by Obert Skye
Melanie came back in and informed us that our time was up. As we were leaving the cell area and walking back around the counter, I heard the police radio crackle with life.
“Hello?” a female voice said over the radio. “Is there someone there?”
I stopped because I recognized the voice.
Melanie ran to the radio and pushed a button. “This is Melanie. Who’s speaking?”
“Lady Beatrice, of course.” She sounded bothered that Melanie didn’t instantly recognize her voice. “I’m being held captive and using this machine to inform you that I’m okay.”
Rain, Juliet, and I all stood perfectly still and listened in.
“Despite my condition,” Lady Beatrice said, “the bunnies of the island have some demands to make.”
“Bunnies?” Melanie was confused.
“You are unaware, but I have the ability to talk to them at moments, and fortunately for all of us, one of those moments is now. They are going to hold me hostage until their demands are met.”
Melanie got a pad of paper and a pen. “Okay, what are their demands?”
“They want every last person to leave the island. This is their home, and they demand that we give it back. If this doesn’t happen, there will be war, a bunny battle royale.”
Melanie was scribbling. “Their home, want it back, bunny battle royale. Got it. Wait, everyone has to leave the island?”
“Everyone.” Lady Beatrice was insistent.
The radio crackled and then shut off.
Melanie looked at us.
“They didn’t train me for things like this,” she admitted. “I mainly just do the filing and sweep up the station. Sometimes I walk the streets cleaning up bunny poop.”
“They can’t evacuate the island,” Juliet blurted out. “Carrot Con starts this afternoon.”
Melanie grimaced. “I gotta radio Rolly.”
She got back on the radio and tried to contact Rolly. The three of us slipped out of the station as fast as we could and climbed into the Squidmobile.
“You know what we’ve got to do?” I asked them.
“Something that doesn’t keep me out past four?” Rain answered.
“Right, but we can’t wait around for Zeke. We have to find Beatrice and capture that rabbit. Something’s up, and we’ve got to figure out what before it’s too late.”
“Let’s go, then,” Juliet said excitedly.
We drove away from the police station and headed out for Furassic Park.
“By the way,” I said. “Is there something wrong with my wink?”
Neither of them answered.
“You can tell me.”
Rain spoke. “Let’s just say that I hope your snooping is better than your winking.”
I would have felt bad, but Admiral Uli wasn’t a strong winker either. I took comfort in that and stomped down on the gas.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HEADING INTO STRANGER
Bunny Island is a great place. You should visit, but bring snacks.
Seriously, bring snacks.
I didn’t think it was that wonderful at the beginning, but thanks to everything I had been through since I first arrived, I now felt different. It had grown on me like a bunch of barnacles. There was the main part of town where the wide stone paths ran alongside Rabbit Road. The road started at the airport and went all the way to the ocean. Most of the stores and restaurants and hotels were located in that section. There was also the mall where I had been turned into a rabbit not that long ago. Down by the water, there were a few neighborhoods where odd little houses like my uncle’s were littered around like different-shaped blocks put out by a giant toddler with impulse control problems. There was the clearing near the Bunny Bumps and the high cliffs on the far east side where a thin rock pillar named Cottontail Tower was located. I thought I had a pretty good idea of everything that was on the island, but yesterday changed all of that. The thick jungle on the west end of the island, where Beatrice lived, felt like a whole different world. Until dinner last night, I had no reason to even know it existed. Furassic Park was big and mysterious, and I found it odd that Juliet or Rain had never filled me in on it.
“I didn’t know it was there,” Juliet insisted. “My parents might have mentioned it, but bunnies are so common here, I guess I didn’t care.”
“Yeah,” Rain said as he sat in the backseat. “Lady Beatrice has a lot of pull around here, and she doesn’t like people bothering her land.”
“Well, we’re going to bother her now.”
The drive back to Beatrice’s was long, and I was happy to have the Squidmobile.
“Remember when we had to run everywhere?” Juliet asked.
I shivered just thinking about it.
“You should let me drive,” Rain told me. “After all, I make a living driving people around.”
“I doubt you make a living,” I pointed out.
“Well, I drive people around and they pay me.”
“I know. I remember when you almost killed me and then charged me too much.”
“See?” Rain said. “I’m a pro.”
We drove into the jungle, and the trees began to close in around us.
“Anyone else creeped out?” I asked.
Both of them nodded.
When we finally reached Beatrice’s house, it was just past ten a.m., and like before there was nobody around. I thought there might be a cop car or a tent set up for the search, but there wasn’t.
“Maybe everyone’s out in the sanctuary looking for her,” Juliet suggested.
I drove around the house, back to where the tram track was.
“Take that road!” Juliet was pointing to a small road that ran the same direction as the tracks.
It was a dirt path with trees growing on both sides that created a canopy over it. I turned and drove under the dark leaves and branches.
“So what’s the plan?” Juliet asked.
“I don’t really have one yet,” I admitted. “I figure we start by finding that giant rabbit and catching it.”
“Seriously?! How?” Rain asked. “It was huge.”
“It might be bigger than us, but it can’t be smarter than us,” I argued.
