The Menagerie (14 page)

TWENTY-THREE

M
iss Sameera bounced up the school steps. Today her long skirt was bright purple, with little bells along the bottom, and her tunic top was covered in large yellow sunflowers. She didn't
look
particularly sinister, Logan thought.

“What do we do?” Zoe whispered as the librarian disappeared into the school. “Do you think she knows something?”

“Well,” Logan said, “she has been acting a little . . . weird.” He told them about the conversation he'd had with her outside the cafeteria. And about the mythical-creature books she'd been checking out of the library.

“Huh,” said Blue. “I thought she was nice.”

“She
is
nice,” Zoe said, worry wrinkles crinkling between her eyebrows. “But we should follow her.”

They ran down the post office steps and across the empty street to the school. The school library was on the ground floor, in a wing of its own at the back. The three of them ran around the outside of the school to the library windows, which were big and wide and usually open a crack because the heat was on too high.

Logan crouched beside a window and peeked in, then quickly ducked down again. Miss Sameera was at her desk, typing at her computer.

“Maybe she's not up to anything,” he whispered. “Maybe she's just here to work.”

A cell phone began to buzz.

“Hello?” Miss Sameera said. “Oh, Mr. Claverhill! Thank you for calling me back. Sir, I was right about Xanadu.” She paused, then said in an injured voice, “No, I know you're still not paying for my trip. But listen. This town is crawling with mythical creatures.”

Zoe gasped, and Blue clapped one hand over her mouth.

“Well, I don't know yet,” said the librarian. “But I've seen two so far. Griffin cubs. I'm serious! Yes, I'm sure!” She paused. “This is completely different. I'm not— Now, listen, I chased a brown one from the post office into town yesterday, but I lost him in the park. And then I spotted a gray one early this morning, up in the hills where the mansions are.”

Logan saw tears starting in Zoe's eyes. He took one of her hands and squeezed it.

“Sir,” Miss Sameera said with icy politeness, “I think I know the difference between a coyote and a griffin cub.” She paused. “Well, you don't have to believe me. I followed that Tracker here, and now I know I was right. And you'll believe it, too, when I come riding back to headquarters on a unicorn!” They heard the librarian fling her phone down on the desk. “They'll all see,” she muttered, tapping something on her keyboard.

“Come on,” Logan whispered. They ran back to their bikes, staying low and close to the wall so Miss Sameera wouldn't see them.

“What if she has pictures?” Zoe burst out as soon as they were out of earshot. “What if she's blogging about the cubs right now? What if SNAPA sees it? What if exterminators are already looking for them?”

“If she had photos, she'd have sent them to the guy on the phone,” Logan pointed out.

“And she's not blogging,” Blue said calmly. “She hates the internet. I used Wikipedia for our last research assignment, and she gave me a whole lecture about not trusting what you read online.”

“We should tell Dad,” Zoe said, twisting her hand around her wrist. “Shouldn't we?”

“No,” Blue said. “Find the cubs first. Before she does. That's priority one.”

“The park,” Logan said. He clipped on his bike helmet. “At least we have a lead.”

They biked toward the center of town. “What if she knows about the Menagerie?” Zoe said at the next stoplight. “What if she's the one who snuck in and unbolted the gate?”

“The intruder alert would have gone off,” Blue said.

“And then she'd know about a lot more than two cubs,” Logan pointed out.

“Maybe she was lying to the guy on the phone. And she did mention unicorns,” Zoe said.

Logan couldn't think of anything reassuring to say.

The park was only a few blocks wide, with a fenced-in dog run on one end and several red wooden benches under the large, shady trees. Most of Xanadu's little shops were clustered in the square around it, including the bookstore, a consignment shop, a toy store, the pharmacy, a candy store, a sandwich shop, and a pet store.

Blue and Zoe each found a large stick and started gently poking the bushes. Logan climbed onto the base of the stone statue in the middle and surveyed the shops.

If he were a griffin on the run, where would he go?

He imagined being Clonk—driven away by his sister when all he wanted was to follow her around. Where would Clonk go to prove he could find treasure just as well as Clink could?

His gaze landed on one of the store displays and he smiled.

“Zoe,” he called, hopping down from the statue. “I'm going to check in there.” He pointed at the toy store. The entire window was filled with a pirate-themed display, including a Lego pirate ship, pirate hats and capes and eye patches for Halloween costumes, and stuffed parrots perched on fake trees. And most importantly, chests overflowing with gold coins and plastic jewels.

