Once Upon a Toad (26 page)

“Mighty odd happenings last night, yes sirree,” said Pearl, sliding her eyes over to my great-aunt.

Great-Aunt Aby winked at me. “Mighty odd place, Las Vegas.”

Pearl frowned. “Sure wish I could remember more of what happened.”

My great-aunt nodded sympathetically. “Vegas tends to have that effect on people.”

The picture on-screen switched to something closer to home. A little too close to home, in fact. The news crew was standing right outside in the Rose Garden.

“A pair of burst water mains have all but cut off access to the zoo this morning,” announced the local reporter. “Kingston Road between the Rose Garden and the zoo parking lot is closed completely for the time being, and there's quite
a bottleneck on Highway Twenty-six at the zoo exit as well, as school buses from all over the city converge for Portland's annual ‘Field Trip Friday.' Northbound and southbound lanes are partially blocked, with road crews working feverishly to make the necessary repairs. Commuters may want to look for alternate routes.”

“That's the FBI's doing,” said Pearl. “They're establishing a perimeter and limiting access.”

“How do you know?” asked Fake Elvis.

“I watch a lot of cop shows on TV.” She shot my great-aunt a worried look. “How will we get there if we can't drive? We don't have a whole lot of time left.”

“Too bad the zoo train isn't running yet,” Olivia said. “It doesn't start until Memorial Day, though.”

Great-Aunt Abyssinia's eyes glinted behind her glasses. “Doesn't it? That's funny, I could swear I heard it just now.”

She opened the door, and sure enough, in the distance we heard the hoot of a steam engine's whistle.

“What are you waiting for?” she said, grinning at our astonishment and setting an engineer's cap at a jaunty angle atop her bright orange hair. “All aboard!”

CHAPTER 25

“Best vacation I've had in years!” hollered Fake Elvis, sticking his head out the window of the zoo train's passenger car and lifting his nose to the wind like a retriever. He looked different in the full light of day. The only thing left of his costume from last night was his tinted sunglasses. Along with the white sequined jumpsuit and blue suede shoes, he'd left his black pompadour wig back in the RV, and it turned out that underneath he was as hairless as a Ping-Pong ball. I decided to think of him as Bald Elvis from now on. “You girls sure know how to have fun!”

Pearl grinned at him. In the engine cab ahead of us, Great-Aunt Abyssinia tootled the whistle again. The train sped along the narrow tracks that skirted the edge of the steep, forested canyon between the Rose Garden and the zoo. It was a little spooky under the canopy of trees, especially since we were the only passengers. I still wasn't exactly sure how Great-Aunt Aby had arranged to have the train waiting for
us, but I guessed there were some perks to being a fairy godmother, even a slightly defective one.

Bald Elvis was clearly enjoying himself, but my stomach was in knots. What if Dr. Dalton was there and spotted Olivia? She was the key to our plan for getting Geoffrey back. What if we bungled things somehow?

Beside me, Olivia looked equally nervous.

“Do you think Hawk Creek will make it?” she whispered with an anxious flurry of crocuses.

I shrugged. The dismal traffic report made it sound like getting to the zoo would be a nightmare. The only good thing Field Trip Friday had going for it was that Mrs. Bonneville was in charge, and Mrs. Bonneville didn't like delays. They were on her list of rules.

We chugged to a crawl near the perimeter of the zoo, then came to a stop just outside the wolf enclosure.

“This is as far as she goes,” my great-aunt told us. “Can't afford to have anyone spot the train, so you'll have to go on foot along the tracks from here.”

I leaned forward. “Aren't you coming?” I whispered, risking a toad. I flicked it into the shrubbery alongside the track. Bald Elvis still didn't know about my affliction, and I figured I might as well keep it that way.

She shook her head. “I'm going to try and bring the RV around. Good luck, and whatever you do, try to blend in.”

Fat chance of that,
I thought. We looked like a bunch of hillbillies. Bald Elvis was wearing a coverall just like Great-Aunt Aby's and chewing a toothpick; Pearl and her updo were swaddled in the bright orange poncho she'd borrowed from my great-aunt; and my stepsister had replaced her lost Mariner's cap
with a straw sun hat she'd dredged up from a storage cupboard in the RV. It was obviously one of Great-Aunt Abyssinia's thrift-store finds and looked like Archie had used it as a chew toy. And then there was me: aspiring toad huntress disguised as a small boy, but really just Catriona Skye Starr, twelve-year-old toad spitter.

I shook my head as we trudged off down the tracks.

I would have felt better with my great-aunt along for backup, but what with her unpredictable skills and all, maybe it was better this way. The zoo could be a dangerous place for an occupationally challenged fairy godmother. If she messed up here, who knew what could happen. I didn't want to end up as a penguin. Or lunch for one.

“Hey!” shouted a uniformed man a few minutes later as the four of us stepped from the train tracks onto the deserted platform. “What are you doing over there? The tracks are off-limits!”

“Just looking for the little boys' room,” Pearl replied brightly. She tucked her arm through Bald Elvis's and pointed at me. “Our grandson had to go, and since we couldn't find it, we headed for the woods. Any port in a storm, right?” She laughed a tinkling little laugh, and I hung my head and scuffed my feet, pretending to be embarrassed.

Which I was. We were a freak show.

It was quick thinking on Pearl's part, though, I had to admit. Still, why did I always have to be the butt of every joke? Beside me, Olivia suppressed a laugh. I shot her the stink eye.

