19

As Peggy approached the bunny-shaped rock outcrop marking her home, it didn’t seem she had any intention of stopping. She’d had a very traumatic day, and was now running in a blind panic, way too fast. Eldon and Jordan sensed this, and didn’t know what to do. They couldn’t jump out of the basket without getting severely mangled. But even if they could abandon their bunny ship safely, Jordan knew Eldon wouldn’t. As head Creature Keeper, he could not allow a cryptid running around free without supervision. Who knew where she’d stop to blankly zone out? At this rate, she might run all the way to New York City, just to stare at the shiny buildings.

As the bunny rock loomed closer, they began yanking on the lasso to try to slow her down. Nothing was working.

Then they heard the booming sneeze of Alistair MacAlister. HWAAA-TCHOOO! “OI! UP HERE, YA HAREBRAINED HARE!”

Peggy glanced up, then immediately skidded to a stop in the sand. The basket drifted past her, floating gently to a stop near the top of the bunny-shaped rock. Standing atop the outcropping was Alistair, holding a shiny silver object over his head.

Jordan and Eldon slid down the rope, and then down Peggy, who stood motionless beside the rock, as if she were posing for a sculpture of herself.

“Nice little joyride, fellas?” Alistair jumped off the bunny-shaped rock, continuing to hold up a shiny cluster of silver spoons held together on a giant key ring. Peggy stayed mesmerized, following the spoons with her beady eyes.

“Sorry to interrupt your fun, but along with this little knickknack, I found some other stuff in that burrow that I thought you might wanna see.”

Jordan stared up at the zombified-bunny. “How’d you know to do that?”

“Oh, yeah. Found this, too.” Alistair pulled a beat-up old book out of his kilt and tossed it to Jordan: Raising and Caring for Your Giant Desert Jackalope.

“Nice work, Alistair!” Eldon exclaimed. “Can you get her into the burrow? We might have company soon.”

Alistair winked at them. “Check this out.” Peggy followed as he jingled the keys toward the bunny-shaped rock. “Okay, girl! Go get ’em!” He tossed the keys into a narrow space hidden at the base of the rock. Jordan heard them jangle as they fell somewhere deep below the desert floor.

Peggy dived, disappearing into her burrow, squirming and kicking sand at the three of them. She also buried the object she’d been sitting on the entire time she was staring at the keys. Their trusty little seaplane was now a pancake.

Alistair gestured to his partners. “After you, gentlemen.”

Jordan entered the dark space where Peggy had disappeared and slid down a steep, sandy slope, landing on a cool floor deep beneath the bunny rock. The burrow was a large, circular, dug-out space with no corners or sharp edges. It was like being inside an enormous egg room—the perfect shape to house a gigantic, clumsy rabbit with sharp antlers and a habit of crushing things with its butt. Cracks in the rock above allowed narrow beams of sunlight in, as well as air. But not enough air, as Jordan immediately noticed—it smelled like a petting zoo on a hot day.

Peggy was snuggled up at the far end of the egg-shaped room, on a large pillow-bed. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be hand-knit, completely from silky, white bunny fur. Jordan noticed many things made from the fur: wall hangings and area rugs and even furniture, including a couch and a lovely end table.

Alistair hung the spoons on a hook in front of Peggy. She stared at them, then tucked her giant fuzzy face between her soft paws and drifted off to sleep.

“What a dump,” Jordan said. He sat down on a dark brown, slightly squishy stumplike seat. He sank into it a bit as he looked around. “Stinks in here, too.”

“Uh, especially where you’re sitting, I should think,” Alistair said, chuckling. Jordan and Eldon looked at him. “That’s no stool, I’m afraid—that’s a stool!”

Jordan looked down and sniffed. He was sitting on a giant bunny pellet. “Eww!” He leaped out of the chair and began scooting his butt along the sandy floor like a cat in a litter box. “This place is disgusting!”

“What do you expect?” Eldon approached Peggy, reached out his hand, and gently stroked her nose. “Poor girl. Abandoned by her Keeper, she had no one to take care of her or keep her burrow clean.”

“Shameful,” Alistair said. “Doesn’t deserve the honor of being called a Keeper.”

