Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den by Aimée Carter Page B

rats’ mutterings grew louder, and Simon glared at her. “They can hear you,” he said. She huffed and elbowed him in the side.
    â€œI don’t care. Move over.”
    â€œBe my guest,” said Simon, and he wiped his hands on a patch of grass. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”
    â€œMaybe not for
you
.” Winter took a deep breath and dived in, her nimble fingers somehow unknotting the tails with ease. Simon stared, stunned. By the time he opened his mouth to speak, she’d already freed three rats.
    â€œ How are you—”
    â€œI’m not a clumsy baboon, that’s how.” Another two tails slipped out of the knot. “Most of it is just fur and rat droppings. They’re all clumped together, and the tails aren’t as tangled as you think they are.”
    Simon watched as, one by one, Winter freed the members of the Rat King. Most of the tails were bent at odd angles, but the rats didn’t seem to mind; like Felix so often did, they clutched their tails lovingly. Simon couldn’t blame them.
    â€œHow long have you all been knotted up like this?” he said to the leader.
    â€œMany moons, many moons,” he said, his eyes shining as Winter finally freed him. He gingerly took his crinkled tail and ran his paws over the angles. “How I’ve missed you.”
    Winter wiped her hands on the ground and stood without touching her outfit. “There. Disgusting, but done. Where did you take Simon’s mother?”
    â€œIt wasn’t us,” said the leader. “It was the rat army. We were not allowed without our tails.”
    â€œSo where did they take her?” said Simon, his frustration growing.
    â€œTo the safest place in the mammal kingdom,” said the rat. “Where only the strongest may go.”
    Beside him, Winter muttered a curse under her breath. “You mean—?”
    â€œYes,” said the rat. “The zoo.”
    Winter let out a screech so loud that half the rats surrounding them bolted. “Of course. Of
course
. Out of all the places the Alpha could’ve taken her—that’s just perfect, isn’t it?”
    â€œAt least we know where she is now,” said Simon, standing. He didn’t see what was so dangerous about a zoo, but before Winter could elaborate, the former leader of the Rat King limped toward them.
    â€œIf you follow, you will surely perish,” he said, his beady eyes flashing. “Beware the Beast King, Simon Thorn.”
    â€œIs that the leader of one of the other kingdoms?” said Simon. The last thing they needed was someone else hunting them, too, but the rat disappeared into the scraggly brush without an answer. Simon frowned, turning back to Winter. “Please tell me you know what he was talking about.”
    Winter laughed humorlessly. “The Alpha took your mother to the Central Park Zoo.”
    â€œThat’s not what I—” He stopped. It didn’t matter. “So let’s go get her.”
    â€œHave you ever even
been
to the Central Park Zoo?” she said, and Simon shrugged.
    â€œI’ve seen parts of it from the street. But—”
    â€œBut your uncle never took you inside. Orion doesn’t let me go near the zoo, either,” she added. “You want to know why?”
    â€œThe lions aren’t very friendly?”
    Winter gave him a withering look. “The Central Park Zoo is really a cover for the L.A.I.R.—the Leading Animalgam Institute for the Remarkable. It’s the academy where the Alpha trains her army. She handpicks the smartest and deadliest Animalgam kids from the mammal, insect, reptile, and underwater kingdoms, and because they’re all under her control, they can’t say no. The Alpha brainwashes them and turns them into killing machines. After five years, the students are sent back to their kingdoms, completely loyal to her. Anyone who’s anyone in the five kingdoms