by Lisa McMann
“Say olvidar,” whispered Dr. Gray to Kelly.
“Olvidar,” repeated Kelly, not breaking her gaze. “Okay?”
The chauffeur seemed taken aback, but he nodded. “Está bien,” he whispered.
“Good. Now get back into the car.” She flicked her finger impatiently at the limo door.
The man obeyed.
When Kelly was certain he would forget them, she turned to Dr. Gray. “All clear,” she said, trying not to sound upset. “Let’s get our bags and go.”
CHAPTER 19
On the Run
After cleaning up and finding food, Kelly, Dr. Gray, and the soldiers regrouped under a tree on the outskirts of the Guadalajara Zoo. It was beastly hot, but the tree offered a small amount of relief from the sun.
“The way I see it,” said Dr. Gray, “we have two choices. Speed up or slow down.” Sweat beaded on the man’s forehead.
“What do you mean?” asked Prowl, who looked a little more like his usual self now that his wound was bandaged properly. Miko had sewn up the tear in his suit, too.
“Either we go into the zoo now and get everything we need,” said Dr. Gray, “or we go into hiding for a while. If we go after the DNA now we risk getting caught, but we can try to get out of Mexico tonight before the news breaks. If we slow down, we’ll set up a new lab outside of the city, go into hiding, and hope there’s no manhunt.”
“The officers on the plane saw our faces,” said Miko, distressed. “And they weren’t hypnotized to forget. The pilot can identify us too. Sketches will be plastered all over TV.”
“I’m sorry, guys,” said Kelly, feeling miserable. She could have prevented that if she’d only gone into camo mode earlier. But she’d had no idea they’d be in trouble—not until the officers were boarding. Why hadn’t Dr. Gray told her ahead of time that this could be possible? He hadn’t seemed to think anything could go wrong. She was furious at him for not preparing her better. And for being so selfish.
“It’s done,” said Braun gruffly. Sweat dripped off his porcupine quills. “No changing the past. I say we get in, do what we came here for, and get out as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more recognizable we’ll be.”
The other soldiers seemed to agree, and looked to Dr. Gray for the verdict.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll go along with the consensus.” He fished around in his bag for some papers and pulled one out: a color photo with a description on it. He handed it to Mega and Braun. “This is the species of jellyfish you’re looking for. It’s very small. Don’t make a scene, all right?” He gave Prowl the side-eye. Prowl looked abashed and turned away like he was tired of being belittled.
Kelly didn’t blame him. “Shouldn’t we just try to get back to the United States right now?” she ventured. “Can’t we get all these animals from there? I don’t get why you put us through this … disaster. Can’t your government people, like, help us out?”
Dr. Gray turned sharply, his face instantly red. “Obviously I made a mistake with our arrival. I didn’t anticipate the difficulty at the airport. I—I’d checked into it. Thoroughly. Everything pointed to … to a perfect … outcome.” His eyes narrowed and he slashed his hands through the air impatiently. “And I counted on you to do your job!”
“Wow,” said Kelly. She took a step back at the injurious words.
“It wasn’t her fault,” Miko muttered. “You know it’s hard for her to work in that kind of stress; it’s overwhelming.”
Prowl agreed. “You should have told us up front what the situation was so we could’ve been better prepared.”
Dr. Gray softened and looked wearily at the soldiers. “You’re right. But it doesn’t matter now. We’re stuck here for at least a few hours until I can find a way home. So you might as well do something while I solve our problem.” He shook his head, looking old and disoriented, and Kelly wondered if the heat was getting to him. He began muttering. “With this new wrench in plans, I have to speed up our process. Finalize the perfect combination. I worry … the world’s in danger. And if we don’t succeed …” He got lost in the thought and didn’t continue.
The soldiers looked uneasily at one another. The world? What was he talking about? Kelly frowned at the grass, tears pooling in her eyes. If they hadn’t so stupidly left California, they wouldn’t be in this kind of trouble right now. Was Dr. Gray starting to lose his mind? She wasn’t sure she could trust his decisions after this mistake. And he could try to blame it on her all he wanted—she wasn’t going to take responsibility for it. It was his fault, not hers.
