The Menagerie (4 page)

SIX

L
ogan expected Zoe's house to be big when he realized it was on the far side of town, but he was still shocked by its size as he biked up to it. He'd only seen one bigger house anywhere in Xanadu, and that was the Sterling mansion, surrounded by
STERLING FOR MAYOR
signs, five blocks away. Logan had biked past it a few times, wondering what it would be like to be that rich.

But somehow he'd never noticed Zoe's rambling gray stone house, or the giant matching wall that abutted it. Both were hidden from the street by a thick copse of trees. It was only when Logan turned up the crooked driveway that he could see the wall stretching for what looked like a mile in each direction away from the house.

Squorp had barely squeezed into Logan's backpack for the ride over, although he kept scaring the daylights out of Logan by popping his head out to see the view. Logan could just imagine explaining to a police officer that no, that wasn't an endangered bald eagle in his bag—just a mythical griffin, nothing to see here, carry on.

He got off his bike and wheeled it into the trees, out of sight of the driveway. Squorp wriggled his beak through the zipper again, and Logan swung the bag off his back to let the griffin out.

“Should we go up and ring the doorbell?” Logan asked.

No no no!
Squorp tumbled to the ground, landing in an ungraceful heap. Logan had to hide his smile.

With a
harrumph
sound, Squorp shook the dust off his wings.
Main house is where Worry-Cub and Danger-Smell and Treasure-Paws and rest of family live. Squorp take you to dismal cave now.

Close up, the wall around the property was even taller than Logan had thought.
Somebody clearly doesn't want their neighbors in their business.
He glanced at Squorp.
I guess I know why.

“Squorp, how are we getting inside?” Logan stepped back and peered upward. “Even if you can fly over this wall, I can't.”

Too young for flying. SUPPOSEDLY. Around, around. Squorp take you to super-stealth entrance.
The griffin fluffed up his chest and bounded off.

After fifteen minutes of walking, scrambling over fallen trees, and being clawed by bushes, Logan still couldn't spot any gaps or gates. He was getting worried. Not to mention impressed with how much land the Kahns owned.

Enough for lots of griffins and dragons,
he thought. He was trying not to get too excited. Maybe Squorp was exaggerating about the dragons.

“Squorp, how much farther is the super-stealth entrance? Not that this is starting to feel like a wild-goose chase or anything.”

Ha! Goose chasing not this fun, no fun at all! Tried it once. Very bad game. Our goose no good at being chased. Very pokey-snappy with beak. Squorp tail sad for DAYS.

Squorp crashed ahead through a thicket of yellow leaves and brambles. Logan decided to go around. Five minutes later Squorp came to a stop in front of a stretch of wall that looked just like the rest.

But as Logan approached, he saw a small creek running under the wall. Somebody had sliced through the grate that covered the opening and bent back the wires to create a hole Logan or a griffin cub could easily fit through.

Squorp turned around and clacked his beak at Logan.
See? No fly. Swim!

“That's how you got out?” Logan asked. He peered at the grate. “Griffin claws can do that?”

Don't think so.
Squorp gave his claws a curious look, as if he expected them to explain their abilities.
Not sure. We found it like that.
The griffin slid down the bank of the creek, landing with a splash and a startled “Grawp!”

Cold! Bah! Forgot how cold! Quick, through hole. Logan see all the dreadfulness and then take Squorp away. Pitiful food. Lack of treasure. Terrible, terrible.

Logan paused. He didn't love swimming. And he hadn't planned on getting wet. But that would be a really, really lame excuse for missing out on dragons.

He edged down the side of the ditch, keeping one hand on the wall to steady his footing. The cold water sent a shiver rocketing up his spine. He gritted his teeth and plunged in. It was much deeper than he'd expected; his feet couldn't reach the bottom. He swam against the current up to the grate and hauled himself through the gap after Squorp.

Logan not a water creature?
The griffin grinned in the almost-darkness and clacked his beak at Logan.

“Not remotely,” Logan said. “Please tell me we don't have to swim far.”

Not far. This way!

Logan paddled behind the griffin into a dark tunnel. Using the wall as a support, he followed the sounds of Squorp splashing to the left. It felt like they were moving along the length of the wall instead of straight through it.

“Wow,” Logan breathed. “It's pitch-dark in here.”

Not to Squorp. Watch out for pipe!

Logan reached forward and felt a metal pipe running along the roof of the tunnel. “Thanks.”

Up ahead he saw light coming in from the right and Squorp's silhouette waiting for him. As they emerged into the sunshine, Logan realized the water flowed through a man-made ditch. Cement walls rose up on either side, so high it reminded Logan of the moats used to keep animals within their enclosures at zoos. A few yards from the main wall the water split, curving gently to the right and left.

This way! This way!

Squorp dove down the right-hand fork and Logan followed. Up ahead the stream ended at a wide lake, but before they reached it, part of the bank dipped lower to the water, with a tree growing out of the edge. Squorp was already clawing his way up the roots. Logan quickly hoisted himself out of the water next to Squorp, wrung out the bottom of his shirt, and looked around.

They were standing in a field of overgrown grass dotted with bright yellow flowers next to a fenced-in enclosure. The fence was more than twice Squorp's height and built from planks of pale-golden pinewood, with trails of morning glory vines winding around the top. Logan was just tall enough to see over it to the scattered piles of boulders inside. Most of the boulders were flat and large enough for a full-grown lion to lie across. Tiny sparkles in the gray rocks caught the sunlight.

On the far side of the enclosure was a cave surrounded by pear trees. Logan squinted at it. Something was moving in the shadows of the cave.

