The Secret Zoo Read Online Free Page A

attention bounced between the bird and the hole. A minute later, another bird darted out. This one was green with a yellow beak.
    The idea occurred to Noah that he should be taking notes the way Megan had done. He plucked a pen from his jacket and wrote, on the edge of Megan’s notepaper, “Marlo” and “green bird.”
    A few minutes later, a bird with long wings emerged from the hole. Under “green bird,” Noah wrote “bird—long wings.” A fourth and fifth bird flew from the hole. Noah simply scrawled the numbers 4 and 5.
    He waited, keeping his gaze fixed on the wall and his pen poised on the paper, but nothing happened. He started to wonder whether anything more than this was going to take place. Five birds had appeared, but they seemed insignificant.
    All of a sudden, more birds shot out of the hole, each one directly on the tail of the bird ahead of it. They were flying so close to one another that they blurred together in a stream of colorful feathers. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of birds filled the Forest of Flight. They dived through the treetops, perched on the branches, and skimmed the glass walls. Their wings made so much noise that Noah dropped Megan’s paper and plugged his ears. He felt as though he was in a dream—a dream that was at once strange and magnificent and terrifying.
    â€œWhat’s haaapppennniiinggg ?” he hollered.
    He closed his eyes and braced himself for what would be next. The birds flew around him, fanning his skin with mild gusts of wind, making him feel as if he were standing in the center of a tiny tornado. The experience was exciting and frightening. He didn’t know if he should scream in panic or scream in delight, so he just screamed, “ Aaahhh! ”
    Chirping, whistling, squawking, and cawing, the birds circled him and filled the Forest of Flight with their strange musical chatter. Their feathers brushed his cheeks. Noah had no sense of how much time was passing. Several seconds? Or many minutes? He became certain that he would be carried off, that the birds would try to squeeze him into the hole in the wall and take him to some unknown place. But a moment later, the noises stopped and the air became still. Noah heard only the gurgling streams and splashing waterfalls.
    He opened his eyes. Leaves and feathers floated around him like ash from a campfire. He looked up at the hole just in time to see the last few birds plunge back into it. As effortlessly as they had filled the exhibit, they had exited. Those that had been there throughout the day went about their normal business, circling treetops and munching seeds. The hole in the wall looked ordinary. A bird coasted out of it, snatched some twigs, and flew back inside.
    â€œWait! Marlo!” Noah scanned the treetops. He saw no sign of the bird. “Marlo! What happened? I—”
    The sound of footsteps rose in the distance. A man with a ball-shaped belly plodded up to Noah, wagging his finger and saying, “Young man! What are you doing here? The zoo’s closing!”
    â€œExcuse me?” Noah said. He snatched up Megan’s note and slipped it into a pocket in his pants.
    â€œYou wanna get locked in here? Come with me! Let’s go!”
    The man scanned the exhibit. Noah saw his eyes rest briefly on the hole in the wall. He put his hand on the boy’s back and escorted him to the door.
    Once outside, Noah rushed toward the zoo exit. He was so confused that he felt sick. So much had happened in just a few hours. He pushed through the clutches of the turnstile, raced across the parking lot, and ran down the sidewalk next to Walkers Boulevard.
    At his house, he dropped on the couch and sat almost without moving until his parents returned home. He spent the evening in a daze and went to bed before dark. Night fell, but he was unable to sleep. He lay in bed, scanning the shadows in the half-moon light that filtered through the window,