky centipedes.

  He glanced over his shoulder and then softly closed the door. As he realized there was no way to lock it, he saw something on the ground. A broken padlock. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand. The U-shaped shackle had been ripped from its steel body.

  He heard footsteps. Another officer was approaching. He quickly fed the broken shackle through the hasp on the door. Then he reached into his jacket, pulled out a small, velvet cloth, and wrapped it around the square piece of steel. He waited a moment and felt his fingers tingle.

  “Banks?”

  He turned, a bit too abruptly. Standing at the doorway was a fellow officer, Jimmy Thornton. Banks slipped the velvet back into his jacket pocket, hoping Jimmy hadn’t noticed.

  “Yeah?” Banks said.

  “Everything okay in here?”

&
nbsp; Banks nodded. “Room’s clear.”

  Jimmy looked once at Banks’s hand, which was now empty. Then he nodded and headed down the hall.

  Officer Banks extracted the velvet and wrapped the padlock in it a second time. Once again, the magic of the Secret Zoo went to work.

  David Banks—a man who had a wife, three children, and a house and had spent more than fifteen years working for the Clarksville Police—was more than an officer. Like the scouts, he was a Crosser. But he also served the Secret Society as a Constructor, a person specialized in repairing damages to the Clarksville Zoo and its surrounding areas. Sometimes the tools were ordinary. Other times they were not.

  Officer Banks silently counted to fifteen and pulled away the velvet. The lock was fully repaired. He stuffed the material into his pocket, turned, and fled the room, certain he had more work to do.

  CHAPTER 64

  AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE

  On the streets of the City of Species, Mr. Darby stepped up to the main entrance of the Secret Creepy Critters. From the outside, the sector resembled the main Clarksville Zoo exhibit to which it was attached. Its core building had walls that rose in the air like those of an ancient castle, supporting a dome-shaped roof. Dozens of wings projected in all directions like the jointed limbs of a giant spider. Sick-green moss spread like a disease over the building’s stone blocks.

  It was storming in the city. Dark clouds had made dusk of day. Rain fell sideways, pounding the streets and the buildings. Streams poured over sidewalks, and puddles covered everything. Most of the animals had retreated into the sectors.

  Mr. Darby stopped twenty feet in front of the portal into the Secret Creepy Critters. The gateway was being guarded by two Descenders. They were in gear: one had spikes along her shoulders and back; the other had long, elephant-like tusks reaching out from the sleeves of his leather jacket.