Riddles and Danger

by Bryan Chick

  “Gator Falls,” Sam said. “It’s open.”

  Something grunted—something nearby. It had been an animal sound, quick and deep. Noah glanced around but couldn’t see a thing. The animal grunted again, louder this time.

  Something passed by Noah, and a long clump of hair brushed his hand. He yelped and pulled away, his eyes dancing as he tried in vain to raise an image in the darkness.

  “Something’s here!” he said.

  “Richie!” said Sam. “Go ahead—use your penlight!”

  A bloodcurdling scream filled Noah’s head. Someone spun around and knocked him into someone else. This person jostled back, and for a few seconds Noah was bounced around like a pinball. When the shriek came a second time, Noah realized it was Solana.

  “Richie—your light!” Sam commanded.

  A narrow beam suddenly severed the darkness. It jerked in different directions until it landed on Solana, revealing of scene of such horror that Noah felt his insides turn.

  A sasquatch was dragging Solana down the hall toward Gator Falls.

  Chapter 34

  Chaos in Creepy Critters

  As Richie squirmed in fear, the beam of his flashlight jumped around, streaking the air and revealing the sasquatch like the flashes of a strobe light. As the monster backed down the hall, Solana’s quills sprang from her jacket and stabbed deep into its body. Howling in pain, it released the Descender, who then slid down it, burying the spikes into its legs. The sasquatch lurched backward and swiped at its chest, tearing out the quills.

  “Move!” Sam commanded.

  Richie moved the light on Sam, who ran past the sasquatch and charged toward Gator Falls. His wings were open from wall to wall, their tips skimming the aquariums and startling the creatures inside.

  Tameron and Hannah rushed after Sam, their unique powers revealed in Richie’s shifting beam of light. Tameron was covered in animal armor, the spiked tip of his tail poised to strike. The bulging soles of Hannah’s knee-high boots were now at least ten inches thick, and they sprang her forward five or six feet with each step.

  As Hannah came upon the sasquatch, she pushed off the ground and spun high in the air like a gymnast. She kicked out her right foot and landed the sole of her boot on the chest of the sasquatch, which flew backward into the wall, shattering aquariums and spraying glass. The beast, unconscious or dead, lay in a web of busted metal framework, the contents of the aquariums spilling over its limp body. Spiders, cockroaches, centipedes, and beetles smacked the floor and scattered like beads of mercury. Hannah landed on her feet and continued forward, her stride unbroken.

  “Richie!” Tameron said. “We need that light!”

  Richie didn’t move.

  “Richie!” Tameron called again.

  In the dim glow of the penlight, Noah saw Ella standing beside Richie. “Let’s go,” she said. “It’s okay. I’m scared, too.” They looked at each other for a moment, then turned and raced down the hall.

  As Noah started to chase after them, someone grabbed his wrist. Unable to see without Richie’s penlight, he turned to where he thought the person was standing. A voice said, “I’ll catch up with you guys.” It was Megan.

  “Catch up? What are you—”

  “We’ll never do this without more light. These aquariums . . . they’re all connected. If not through the Grottoes, then through the Secret Zoo.”

  “So?”

  She released his wrist. “So I’m going to light this place up.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Staring at the darkness, Noah waited for an answer. When none came, he realized that she was gone.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he said to the empty air.

  With that, Noah rushed down the hallway toward Gator Falls. He had no idea that he was about to face more danger than he had ever known.

  Chapter 35

  Trapped

  As Richie ran, the beam from his penlight slashed through the darkness, exposing random images: fake slime dripping from the ceiling; colorful frogs sticking to aquarium glass; rows of feathers shifting across Sam’s wings; Tameron’s tail sweeping along the floor.

  The howl of a sasquatch shook the walls. An answering howl followed, then a third, then a chorus of deep, apelike grunts. The noises echoed. Somewhere in front of Noah, Hannah shrieked for Sam. Then glass rained down on the hard floor.

  The light swung around to reveal Sam falling backward into Tameron and both of them dropping to the ground. Standing above them was a sasquatch. And another. And another.

