Ethan brought Shadow over to Zoe, and she held him carefully in her arms and gave him a hug. “Thanks for your help, Shadow,” she whispered in his ear.
Shadow rubbed his furry head against Zoe’s cheek and barked happily. Zoe laughed. “Howling with your pack is your favourite thing?” she said. “Now I understand why you’ve been howling so much – and why you wanted to join in with our singing!”
“Who’s that?” asked Jack, nudging Zoe as someone dressed in a bright-blue bird costume stepped up to the microphone. Zoe frowned, and then started laughing as she realised who it was – and who he’d come as! “That’s Great-Uncle Horace!” she explained through a laugh. “I think he’s dressed as a giant version of his pet hyacinth macaw, Kiki!”
“That was splendid! Well done to all of you!” exclaimed Great-Uncle Horace. “Now it’s time to announce the prize for the best costume. This was a very hard decision, but I have picked a winner! This person will be invited to come to the Rescue Zoo and help feed our fantastic penguins!
And the winner is …” He paused dramatically and then smiled. “… the zombie ballerina over here! Congratulations!”
Nicola’s eyes almost popped out of her head, she was so surprised. “I won!” she gasped. “I get to come and feed the penguins. I can’t believe it!”
“Now, I have another announcement to make!” Great-Uncle Horace continued. “I’m delighted to say that it looks as if we’ll have raised enough money from this evening to fly the rest of Shadow’s pack to the Rescue Zoo to be looked after here alongside him! Thank you all for being so generous. You are all invited back to the zoo to meet the whole pack once they are happily settled into their new home!”
The audience cheered and clapped. Zoe felt a huge grin spreading over her face and cuddled Shadow even closer. “Did you hear that, Shadow?” she whispered. “Your family are coming to the Rescue Zoo! Soon you’ll all be able to howl together again!”
The little wolf yapped happily and jumoed up and down excitedly.
“Now, please enjoy the rest of your evening!” said Great-Uncle Horace. “We have a home-made gingerbread stall that way. There’s apple-bobbing over there. Over that way is the pin-the-tail-on-the-wolf stand! And if you would like to find out more about any of our wonderful animals, please ask one of our zookeepers, who will be delighted to help! Happy Halloween, everyone!”
“Awoooooooooh!”
The air was filled with howls as Zoe and Meep raced through the zoo towards Shadow’s enclosure – but this time, they knew those howls didn’t belong just to Shadow. It was three weeks later, and today was the day that Shadow’s pack arrived at the Rescue Zoo!
Great-Uncle Horace had sent a message to Lucy using his walkie-talkie, just as Lucy and Zoe were finishing their breakfast. “The helicopter is about to land outside Shadow’s enclosure! Tell Zoe to meet us there!” he’d said – so Zoe and Meep were running as fast as they possibly could!
The whole zoo had seen the helicopter circling over the zoo before it landed, and Zoe heard animals all around her making their most friendly, welcoming noises.
“Yes, they’re really here!” Zoe called happily to the excited chimpanzees, who called out to her as she passed their enclosure. “Isn’t it brilliant?”
Zoe and Meep rushed around the corner just as Great-Uncle Horace and Ethan were carrying two large wooden crate sinto the wolf enclosure. The eager howling sound was coming from inside the crates, and Shadow was leaping all over his enclosure, barking excitedly, his tail wagging so fast it was almost a blur!
Carefully, Ethan opened the first crate, and a wolf with dark-grey markings on his side, a bit bigger than Shadow, ran out. He bounded straight over to Shadow and the two wolves nuzzled each other happily, then began to play-fight.
“That must be Shadow’s big brother!” Zoe whispered to Meep.
Both wolves howled together, and then, as Ethan opened the second crate, they were joined by another wolf and two adorable babies! They nuzzled each other and made soft howling noises.
“Meep, I think I understand what this howling means,” Zoe added. “Shadow and his family are happy to be back together!”
“I’m happy too!” squealed Meep, bouncing up and down. “And I’m glad Shadow has his family to play with now, instead of tiny little me!”
Zoe giggled. “I can’t wait to meet them all,” she said. “And I can’t wait to meet whatever animal Great-Uncle Horace brings home next!”