The zoo employee pointed wordlessly across the platform to the door clearly marked
MEN'S ROOM.

“Well, whaddya know,”
exclaimed Pearl, pretending to be astonished. “Can you believe that, kids?”

Shaking his head in disgust, the employee walked off.

“That was a close one,” whispered Pearl. Letting go of Bald Elvis's arm, she took my hand and put her arm around Olivia's shoulders. “Stay close, kids, and remember, girls—no diamonds and no toads.”

“Huh?” said Bald Elvis, who was still clueless in the toad department.

“Nothing,” said Pearl.

The four of us made our way to the penguin exhibit and got in line outside. The plan was to keep a low profile, avoid Dr. Dalton at all costs, and see what we could do to help grab Geoffrey back in case the FBI's plan went awry. Two heads were always better than one, so we figured, why not two plans?

Now that everyone thought my stepsister and I were safe and sound, the FBI would be bringing along a stand-in for Olivia. At least that's what I'd suggested. We'd be there in case anything went wrong with Plan A.

Bald Elvis had agreed to be the muscle for Plan B. He was middle-aged and a little pudgy, but the bald head kind of made him look like a boxer. He was going to act as Olivia's bodyguard and, if needed, run interference with the kidnappers while Pearl and I grabbed my little brother. Great-Aunt Aby's job was to bring the RV around to the zoo entrance. I'd been skeptical about using it as the getaway vehicle, but now that I knew it could make it from Las Vegas to Portland in 12.3 seconds, I was willing to give the RV a little more respect. If Great-Aunt Aby couldn't get around the roadblock, we'd
have to improvise. There was always public transportation. My dad is forever bragging about how great it is in Portland. I hoped we wouldn't have to put it to the test, though.

We'd also eventually have to sort out the whole diamond and toad mess. Right now, though, the main thing was to get Geoffrey back and keep Olivia out of Dr. Dalton's clutches, and a lifetime of captivity in Area 51.

I regarded the line of people in front of the penguin exhibit. Which ones were FBI? Police? Plain old zoo visitors? Were the kidnappers here too? It was impossible to tell. There was no sign of Dad and Iz yet, nor did I see my little brother anywhere. And so far there weren't any Hawk Creek students, either.

All of a sudden Olivia stiffened. I looked to see what had caught her attention, and sucked in my breath sharply. Dr. Dalton was sitting on a bench across from the exhibit entrance. He was reading a newspaper and trying to look casual in a sweatshirt and baseball cap, but I'd know him anywhere. He looked up from his reading, his intense eyes scanning the crowd. Olivia turned her back to him, her face drained of color.

We both stood motionless, until his gaze passed over us, then sagged with relief. I grabbed Pearl and pointed him out surreptitiously.

“Dalton?” she whispered, frowning.

I nodded, and she relayed the message to Bald Elvis, who sized him up. “He's the one who wants to take you to Area Fifty-one?” he asked my stepsister.

She nodded.

“Not on my watch,” Bald Elvis told her stoutly. He looked at me. “And he can't have you, either.”

I became an Elvis fan right then and there.

The exhibit doors opened and the line moved forward. As we descended the long hallway that led into the Penguinarium, I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Mrs. Bonneville wants everyone to stay with their assigned partners! No wandering off!”

Hawk Creek Middle School had made it!

Olivia's face lit up and she started to turn around—to look for Connor Dixon, no doubt. I elbowed her sharply. She glared at me, then faced forward again and jammed her sun hat down more firmly on her head. We filed into the exhibit's warm, humid interior, wrinkling our noses. The Oregon Zoo's penguins are Humboldts from the coast of Peru, not the arctic kind. The temperature in the exhibit always fools people who expect it to be glacial.

“P-U,” said Pearl. “It's stinky in here.”

“You said it, sister,” agreed Bald Elvis, fanning the air in front of his face.

The crowd began milling around, and the large, dimly lit room soon echoed with the shouts of excited middle school students. As planned, Pearl, Bald Elvis, Olivia, and I made our way to the wall across from the glass tank, where we pretended to examine the informational placards.

“‘Found only in the Southern Hemisphere, Humboldt penguins are agile and can swim at speeds of up to thirty miles per hour,'” Pearl read aloud, keeping one eye on the crowd. “Well, whaddya know.”

All systems go
, I texted A.J.

He texted me right back:
Hawkwinds in place.

I glanced over to where Rani and her brother and Juliet Rodriguez were setting down their backpacks. Connor was with them too. Their mission was to provide a diversion if one proved necessary. I wasn't sure exactly what they were going to do, but I had a pretty good idea.

Olivia, who was wedged securely between Bald Elvis and the map of the Humboldt penguin's natural habitat, reached over and poked me in the arm, jerking her chin toward the entrance. My father and Iz had just walked in. I glanced at the cell phone in my hand: 9:00 a.m. on the dot—right on time. My heart did a somersault at the sight of them, and I would have given anything at that moment to be able to run across the room and fling myself into their arms.

But if I did that, Dr. Dalton would step in and snag Olivia, and our bargaining chip would be gone. We might not get Geoffrey back.
Suck it up, Cat,
I told myself sternly.
Pull up your socks. Hold fast
.

My father and stepmother had a girl between them with curly blond hair just like Olivia's. Or at least at first glance I thought she was a girl. On closer look I could see that she was actually a vertically challenged adult—an FBI agent, probably—dressed like a middle schooler.

Would she fool the kidnappers? I certainly hoped so. If she didn't, we'd have to step in.