Free The Explorers’ Gate by Chris Grabenstein Page B

better be the ones to drag you out of it.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œAnyway, the engineers consulted the Field Drainage Plans …”
    â€œThe map on your grandfather’s wall!”
    â€œReally? Huh. I never noticed. See the wee people use the drainpipes under Central Park as a subway system but, instead of electric trains, they use canal boats like people do in Amsterdam. I volunteered to come rescue you. They mapped out a route through pipes wide enough for me to swim through. Polar bears, sea lions, or snow monkeys?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œJust need to know which exit pipe we should take. Sea lions would be best. The glass wall around their tank is the easiest to climb. But if you want to see the polar bears while we’re here, that’s cool.”
    I was smiling again. “No. Let’s get out as quickly as we can. The sea lions’ tank is fine.”
    â€œOkay. You might want to hold your breath.”
    â€œDo we have to swim under water?”
    â€œNo. But, have you ever smelled sea lion poop? Woo! Very fishy.”

Chapter 20
    When we climbed out of the sea lions’ swimming pool in the zoo’s central courtyard, several kids were gawking at us.
    Because it was the middle of the day. The zoo was full of families.
    So Garrett did something extremely clever. He pulled out a quarter and said, “Aw, this is a Nebraska. We need Tennessee! Let’s go check out the coins in some of the other fountains.”
    Yes, Garrett (who wasn’t the dumb jock I had first thought him to be) was pretending that we had just jumped into the sea lion tank to retrieve a collectible quarter someone had tossed into it. This being New York City, nobody thought that was strange. Our crowd just shrugged and went back to popping peanuts and licking ice-cream cones.
    â€œWell done,” I whispered.
    â€œThanks. Come on. We need to take the long way around to the exit so the concrete eagles don’t see us.”
    Apparently, the stern birds, which looked like overgrown flagpole ornaments guarding the zoo, were on Loki’s side.
    â€œLoki promised them he’d banish all children from the zoo when he becomes king,” Garrett explained.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThe eagles have ‘issues’ with sticky fingers.”
    â€œBut can Loki even do that? Banish children from the zoo?”
    â€œSure. With the help of his human friends, the ones who want to make Central Park scary again, like it was back when Loki’s grandfather was king. That way, they can take it over and make money. I heard this one guy wants to tear down the zoo and put in a Rainforest Cafe.”
    I remembered the TV news story about David Drake wanting to build a luxury hotel in the heart of the park.
    â€œPrivatizing a public space …”
    â€œHuh?” said Garrett.
    â€œNothing. Let’s get out of here before the eagles see us.”
    We crept out of the zoo, passing under the triple archway of the Delacorte Musical Clock, an awesome bronze sculpture that comes to life every thirty minutes— during the day . Jolly music plays while a bear with a tambourine, a hippo with a violin, a goat with panpipes, a kangaroo tooting a horn, an elephant holding a concertina, and a penguin banging a drum glide around the base of the clock. On the hour, two monkeys up top bang a bell with mallets.
    We took the asphalt pathway north, past the boat pond (where Stuart Little used to yacht), and alongside Cedar Hill until we neared the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    â€œSo,” I asked, “where’s Willem now?”
    â€œUp at his castle at the far end of the Reservoir. The north gatehouse.”
    The Reservoir (officially the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir) used to be a major part of New York City’s water supply system. Now the 106-acre basin between 86 th and 96 th Streets is better known for its jogging path and bird-watching possibilities.
    â€œHey,