“Who was her Keeper?” Jordan asked.

“Harvey Quisling, age thirteen,” Eldon said. “Fully trained and experienced First-Class Creature Keeper. I have no idea why he’d leave his post.”

“This might help explain.” Alistair stepped to a messy desktop. Among the clutter, Jordan and Eldon saw a cross-Atlantic wind-pattern map, an ad for Milo & Bertha’s Hot-Air Balloon Tours, a calendar with dates circled in red, and a sketch of a flyer for something called Quisling’s Zoopendous Crypto-Zoo.

“Looks like he was quite a tailor,” Jordan said, noticing an old sewing machine beside the desk. “As well as a knitter.”

“I’d say more of a nutter,” Alistair concluded. “Check out the cozy little psycho-blankie he was workin’ on.” He held up a massive quilt draped over a fur-lined rocking chair. On it, the same stitched sentence ran across the quilt over and over again: “SITTING AND KNITTING BENEATH THE SAND WILL SOMEDAY MAKE HARVEY A RICH OLD MAN . . .”

“Okay, so it looks like Harvey Quisling went a little quilt-crazy down here,” Jordan said. “But it doesn’t explain who showed up the night Nessie disappeared.”

“No,” Alistair said, “but check this out.” He handed them a letter written in curvy, inked handwriting on fancy parchment paper. “This is what I wanted you lads to see.”

To: Mr. Harvey Quisling

Chihuahuan Desert Burrow, West Texas

From: Señor Areck Gusto

Mexico City, Mexico

Dear Mr. Quisling,

This Letter confirms the terms of our agreement. I,

ARECK GUSTO,

shall design, construct, and fully fund one (1)

CRYPTO ZOO

facility, to be built in the northern Everglades, off the west coast of Florida, USA. You,

HARVEY QUISLING,

shall be responsible for the capture and confinement of one (1)

LOCH NESS MONSTER

for public presentation in said zoo. All ticket sales, gift shop and snack bar proceeds shall be shared equally between us.

I very much look forward to our partnership.

Sincerely,

Señor Areck Gusto

“Impossible,” Eldon said, looking more upset than Jordan had ever seen him.

“Florida Everglades,” Jordan said. “It can’t be a coincidence.”

“We can’t let this happen. Not there. Not anywhere.”

“Trust me, it won’t!” Alistair scoffed. “D’you two really think my Haggis-Breath can be caught by a loony bunnysitter and his rich grandpappy? Transferred to some swamp-zoo on the other side of the Atlantic, then kept in a tank just to be gawked at! Please—I know her better than anyone. There’s no bleedin’ way she’d go without a fight!”

“Let’s hope you’re right,” Eldon said.

Peggy’s ears suddenly sprang straight up in the air. The two fluffy antennae tilted toward the entrance to the burrow. The others strained to listen as well.

“I don’t hear anything,” Alistair said.

“You’re not listening with those things.” Jordan pointed to Peggy’s ears.

“They’re coming,” Eldon said. “They’ll see the balloon outside. They’ll find her. We have to do something.” He turned to Alistair. “Mac, I need you to stay here with Peggy. Jordan and I are going to go see about this crypto-zoo.”

“Not on yer life,” he said. “I’m her Creature Keeper. I’m comin’ to Florida.”

“I need you to remember your sworn vow—to all cryptids.”

“Help, hide, and hoax,” he muttered.

“You take care of the first two. Jordan and I will cover the third. We’ll lure ol’ Bertha and Milo far away from this rock.”

“But hoaxing is the funnest one.”

Eldon smiled at him. “There’ll be plenty more hoaxing in your future, Mac. I promise.”

“Just find her,” Alistair said. “And stop whoever’s done this.”

Eldon smiled at him. “Creature Keeper’s honor.”

Alistair turned to Jordan. “You’re no Keeper—not yet, anyway. But you’re definitely a Grimsley. Just listen to Eldon, and do everything he says. He’s the best there is.”

“Funny, that’s how he described you.” He smiled at Alistair, then turned to Eldon. “Okay. I’m ready for my first hoax.”

“Good,” Eldon said. “Now grab a couple of those giant bunny turds and follow me.”