Read Online The Secret Zoo by Bryan Chick - Free Book Online

zoo. It works on every door. Use it. Once you get inside, get your butt to Penguin Palace. A penguin named Podgy is waiting for you. He’s the biggest penguin in the palace, so you won’t have any trouble recognizing him. Like Marlo and Blizzard, he wants to help.
    Be careful. A lot of people aren’t gonna betoo excited to see you. In fact, there are some who’d do anything to stop you and the other Action Scouts from finding Megan.
    C-ya on the Inside,
Tank
    Noah looked across his backyard toward what was now the cold and ominous wall of the zoo.
    â€œTank,” he muttered, “whose side are you on?”
    Noah wondered again if he was being led into a trap. Tank had told them that the fate of the world rested on keeping the zoo’s secrets safe. How far would Tank go to ensure this? There was only one way to find out.
    â€œI can’t wait for morning. I can’t wait for Ella and Richie. This needs to be done now.”
    Noah dropped the key in his pocket, darted into the garage, and dragged out his dirt bike. Halfway down the driveway, he hopped on the seat and sped off. He raced into the wind, the cold air stinging his skin.
    â€œI’m on my way, Megan,” he said. “Hold tight.”
    As he drove along the road, he noticed something in the Parkers’ yard. Beside a big pine tree, someone or something was moving. Noah looked closer until he realized whatever had been there was gone. Nothing remained but the shadows.

CHAPTER 13
E LLA ON THE R UN
    E lla cut through her neighbors’ yards on her way to Noah’s house. She hurdled the hedges in Mrs. Ryan’s yard and dodged the lawn ornaments at Mrs. Pierre’s. She jumped fences and ducked tree limbs. Once a branch snagged her earmuffs, and she had to turn around to snatch them back. As she neared Noah’s house, she saw someone in the driveway. It was Noah. He was climbing onto his bike.
    â€œNoah!” she called out. “Noah, wait!”
    But Noah sped out of sight before she could get his attention.
    Ella ran into Noah’s yard and happened to kick something on the lawn beside the mailbox. She picked it up. A pouch. She poked her fingers inside and found it empty.
    â€œSomething was in here,” she said. “Something important.”
    She spun around and took off to find Richie, who lived on her street. She went back home the same way she’d come, but this time, when she cut across Mrs. Pierre’s lawn, she crashed into a pink flamingo and flattened it to the ground.
    At Richie’s house, she found a spot beneath his second-story bedroom window and pulled a small clump of dirt from a flower bed. She pitched it at the glass. She waited a few seconds and then hurled another handful of dirt at the window.
    â€œC’mon, Richie!” she whispered frantically. “Wake up!”
    Suddenly she gasped. From the corner of her eye, she’d caught sight of someone standing in the next yard. A man. Tall and lean, he wore a hat with a wide, circular brim. He had broad shoulders and a long dark trench coat. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, he was watching Ella, watching her from the shadows. So deep and dark were the shadows that they hid his face, his eyes, and his intentions.
    Then he vanished. But not in the all-at-once way thatan imaginary thing disappears. Rather, he dissolved. It was as if he’d melted into the shadows.
    Ella felt goose bumps crawl over her skin. She tried to tell herself that the man hadn’t been there at all and that her overworked mind was playing tricks on her. But what had Tank said? Beware of the man who “lives in the shadows…he is the shadows.”
    A fresh round of goose bumps dotted her arms, and she tried to rub them away. She glanced up at Richie’s window. It was finally sliding open.

CHAPTER 14
A T R ICHIE’S H OUSE
    R ichie sat up in bed and listened. Seconds later, he heard it again—a soft thump !