Rain looked at me and Juliet. “Really? I gotta think I’m the smartest one here, and a creature like that could easily outsmart me.”
“We’ve all dealt with bunnies before.”
“Yeah,” Juliet agreed. “But those bunnies were normal size and cute. Remember the yellow one?”
Rain cooed and then stopped himself. “Yeah, the bunny that took Lady B was definitely not cute.”
“Do you want me to tell you what Admiral Uli would do?” I asked.
“No,” Rain said.
“Zeke should have found the surprise in the cake by now,” Juliet said. “But if he doesn’t, we have to make this right—and we don’t have any time to lose if we’re going to do that and still make it to Carrot Con on time.”
It was dark beneath the trees, but small shards of sunshine broke through the leaves above. Everything looked like it was raining light. The Squidmobile’s headlights also helped to break up the shadows.
Rain tapped me on the shoulder and spoke. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but someone’s following us.”
I tried to look behind me, but I was driving. Juliet and Rain shifted in their seats and took a good look.
“Where?” Juliet asked.
“Way back there. Look.”
“I can see the headlights,” she said. “They’re getting closer.”
“Who is it?” I asked. “Does it look like a cop cart?”
“No, can you go any faster?” Juliet asked.
I pushed my foot all the way down, but the Squidmobile didn’t go much faster.
“They’re gaining on us,” Rain said. He was turned around in his seat and keeping lookout.
Golf carts are actually the worst vehicles for high-speed car chases. There were no revving motors or crazy speeds. Just
a low hum and the sound of the tires rolling over the dirt.
“Wait,” Rain said. “I think it’s . . . it’s Bouncer!”
“Suction cups!” I cursed.
Bouncer was after us. His golf cart must have been better than the Squidmobile, because it was catching up.
Juliet drummed on the dash. “Go, go, go!”
“I’m go, go, going,” I assured her. “The thing is, I don’t even know where we’re really headed! If this does lead to the bunny sanctuary, we won’t be able to get in.”
“Bouncer looks upset!” Rain said. “I can see his expression now, and he really doesn’t look happy.”
“Check under the seats!” I yelled. “Maybe there’s something you can throw at him.”
Rain lifted up the empty backseat next to him. Beneath it was a large storage compartment, and inside of the compartment was an umbrella and a snorkel. There was also a tennis racket and a bunch of tennis balls. Rain didn’t ask permission. He just started hucking tennis balls back toward Bouncer and his Squintmobile.
The balls just bounced off his cart.
“Throw the racket!” Juliet screamed.
Rain heaved the racket, and it hit the front of Bouncer’s vehicle and flew off into the trees.
“It’s not helping,” Rain yelled. “It’s just making him angrier.”
The small dirt road began to slope upward and bend. The branches above thinned out a little, and it was easier to see what was up ahead. Bouncer was close enough behind us that we could now hear him screaming.
“Stop! This instant! Stop!”
I wasn’t about to listen to the man who had helped put my uncle in jail.
“Throw something else!” I ordered.
Rain shifted and lifted the seat he had been sitting on. The compartment was packed with small round bags that were filled with colorful orange dust. Rain lifted one in his hand and showed it to me.
“What are those?” I yelled.
“They’re color bombs,” he yelled back. “Everyone on the island has been making them for weeks. They’re for the Carrot Color Battle tomorrow.”
“The whole island is going to have a powder fight,” Juliet added. “It looks like those are some of the ones your uncle made.”
“Well, I’m not saving them for tomorrow,” Rain said with a smile.
He began to rapidly throw the sacks. They hit up against Bouncer’s cart and exploded into big bursts of orange. The look was fantastic, but it wasn’t slowing Bouncer down. Rain hit the front of Bouncer’s golf cart repeatedly and whacked Bouncer over and over with orange dust. From the way Juliet was laughing I knew it must have looked amazing.
“He looks like a squinty cheese puff!” Juliet screamed.
“Stop . . . at . . . once!” Bouncer was yelling, but he was having a difficult go at it due to the bags of powder hitting him in the face.
“They’re not slowing him down enough,” Rain complained.
I was nervous and sweating like a pig in polyester as the path turned again and the trees opened up even more. I saw another path heading west.
“I have an idea!” I hollered.
“Is it stupid?” Rain asked nervously.
“A little.”
Bouncer was right behind us. In a few seconds, he would be crashing into the back of the Squidmobile.
“Hold on!” I shouted.
I came to the other path just as Bouncer was tapping the back of our cart with the front of his. At the last second, I turned as hard as I could onto the opposite road. I was hoping we would turn so fast that Bouncer wouldn’t have time to react. He would then have to keep going on the road until he could turn around to catch back up.
That’s what I was hoping for.
What happened was that I turned too quickly and the Squidmobile slid on the dirt path and tipped over. The whole thing went crashing into the trees and bushes. The impact wasn’t too bad because of the thick growth on the ground. But it was a solid jolt, and the three of us ended up in a big pile, still inside the tipped-over cart.
“Are you okay?” Juliet asked as my head rang.
“I think so.”
“Me, too,” Rain replied. “My arm is scraped.”
“That was your plan?” Juliet asked.
