We hiked out of the trees and found Bouncer’s cart. We figured since he was gone he wouldn’t mind us using his wheels. Sadly, however, the keys weren’t in it.
“He probably had them in his pockets when Big Bun took him,” I said.
“So is that what we’re calling him now?” Juliet asked.
“He is big,” I pointed out. “And he’s a bunny. Plus, he’s got big buns. So it works on a lot of levels.”
“Let’s not worry about what to call him,” Rain growled. “We have bigger problems—like how to get back home.”
“We can’t go back yet,” I replied. “We have to get Zeke out, and we can’t do that without Lady B.”
“I don’t know,” Juliet spoke up. “Maybe Rain is right. Did you see how much bigger Big Bun looked?”
“It was just the angle we were at,” Rain said. “We were on the ground, so of course he looked bigger.”
My white Sharky-Barky chirped. The chirp was followed by the sound of my uncle’s voice.
“Finally,” I said with a smile.
“Perry, are you there? Under.” Zeke was whispering, but we could all hear him through the Barky.
“Yes, how was the cake? Under.”
“Delicious,” Zeke said.
I saw Rain flash a smile about the review.
“I have to whisper so they don’t hear me,” Zeke hissed. “Very clever to hide this in my dessert. Are you okay? Under.”
“We’re fine. The Squidmobile tipped over when Big Bun jumped us and butlernapped Bouncer. Under.”
I quickly filled in my uncle on everything that had happened to us since we last saw him. I also told him that we’d heard Lady Beatrice tell Melanie about all humans having to leave the island. I told him about the chase and about Rain throwing color bombs at Bouncer.
Rain took the Barky from me.
“Perry thinks we should try to find Beatrice instead of hike back,” he snitched.
There was a pause.
“You have to say under,” I whispered to Rain.
Rain grumbled. “Right, Perry thinks we should try to catch the rabbit. . . . Under.”
“I think you should, too,” Zeke replied. “Something weird is going on here. You need to find her so I can get released. Under.”
Rain looked baffled. “No offense, Zeke, but that seems like bad advice.”
Another pause.
I elbowed Rain.
“Over,” he said frustrated.
“Under,” I corrected.
“Under,” he snapped.
“This all feels really shrimpy,” Zeke said. “I can’t explain it, but I’m sure Beatrice and Bouncer are up to something. I don’t think they’re in any danger. I think it’s all part of a bigger plot that began with me being thrown in jail on trumped-up charges. You three are some of the smartest kids I know. You have to find out what’s going on. Okay? Under.”
Another glowfish went off over my head, and I snatched Barky back from Rain.
“I have an idea,” I told my uncle. “Bouncer is covered in orange powder. So we’ll just follow the trail of dust. Under.”
“Good. Be careful and keep your Barky on. I gotta go. Under.”
My Barky went silent.
I looked at Rain. He sighed and then spoke.
“My mom will be mad, but I guess this is more exciting than serving smoothies to Bunny Mooners. Under.”
“You don’t have to say under anymore,” Juliet told him.
“Right, then let’s get this over.”
The three of us found the faint trail of orange-colored dust that marked the way Big Bun and Bouncer had gone. There were also plenty of broken branches and large paw prints to guide the way.
“So, Bouncer’s bad?” Juliet asked as we tracked our prey.
“Yes,” I said with authority.
“And that bunny woman’s good?” Rain asked.
“No, she’s horrible, too. But we have to find her so she can clear Zeke and get him out of jail.”
The trail of powder led back to the path. After we’d walked it for five minutes, the path became very steep. My legs burned, and right before I began complaining for the sixth time, the path leveled out, giving me some relief. I could now see part of the tall sanctuary walls and pointed it out to my friends.
“We have eyes, too,” Rain reminded me.
I think that was Rain’s way of saying thank you.
