by Peter Nelson
Then he noticed something else. Every few seconds, Bernard’s head would pop up over the trees. Jordan rubbed his eyes and stared out the window.
WUMP! The Family Rambler suddenly jerked. Then it hit something. Hard. Scrreeech! It skidded to a stop in the middle of the highway. “Not again,” Mrs. Grimsley said.
The Grimsley family all slowly turned around in their seats and looked out the enormous back window. Something big, black, and furry was lying about fifty yards back in the middle of the Ingraham Highway, just like before.
SLAM! SLAM! Before their parents could say anything, Jordan and Abbie were running back to the black clump of fur lying in the middle of the road. As soon as they reached it, they saw that they’d been hoaxed. Having spent a good amount of time with an actual Skunk Ape, this clump was not nearly large enough—or smelly enough—to be the real deal. They both smiled. Crumpled in the street was Grampa Grimsley’s Skunk Ape costume.
“Jordan!” Mr. Grimsley called out. “What is it?”
“Nothing, Dad!” Abbie yelled loudly toward the tree line. “Just somebody’s idea of a joke!”
They looked into the thick tangle of trees. Nothing stirred. They gathered up the empty costume and walked back to the car.
As the Grimsley Family Rambler headed down the highway, Jordan stared into the empty eyes of the Skunk Ape mask. He picked it up, and something fell out. It was a note. Abbie looked up from her book as Jordan held up the paper. It read:
They both grinned. Abbie slipped her headphones back on and opened her book. Jordan read the note again, until a strange sense overcame him. He sat up, turned around, and looked out the back window. A few hundred yards back, a black, furry Florida Skunk Ape sat like a cowboy atop a Giant Desert Jackalope. The fluffy steed rose up on its hind legs, and the reeky rider waved a Badger Ranger hat in the air.
Jordan Grimsley faced forward. He opened his window all the way, shut his eyes, and let the wonderfully moist, sticky swampy air wash over his smiling face.
Credits
Cover art © 2014 by Rohitash Rao and Rick Farley
Lettering by Annemieke Beemster Leverenz
Cover design by Alison Klapthor
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Copyright
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
CREATURE KEEPERS AND THE HIJACKED HYDRO-HIDE
Copyright © 2014 by Peter Nelson and Rohitash Rao
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nelson, Peter, date, author.
Creature Keepers and the hijacked Hydro-Hide / Peter Nelson, Rohitash Rao.—First edition.
pages cm.—(Creature Keepers ; #1)
Summary: “Twelve-year-old Jordan Grimsley discovers the existence of the Creature Keepers, a team of humans assigned to protect mythical beasts”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-223643-2 (hardback)
[1. Animals, Mythical—Fiction. 2. Secret societies—Fiction.] I. Rao, Rohitash, author. II. Title.
PZ7.N43583Cr 2014
2014002114
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
AC
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EPub Edition © AUGUST 2014 ISBN: 9780062236449
14 15 16 17 18 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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