Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den (19 page)

“There are tunnels,” said Felix, his tiny cheeks stuffed with bread. “All over the school. They're big enough for people, and they lead to the zoo. There's one—” He tore off another bite of bread and chewed. “There's one in your evil twin's room.”

Simon glanced toward the door that led into the bathroom they shared. “Is that the only one?”

“It's the closest.” Felix shuddered. “Unless you want to go into the reptile section.”

Braving a nest of snakes was infinitely more appealing than letting Nolan catch him snooping around. But Simon knew the pack would be watching his every move if he tried to leave his bedroom, let alone the Alpha section, and that meant the tunnel in Nolan's room was his only option.

He sneaked into the bathroom and carefully cracked open the door that led into Nolan's room. His brother sat at his desk, reading through a textbook, and Simon closed the
door
again. “We'll have to wait until he's asleep,” he whispered to Felix. “Can you watch him?”

Felix made a face. “If he sees me and tries anything, I
will
bite him.”

“I wouldn't expect anything less.”

Returning to his room, Simon stretched out across the bed and read his mother's notebook. It was crammed with information, and though Simon didn't understand a great deal of it, the more he read, the clearer it became: Darryl had been right about his mother's knowledge of the Beast King.

Just as he was reviewing the list of animals his mother had written, Felix scampered back into the bedroom. “He's gone—he went through the tunnel.”

“Nolan?” Simon hid the notebook under his pillow and scrambled to his feet. Had Nolan overheard their conversation and gone to look for their mother? No—Malcolm had said Nolan wandered off into the zoo. This must have been how he did it.

Simon followed Felix into his brother's empty bedroom. “It's underneath the desk,” said Felix as he bounded over. “There's a door—I saw him open it, the weasel.”

Simon ducked underneath the mahogany desk. At first he didn't see anything, but as his eyes adjusted, he spotted a faint outline. He nudged it, and the door popped open with ease. Behind it was a brick tunnel.

“Stay here and make sure Darryl and Malcolm don't come
in,”
he said, examining the narrow entrance. He would have to crawl. “If they do, let me know, okay? I'll be by the birds.”

“Really? You want me to follow you into a building full of creatures who eat my kind for dinner?” said Felix.

“Right. Then just—hide. And don't let anyone find you.”

The tunnel was dark and sloped upward, and Simon couldn't tell how long he crawled. Ten minutes, twenty—it felt like he would never find the end, and twice he considered turning back, but if Nolan had gone this way, then it had to let out somewhere.

At last he spotted a dim light in the distance. As he grew closer, he realized it wasn't a light at all: it was the moon. Simon pushed a metal grate aside, wincing as it creaked. The tunnel ended behind a statue of an eagle at the edge of a square in the Central Park Zoo, next to a building that smelled like fish. It was lighter than it had been in the tunnel, but it was still too dark for Simon to spot his brother.

Now all he had to do was figure out where they kept the birds. He searched for any sign of a map, but even though he had to be close to the entrance, he didn't find one. While the zoo was small, it was full of winding paths, and the last thing Simon wanted was to get lost.

Shivering in the cool night air, he started forward. The bird habitat couldn't be far. He would comb through every single building if he had to, and even if it took all night, he would find his mother.

Something rustled nearby. Simon stilled, and as soon as
he
was sure no one had spotted him, he dashed toward a set of concrete stairs, climbing upward. He heard the sound again—closer this time—and he turned a corner and ran past a high window. He'd been in the zoo for only a minute, but already he was sure he was lost.

A flash of white beyond the window glass caught his eye. A ghostly figure slept on the rocks, his massive chest rising and falling. A polar bear. What was a polar bear doing out this late?

Another figure moved at the edge of Simon's vision, and he stopped. For a moment he couldn't make out the details, but when the figure turned, he saw the same face he'd seen in the mirror his whole life, and he exhaled. It was his brother.

Except Nolan wasn't taking a nighttime stroll. Somehow he had climbed into the polar bear enclosure and stood atop one of the large rocks overlooking the water, his arms outspread as though he were about to fly. Simon's blood ran cold. What was he doing?

