Posted in Posted by Lemony Snicket

Ok everyone, I'm finishing up the NaNo story. If you haven't read it before, click here to read the beginning, here to read the next part, and here for the next. Enjoy the last part of my story. Oh, and also, does anyone have an idea for the title of this story? I'm stumped.

     Riley and Anya sighed and went back upstairs. They were terribly frustrated that Kayla was coming with them. It’s not that they didn’t love Kayla, any other time they would have been glad to take her along, but this was a very inconvenient time to have her.

     When they reached Anya’s room, they waited until they were sure Kayla was asleep, and then started talking.

     “Ok Riley, why did you tell Kayla she could come with us? We’d be much better off if she weren’t riding with us. Don’t get me wrong, I love her to death, but we can’t say anything about our plan with her in the car!”

     “I know, but if it were you, would you rather take her for a ride or be pestered to death? I’ll think of something. She may come in handy.”

     Anya didn’t think Kayla could be of much use in the situation they were in, but she trusted Riley and he was better at making plans then she was, so she didn’t bother him anymore.

     That night, Riley didn’t get any sleep and Anya got to sleep late and had a restless night. They were both anxious about what they had to do.

     In the morning, Mom and Dad stepped into one car, and Riley, Anya, and Kayla into another. Anya buckled up Kayla’s car seat and sat in the front seat. Riley turned the keys and the engine started. He drove down the driveway very carefully, and off they went.

     Riley was still thinking along the way and then, suddenly, an idea came to him. He turned to Kayla and said, “Hey Kayla, do you like sneaking around?”

     “Yes, I sneak around a lot!”

     “Well then, do you want to be our very own spy?”

     “Yah, but what do I need to do?”

     “Well, you need to sneak all around Mr. Johnson all day, and tell us everything he did and said, and if you’re a really good spy, there might be a treat for you.”

     “That would be fun! I want to do that,” she screamed.

     “But,” he whispered, “You need to be very quiet, or else Mr. Johnson will know you’re a spy, and then you can’t sneak around anymore.”

     “I’ll be as quiet as a little mouse.”

     Anya was looking at Riley the whole time and thinking, “Riley, have you lost your mind? Asking her to be a spy?”

     They were at the zoo when Riley sent Kayla off to be their spy. Anya finally asked Riley, “Why did you ask her? She’s bound to start yelling for some reason and Mr. Johnson’s sure to find us out!”

     “I think she can do it. She knows she’s going to get something like a candy bar and I think that will keep her mouth shut for the day.”

     Anya still wasn’t sure, but she trusted her older brother and knew he knew best. Well, probably knew best.

     The beginning of the day went normally. Mr. Johnson was still there, and there was still a crowd looking at the penguins. The only difference was Kayla’s little head was sticking out of a little play igloo, watching Mr. Johnson’s every move.

     Anya’s confidence in Kayla was better. If he turned his head and saw her, she could just pretend she was playing in the igloo and Mr. Johnson wouldn’t suspect a thing.  She was amazed Kayla would pick such a great hiding place. She thought she might just stare at him out in the open.

     It was noon, which meant it was time for lunch break. They all met at the cafeteria and purchased their meal. After sitting down at the table, Riley asked Kayla, “Kayla, what have you heard Mr. Johnson say?”

     “Well, I heard him say on his cell phone that he wanted to go have pizza tomorrow.”

     “Okay, I meant something meaningful. Did he say anything worth hearing?”

     “No, but he did something that was really weird.”

     “Then what did he do?”

     “He was talking to Scott, the elephant man, and was asking a lot of questions about the penguins.”

     Anya and Riley looked at each other and frowned.

     “Wait, there’s more,” Kayla went on, “When Scott walked away, Mr. Johnson took the keys out of his back pocket!”

     This statement concerned Anya and Riley very much, because they knew that Scott had the keys to the penguin’s exhibit, because he was the one who brought the food to them. When they heard Kayla say that, Anya almost fell out of her chair, and Riley choked on his pizza.

     “He stole them!” Anya asked.

     “Yup, just took them and walked away. Why’d he do that? Why would he need his keys?”

     Riley didn’t know how to answer Kayla’s question without completely blowing the plan, and was silent. This time, it was Anya who came up with something to say. “Well, he probably just wanted to get into the cafeteria kitchen for free, because he was hungry and didn’t want to pay for his lunch.”

     “Oh, that makes sense. It is lunch time. Hey, do you think we should look for him in there?”

     “Um, I don’t think so. It won’t be that big of a deal. Just keep watching him and try to get those keys back, okay?”

     “Alright!”

     They sent Kayla on her way and after she was gone, started discussing what had happened.

     “What are we going to do?” Anya asked, “He has the keys! We can’t keep him from getting in now.”

     “Relax. Just start thinking about what we can do. If we call the police at just the right time, he won’t even be able to use those keys.”

     “But what if we don’t call in time? He’ll steal all of the penguins, and if he sees us, well, I don’t even want to think about it,” she shuddered.

     “Just think about how it can go right, okay? When Mr. Johnson is behind bars, both of our minds will be at ease.”

     She was even more anxious than she was before, because she was just so afraid that something was going to go horribly wrong. “It’s no big deal,” she tried to say to herself, “We can do it, I know we can,” but for some reason she could never really convince herself of that.

