Spencer placed ten miniature chocolate mousses on a silver tray one by one, just as Uncle Mark had instructed. He was standing in the back of the Creative Pastry truck, less than five feet from the trick doors to the fridge where Aldo and B.D. were hidden, trying to convince himself to keep doing what Uncle Mark had told him to do: guard the truck. It wasn’t going very well. With every second that ticked by, Spencer became more certain that by arranging tiny desserts on a silver tray he wasn’t helping anyone. And he definitely wasn’t getting any closer to finding Mom and Dad.

Spencer put the tray down and jumped out of the catering truck. He closed the door behind himself almost all the way, leaving it open a crack so B.D. and Aldo wouldn’t be trapped inside if there was an emergency.

He looked around the empty parking lot, convinced he was doing the right thing. After all, a long-haired kid moving bear-imprinted chocolates around an empty catering truck was way more suspicious than an empty catering truck in a row of other empty catering trucks. And Spencer had made major discoveries every time he’d taken matters into his own hands before. Getting out of the truck now seemed like the exact right thing to do. Uncle Mark had gone into the party to search for Dora, but nobody had gone in to gather information and scout the place. What if Spencer discovered something that led them to Mom and Dad more quickly, or something to help them protect Bearhaven?

Spencer grabbed his mission pack from the front seat of the truck and crept over to the path leading into the garden. He couldn’t walk right into the party the way Uncle Mark had. There was no way Spencer would be able to pass for a waiter. He’d have to make sure he wasn’t seen. Spencer took off his white chef’s coat. He rolled it up and stuffed it inside his mission pack, then swung the black backpack onto his back over his dark gray T-shirt. He could do it—keep himself invisible—he just had to use everything he’d learned in Bear Stealth training.

Spencer searched the small section of garden that he could see from the shadowy parking lot. He narrowed his eyes, slipping into operative mode. There was a row of flowering bushes not far away. He dropped to his hands and knees, and scrambled as fast as he could into the garden. His heart started to beat faster the moment he broke out of the darkness. The pure white pebbles of the path dug into his palms as he pushed himself in between two flowering bushes.

Okay, calm down, he thought. Spencer was careful not to let a sound escape his lips, afraid it would be sent straight to Uncle Mark’s Ear-COM, revealing that Spencer had left the truck. He pushed a branch of pink flowers out of his face and took a better look around the garden. He had to admit, it was pretty cool. The path of white pebbles was lined in blazing lanterns as it wound in and out of lush greenery. Exotic flowers Spencer had never seen before seemed to be in bloom everywhere, and marble bridges arched over a crystal clear stream.

Spencer’s eyes followed the stream. It created a moat around a wide marble courtyard, where tables and chairs were set up for the party. Off to one side, an orchestra was playing. The music almost drowned out the rushing sound of the waterfall, which was definitely the coolest thing in the garden. The towering wall of water started high above the garden, so high Spencer couldn’t see what was beyond it. All he could see at the top of the waterfall were two sculptures. Each sculpture was of a bear on all fours, crouching, its eyes trained on the scene below. The bears looked like they were made of water themselves, but Spencer guessed they were glass.

“Have you seen him yet?”

Spencer froze. Two people were walking down the path toward him. The blazing lanterns illuminated their faces. One of them was the woman in the white dress, from the Rolls. Her blond hair was pulled back tightly, and her eyebrows were furrowed in what looked to Spencer like a permanent glare. The man with her wore a black suit, and a black hat that hid his eyes. He wore a silver ring on each of his fingers. Each of his nine fingers. Spencer looked away from the man’s right hand, where the pinkie ended in a scar-covered nub.

“No, not yet,” the woman answered. “I’ve never met him at all actually. What’s the best way to get into his good graces?”

The man chuckled. “Compliment him.”

They must be talking about Pam, Spencer thought.

“Any ideas where the new inventory is coming from?” the woman asked.

New inventory? Spencer gulped. That could only mean one thing: Pam had a bunch of bears he wanted to sell.

“No, I haven’t got a clue. But I want a piece of it.”

“From the way the invitation put it, it sounds like there’s going to be plenty to go around, Lucian.”

Lucian! Spencer tried not to gasp. The man with nine fingers must be Lucian Line, the owner of Hook, Line, and Skinner. Spencer shrank back even deeper into the bushes.

“As a rule, I don’t buy anything I can’t have right away,” Lucian said, confirming Spencer’s fears. “But Pam always delivers.”

The woman didn’t answer. Spencer was careful to stay completely still as the two animal dealers passed his hiding spot and continued down the path. Before Spencer could try to make any sense of what he’d overheard, a deep, loud gong sounded, making him jump. He turned his attention to the marble courtyard, where everyone was moving around the tables, finding their seats. A woman held her empty glass out into the air until a waiter rushed up to take it. The waiter was Uncle Mark. He obviously hadn’t found Dora yet. But Spencer wasn’t surprised. Pam didn’t seem to be here, and they knew Pam liked to keep the bear close to him. If Pam wasn’t here, Dora wouldn’t be here, either.

Spencer thought he saw a flash of movement in the shadows to one side of the waterfall. He squinted, trying to make out what it was. A hulking figure stepped out of the dark. Then a hand reached out and snatched the large figure back. If Spencer hadn’t known any better, he would have thought it was a bear, but it wasn’t. The man who was just pulled back into the shadows was Ivan Lalicki, and the angry hand could only have belonged to his sister, Margo.

Spencer shrank even deeper into his hiding spot between the two flowering bushes. If Margo and Ivan caught sight of him, he didn’t think his blond wig and glasses would save him from being recognized. And if Margo and Ivan found him now, this mission to rescue Mom and Dad could be over before it even had a chance to begin.