Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den (9 page)

From the depths of the boulders came a strange dark shape that looked like nothing Simon had ever seen before. It lurched across the ground in a zigzag pattern that seemingly had no direction at all, as if something were holding it back. The closer it got, the tighter Simon gripped the knife
hanging
from his belt, until at last it stepped into the afternoon sunlight.

A dozen rats the size of small dogs inched toward them, their razor-sharp teeth bared and their fur matted and dirty. Finally Simon understood why they moved so slowly: their tails were tied together, making it impossible for them to separate.

“Is that—?” said Simon.

“Yeah,” said Winter with a gulp. “That's the Rat King.”

7

THE RAT KING

Simon knew it was rude to stare, but he couldn't help it as the tangle of rats stopped a few feet away. He had never seen anything like it. “Which one's the Rat King?” he whispered to Winter.

“None of them. It's how rats punish one another—by tying their tails together and mocking them,” she whispered back. “I told you, they're a joke, even to their own kingdom.”

They didn't seem like a joke to Simon. Even if they couldn't move well, they were still what nightmares were made of.

“Answer us,” one of the rats demanded. It was the biggest of them all, with an abnormally thin face and greasy, matted gray fur. “Who are you?”

“
I—I'm Simon,” he said. “This is Winter.”

“Simon,” murmured the rats surrounding them. “Winter.”

“Trespassers,” said the leader, and the murmuring grew. “We do not allow trespassers.”

“We don't exactly want to be here, either,” said Winter, and Simon elbowed her in the side. She glared at him.

“I'm looking for my mother,” said Simon, sounding much braver than he felt, with his insides quivering. “A bunch of rats kidnapped her earlier, and I need to know where she is. Her name's Isabel Thorn.”

“Isabel Thorn, Isabel Thorn, Isabel Thorn,” murmured the rats in unison. “We know everything, for a price.”

“I'll give you anything you want.”

“What could you possibly offer us that we do not have already?” said the Rat King.

Simon glanced around, searching for anything they might be interested in. He had only clothes, books, and his mother's postcards in his backpack, and all he had of any value was the pocket watch his mother had given him. He would rather cut off his right hand than let them have that.

“My knife,” he said suddenly, pulling out the dagger Darryl had given him. “I'll give you my knife.”

The leader scoffed. “What need have we of a human weapon?”

His desperation grew. There had to be
something
. His gaze fell on the Rat King once more, and an idea formed in his mind. “I'll untie you.”

The
hissing stopped. “What did you say?” said the leader.

Simon tucked his knife back into his belt. “It can't be easy to find food or run around. I bet you haven't been down in the subway stations in forever.” He couldn't imagine all of them managing the steps at once. “Tell me where my mother is, and I'll untie you.”

The rats glanced at each other. Simon heard a few whispered words, and at last the leader rose on his hind legs. “Untie us, and we will consider your offer.”

“How do we know you won't just run away?” said Winter.

The leader rubbed his paws together. “You trust us.”

She snorted. “Please. I'd trust a pigeon before trusting a rat.”

Immediately the Rat King shivered, and several of them eyed the blue sky. Simon had an idea.

“I'll untie you. But if you run away—if any of you run away before you tell us where my mother is, then I'll tell all the pigeons in New York to hunt you down. They're my friends,” he added. “And if you want to ever see your subway tunnels again, you'll keep your word. Got it?”

The rats whispered to one another, and several squeaked nervously. “Fine,” said the leader at last. “Untie us, and we will tell you.”

Simon knelt on the ground beside them. “Hold still,” he said as he pushed aside their matted fur as best he could. The tangle of tails was much worse than he expected,
forming
a hard lump the size of a baseball. He made a face and began to search for a starting point. He'd never been very good at knots, but at last he found the pitiful end of a tail.

“Just hold on and stop squirming,” he said, and he slowly began to undo the twisted mass. Minutes passed, and a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek. The stench coming from the Rat King was so bad that Simon had to breathe through his mouth, but even then he could taste the rot.