“Then I'm coming with you,” Zoe said. “Since you're always right about everything.”

“It's just a guess,” Logan said. He didn't explain that searching for griffins was the first thing he'd been good at in a long time. He was too afraid of messing it up, especially after his mistake with the kelpie.

They left Blue checking the trees and crossed the street to the toy store. A hand was just flipping the sign to
OPEN
; Logan checked his watch and saw that it was a little after nine o'clock. Giant signs in the window advertised trick-or-treating on Halloween night, with ten percent off everything in the store all day for anyone in a pirate costume.

A bell jingled above their heads as Zoe pulled the door open.
Jackpot,
Logan thought. The store was crammed wall-to-wall with toys, overflowing and piled all over each other. A giant tree at the back had stuffed animals stuck in all the branches and climbing the trunk, making it look like a furry pink-and-purple volcano. A model train ran on a track near the ceiling,
click-clack
ing around and around. One corner of the store had been taken over by racks of Halloween costumes and a wall of masks. Board books and board games were stacked on shelves and pouring out of trunks. Baby rattles and toy trucks and tambourines were scattered across the Sesame Street carpet, where kids could play with them while their parents shopped.

It would not be hard to hide something the size of a puppy in here.

Behind the counter, a grandfatherly old man in a wheelchair looked up and beamed at them. He wore a pirate skull-and-crossbones hat rakishly tilted on his bald head. “Looking for costumes, my dears?” he asked. “You both look like you'd make excellent pirates.
Arrr!
”

“No, thanks,” Zoe said. “We're just browsing for a present. For, uh, my sister.”

Logan was glad she didn't point out that they were too old for trick-or-treating. He didn't want to hurt the feelings of the nice old guy with the pirate obsession.

“Let me know if I can help,” the man said, still beaming. “I'm full of suggestions.”

Logan squeezed past Zoe and checked the rack of costumes. Several of the robes and capes reached to the floor, and he thought a griffin cub might be able to hide behind them. But there was nothing under or behind the rack.

Zoe was casually trying to prod the pirate display in the window without knocking it all over. Logan turned and studied the tree. It had nooks and crannies all over it, most of them crammed with stuffed animals. He checked the branches, moving surly-looking flamingoes and monkey puppets with long tails. Nothing.

He edged closer and started carefully searching the mound of toys. There were an awful lot of stuffed polar bears in every possible size. Also panda bears. Not many birds except for penguins. He saw only one big eagle buried at the back.

And then the eagle blinked.

TWENTY-FOUR

Z
oe ran her fingers through the gold coins in the chest, checked that the manager wasn't watching, and then stuck her arm into the trunk full of pirate booty. It was a long shot, but maybe there was a griffin cub buried under all this. . . .

“Hey, Zoe,” Logan said. “Check it out. I bet Keiko would like this.”

For a moment Zoe thought he was serious and wondered why on earth she would get Keiko anything. Then she turned and saw him making incredibly obvious faces at the pile of stuffed animals.

Of course he found the cub,
she thought.
He's an even better natural Tracker than Matthew.
Not that that bothered her or anything.

She strolled back to where he was and saw the griffin's head sticking out of a sea of fuzzy dogs and adorable tigers.

“It's okay,” Logan said to the cub in a low voice. “We'll get you out of here.”

The griffin blinked at him.

“He says he's the greatest pirate in the world, and he's not leaving without his treasure,” Logan reported. “What treasure, Clonk?”

The griffin shuffled a bit to the side. Underneath his paws was a wild nest of Monopoly money and fake pirate gold coins.

“He says he'd have more if the pirate behind the desk hadn't been watching that window treasure like a hawk all day yesterday. I guess he slept through the hours when the store was closed.”

“This one does sleep a lot,” Zoe whispered. The cub clacked his beak at her.

“Clonk wants to know whether anyone else has found as much glorious treasure as he has,” Logan said. “Clonk, I think it's safe to say no one found anything like this. Your brothers and sisters will be so impressed when you get home and tell them.”

The griffin ruffled his feathers in a pleased way.

“How do we get him out of here?” Logan asked. He paused. “With all his glorious treasure, yes.”

Zoe glanced around the store. She had the sling in her backpack, but that worked best at night; it would be a lot more obvious riding through Xanadu like that in the middle of the day.

