INSIDE THE HOUSE, THEY EXPLAINED TO MRS. CLAWSON they were going to ride their bikes to the library to work on a school project. It was only a few blocks away, and they’d be back at lunchtime.

“That’s just fine, boys,” Mrs. Clawson said. Emmet thought her voice sounded like sandpaper. He had no idea how old she was. The Florida sun had baked her skin to the color of brown clay. She could be fifty or eighty. “It’s so nice to see young people taking their schooling so seriously. Emmet, I do hope the police find your Apollo before that awful man harms that sweet puppy. I just saw on the news what he was doing. Poor Apollo. Those awful creatures! What would possess a man to do something like that?”

“I really don’t know,” Calvin said. “But going to the library will keep Emmet’s mind off it. Come on, Emmet. Thanks, Mrs. Clawson.”

Calvin herded Emmet toward the garage, where two mountain bikes were parked. One belonged to Dr. Geaux. It was pretty cool, even if it was teal. Emmet didn’t care. He just wanted to find his dog.

“What was she talking about? Apollo and those ‘awful creatures’?” Emmet asked him.

“I don’t know. She’s not all there half the time,” Calvin said, pointing to his head. “I think game shows have rotted her brain. Let’s ride.”

Calvin picked up a backpack and ambled over to the tool bench in the back of the garage. He put some stuff inside, but Emmet couldn’t see what it was. With Calvin, probably a miniature bulldozer or a bazooka. Calvin slung on the backpack, got on his bike, and left the garage before Emmet could ask any questions.

They had to wait for one of the bigger, articulated buses. In Florida City you could bring your bike on these double-size models. It was a city ordinance passed to promote health and wellness, and cut down on traffic. One of them stopped and opened its center door, and they carried their bikes aboard. It took forty-five minutes until they reached the southernmost stop, closest to Undersea Land.

Once off the bus, they wasted no time. Calvin pedaled so hard Emmet almost couldn’t keep up. Only a few minutes later they arrived at the abandoned amusement park. It sat far back off the road, and the parking lots around it were now cracked and overgrown with weeds. The gigantic fence encircling the park made the place look like some derelict military camp. The place was kind of eerie, even in the daylight. Add the fact that Emmet was convinced Calvin knew something he wasn’t telling, and Emmet’s nervousness grew. He also knew trying to get Calvin to reveal something he didn’t want to would take hours. They didn’t have that kind of time.

They rode around the entire park looking for a way in. There wasn’t one. The construction fence was solid steel and only had two entrances, both of them big enough to drive trucks and bulldozers through, but also currently chained and locked. The gates at the entrances were even more intimidating. They were composed of double doors with large metal brackets in the center. A thick chain ran through the brackets and was fastened with a large tempered-steel padlock. Emmet was getting a little weirded out. Something told him this was the place. Why would somebody go to this much trouble for a giant fence? It would have cost a lot to enclose a place like this. Why all the extra expense? Unless you were trying to hide something.

And he didn’t know how, but there was one thing he was sure of.

Apollo was here.