“What's taking so long?” said Winter, glancing at the late afternoon sky. “If the flock finds us, we're sitting ducks out here.”

“Do you want to do this instead?” said Simon. He had half a tail free and thought he'd spotted the end of another, but his fingers were already coated with grime and other stuff he didn't want to think about.

Winter knelt beside him and made a face. “That's
disgusting
.”

The rats' mutterings grew louder, and Simon glared at her. “They can hear you,” he said. She huffed and elbowed him in the side.

“I don't care. Move over.”

“Be my guest,” said Simon, and he wiped his hands on a patch of grass. “It's not as easy as it looks.”

“Maybe not for
you
.” Winter took a deep breath and dived in, her nimble fingers somehow unknotting the tails with ease. Simon stared, stunned. By the time he opened his mouth to speak, she'd already freed three rats.

“
How are you—”

“I'm not a clumsy baboon, that's how.” Another two tails slipped out of the knot. “Most of it is just fur and rat droppings. They're all clumped together, and the tails aren't as tangled as you think they are.”

Simon watched as, one by one, Winter freed the members of the Rat King. Most of the tails were bent at odd angles, but the rats didn't seem to mind; like Felix so often did, they clutched their tails lovingly. Simon couldn't blame them.

“How long have you all been knotted up like this?” he said to the leader.

“Many moons, many moons,” he said, his eyes shining as Winter finally freed him. He gingerly took his crinkled tail and ran his paws over the angles. “How I've missed you.”

Winter wiped her hands on the ground and stood without touching her outfit. “There. Disgusting, but done. Where did you take Simon's mother?”

“It wasn't us,” said the leader. “It was the rat army. We were not allowed without our tails.”

“So where did they take her?” said Simon, his frustration growing.

“To the safest place in the mammal kingdom,” said the rat. “Where only the strongest may go.”

Beside him, Winter muttered a curse under her breath. “You mean—?”

“Yes,” said the rat. “The zoo.”

Winter let out a screech so loud that half the rats
surrounding
them bolted. “Of course. Of
course
. Out of all the places the Alpha could've taken her—that's just perfect, isn't it?”

“At least we know where she is now,” said Simon, standing. He didn't see what was so dangerous about a zoo, but before Winter could elaborate, the former leader of the Rat King limped toward them.

“If you follow, you will surely perish,” he said, his beady eyes flashing. “Beware the Beast King, Simon Thorn.”

“Is that the leader of one of the other kingdoms?” said Simon. The last thing they needed was someone else hunting them, too, but the rat disappeared into the scraggly brush without an answer. Simon frowned, turning back to Winter. “Please tell me you know what he was talking about.”

Winter laughed humorlessly. “The Alpha took your mother to the Central Park Zoo.”

“That's not what I—” He stopped. It didn't matter. “So let's go get her.”

“Have you ever even
been
to the Central Park Zoo?” she said, and Simon shrugged.

“I've seen parts of it from the street. But—”

“But your uncle never took you inside. Orion doesn't let me go near the zoo, either,” she added. “You want to know why?”

“The lions aren't very friendly?”

Winter gave him a withering look. “The Central Park Zoo is really a cover for the L.A.I.R.—the Leading
Animalgam
Institute for the Remarkable. It's the academy where the Alpha trains her army. She handpicks the smartest and deadliest Animalgam kids from the mammal, insect, reptile, and underwater kingdoms, and because they're all under her control, they can't say no. The Alpha brainwashes them and turns them into killing machines. After five years, the students are sent back to their kingdoms, completely loyal to her. Anyone who's anyone in the five kingdoms trained there. Except for us,” she said sourly. “She stopped letting birds attend when she took over.”

“I still don't understand why she would take my mother to a school,” he said.

