The Wild Wolf Pup

“
Awoooooooooh!
”

Zoe and Lucy froze as a howling sound came from inside the Hall. Meep squeaked and leaped straight into Zoe’s arms. Zoe felt quite scared, too! What was making that noise… ?

Chapter One

A Special School Trip

Zoe Parker rushed excitedly towards the Rescue Zoo gates, followed by her teacher and the rest of the class.

“We’re here!” she said happily. “Welcome to the Rescue Zoo, everyone!”

“I still can’t believe you actually
live
here, Zoe,” her friend Nicola exclaimed.
“You’re so lucky.”

“I know!” replied Jack, who was walking next to Nicola. “I can’t imagine how cool it must be waking up every morning and seeing elephants and giraffes out of your bedroom window!”

Zoe grinned at her friends.

“It’s so much fun!” she replied. “I’ve lived at the Rescue Zoo ever since I was a baby, and sometimes
I
still can’t believe it!”

Zoe’s Great-Uncle Horace was a world-famous explorer and animal expert, and he had started the zoo so that any lost, injured or endangered animals he came across on his travels would have a safe and caring home. Zoe’s mum, Lucy, was the zoo vet, and Lucy and Zoe lived in a cosy cottage on the edge of the zoo.
Zoe adored animals more than anything, and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. As she and her friends reached the gates, she felt like she might burst with pride.

Zoe had been looking forward to this day for weeks. Halloween was coming up soon, and her class had been learning all about creatures like bats, beetles and spiders. Miss Hawkins had explained that lots of people thought these animals were scary or spooky, but that really there was nothing to be frightened of. Zoe had agreed – they were some of her favourite animals! Now everyone in the class loved them, and when Zoe had mentioned that the Rescue Zoo had a huge spider house, several types of snake
and
a big family of bats, Miss Hawkins had decided to organise a special class trip to the zoo!

Zoe’s class had had normal lessons that morning, and after lunch they had set off together, walking through their town towards the zoo, carefully supervised by
their teacher. Zoe couldn’t wait to get to the Rescue Zoo – and neither could her friends! Lucy, Zoe’s mum, was waiting for them at the entrance. “Hi, everyone!” she said as they walked inside. “You’re right on time! I’m so glad you could all make it.”

“Thank you for having us!” replied Miss Hawkins, smiling. “Where are we going to start?”

“I thought we’d go to the spider house first, which is over in that direction,” said Lucy, pointing. “After that we’ll go and see the bats, and, if there’s time, the snakes right at the end. Zoe, why don’t you lead the way?”

Zoe led her class proudly through the zoo, pointing out her favourite animals to Nicola and Jack as they walked along the path. “That’s Leonard and Rory,
our lions,” she explained. “Well, Rory’s a lion cub! And that’s the panda enclosure. Chi Chi and Mei Mei are twin sisters, and they came all the way from China. They’re really naughty, but so cute!”

Her friends peered into each enclosure, grinning broadly. But when they arrived at the spider house, Zoe spotted a grumpy-looking man waiting outside, wearing a spotless zoo uniform and hat, and holding a broom. “Oh no,” she sighed. “Mr Pinch!”

“Who’s that?” whispered Nicola. “Does he work here? He looks a bit cross!”

Zoe nodded. “He’s the zoo manager,” she whispered back. “He’s always grumbling or groaning about something – especially mess. He hates it when anything’s untidy!”

“I heard your class would be visiting the zoo today, Zoe,” said Mr Pinch. “If you ask me, there is nothing that creates more mess at this zoo than school trips. Always dropping litter and chewing gum and bits of packed lunch everywhere! If I see any mess, I’ll know who was responsible.” Mr Pinch narrowed his eyes at Zoe and her school friends, then muttered, “It’s not as if I don’t
already have enough to do without sweeping up after you all. Being the zoo manager is a
very
busy and important job.”

“Oh, you won’t need to sweep up after us,” Miss Hawkins replied firmly. “My class certainly won’t be dropping any litter or chewing gum, and they’ve already had their packed lunches at school.”

“Hmmm. Even so, I still think I’d better supervise,” replied Mr Pinch, frowning.

Zoe’s mum winked at Zoe and then turned to Mr Pinch. “Oh, there’s no need for that, Percy,” she said firmly. “I can look after everyone!”