Miko put a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder, but the chimp woman’s expression remained uneasy.
Suddenly Dr. Gray’s troubled eyes cleared. “Kelly, you and Miko and Prowl can go after the Mexican wolf. If that goes quickly and without disruption, find the sharks and just get whatever one looks easiest. I’ll stay here with the luggage, call Cyke to update him, and make arrangements for our transportation home.”
CHAPTER 20
Close Calls
The zoo wasn’t busy in the afternoon heat, and the animals were quiet. With the adrenaline of urgency fueling them, it didn’t take long for Kelly, Miko, and Prowl to get to the wolves’ habitat. They checked out the exterior of the vast enclosure, then went around to the deserted back part of it. Kelly spotted a young scrawny wolf below a rocky overhang, sheltered from the heat of the day.
“Is that it?” asked Kelly. “That scrawny thing?”
“It’s probably just a young one,” said Miko.
Prowl climbed the fence and made a hole in the netting. He dropped inside. Miko helped Kelly climb through, and Prowl broke her fall. The wolf stood up, alert. Kelly started pulsing. With Prowl by Kelly’s side, ready to swoop in and protect her, Kelly carefully crept forward, hypnotizing the wolf. When it was complacent, she yanked out some of its fur.
Suddenly the wolf snapped out of its trance and charged at them, fangs glistening. Prowl pounced and held it down. Miko, hanging from the netting, grabbed Kelly by the hand and swung her up and out of there. She did the same for Prowl after he subdued the beast. The two climbed down the fence, while Miko unfurled her backpack and used her wings to help her descend. She was a bit unsteady, but made it to the ground successfully.
They moved swiftly out of the area and slipped back to the designated walking paths. Prowl helped Miko put the canvas cover over her wings again and showed her how to put it on by herself next time. Kelly removed a special bag from her waist pack and tucked the wolf fur inside, sealing it shut before putting it back.
“Whew,” said Kelly. “Now let’s go find a shark.” She let out a shaky breath.
Miko glanced at Kelly. “You can do this,” the woman said.
Kelly’s face clouded. She tried not to let Dr. Gray’s hateful words from earlier take up space in her brain or make her feel incapable, but the sting was still there. “I know.” She pushed the insecurities away and glanced at the soldiers. “Thanks for sticking up for me earlier,” she said, feeling awkward.
Prowl grunted. Miko nodded. “What happened on the plane wasn’t your fault,” she said.
“Dr. Gray … ,” Prowl muttered, then shook his head angrily and didn’t finish the thought. Kelly had never seen Prowl say a bad word about the scientist before, but he seemed like he wanted to now.
There was something else still clawing at Kelly’s mind from the airport. She hadn’t said anything before—it had almost felt like if she didn’t say it, it couldn’t be true. She closed her eyes. “Do you think that Eduardo guy is dead? Did I … do it?” She glanced at the soldiers, trying to read their faces.
“He turned and slipped and hit his head.” Miko’s expression was stern. “He’s probably just unconscious.”
“No one has ever died from a platypus sting,” Prowl said, like he was reciting a fact that he’d recently looked up. Maybe because he had wondered the same thing.
Kelly swallowed hard. “Is that true?” she whispered.
Prowl nodded and Miko gripped Kelly’s shoulder. “Today it is.”
They continued in silence, taking long strides. Had the news surfaced yet? Had their descriptions been released? The three avoided crowds and focused on keeping Prowl’s masked face and Miko’s bulky backpack shielded so they wouldn’t be recognized—especially now that they’d be wanted by police.
Kelly’s stomach wouldn’t stop hurting. What was this life? She could hardly believe that ripping fur from a wolf was only the second-most dangerous thing she’d done today so far. And the day wasn’t over. Sometimes it seemed like she was in a giant theatrical production. She could use an intermission right about now.
Inside the humid aquarium attraction, visitors were sparse. Kelly and the soldiers could relax a little in the cover of darkness. Quickly they moved through the passageways, briefly looking at the smaller tanks of fish. They didn’t see any jellyfish, though they knew Mega and Braun were taking care of that task. Probably not very well, thought Kelly, because the beefy duo weren’t the brightest brutes in the group. But at least Kelly wasn’t responsible for everything. She wrinkled up her nose at the briny smell.