“There are other places she could have taken her—the Alpha owns property all over the city, even a few islands north of here. I thought . . .” Winter trailed off and shook her head. “But of course the Alpha took her to the L.A.I.R. instead. It's the safest place in all five kingdoms. If anyone tries to break in, the wolf packs will rip them to pieces before they can get anywhere near the students. Not even Orion's flock can get very far.”

“But tons of people go to the Central Park Zoo every day,” he said. “You can't tell me it's impossible to sneak in when all we have to do is buy a ticket.”

“That's because the L.A.I.R. is hidden. It's—”

A soft trill echoed through the air, and Winter whipped around, her eyes searching the sky. The branches above them rustled, and her face drained of all color. “Orion's coming.”

Simon
didn't stop to think. He took off eastward down the path, toward the Central Park Zoo. If Orion already knew they were here, then it wouldn't be long before he and every bird in the city came after them.

“Simon—no!” yelled Winter, chasing after him. “We
can't
.”

He didn't reply. Maybe
she
couldn't go to the zoo, but if there was a chance his mother was there, he had to take it. Even if it meant a pack of wolves would probably tear him apart.

“You don't understand—Orion will kill me if I let something happen to you.” Winter ran up beside him.

“Then go back to Sky Tower and tell him you tried to make me come back, but I refused,” he said. “I'm going to the zoo.”

Winter let out another strange sound, this one more a cross between a huff and a strangled curse. “If you go, I go, too.”

“Then stop complaining and keep up.”

He could practically feel her stare burning holes in the back of his head. “You're going to get us both killed.”

“The only person I'm going to get killed is me,” he said. “If you want to come, that's on you.”

“I can't just let you go off on your own, now, can I?” she said. “You wouldn't know the Academy from a hole in the ground.”

Simon said nothing. She could pretend all she wanted that
she
was coming along for his safety, but he had seen how much Winter loved Orion, and he knew the truth: she would rather have faced a pack of wolves than return to Sky Tower without Simon.

He ran through the park as fast as he could, and Winter darted along beside him. By now three hawks circled above them, no doubt signaling to Orion exactly where they were. “This way,” he said, climbing up a rock face that separated the zoo from the rest of the park.

Winter stopped beside him, her long hair tangled around her face. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I'm doing? Sneaking in the back.” Simon peered over the edge. A brick wall surrounded the empty zoo; it must have been after closing time. He looked around. Directly below them was a pond that sparkled in the waning sunlight. If he jumped, the splash might make enough noise to alert someone, but there was no other way to get in. And—he glanced at the hawks circling them—no time to try to find one.

“You're crazy,” said Winter. “There could be piranhas in there.”

“In a pond in the middle of New York? I don't think so.” But as Simon pulled off his backpack and eased over the edge, his legs dangling over the water, his heart pounded. What if Winter was right? What if there was something in there that would be more interested in eating him than helping him? Or what if he broke his leg in the fall?

An
eagle's cry pierced the air. Orion had found them. No time to think—taking a deep breath, Simon let go of the wall and fell into the pond. The water was deeper than he expected, and for a moment his whole body was submerged, his feet touching the bottom. Something thin and slimy brushed his leg, and he immediately pushed back up.

“It's all right!” he called when he surfaced. Above him, the hawks continued to circle, now joined by the one-eyed eagle. As he climbed out of the pond and onto a wooden bridge, he expected them to soar down, but none of them made a move. He held out his arms. “Throw my backpack down!”

Winter tossed it to him, muttering inaudibly and eyeing the birds. He caught his bag and immediately checked the nest of socks he'd made for Felix. “Are you all right?”

Felix was trembling, and his whiskers twitched nervously, but he was in one piece. “I cannot
believe
you went into the zoo. Your uncle would be furious.”

“He isn't here right now,” said Simon. “Besides, we aren't staying long.”

Winter fell into the pond with a splash. Within seconds she surfaced, sputtering. “Are—you—
kidding
me?” she screeched. “There are
eels
in here!”