Spencer and Aldo sat on the floor of the Reptile Lodge, planning their next move. The doors on either end of the building were rigged shut with a network of Spencer’s ropes and knots, and they hadn’t risked turning on the lights. So far, there hadn’t been any sign the guards had spotted Spencer or Aldo as they fled from the aquarium, but they had to be more cautious now than ever.

The Hidden Rock Zoo map was laid out on the ground between them, and a flashlight was propped on the jar of nuts, shining a beam of light down over it. Spencer had a black pen clutched in one hand. They had seen all of Hidden Rock Zoo now. It was time they updated the map.

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning,” he said. “The front entrance is the same, but there’s a guardhouse here.” Spencer drew a black square next to the front gates. “The Woodland Walk turned into Pam’s gardens.” Spencer added the big marble courtyard at the center of the Woodland Walk area of the map, and the waterfall.

“He turned the Shetland Pony Shed into a garage.” Aldo pointed to the stables with one claw. Spencer crossed off Shetland Pony Shed and wrote garage.

“He built his house, and Dora’s where the Tropics used to be.” Spencer drew the two buildings onto the map. “And the pear grove is here now. And here’s the entrance to the underground aquarium,” Spencer drew the iron gates and ramp underground in the open space beside the Airy Aviary.

“What’s this?” Aldo asked, pointing to a building between the pear grove and the Savanna.

Spencer frowned. “It’s labeled Aqua Theater,” he said. He’d looked at that building on the map at least a hundred times by now, but he’d never thought much about it since it just looked like an empty glass greenhouse when he and Aldo rushed past it. “We’ve seen it. We were right next to it the first night we were here, when we were searching for Uncle Mark and B.D., but I thought it was just a greenhouse. It looked empty. But why would it be called the Aqua Theater?”

Aldo and Spencer both fell silent. Could the Aqua Theater have something to do with the aquarium? Spencer thought back to the one time he’d been to an aquarium. He’d gone with his two best friends from home, Cheng and Ramona, and Cheng’s dad. They had walked all throughout the aquarium, looking through the thick glass windows into tanks filled with fish and sea turtles and eels and all sorts of water creatures. Then Spencer remembered the dolphin show. They’d gone to a little arena above the dolphin tank, and watched the dolphins do tricks.

“Wait a second … ” Spencer whispered. “Aldo, when we were in the aquarium, wasn’t the tank Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark were in different than the others?”

Aldo was quiet. “Yes,” he said after a second. “It had daylight! The others were dark. But their tank opened up to the outdoors somehow.”

Spencer looked down at the map. He traced his finger from the parking lot where Dora had attacked B.D. to the Aqua Theater. “That explains why Margo and Ivan took Uncle Mark and B.D. over there when they captured them. And why you suddenly lost their scent!”

“What?” Aldo asked, trying to follow Spencer’s logic.

“Okay, so at aquariums, they do these shows where dolphins and whales perform tricks. And people sit in the stands above the tank and watch. The Aqua Theater must have been built for shows! And the tank inside is where they’re keeping Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark!” Spencer started to get excited.

“And this is good news?” Aldo asked.

“Yes! It means we know how to get to them! The tank has to be open at the top. It opens into the Aqua Theater!” Spencer drew an X over the Aqua Theater and wrote Mom, Dad, Uncle Mark. “And we know B.D. is here.” He put an X over the Caves and wrote B.D. “And Dora and Darwin are here, and here,” Spencer finished, marking Dora and Pam’s homes for the last two bears.

Spencer put the black pen down. He had drawn four Xs on the map, and those four Xs represented the six rescues he and Aldo needed to make.

“I think we need more operatives,” Aldo said solemnly, staring down at the map.

“What did you say?” Spencer asked. A plan was starting to take shape in his mind.

“I said I think we need more operatives,” Aldo repeated. “Three humans and three bears need to be rescued, and there are only two of us.” The bear lowered his head closer to the map, obviously trying to come up with a plan himself.

“I think you’re onto something,” Spencer said slowly. “The thing is, we do have a lot of operatives here. Mom, Dad, Uncle Mark, and B.D. are all highly trained operatives. Plus you and me. We probably shouldn’t count B.D. because of his injuries, but just because three of our operatives are at the bottom of a whale tank in the Aqua Theater doesn’t mean they can’t help us on this mission!”

“What do you mean?” Aldo asked.

“I mean, I don’t think we have to rescue Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark from the whale tank.”

Aldo looked at Spencer like he’d suggested they pack up and leave everyone behind.

“I mean we just have to give them the tools they need to rescue themselves!” Spencer explained.

“You’re right!” Aldo exclaimed.

“You said teamwork was going to get us out of Hidden Rock Zoo,” Spencer continued. “We just need to figure out how to activate the other half of the team.”