Chapter 3
Ella Gets Punchy with Punchy

Ella crashed onto her rear end in a herd of kangaroos that immediately took off in all directions. She stood, adjusted her earmuffs, and scanned the grounds. Tents were everywhere, their velvet flap doors hanging down. The scouts were nowhere in sight, and she couldn’t see the flashing light that marked the city gateway. She had no idea where she was in relation to where she’d been.

“Great . . .” she moaned. She cupped her hands to her mouth. “Megan!”

No answer. A kangaroo hopped up to her and jabbed its long snout toward her face. Its nose twitched as it sniffed the air.

“Beat it, Mr. Bounces,” Ella said. “I’m in no mood.”

The kangaroo swung around and hopped away, looking insulted, its eyes half closed, its ears pulled back.

Ella dusted off her pants and said, “Well, I’ll have to do this myself, I guess.”

She started jogging, her ponytail swinging behind her. Seconds later, she pushed through the velvet door of a tent and portaled to a new spot, where she crashed into a magical scientist.

“Sorry!” she spat out.

Eyes wide behind beady glasses, the scientist straightened his lab coat and propped his fists on his hips. “You know, you shouldn’t be . . . Megan?”

Ella shook her head. “No, the other one.”

“Ella?”

“Bingo.” Ella was used to being recognized. After finding their way into the Secret Zoo, the scouts were near-celebrities, adored by most, despised by a few.

“Are you crosstraining?” the scientist asked. “Where are—”

“What’s the best way to the city gateway? Through the portals, I mean.”

The scientist shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t the foggiest idea. The Crossers are the ones always in such a hurry. Me . . . I see no foul in taking my time. I find a casual stroll often clears my head and allows for good—”

“Thanks,” Ella cut in as she took off running again.

She weaved around a few tents and then spotted the city gateway. Off to her left, the flashing light was still a great distance away. She chose a new portal at random and dove through, ending up this time on the left of the flashing light, farther away than before.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she groaned.

She ran through a new mob of kangaroos, found a magic tent, and portaled again, this time ending up farther than ever. Disgusted, she ran to a new tent, then another, then another, each time portaling to completely random parts of the Secret Kangaroo Kampground, startling the kangaroos into a frenzy.

A few jumps later, she wound up somewhere near the middle of the campground. In the distance she could faintly detect the blinking light. Tameron and the scouts were standing beneath it. Tameron had his arms held out to his sides in a what-the-heck-are-you-doing? way.

“How did you get over there!” Ella hollered.

She sensed someone standing behind her and swung around. Standing there was Punchy. He reached out and thumped Ella’s chest.

“Oww!” Ella barked. She cocked a fist and punched the shoulder of his forelimb. “How do you like it, you big lug!”

She heard her name being called and turned back around. Beyond the far-reaching cluster of tents, Noah had his hands cupped to his mouth and was screaming something.

“What?” Ella called out.

A faint reply came: “Hurry up!”

“I am hurrying up!” Ella yelled. To herself, she added, “I’m just hurrying in all the wrong places.”

Something suddenly slammed into her backside and jerked her forward, and Ella was swept into the air. She came back down only to spring forward again, the ground whizzing past her feet. When she saw furry limbs protruding out from under her arms, she realized what was happening. Punchy had picked her up and was carrying her. Ella had enough experience with the Secret Zoo to know he intended to take her to her friends.

“Easy!” Ella said as she was bounced around. “Be careful!”

Punchy dodged a series of tents and leaped across fireless fire pits. Each time he touched down, Ella’s shins struck the ground and pain spiked across her knees. The crown of her head was pressed against the kangaroo’s long jaw, and Punchy’s whiskers repeatedly brushed across her face.

“Slow down!” Ella commanded. “You’re scrambling my brains!”

The kangaroo ignored her and continued to cross the forested landscape in massive bounds. Each time he jumped, he reached higher than five feet and sailed forward more than ten yards.

As Punchy rounded a batch of trees, he came upon a large herd of his companions huddled around a sprawling tent. Rather than go around the obstacles, he jumped onto a picnic table and then soared upward with a thrust of his hind legs. Ella let loose a scream as her dangling toes skipped off the canvas crest of the roof, and a second later the duo touched down on the opposite side of the tent, away from the herd.

“Are you nuts!” Ella yelled. “You are not a bird!”

Punchy continued on. He steered around tents and trees, dodged signs, and plowed through kangaroos, his powerful legs hammering the ground. The blinking light came into full view, and a minute later they reached the end of the sector, where Tameron and the other scouts stood by. Instead of stopping to let Ella off, Punchy plunged into the final portal and delivered the two of them across the magical divide into the City of Species.