     Riley, wasn’t as nervous as Anya, but he did occasionally think of the worst. He sometimes thought, “What if we don’t succeed? What if he steals the penguins and gets away with it?”

     When they arrived back at the penguin’s exhibit, their minds were working even harder than before. Riley was trying to think of a backup plan if his didn’t work out, and Anya was thinking of how to make his original plan better.

     Kayla was still spying on Mr. Johnson and doing a good job of it too. She never left her place, and the one time when he had looked behind him, she turned around and started talking with another girl her age. She didn’t even look suspicious at that moment, just a little girl talking with a friend.

     The penguins were all in a rather energetic mood, all waddling, swimming, and “dancing” as fast as they could. Looking thoughtfully at them, Anya wondered, even though they were the target of Mr. Johnson’s plot, if they could be used to help in Riley’s plan. She thought and thought about how those little guys could help them, and, finally, she came up with something.

     Running as fast as she could, Anya went straight to Riley, telling him everything she had come up with. He liked her idea, a lot, and thought it was rather funny as well. He agreed to this idea, and continued to think up a “Plan B”.

     After coming up with such a great idea, Anya’s mind was at ease, and she could enjoy spending time working. Watching the penguins slip and slide across the ice, she almost completely forgot that she was going to try and save them.

     But for Riley, he couldn’t do anything until he could come up with something that was good enough to work, and sadly, he couldn’t come up with anything.

     Finally, after what seemed like forever, Mom and Dad left with Kayla. Before he left, Dad said, “You two be careful, it’s a lot different at the zoo in the dark!”

     Anya and Riley stood in the parking lot for a few minutes, staring. At this point, they knew there was no turning back. They had to get the job done.

     Riley, on his phone, called 911 and told them there was a man who was going to steal the penguins at the local zoo. The police said they would be there as quickly as possible, and he thanked them, and then hung up.

     Anya thought, “I’d never have the guts to call 911.”

     As they were walking back to the penguin exhibit, Riley immediately froze in place. Anya didn’t know why he did, but then she looked up, and she understood. The exhibit was absolutely empty. There wasn’t even one penguin in sight. Riley looked like he was going to faint, and Anya was almost at tears. They thought they had failed.

     They walked back to Riley’s car, defeated, when, suddenly, Riley had a faint hope they could still pull of what they had set out to do. He heard someone, someone struggling with something. He recognized the grunt instantly. It was Mr. Johnson.

     Riley whispered to his sister, “Quick, get behind the car.”

     Anya trusted him, so she did just what he told her to do. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

     “Look,” he answered. She looked and saw Mr. Johnson loading up some boxes into his truck. From inside the box came deafening screeches. The penguins were in the box.

     Slowly, Riley got out from behind the car and opened the car door. Anya was surprised when she saw him pull out his skateboard and pocket knife.

     Riley had a plan in his head. Quickly, while Mr. Johnson wasn’t looking, he slid under his truck with his back on the skateboard. He took out his knife, and stabbed each tire with it. He got out from under the truck almost as quickly as he went under it. He did this in case Mr. Johnson tried to get away, he couldn’t go anywhere.

     Then, he started tapping on the truck. “Huh, what’s that?” Mr. Johnson asked. He walked over to where Riley was, and Riley moved to another place near the truck where he couldn’t see him. Riley gestured at Anya to come open the boxes and let the penguins out. She understood and snuck over to the truck.

     Riley continually tapped on the metal of the truck, distracting Mr. Johnson from Anya. To her, it looked rather like a game of hide-and-seek.

     She finally let all of the penguins out, and how happy they were to be free! Looking out at the street, Anya heard police sirens and knew they were coming close.

     In a loud voice, she told the penguins, “Bite!” and pointed at Mr. Johnson. They all understood, remembering when she had taught them that command, and ran towards Mr. Johnson. When he her Anya yell out her order, and saw all thirty of the penguins running at him, he tried to jump in the truck, but was too late. The penguins were at his ankles, biting and bruising him.

     He finally managed to get them off of his legs, and jumped into the car and turned the keys. He pushed down the gas petal, but his truck wouldn’t budge.

     Mr. Johnson grabbed a penguin and it looked like he was going to kill it, but he never got the chance. Before you could say, “Let go of it!” police men were surrounding him and handcuffing him. It was one Anya’s happiest moments in her life when she saw that happening. She looked at Riley and she knew what he was thinking, “We did it.”

     That night, there was some news on TV about the man who was caught trying to steal some penguins from a zoo. Anya and Riley told Mom and Dad, and they were expecting punishment, but Dad said, “You were both taking responsibility. I know I should be mad at both of you, but I’m proud of you.” That was the proudest Mom, Dad, Anya, and Riley had ever felt.

     It was the proudest the penguins ever felt too. They were chattering with each other as if they were talking all about their exciting adventure. They strutted down the ice acting full of themselves and they just looked silly. Kayla was also proud. She was so happy she took part in an adventure, even though she didn’t know it.

     Mr. Johnson, on the other hand, was having a miserable time,  serving ten years in prison.

     Riley was glad he did what he had done, but he was through with adventures. He just hoped the penguins would stay out of trouble, and not look at the tigers in such and interested way.