  Richie screamed and dropped the penlight, which pinged the floor and rolled to a stop, its beam pouring across a narrow stretch of tiles. An instant later, the light was kicked and sent sliding down the hall in a dizzying circle. It finally came to a stop beneath the foot of a sasquatch, which promptly crushed it, surrendering the hallway to pure darkness.

  Noah halted. The ground felt slippery underfoot, and he realized he was standing on the tip of Sam’s wing. He backed away until he could feel the tiles once more.

  Silence. Noah had no idea what was happening. The darkness concealed all. It seemed a living thing, a bold new enemy as powerful and dangerous as the sasquatches.

  Then the hallway filled with a new sound—the loud hiss of an alligator. It was nearby, perhaps only a few steps away. Noah heard the growl of a sasquatch and whirled around, straining to see something—anything. The monsters were prowling around the scouts and Descenders—their prey. They were preparing to strike.

  Something bumped into Noah, and he spun in a panic. Darkness and fear magnified his confusion.

  Sam’s voice rose. “Descenders!”

  Sam was somewhere near the center of the hallway, a few feet ahead.

  Voices rose from different spots, one after another.

  “Here,” called Solana.

  “Here,” echoed Hannah.

  “Right behind you,” said Tameron.

  The sasquatches growled.

  “Anyone hurt?” Sam asked.

  No one said yes.

  “And the scouts? You guys okay?”

  Everyone but Megan answered. Noah used their voices to determine their whereabouts. They all were nearby, but scattered.

  Something swept along Noah’s foot. He jumped away toward the middle of the hall, where the side of his lower leg pressed against something. Hearing a rolling growl, Noah realized he was standing against an alligator. Afraid to move again, he scanned the floor and tried again to see in the darkness—a wasted effort.

  Across the hallway, Richie shrieked. Then he said, “Alligators—they’re all over the place!”

  A second alligator bumped Noah’s leg—this time, his right. It quickly veered toward Noah, forcing his foot up along its body. Noah found himself standing on one leg, his toes skipping off the knobby surface of the alligator’s back.

  Sam called out, “Everyone—stay still!”

  A third alligator struck the front of the leg Noah was standing on. It hissed. Then it gushed its warm breath over Noah’s shin as it opened its mouth. Noah sensed its snout just inches from his knee, and he imagined the uneven rows of fangs hovering near his flesh.

  Noah wobbled and tried to keep from falling. There was nowhere for him to go.

  Across the dark hallway, Ella gasped. Richie whimpered. In horror, Noah understood that what was happening to him was happening to everyone. A crowd of alligators were squeezing themselves around the scouts. They were totally trapped.

  Chapter 36

  New Light

  Megan, having run down a different hallway, slowed when she sensed she was at its end. She threw her arms forward and touched the space around her. Her fingertips soon found something soft and velvety—the curtain hanging above the entrance to the Chamber of Lights.

  Big gold rings clattered along an overhead rod as she threw open the curtain. When she stepped into the room, which was no bigger than a walk-in closet, her memories of the day she’d vanished into the Da
rk Lands from this place sent a chill through her. In the exhibit’s single wall-mounted aquarium, dozens of flashlight fish blinked on and off like underwater fireflies. She stepped up and placed her palms against the glowing glass.

  “I . . . I don’t know if you can understand me,” she said softly. “Maybe you can, the way Blizzard and Podgy and Marlo seem to.”

  The fish continued to swim back and forth, winking on and off at random intervals. A few gathered near the front of the tank.

  “We’re in trouble. The sasquatches . . . they’re escaping. The whole zoo is dark. I’ve seen what you can do, the way you can light up.”

  In her mind, Megan returned to the day she had disappeared from this very room—the start of her terrifying ordeal as a prisoner of the sasquatches. She remembered how the peculiar fish had begun to brightly glow until they pushed forward a blinding light, sending her to the Dark Lands.

  She paused to collect her thoughts. “We need you to help us. We need your light across Creepy Critters. All the aquariums . . . they connect . . . we’ve learned that.”

  Her effort suddenly seemed pointless. Surely these fish couldn’t understand her. Could they even hear her? Did her voice penetrate the glass?