“What's back there?” Logan asked.

DOWN!
Squorp seized Logan's wet pants in his claws and yanked so hard that Logan tumbled right over into the grass.

“What are we hiding from?” Logan whispered, getting up into a crouch. “Is there a dragon in there?”

Worse
, Squorp declared glumly.
Parents.

SEVEN

“Y
ou mean—
your
parents?” Logan asked. “This is where you live?”

Squorp sighed heavily, his wings quivering.
Moved in a week ago. Terrible, yes?

Actually, it looked pretty nice to Logan from what he'd been able to see. There was lots of space inside the enclosure, and everything seemed clean and sunny. He edged closer to the fence and peeked over the top again.

He stifled a gasp. A large black griffin—far bigger than Squorp—stalked out of the cave, lashing its tail. As Logan watched, the griffin strode over to one of the boulders, and Logan spotted another enormous griffin basking sleepily in the sun. The second griffin had white fur with hints of gold in its feathers.

Squorp yanked Logan down to the grass again.
What you see?

“Two big griffins—I guess that's your mom and dad,” Logan whispered.

Bossy-looking, right? Always fluttering over us.

“Well,” Logan said. “I mean, that's how all parents are, right? It's not so bad to be . . . fluttered over. At least they want to be with you.”

Squorp scraped his claws through the dirt.
But they have to be with Squorp. That what parents are for.

“Yeah, well, not all parents feel that way,” Logan said. “Some of them have more important things to do.”

The tiny griffin looked outraged.
More important than SQUORP?

“I'm not saying they're right,” Logan said. “I'm just saying, maybe your parents aren't so bad.”

Should still give us treasure of our own. And teach Squorp to fly! Not too young! Terrible!
He snorted and clawed up the grass under his paws.

Logan figured it was time to change the subject. “So where are these awful dragons who won't share their treasure?”

Oh, yes. Behind you.

Logan jumped and spun around, but there were no dragons in sight. He stared across the moat. On the far side, the grass was thinner and marked with scorched patches. There were more rocks and boulders, and the stony terrain grew steeper leading up to a sheer rock wall in the distance, pitted with a few caves of different sizes. He didn't see any scales or smoke, though. Maybe the dragons slept during the day. Logan turned back to Squorp as the griffin cocked his head up at him.

We go around to smallest dragon,
Squorp suggested.
Closest dragon very, very grumpy.

Logan shivered. He wanted to see dragons, but perhaps not very, very grumpy ones.

Squorp headed away from the griffin enclosure, following the moat. Ahead of them, a paved road circled the lake and branched off toward the house. On the far side of the water stood a large white dome with a roof of wire mesh stretched across steel octagons.

“What's in there?” Logan asked, nodding at the dome.

Birds. Noisy, squawking birds. Not for eating. Nobody lets Squorp eat any of the good stuff.

“HONK! HONK! HONK!”

Shrill bellows erupted from the domed building. Squorp clacked his beak at Logan.

See? That goose. Always squawking.

Suddenly they both heard a mechanical rumble up ahead.

Quick!
Squorp cried.
Into the bush. Go! Go!

Squorp and Logan dove under a hedge. Logan peeked out and saw a golf cart trundling around the bend of the lake, carrying two adults. The woman's blond hair was pulled into a bun, and she wore a gray pinstriped suit. The guy driving had wild dark curly hair and a beard and looked like Logan's image of a zookeeper, with a grungy, long-sleeved brown shirt and torn jeans. The worried expression on his face reminded Logan a lot of Zoe.

“I know, but it doesn't make sense,” the bearded man said as the cart drew closer. “It's not like Zoe to make a mistake like that.”

“Check the fence again if you like,” the blond woman said. “But someone left that gate unlocked, and your daughter was the last one in there.”

“She must be working too hard,” said Zoe's dad.

“We're
all
working too hard,” said the woman. Her voice was clipped and polished, just like the perfect small pearls in her ears and on her rings. “Except for Cobalt, obviously. If you'd let me commandeer some of his people—”

“You know we can't, Melissa. He would never allow it.” Mr. Kahn sighed. “They have enough to do with the kraken, the zaratan, and the kelpie. Besides, as Cobalt keeps reminding me, per their arrangement with SNAPA, they're really more like ‘honored guests' than employees.”

“Ha,” Melissa snorted. “He always wanted to be treated like an ‘honored guest' when I was married to him, too, but
I
—”

The rest of what she said was lost as the golf cart moved out of range.

Poor Zoe,
Logan thought. He knew how terrible he'd feel if
he'd
messed up like that.

He turned to Squorp. “All right, what's SNAPA?”

Fussy snoopers. Woke us all up to look in nooks and crannies of new den for no reason. Made humans very nervous.

“INTRUDER! INTRUDER!
INTRUDER! INTRUDER!
”

Logan clapped his hands over his ears. The voice bellowing in the air was as loud as fifty car alarms set off by a thunderstorm—so loud he didn't register what it was saying at first.

“What is that?” he yelled at Squorp.

Oh, no!
Squorp flapped his wings in a panic.
Alert system! Guardians of the Menagerie! They smell intruder!

“Someone's breaking in?” Logan glanced over at the moat.

Someone ALREADY broke in! YOU!

“INTRUDER! INTRUDER! INTRUDER!”

Logan's heart started whacking around in his chest. “We're so busted!” he cried. “Squorp, what do we do?”

Quick!
Squorp nudged him in the direction of the nearest building, a ramshackle wooden structure near the lake.
RUN!