Her eyes landed on a display of Fancy Nancy accessories. In the middle of it was a glittering pink backpack, practically bursting with sequins.

“I am going to regret this,” Zoe said, picking up the backpack. It would be a squeeze, but Clonk was nearly the smallest griffin, no bigger than a collie puppy. “Distract him,” she whispered, nodding at the storekeeper.

“I'll buy your treasure so we can take it with us,” Logan said to Clonk. There was a pause, and he added, “I know, pirates don't have to buy their treasure. But would you really steal from a fellow pirate?” He motioned at the storekeeper. “Where is your pirate honor, Clonk?”

The griffin cub drew himself up proudly and then moved aside so Logan could gather all the gold coins. Zoe found a small leather bag, and Logan took everything up to the counter to pay for it.

While the storekeeper was focused on Logan, Zoe unzipped the backpack and helped Clonk climb inside. He clacked his beak and made grumbling sounds and rearranged his tail and wings about a thousand times, but finally she zipped the pink sparkles around him and carried the bag up to the counter.

“Lovely,” the storekeeper said, beaming some more as he handed Logan his change. “If your sister can't be a pirate, Fancy Nancy is an excellent alternative.” Zoe kept a tight hold on the bag while he rang up the price. She didn't want him to pick it up and notice how heavy it was. She felt like a total shoplifter, until she saw the price of the backpack.

“Forty dollars!”
she whispered to Logan, slinging the bag over her back. “Now I feel like
I
just got shoplifted from.” She hoped her parents would pay her back. That was a lot of allowance gone at once.

“Just think about how sparkly and pretty you look,” he teased. “And so very, very fancy.” He held the door open for her and pretended to bow.

“Merci,”
she joked.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk and ran right into Jasmin Sterling and her brother, Jonathan, coming out of the pharmacy.

Of course.
Of course
Jasmin would see her like this.

Jasmin spotted the Fancy Nancy backpack right away. Her eyebrows arched so high Zoe thought the top of her head might fly off.

When they were six years old, Zoe and Jasmin had had Fancy Nancy sleepovers once a month. Always at Jasmin's house, of course; Jasmin was allergic to cats, so Zoe's family pretended they had seven of them so Jasmin could never come over. Neither Jasmin nor Zoe minded. Jasmin's house was enormous, and she had all the best toys, including every Fancy Nancy accessory in the universe.

Zoe had always slept better at Jasmin's house than anywhere else, with her best friend curled up beside her, no Menagerie chores waiting for her in the morning, and no mythical creatures howling or squawking outside her window. She remembered lying in Jasmin's Fancy Nancy sleeping bag, wishing she could switch places and just
be
Jasmin.

“What—what—” Jasmin's eyes shot to Logan, who was standing close behind Zoe. Jasmin looked like she was having some kind of apoplectic fit where she couldn't decide what to make fun of first.

“Hi, Zoe,” Jonathan said. He was taller than she remembered from the high school graduation ceremony in June, where he'd been elected to give the class speech. His blue-black hair was longer, curling just below his ears and slicked to one side of his face. He still had the nose stud he and Ruby had gotten at the same time last Christmas, although his was a tiny diamond. He also still had the vaguely confused look he'd started wearing after Ruby wiped his memories.

“How's your sister?” he asked, taking the pharmacy bag from Jasmin and tucking it into his messenger bag.

“Great,” Zoe said awkwardly. She knew he didn't remember anything about his relationship with Ruby—it was too interwoven with the Menagerie secrets they'd erased. But her parents said he'd probably still feel attracted to Ruby whenever they were together, which was why everyone made sure they were never, ever together.

“Who are you?” Jasmin blurted at Logan.

“Seriously? He's in our class, Jasmin,” Zoe said. She was pretty sure Jasmin just wanted to make a point about how much of a nobody he was. As if anyone who wanted to be friends with Zoe was beneath her notice.

“Logan Wilde.” Logan held out his hand, and Jasmin eyed it like he was handing her a dying piranha.

“Well, see you around,” Zoe said, backing toward the street.

“Ooh la
la
,” Jasmin said, imitating Fancy Nancy's catchphrase. Apparently she'd recovered from her shock. “Hurrying off with Logan for a private
rendezvous
?”

Zoe knew she was turning red again. She glanced at Jonathan, but his vague, faraway look told her he wasn't going to be any help with his sister.