They came to the large tank and scanned the placards to see what sort of sharks it held. “Shortfin mako,” murmured Kelly, reading one of them. It was known as the fastest shark in the world. She frowned. “That seems like it might be too difficult to get.”
“Here’s another,” said Miko. “Bull shark.”
Kelly studied the description. “Osmoregulation,” she said haltingly, sounding out the unfamiliar word. “It can live in salt water or freshwater.”
“It’s also one of the most likely to attack humans,” Prowl read. “Right up Dr. Gray’s alley.”
“Yikes.” Kelly looked at the picture, then peered through the glass to see if she could spot it. There were two that she could see. They were pretty big, but not enormous. “Bigger than Cyke,” said Kelly, “but not too much.” After all her practice with Miko, she thought she could handle that.
Miko touched Kelly’s arm and pointed to an unmarked door in the shadows. “That’s probably the access door.”
Prowl nodded and protracted his claws. “I’ll spring the lock. Miko and I will cover you so you can go to work.” He hesitated, looking at Kelly, and said gruffly, “You know, sometimes I forget you’re a kid. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
Kelly nodded and turned on her camouflage, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. “I’m sure.”
“If you get into trouble, escape at all costs. And use those platypus spikes on anything you need to. Got it?”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Kelly appreciated Prowl’s warmth, for it didn’t come out often.
“Whenever you’re ready.” He stealthily moved over to the door and made himself small in the shadows, working the lock. Miko and Kelly moved that way too, distancing themselves from the other zoo visitors. No one paid attention to Miko, and no one could see Kelly.
A moment later Prowl had the door open and the three of them slipped inside. They went down a narrow hallway with the aquarium on one side and a cold cement wall on the other, looking for a way into the water. Soon they came to a larger open area with a built-in ladder. Near it was a closet with some buckets and towels and other supplies. The fish smell was even strong back here, and Kelly wished she didn’t need to breathe at all.
“All clear,” whispered Miko, looking around trying to address the invisible Kelly. “Where are you?”
“On the ladder.” Kelly climbed to the top and opened the hatch to the aquarium. She took a scraping tool out of her pack, then clicked on her dolphin feature. “I’m going into hypnosis mode, so look away,” she warned Prowl and Miko. “I want to try to do this without going into the water.”
“Everything’s quiet out here,” said Prowl.
“Great.” Kelly began focusing her concentration on hypnotizing the sharks—and any other creature in the pool. Her heart thudded as she scanned the surface, looking for one of the bull sharks.
Pulsing now, Kelly prayed for a bull shark to swim close and become hypnotized, but the stubborn creatures swam right past and didn’t notice her.
“Someone’s coming!” hissed Prowl. “I’ll take them out.”
Kelly started sweating profusely. She had to do this. She didn’t want to face an angered Dr. Gray and have to go through this all over again.
“Don’t stress, Kelly!” whispered Miko.
That only made Kelly more anxious. “Come on, you stupid sharks,” she muttered. But the creatures stayed far away from her.
Kelly and Miko heard a scuffle nearby. Then Prowl’s voice in a raised pitch. Kelly lurched, trying to stay focused—she was so worried she’d lose her concentration again, like before at SeaWorld and on the plane. The scuffle grew louder.
Exasperated and out of time, Kelly glanced at Miko, who was dutifully staring at the floor, not looking at her. “I’m going in.”
Miko nodded. “Spikes,” she reminded the girl.
“Right.” Kelly engaged her platypus spikes. Then, with only a slight hesitation, she dived into the water. She had to get this done.
Her dolphin swimming ability kicked in automatically to support her. With it she didn’t feel the urge to breathe, so that calmed her down a little. Still pulsing, Kelly remembered what she’d practiced so many times in San Diego. She set off slowly toward the sharks, hiding behind rock formations and enormous, slimy vegetation. Her pulses were smooth and steady. She carried the sharp scraper in one outstretched hand and another plastic pouch in the other, ready to scrape off some of the shark’s skin.
