Authors: Bryan Chick

Traps and Specters (33 page)

A
N
O
LD
A
CQUAINTANCE

O
n 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.

Standing with his wet gray hair and beard clinging to his body, Mr. Darby uttered, “Leave me.”

The Descenders quickly nodded and rushed off.

Two curtains came together at the middle of the gateway. In the hard wind, the heavy velvet rolled and waved. The curtains occasionally flapped apart, revealing the darkness kept captive within the sector walls.

Mr. Darby suddenly called out,
“DeGraff!”

The old man stared at the portal and waited. Rainwater beaded on his dark sunglasses. Wind shaped the curtains in new ways.

“DeGraff!”
Mr. Darby called out, louder this time.

For a few minutes, nothing happened. Then the rain-soaked velvet began to bulge as something from inside pressed against it.

Was it him? Was it the man that had haunted and hunted the Secret Zoo for nearly a century?

The hump in the curtain began to take shape. The thing pushing against it walked on four legs. An animal. Or something like an animal, anyway.

Something appeared through the slit between the curtains. A brown snout. Next appeared a large, round head covered in fur, and then a massive brown body. Through the opening stepped a huge grizzly bear.

Or what had once been a grizzly anyway.

Mr. Darby instinctively took a step back. Then he forced himself to stand his ground. Through the rain-streaked air, the thing-that-had-once-been-a-bear stalked toward him, its paws splashing through puddles. Twice the size of an average bear, its fur was matted and muddy, and patches had fallen out, exposing black skin. Its oversized claws gouged the concrete. It walked with its head low, the wide mound of its back high. The bear blinked and then met Mr. Darby's gaze, revealing eyes that were colored red.

In front of Mr. Darby was an animal that had been poisoned by DeGraff. Mr. Darby knew this because he'd seen the sasquatches change in the same way.

The bear stopped and rolled its head in a small circle. Mr. Darby noticed something that made his stomach churn. Insects were squirming and crawling through the bear's furâspiders and beetles and worms.

The bear opened its jaws and a wet wad of paper tumbled out. Mr. Darby looked at the wrinkled lump for a moment and then snatched it off the street. He unwadded it and read:

I'm back, old friend.

The small statement sent a chill of terror through Mr. Darby. The thing-that-had-once-been-a-bear turned, walked across the street, and disappeared back into the Secret Creepy Critters, the curtains swaying in its wake.

Mr. Darby stared toward the portal in silence. Memories filled his head. He clenched his hand around the paper and dropped the crumpled ball to the street, where a gust of wind sent it tumbling away.

“You won't destroy me,” Mr. Darby muttered to the empty space between him and the sector where DeGraff was hidden. “Not a second time.”

The old man stood there a moment longer, his dark sunglasses concealing his eyes, his wet velvet jacket clinging to his shoulders and back. Then he sharply turned and walked off, his boots splashing mud across the once-colorful streets of the City of Species, which was now a city under attack.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo by Amy Peterson

BRYAN CHICK
is the author of the Secret Zoo series. He originally had the idea for the series when he was a nine-year-old and wondered what would happen if zoo exhibits had secret doors that allowed children to go inside â¦ and the animals to come outside. Bryan Chick lives with his wife and three children in Clarkston, Michigan.

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CREDITS

Cover design by Paul Zakris

COPYRIGHT

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.

The Secret Zoo: Traps and Specters

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www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chick, Bryan.

Traps and specters / by Bryan Chick.

pages cm.â(The secret zoo ; 4)

Summary: “On Halloween night, the scouts, along with their Descender allies, must battle terrifying sasquatches at their own elementary school. Little do they know, the sasquatches are merely the bait to a trap. DeGraff captures three of the Descenders and drags them into a frightening, off-limits sector of The Secret Zoo. Meanwhile, Noah and his friends must protect two of their animal allies from police officers who are convinced that they are dangerous animals on the rampage. Will the scouts be able to save their friends in time, both animal and human?”âProvided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-06-219222-6 (hardback)

EPub Edition Â© AUGUST 2012 ISBN: 9780062192240

[1. ZoosâFiction. 2. Zoo animalsâFiction. 3. Secret societiesâFiction.

4. Human-animal relationshipsâFiction. 5. SasquatchâFiction.

6. FriendshipâFiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.C4336Tr 2012 [Fic]âdc23 2012018010

12Â Â 13Â Â 14Â Â 15Â Â LP/RRDHÂ Â 10Â Â 9Â Â 8Â Â 7Â Â 6Â Â 5Â Â 4Â Â 3Â Â 2Â Â 1

First Edition