Before he could call out, Nolan did the single stupidest thing Simon had ever seen.

He jumped in.

16

POLAR BEAR CLUB

Simon watched in horror as Nolan fell into the water. He disappeared beneath the darkness, and Simon broke out into a cold sweat.

“Help!” he yelled. Someone had to be close by. The pack had found him in minutes the night before. “
Help!
”

The polar bear roared, and the hair on the back of Simon's neck stood up. How long before the bear realized Nolan was inside his enclosure and went after him?

Simon watched the water, searching for any sign of his brother. Nothing. Seconds ticked by, and Nolan didn't resurface. If Simon didn't help him, no one else would.

The polar bear roared again. “Intruders!” he cried. “My water. My rocks. My fish.”

“
No one's going to eat your fish.” Simon managed to pull himself up the wall. “If you stay out of the water, I'll bring you a whole bucket, okay?”

The polar bear shook itself. “My fish!”

“Your fish.” Simon reached the top of the rock. Nolan still hadn't resurfaced. “I'm going in now. Don't eat me,” he said, and taking a deep breath, he jumped.

The cool air rushed around him, and he hit the water hard. Darkness surrounded him. He didn't know which way was up. The icy water attacked every part of his body, turning him to stone. It was cold—so much colder than he ever thought water could be. His feet hit the bottom, and his legs unlocked as they pushed against it. His muscles burned, but he forced himself to kick upward. Air. He needed air.

At last he surfaced. Gasping, he spun around, searching for Nolan. His muscles seized, and his skin was numb. He had to get out of there, or else Malcolm and Darryl would be dragging two bodies from the water instead of one.

Simon started to swim toward a ladder on the other side of the habitat. It wasn't far, but in the cold water, it might as well have been a mile away. He was only a few strokes from the wall when something grabbed the bottom of his jeans, pulling him down into the icy water once more.

Nolan
. Simon struggled against his grip. He was going to drown them both. Simon yanked his leg as hard as he could, over and over again, and at last Nolan let go. Simon surfaced once more, water splashing in the quiet night.

Gasping
for air, Simon waited several seconds for Nolan to join him. He must have been able to push off the bottom, too. But he didn't. He didn't surface at all.

Panic rushed through him. Nolan had been underneath the water for almost a minute by now. If he didn't get any air soon, he would drown. Simon glanced toward the ladder. If he swam for it now, he could pull himself up out of the water and onto the nearby ledge, and maybe a member of the pack would be close enough to help.

But if they weren't, if Simon and Nolan were all alone out here, his brother would die.

It wasn't a choice. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself down into the freezing water again, groping around in the blackness. At first he felt nothing, and his heart pounded. Nolan had to be conscious—he had to be.

But at last, cold fingers closed around his, and Simon grabbed Nolan's hand. The ladder ran up the side of the wall only a few feet away. Simon just had to drag his brother close enough so that they could both climb up to the ledge.

He started to pull. Nolan didn't resist, and Simon feared he had already blacked out. Digging his heels in, he yanked his brother over, and at last his hand touched the first rung of the ladder.

“Help!” he sputtered as he surfaced. He was completely numb now, and he struggled to drag Nolan above the water. Using the last of his strength, he pushed him onto the ledge. Nolan's legs felt heavy, but Simon hauled them out of the
pool
before finally climbing up himself. He collapsed, too cold to shiver. His skin didn't feel right. He could barely move, but he somehow managed to clumsily roll Nolan over.

Was he dead? Simon couldn't tell. His eyes were closed, his face white in the moonlight, and he didn't move. He wasn't breathing.

Simon forced himself to his knees. He had never done CPR before, but he had to try something. Sucking in a deep breath, he pushed against Nolan's chest. His sweater squelched, and Simon tried again, harder this time. “Come on,” he said roughly. “Come
on
. If you're waiting for me to give you mouth-to-mouth—”

Suddenly an impossible amount of water gushed out of Nolan, and he coughed hard and rolled onto his side. Relieved, Simon fell back against the wall. He was alive. They were both alive.

“Are you okay?” Simon asked.

“Did—did I shift?” Nolan sputtered between coughs.