  One of the fish stopped blinking and began instead to steadily glow. The darkness lifted from Megan’s hands, which were still pressed against the glass. Then it lifted from her arms, her chest. The walls of the Chamber of Lights slowly came into view.

  A second fish began to shine, then a third, a fourth. As the darkness continued to melt away, Megan realized something was standing beside her. With a yelp, she turned and discovered Podgy. He’d apparently followed her down the hall.

  “What are you . . .”

  Podgy poked his head toward her and fluttered his eyelids. He then stepped forward and pinged his bill against the glass. Hearing the sound, the flashlight fish swarmed to the front of the tank, mere inches from the point of the penguin’s bill. Podgy tapped the glass a few more times, then turned and waddled out of the room, the dim light of the fish following him.

  Just outside the Chamber of Lights, Podgy faced the aquarium through the open door. Then he raised his flippers to the darkness around him. Seeing this, the fish swam to the back of their aquarium, where, one by one, they disappeared into a hollow branch. Within seconds, all of them had vanished toward the Secret Zoo, taking the light with them.

  “No way . . .” Megan breathed. She wondered if this could possibly work.

  She felt her way back out the door, where she bumped into Podgy. She stared down the hall that she’d just crossed, seeing nothing. Soon, however, points of light began to dot the darkness along the walls. Megan counted ten, fifteen, thirty. They illuminated the aquariums like tiny bulbs. The fish were portaling into different aquariums, just as Megan had hoped they would. She knew by their number that they were coming from the Secret Zoo.

  The shape of the hallway began to appear—its height, its width, its jags and turns. Then, all at once, the spots began to shine more brightly as the fish spilled forth their magic light. It took only seconds for the tanks, the tiles, the fake goop and vines to become clear.

  The normal habitants of the tanks that the flashlight fish had invaded were swimming circles in corners. In dry aquariums, snakes coiled along branches, spiders stuck to the back glass, and crabs pinched one another’s claws.

  As the flashlight fish continued to glow, Podgy waddled in front of Megan and turned his back to her. What he wanted was obvious, and Megan wrapped her arms around him, just below his neck.

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  Podgy raised his flippers, took a few strides, and lunged into flight. Megan nestled into position across his back, letting her legs dangle behind her the way she’d seen Noah do. Podgy soared down the hall, veering from side to side. As the corridor zigzagged, so did Podgy. He nearly bounced off the aquariums, startling fish behind strands of seaweed.

  At the end of the hallway, Podgy swept into the Creepy Core and hung a right turn. Without hesitation, he flew toward Gator Falls, where the others were trapped.

  Chapter 37

  The Advance

  Noah stood on his left leg while one alligator crept beneath his right foot and a second alligator waited in front of him, its mouth hinged open. He teetered, almost completely lost his balance, then righted himself again.

  To his side rose a single point of light. It seemed to float in space, a pinch of brightness that reminded him of a glow-in-the-dark button. He strained to see where it was coming from and guessed a tank on the other side of the hall. Seconds after it appeared, so did another, this one roughly ten feet down from it. Then a third dot arose, and then a fourth. All down the hall, glowing spots pierced the darkness.

  He turned back to his predicament with the alligators. Knowing he had to do something, he lowered his right leg, feeling the space with his toes to see if the alligator had passed. Finally, it had. He immediately dropped his foot to the newly vacant spot and swiveled away from the open mouth of the alligator, which snapped shut at that very moment.

  As the bright spots continued to appear along the walls, Noah realized what they were: flashlight fish, the fish the scouts had encountered in the Chamber of Lights. They were using the Secret Zoo to swim into new aquariums. Noah had no doubt that his sister was responsible for this. Surely she wanted their magical light to illuminate the entire exhibit.

  From somewhere beside Noah rose Ella’s whimpering voice: “Guys . . . I’m in trouble.” Her words were followed by a sasquatch’s grunt and an alligator’s growl. There was a thud against the floor—the footfall of a sasquatch. “Big trouble!”