The three of us kept following the clues on the road, and the trail of orange and trampled branches led us to the sanctuary walls. The color ended right in front of a wall that was taller and more intricate than anything I’d ever seen before. It ended at a large metal gate shaped like a rabbit with ears sticking straight up. There was a huge latch on the gate that looked like a small rabbit head with no ears. Hanging on the gate were three small metal rods.
Rain scratched his head. “I don’t think even Big Bun could have hopped over that.”
“In one issue of Ocean Blasterzoids, Admiral Uli has to climb over the wall that surrounds Tuna Town. Of course, he has suction cups and tentacles.”
Juliet walked to the gate, grabbed the bunny-head knob, and pulled.
It was locked.
I stepped up and took a closer look.
“Weird,” I said quietly. “What are the holes on the top of its head?”
“Maybe there were some little ears and they broke off,” Rain suggested.
I stuck two of my fingers in the holes.
“Or maybe it’s like the time Admiral Uli looked into the pool holes near Manta Bay”—I was excited—“and he saw the way to dismantle that newtlear bomb?”
I leaned down and looked into the holes on top of the knob. There was nothing but an inky darkness.
Luckily, Juliet was more levelheaded than me. She grabbed ahold of two of the small metal rods hanging on the gate and stuck one in each hole. The small head now looked like a complete bunny.
She tried to twist the knob, and it didn’t move.
“They’re not even,” I pointed out. “One rod’s longer.”
Juliet grabbed two small rods that were the same size. She put them into the holes. This time as she turned the knob, it clicked open.
“Nice,” I whispered.
“Come on,” Rain said. “We haven’t got time to waste.”
“Wait.” I was surprised to hear myself speaking. I wanted to go in, but standing near the tall wall made me suddenly feel more chicken than squid. “This is a good idea, right?”
“Not at all,” Rain said. “But your uncle needs our help, so let’s stop messing about and get to work, okay?”
Juliet turned the knob farther and pulled open the large metal rabbit gate. We stepped into a small space with another metal gate that was identical to the first. After closing the one we had walked through, we opened the second one. Once we were inside, I shut the second gate.
We were in.
But where were we?
The sanctuary looked positively mountainous from our vantage point. It was filled with oddly shaped hills with plastic tubes running between them. Directly in front of us was a clearing, a field, with a large old moving truck rusted in the middle. Beyond it were a few small and run-down buildings. I could make out what appeared to be a gift shop, long-ago abandoned, with broken windows and vines growing over it. Across the road from it, nearer to the gate, were a garage and toolshed. The garage door hung open, and inside stood a couple of old trucks, and the shed was practically hidden behind wooden barrels topped with rusted tools.
There was no sign of any bunnies anywhere, which made the scene feel extra creepy.
Juliet shouted, “Over there!”
I could see where the faint trail of orange dust picked back up. All three of us looked back at the wall and did the same calculation.
“Wow,” Rain said for all of us. “That was a huge jump.”
We followed the trail past the abandoned gift shop and between two large, rabbit-shaped hills, toward the plastic tunnels that looked like a playground tube slide. They were easily big enough for a person to climb through. The whole place was like a total bunny fantasy land—but with no sign of bunnies.
Juliet poked me and pointed to two rusty metal “hamster wheels.” I walked over to one of them and tried to make it move by running. It squeaked but wouldn’t spin fast enough to be any fun.
“So people would come here and act like bunnies?” Rain asked.
“I guess some did . . . before it closed.”
“I wish this place were still working,” Juliet said.
The orange dust wound through hills and led up to the front of a large tunnel that went directly into a fat hill. There were tunnels and holes all over the place, but this one was taller than I was, wider than a car, and darker than I like my tunnels to be.
I gulped.
“I don’t think we should go in there.” Juliet was serious.
“Me neither,” Rain chimed in.
“We’re not going to,” I whispered.
I was just as nervous as both of them, but fortunately for all of us I had a plan.
“Wait, do you have a plan?” Rain asked. I nodded. “Is it based on one of your comic books?”
“Of course, it is,” I said. “Ocean Blasterzoids #35: ‘To Catch a Carp.’ We’re going to build a trap.”