“Shift?” he said, and realization dawned on him. “Wait—you jumped into a polar bear enclosure in the middle of the night just to make yourself
shift
?”

“Did I shift or not?” demanded Nolan, his voice growing stronger.

“No, but you nearly got both of us eaten. Thanks for that.”

Nolan stared at him. His lips were blue. “You jumped in after me?”

“I wasn't going to watch you drown.” Although now it
didn't
seem like such a bad idea. “Why were you trying to make yourself shift, anyway?”

He drew his knees to his chest. “None of your business.”

“I just saved your life,” said Simon. “I have a right to know why.”

Nolan's teeth began to chatter. His face contorted as though he were having some kind of internal battle, and finally he burst, “It's your fault, anyway.”

“My fault? What did I do?” said Simon.

“You're here. You could—you could be the heir instead. You could be—”

“The Beast King,” he said quietly, and Nolan's eyes widened.

“You know?”

“Long story,” he muttered.

“It's going to be one of us, you know,” said Nolan. “Yesterday, Malcolm told me—he told me that since we're twins, one of us is going to be the Beast King, and the other one's going to be an eagle.”

He spat out that last word as though it were dirty, and Simon scowled. “There's nothing wrong with that.”

“Of course there is,” said Nolan. “It's bad enough we're Hybreds. That's when two parents—”

“Are from different kingdoms. Yeah, I know,” said Simon. “And you're afraid your family won't love you if you're an eagle instead.”

Nolan was silent. He didn't have to answer for Simon to know the truth.

“
Birds aren't bad,” he said. “They're smart. They're loyal. They can fly—”

“If I'm the Beast King, I'll get to fly anyway,” he said with a sniff. “The Alpha's mad at me. The mammals have been protecting our line since the Beast King was defeated, and all the ones before me had already transformed by the time they were twelve. She thinks it's my fault that I haven't, but I'm trying.” He pulled up his wet pant leg and unstrapped what looked like weights from his shins. “I've
been
trying, but no matter what I do, I can't make myself shift.”

“That isn't your fault,” said Simon. “I haven't shifted yet, either.”

“That was kind of obvious in the pit, you know,” said Nolan. “What if we don't shift until we're fifteen or sixteen? We'll be
ancient
.”

Simon was beginning to wonder whether that was such a bad thing. At least then they would have time to figure out how to escape before the Alpha killed them. “Nolan, about that—”

“Why did you save me?”

Simon paused. “You would have done the same for me.”

“No, I wouldn't have. I'm not even sure I would have called for help.”

“You would have,” he said firmly. “Because that's what family does.”

Nolan hesitated, and after several seconds, he mumbled, “I'm sorry about what I said earlier. You are my brother. I just—I just don't want you to shift first.”

“
I won't,” said Simon. “I didn't even know Animalgams existed until yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Really. Yesterday morning, I thought—”

A nearby howl cut him off. A gray wolf appeared through the glass window, and he scrambled up the side of the enclosure as if it were nothing. “What happened? Are you hurt?” said Malcolm.

“Just cold,” said Nolan. “Simon saved my life.”

Malcolm's blue eyes fixed on Simon. “We'll talk about it later,” he said. “We need to warm you up.”

“Simon!” Darryl's massive wolf form appeared at Malcolm's side, and he immediately shifted back into a human. “What the—did you two
jump in
?”

“Long story,” said Simon as his uncle gathered him up. Darryl was so warm that Simon felt as if he'd stepped straight into a fire.

“You're freezing,” said Darryl. “Come on, back to the Den before you turn into a block of ice.”

Simon wanted to protest—he hadn't even found the birds yet—but as they climbed out of the enclosure, several other members of the pack joined them. He had no idea whether they were loyal to Malcolm or the Alpha, and with them listening, Simon didn't dare tell his uncle why he was really out here to begin with. Instead he kept quiet, and together Darryl and Malcolm helped them through the dark zoo and into the Arsenal. Exhausted, Simon leaned against his uncle
until
they hit the warm entrance hall, where the rest of the pack had gathered. Vanessa shifted back to her human form, hurrying to their side.