“Stay calm, stay calm,” she told herself, like a mantra. She could see her mesmerizing lights reflected against the side of the tank, which gave her even more reassurance as she approached the area the sharks were in.
Suddenly one of them swooped around in a glorious arc, seemingly without effort, swimming close to the glass and past Kelly’s shoulder. “Eek!” Kelly shouted in the water, and she nearly lost her concentration. But she clamped her mouth shut and kept moving forward. The other shark had begun swimming slowly, its creepy eyes on Kelly. Did she have it?
Oh my God, Kelly thought. She almost snorted down a gallon of water. Instead, she crept forward, staying in the bull shark’s line of sight. It began to circle around her. Kelly changed course to swim alongside and in front of it so it wouldn’t lose sight of her.
When she felt confident that the shark was fully hypnotized, Kelly slowed a little to let the toothy half of the creature move ahead. Then, cautiously, she reached out toward its tail. With shaking fingers, she scraped the shark’s skin hard with the tool and slid the whole thing into the bag, sealing it immediately. The shark continued forward. Kelly turned sharply back toward the ladder, her heartbeat thudding in her ears. Risking a glance at the bag, she could see the slice of skin floating inside. Triumphant, but beginning to feel like she needed to breathe, she continued toward the edge of the tank. She didn’t see the shortfin mako shark heading straight toward her at a ridiculous speed, jaws agape, until it was almost too late.
Kelly almost dropped the DNA sample. Instead, she looked around frantically and spotted the aquarium opening. Realizing her pulsating lights had faded, she glanced at herself to see if she was at least still camouflaged. She was, but that didn’t seem to matter—the shark could sense her easily. She swam with a renewed burst of energy. The shark veered sharply to follow her.
Frantic and running out of breath, Kelly tapped her device, forgetting she’d already enabled her platypus spikes. If she could stay in front of the shark she had a better chance of hitting it with one of them and hopefully disabling it for long enough to allow her to escape. She swam as fast as she could toward the ladder.
The mako was faster. It bumped its nose against her toes. Kelly nearly screamed. She spun and yanked away, then tried to land a spiky kick and missed. Out of breath, she could feel her head growing hot, her blood pulsing. Demanding oxygen. Fi
nally the ladder loomed. She reached out for it as the shark bumped her leg, harder this time. It opened its mouth around it.
Kelly screamed and swallowed water. She began to choke. She kicked out with both feet wildly, blindly, trying to connect with the beast without getting her leg chomped off. Flailing with her free hand, she tried to reach the ladder without dropping the all-important DNA sample. Her vision dimmed. She needed air. Her limbs were weakening, giving out. Just before the world went completely black, two hands grabbed her by the wrists and yanked her up and out of the water. The shark’s jaws snapped the air.
CHAPTER 21
Cause for Alarm
Prowl and Miko hauled Kelly’s sodden, dripping body over the lip of the aquarium. Miko grabbed her around the waist and dragged her down to the floor while Prowl scrambled down after them. Kelly sucked in air, coughed violently, and breathed again.
Eventually the world grew brighter. For a moment Kelly panicked. Then she looked at her hand, still clutching the bag. “I got it,” she gasped, holding it out.
Prowl took the bag. “That was impressive,” he said with respect. “Let’s get out of here. The workers I fought will be waking up any second. Can you walk?” He examined her leg where the shark had left its mark.
“I think so,” said Kelly, though she had no idea if she could. She pushed herself to a sitting position. “Did anybody see me in there?”
“Nobody who matters,” said Miko, helping Kelly to her feet. She grabbed a towel from the supply closet and quickly dried off the girl the best she could. “Prowl found a different way out of here. Let’s go.”
The three escaped and moved quickly through the back area of the zoo. Prowl’s sharp eyes kept a lookout for more workers. As Kelly clicked off her animal abilities, he guided the other two away from the more populated areas. After a quarter of an hour they were back to the tree, under which Dr. Gray sat, talking on the phone to someone. Braun and Mega were there too.