Unexpectedly, Logan put his arm around Zoe's shoulder. “Yup, you figured us out. Sorry, we have to go.”

Jasmin's mouth fell open. Logan grabbed Zoe's hand, and they sprinted across the street to the park. They didn't stop until they reached the dog run on the far side, where an old Pekingese was waddling slowly from fence post to fence post while a Great Dane tried to play with it.

Zoe wrenched her hand out of Logan's. “What the heck was that?” she demanded.

“Sorry,” he said, spreading his palms. “I had to distract her and cover up the backpack before she noticed it was moving. Clonk, stop trying to unzip it!” Zoe felt furious wriggling under the fabric, and a beak poked her grumpily in the back.

“Ow,” she said. She set the backpack on the ground and rubbed her head with both hands. “Well, I guess if she wants to make fun of us, she'll have to acknowledge I exist first.”

Logan looked at her curiously. “Do you care? She doesn't seem like your kind of person.”

“She used to be,” Zoe said. “She was my best friend until about five months ago. But I had to stop being friends with her after her brother and my sister broke up. It was . . . bad.”

“That doesn't seem fair.” Logan leaned over the fence so the Great Dane could sniff his hand. The dog licked his fingers, and Logan scratched behind his floppy ears. Did every animal on the planet immediately fall in love with this guy? Apart from the kelpie, of course.

“Jonathan's the reason we never let strangers leave the Menagerie without a memory wipe, no matter who it is,” Zoe said with a sigh. “Ruby was sure we could trust him. They dated for almost a year, and he got to know pretty much everything about the Menagerie. If we'd given him kraken ink every night, he'd have forgotten the creatures and remembered Ruby. But by the time we figured out what he was up to, the kraken ink dosage had to be so high it basically wiped their whole relationship from his brain.”

Logan stared at the Great Dane, his hand moving slowly through the black fur. “So—what does he remember?”

“We don't know for sure.” Zoe rubbed her wrist. “Ruby had to give his parents some, too, since we weren't sure if he'd told them about the Menagerie.”

“And Jasmin?”

Zoe shook her head. “I could tell she didn't know anything, but they made me give her the kraken ink anyway.” She took a deep breath. That had been one of the worst days of her life. “I was right, though—there were no supernatural memories to erase.” Which actually made it harder, since Jasmin remembered everything about their friendship and had no idea why Zoe had suddenly ditched her.

“So why couldn't you stay friends?” Logan asked.

“Too risky.” Zoe glanced back at the store, but Jasmin was gone. “Everyone was worried that any extended contact with the Sterlings might bring back their memories. Brain wiping isn't an exact science. If, like, I was sleeping over at Jasmin's and Jonathan talked to me for too long, he might start having flashbacks. We just have to keep the Sterlings as far away from us as possible from now on, basically.”

“Oh,” Logan said. He thought for a moment. “Still doesn't seem fair.”

Zoe agreed with him. Ruby always said Zoe's sacrifice was nothing compared to hers. But Zoe figured seven years of best friendship was at least as important as a year of “absolute true love forever,” especially with a rotten creep like Jonathan.

Blue dropped out of a tree just across the park, almost giving the Pekingese a heart attack. The two dogs in the run barked indignantly at him as he trotted around to Zoe and Logan.

“No luck?” he asked. Then he tripped over the sparkly backpack, which squawked at him.

“Lots of luck,” Zoe said, nudging the backpack with her toe. “Except I really do not want to ride home wearing this.”

“I'll do it,” Blue said without hesitating. He picked up the backpack and put it on. “How about I run this guy home, and you keep looking for the next one?”

“Sure,” Logan said. “And maybe we could stop by my house, too, if that's okay. I'd like to feed my pets and change.”

“Great. I'll catch up with you soon.” Blue hopped on his bike and pedaled off, pink sequins sparkling cheerfully on his back. He didn't look even a little bit embarrassed.

Logan's expression, watching him go, said
I will never be that cool
. Which Zoe thought was kind of ridiculous; anyone willing to stand up to Jasmin Sterling or put out a burning phoenix didn't have a problem with bravery, and that seemed cool enough to her.

“All right,” she said. “Let's look for the red one next.”

“The one who loves food,” Logan said, nodding. “That should make tracking him pretty simple. I bet this is the easiest one of all.”