Ken was banging something in his room.
They went down the hall to see.
“What are you doing?” Tori called.
Ken opened the door enough to squeeze through.
“Private.” He was laughing. “Important and secret.”
He was trying something new again.
If only it worked! “Good luck,” Tori told him.
“Thanks,” he said.
And then she remembered.
The tiny scraps of paper were still in her pocket.
She and Sumiko went into her bedroom.
She lay the pieces of green paper next to the ones from her pocket.
She moved them up and down.
Back and forth.
“Maybe it works like this,” she said.
They had to do something.
They had to help.
CHAPTER 9
IT was morning. Sumiko was still asleep.
Tori was wide awake.
She looked out at the patio. Two brown sparrows were at the feeder.
A downy woodpecker came next.
Was someone staring at her from the sticker bush?
“Tough,” said the voice.
Was that Luke? It sounded like him. A little bit anyway
Tori sank down on the floor. She hid behind the curtain.
She didn’t hear the voice again.
Maybe he was gone.
Gone where?
She was going to find out.
She went downstairs and out the front door.
Nana-Next-Door was filling the birdbath. “Everyone needs water on this hot day,” she said.
Tori nodded, and kept going. She passed Luke’s house.
Luke’s little sister, Benita, was playing with a puppy.
“Where’s Luke?” Tori asked.
Benita pointed toward the zoo with her thumb. “He’s helping my grandfather with the giraffes.”
Tori leaned forward. “Does Luke like to scare people?”
Benita leaned forward too. “He scared me once. Whoo!”
“I think he’s scaring me too.”
Benita frowned. “Maybe not.”
Tori shrugged. She marched through the iron zoo gates.
Inside an exhibit, a black leopard lay across a tree branch.
Tori shaded her eyes.
A flamingo strutted by. It must have eaten a pile of shrimp. That’s why it looked so pink.
Giraffe Neck was around the corner. Tori looked up at the giraffes.
They were friendly, not like lions or tigers. Especially not like crocodiles.
And there was Luke. He was sweeping the path in front of Giraffe Neck.
Tori ducked behind Lions’ Lair.
One of the lions yawned.
It had more teeth than she could count.
She stood on tiptoes to see.
Luke put the broom in the shed. Then he headed down another path.
Tori followed him.
He bought a bag of popcorn at the Blue Zoo Stand.
Tori’s mouth watered. Too bad her allowance was gone.
She’d spent it on…
She couldn’t remember.
Luke ran just ahead of her. He looked over his shoulder.
Tori jumped back.
Luke turned the corner. He raced down another path.
He was really fast.
Tori hurried.
Luke stopped at Penguin Place. He looked over his shoulder.
Tori took a breath.
He was coming toward her.
She was ready to run.
Too late.
He was right there.
Staring at her!
CHAPTER 10
“GOTCHA,” Luke said.
Tori waved at the popcorn stand. “I was…”
“You were following me.”
“I guess so.” She gulped. “You think I’m tough?”
He blinked. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
She held out her wrist. “See, I even got a scratch.”
“Ouch,” he said.
“From the sticker bush. You’d better stop hiding there too.”
He shook his head. “I never go near those things.”
Could she believe him?
He held out the bag of popcorn. “Want some?”
“Thanks.” She took a handful.
“Say tough,” she said after she swallowed.
“Tough,” he said.
Too bad his mouth was filled with popcorn. It didn’t sound like the voice behind the sticker bush. It sounded like crunching popcorn.
She thought of something else. She’d show him what happened to her nails the first time someone was in the bush. “Did you mess up my nails?”
Luke blinked. “What?”
She waved her fingers.
“Polka dots.” He looked closer. “Something sharp did that.”
He was right.
Luke knew a lot.
Maybe too much.
Luke’s dad, the zoo doctor, popped his head out from the Baby Zoo.
“I need some help, Luke.” He smiled at Tori.
Luke held out the popcorn bag again. “See you,” he said.
Tori took another handful.
Back home, Sumiko and Ken were eating breakfast. Eggs with cheese.
“The worst,” Tori said.
Sumiko grinned. “The best.”
Tori grabbed a banana instead. “Let’s go out to the patio,” she said.
She didn’t want to go alone. But she needed cool water from the hose.
“I’ll have a surprise soon,” Ken said.
What was that about? She raised her shoulders.
Sumiko did too.
CHAPTER 11
SHE and Sumiko sank down on the patio.
Tori took a bite of her banana.
The banana was perfect; so was the water on her feet.
She pulled out the missing papers.
“Hey,” Sumiko said. “It’s not windy.”
“Just hot,” Tori said.
“Then why is the butterfly bush moving?”
Tori looked at the kitchen door. It was only a few steps away.
No. She wasn’t going to run inside.
Not this time.
She left the banana on the table.
At the edge of the patio, she pulled a branch aside.
“Ouch!”
She stared in.
It was Luke’s little sister, Benita.
“Hey!” Tori said.
Benita crawled out. Her arms were covered with scratches. She had stickers in her hair.
“I want to hear it,” Tori said.
“What?” Benita rubbed her arm.
“Say tough.”
Benita put her hands on her hips. “Luke told me all about it. You think I’m the one now?”
“What’s happening?” Sumiko asked.
“I’m hiding in here to help my brother,” Benita said. “I’m looking for the bad guy.”
Tori took a breath. She had to believe Benita. She would have helped Ken too.
Benita marched off the patio.
There was another sound. Not tough. Almost like a frog. Galumph. Galumph.
A frog?
CHAPTER 12
KEN jumped out from the other side of the patio. “It worked!” he yelled.
He went to the sticker bush. He pulled string after him. Then he took out a cup and wet cloth.
There was a flurry of branches. Tori saw a flash of green.
“My latest experiment from a book,” Ken said. “How to sound like a frog.”
“Not a missing frog,” Sumiko said.
“No.” Tori took a bite of banana.
She was thinking, though. She was using her brain.
Something was hiding behind the sticker bush.
It was something that liked the patio. Why?
A gray catbird flew past.
Something that liked the feeder seed?
Something green?
She went inside. She raced into her bedroom and threw herself on the floor.
She sneezed about four times.
Too