Lucy and Miss Hawkins ushered everyone inside the spider house and Mr Pinch shook his head, muttering
crossly to himself.

First of all, Lucy showed everyone a small enclosure with glass walls, full of moss, leaves and bits of wood. A delicate silver web had been spun between two branches, and a small black spider sat right in the middle of it. “This is an orb weaver spider,” said Lucy. “Can anyone tell me what family spiders belong to?”

Straightaway, a boy called Louis put his hand up. “The arachnid family?” he said.

“Very good,” said Lucy, nodding. “Lots of people think spiders are insects, but actually they’re not – they’re arachnids. Their bodies are made out of two sections, rather than three, and they have eight legs, not six.”

“Look at that amazing web!” said Miss Hawkins.

“Spiders’ webs are made from very strong silk,” explained Lucy. “In fact, a strand of spider silk is five times stronger than a piece of steel the same size! And a spider produces lots of it. Some spiders spin themselves a brand-new web every day! Can you imagine building yourself a new house every day?”

Then she moved on to the next glass enclosure, and pointed out a big black spider with bright orange-red patches that was emerging out of a tunnel in the soil packed into the bottom of the enclosure.

“Now, here’s a spider that
doesn’t
live in a web – in fact, it lives in a burrow!” Lucy said.

“Wow!” breathed Jack. “What type of spider is it?”

“Rosie here is a red-knee tarantula!”
explained Lucy. “She might look a bit scary, but most tarantulas will never hurt a human. In fact, it’s very rare to be bitten by a spider. Most spider bites happen when a person is frightening a spider, but if you’re kind to them and leave them alone, they won’t cause you any harm.”

Zoe’s friends rushed from spider to spider, taking pictures. Lucy even let Jack hold Rosie! Luckily, Mr Pinch hung back at the entrance, still glaring at the class as if he expected them to cause trouble at any moment. Zoe smiled to herself – she
knew he was secretly a little bit nervous of spiders, and wouldn’t want to get near any of the enclosures!

Eventually Miss Hawkins clapped her hands and said, “I think it’s time we went to see the bats, everyone. Make sure you’ve got your bags and coats before we move on.”

As the class started to file out of the spider house, Nicola tapped Zoe’s arm. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing at a big poster pinned up on the wall next to the door. “The Rescue Zoo Spooktacular? Is that a special Halloween event?”

Zoe nodded. “Usually the zoo closes at six o’clock, but we’re going to stay open late on Halloween, so that visitors can come and look around when it’s dark. We’re going to decorate the
enclosures with carved pumpkins, and all the zookeepers are going to dress up as something spooky. There’s a fancy dress competition for all the visitors too, with prizes. And we’re going to bake Halloween cupcakes for everyone!”

“That sounds like so much fun!” said Nicola.

“Yes, it does!” added Miss Hawkins, who had overheard them. She looked thoughtful. “Actually, I noticed the poster as we were coming in, and now that I think about it, I have an idea…” She turned to Lucy and explained, “I’ve been teaching the class a special song, all about the so-called ‘spooky’ creatures they’ve been studying. We were going to perform it in assembly next week. Maybe it would be fun if they came and performed it at
the Halloween event, too?”

“That would be brilliant!” said Nicola immediately, her eyes wide. Zoe smiled. Her friend Nicola was really good at singing and even sang in the school choir.

Lucy was nodding enthusiastically. “That’s a wonderful idea,” she said. “We’ll be setting up a little stage for the presentation of the fancy dress prize – maybe we could have a performance beforehand! The class could all wear their Halloween costumes and take part in the competition too. What do you think, Zoe?”

Zoe nodded and did her best to seem excited, but her tummy was suddenly feeling funny. Zoe didn’t think
she
had a very good singing voice, and she felt nervous about singing in front of other
people, even though she would be with her friend Nicola. Singing together in assembly wasn’t too bad, because she knew all the other children at her school, so that wasn’t as scary. But performing in front of lots of strangers would be very different. And the tickets for the Spooktacular night were almost sold out already. There was going to be a huge crowd – more than two hundred people! And now they were all going to watch her sing.

As Nicola skipped along, chatting excitedly about how much fun the performance was going to be, Zoe felt more and more worried. What was she going to do?