“Not exactly,” I said lamely. “I thought—”
A voice interrupted me.
“Everybody stay where you are.”
It was Bouncer. We looked up to see him standing over us. He was covered from head to toe with orange dust. Even though he was clearly upset, he still looked really festive.
“I—” I started to speak, but again my speech was cut short, this time by a large pounding thump.
All of us including Bouncer looked around. There was another thump followed by the sound of breaking branches. Then, with one big thud, a new visitor arrived.
The monster rabbit was back.
We all looked up and screamed. Like snooping, I was really good at yelling. The rabbit landed with a thud in front of Bouncer. We all gaped in amazement. But before we could even think to move, and without pausing to twitch his nose or wriggle his giant whiskers, the rabid rabbit picked Bouncer up with its tiny arm. It turned its bunny head to stare at us, and then it screamed like we were about to attack it. The big bunny, which seemed even bigger than it had been last time we saw it, pushed up and leaped out of the trees and out of our sight.
We heard him loudly hopping off. None of us said a word. We just sat there and listened to the noise growing fainter as he moved farther and farther away.
“That is one enormous rabbit,” Juliet said needlessly.
“One big bun,” I whispered.
We all stood up and looked at the Squidmobile as it lay on its side with two of the wheels still spinning. Part of the roof was ripped.
“Not awesome,” Juliet said.
“Not at all,” I agreed.
“Whatever,” Rain said, frustrated. “I still need to be home by four.”
The three of us tried to get the Squidmobile back on its tires. We all grunted and changed positions a dozen times, but we just weren’t strong enough to tip it back up. Our ride was down, and we had nobody to blame but . . .
Okay, okay, it was all my fault.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
UNLOCKED AND UNNERVING
We hiked out of the trees and found Bouncer’s cart. We figured since he was gone he wouldn’t mind us using his wheels. Sadly, however, the keys weren’t in it.
“He probably had them in his pockets when Big Bun took him,” I said.
“So is that what we’re calling him now?” Juliet asked.
“He is big,” I pointed out. “And he’s a bunny. Plus, he’s got big buns. So it works on a lot of levels.”
“Let’s not worry about what to call him,” Rain growled. “We have bigger problems—like how to get back home.”
“We can’t go back yet,” I replied. “We have to get Zeke out, and we can’t do that without Lady B.”
“I don’t know,” Juliet spoke up. “Maybe Rain is right. Did you see how much bigger Big Bun looked?”
“It was just the angle we were at,” Rain said. “We were on the ground, so of course he looked bigger.”
My white Sharky-Barky chirped. The chirp was followed by the sound of my uncle’s voice.
“Finally,” I said with a smile.
“Perry, are you there? Under.” Zeke was whispering, but we could all hear him through the Barky.
“Yes, how was the cake? Under.”
“Delicious,” Zeke said.
I saw Rain flash a smile about the review.
“I have to whisper so they don’t hear me,” Zeke hissed. “Very clever to hide this in my dessert. Are you okay? Under.”
“We’re fine. The Squidmobile tipped over when Big Bun jumped us and butlernapped Bouncer. Under.”
I quickly filled in my uncle on everything that had happened to us since we last saw him. I also told him that we’d heard Lady Beatrice tell M
elanie about all humans having to leave the island. I told him about the chase and about Rain throwing color bombs at Bouncer.
Rain took the Barky from me.
“Perry thinks we should try to find Beatrice instead of hike back,” he snitched.
There was a pause.
“You have to say under,” I whispered to Rain.
Rain grumbled. “Right, Perry thinks we should try to catch the rabbit. . . . Under.”
“I think you should, too,” Zeke replied. “Something weird is going on here. You need to find her so I can get released. Under.”
Rain looked baffled. “No offense, Zeke, but that seems like bad advice.”
Another pause.
I elbowed Rain.
“Over,” he said frustrated.
“Under,” I corrected.
“Under,” he snapped.
“This all feels really shrimpy,” Zeke said. “I can’t explain it, but I’m sure Beatrice and Bouncer are up to something. I don’t think they’re in any danger. I think it’s all part of a bigger plot that began with me being thrown in jail on trumped-up charges. You three are some of the smartest kids I know. You have to find out what’s going on. Okay? Under.”
Another glowfish went off over my head, and I snatched Barky back from Rain.
“I have an idea,” I told my uncle. “Bouncer is covered in orange powder. So we’ll just follow the trail of dust. Under.”
“Good. Be careful and keep your Barky on. I gotta go. Under.”
My Barky went silent.
I looked at Rain. He sighed and then spoke.
“My mom will be mad, but I guess this is more exciting than serving smoothies to Bunny Mooners. Under.”
“You don’t have to say under anymore,” Juliet told him.
“Right, then let’s get this over.”
The three of us found the faint trail of orange-colored dust that marked the way Big Bun and Bouncer had gone. There were also plenty of broken branches and large paw prints to guide the way.
“So, Bouncer’s bad?” Juliet asked as we tracked our prey.
“Yes,” I said with authority.
“And that bunny woman’s good?” Rain asked.
“No, she’s horrible, too. But we have to find her so she can clear Zeke and get him out of jail.”