  The flashlight fish began to shine brighter, illuminating the tanks and the edges of the hallway. Noah swept his stare across the aquariums. Those that were filled with water had been invaded by flashlight fish. In the other tanks, the dry ones, snakes and lizards and giant millipedes raced along the glass, spooked by everything unfolding.

  As more and more light poured forth, the entire hallway took shape. For the first time, Noah saw the floor—and it terrified him. In both directions, it was packed with alligators. They were crawling toward the Creepy Core, their bodies squirming above the thrusts of their stubby legs, their staggered fangs protruding from closed jaws.

  Ella was standing beside one wall, and Richie the other. Surrounded by alligators, the two looked as if they were wading through a horrific river with reptilian spikes in the place of waves and whitecaps. To Noah, it looked like something from a nightmare.

  Around the Descenders, the alligators bumped and jostled one another. Tameron’s tail was buried among their bodies, and Sam’s wings were raised high.

  Sasquatches were scattered about. Standing with their knees bent and their arms raised, they looked ready to pounce. They inched through the crowd, their enormous feet rubbing against the alligators’ bodies.

  Sam’s voice rang out. “Descenders—I’m counting twelve sasquatches! You seeing the same?”

  In unison, his friends answered yes.

  Noah stared past the Descenders and saw Gator Falls near the end of the hall, about forty yards away. Reaching from the floor to the ceiling, it looked like a swampy wetland covered in tall grass, moss, and lily pads. In it, two levels were joined by muddy inclines, and three waterfalls spilled from the higher level into a shallow pool. Alligators were crawling out of a broken glass wall. Because they were headed toward the Creepy Core, the short hallway section beyond the exhibit was empty.

  Noah pointed down the hall. “See that clearing? We got to get over there!”

  An alligator snapped at Ella, just missing her as she jumped to an open tile on the floor.

  Richie said, “Whatever we do, we better do it soon!”

  “Guys!” Hannah called. “Look!”

  From out of the Creepy Core and into the hallway flew Podgy and Megan. As Podgy soared over the alligators, he dipped and rose and swerved, deliberately brushing the bulge of his stoma
ch along their backs. The agitated reptiles snapped at him, missing by inches as he veered all around.

  Sam said, “Tameron! Give me a path behind Podgy!”

  “You got it.”

  Richie said, “What are—”

  Sam cut him off. “Everyone! When Podgy flies by, fall in line behind me!”

  “But you’re surrounded by alligators!” Richie pointed out.

  Sam cast a hard stare at Richie. “Not for long.” He then turned to Tameron, whose tail swept high into the air.

  Richie’s jaw dropped.

  “Solana and Hannah—if the sasquatches come at us, stop them,” Sam instructed.

  Solana nodded. Hannah popped her gum.

  As Podgy reached the sasquatches, he steered through them, keeping just beyond the swing of their arms. Alligators continued to snap at him, their front legs springing from the floor. Podgy’s flippers smacked their broad snouts, almost insultingly.

  As soon as Podgy soared past, Tameron jumped in front of Sam and spun his tail around, sweeping the alligators aside. Like snow behind the push of a plow, the alligators flew through the air. When the tail reached Sam, he jumped it like a rope, allowing the floor around him to be cleared.

  Noah looked on in disbelief. Tameron had opened a circle on the floor that spanned the width of the hallway. Alligators lay against the walls, heaped atop one another, writhing and kicking and biting. Their tails snapped and thrashed, smashing out the fronts of aquariums and filling the hallway with the sharp reports of shattering glass.

  “Move!” Sam ordered.

  Hannah pushed off on the soles of her boots and sprang into the air toward the open circle. She grabbed the wrists of Solana’s raised arms and pulled her along. The girls dropped into the clearing and rolled gracefully to their feet.

  Five or six alligators separated Noah from the clearing where the Descenders now stood. Ella and Richie were in the same predicament, and both were looking at Noah for direction. Knowing they didn’t have time to waste, Noah began jumping across the alligators’ backs, his ankles rolling on their knobby spikes. Each time he pushed off one, it whipped around, snapping at the space he’d just emptied. Ella and Richie followed his lead, and it took only seconds for the three of them to reach the open circle.