The Menagerie (13 page)

TWENTY-ONE

Z
oe hit the bedroom floor with a thump. A furry trunk jabbed her insistently in the face.

“Ow!” she cried, swatting Fuzzbutt away. “What? What's the matter?” She rubbed her hip. The mammoth had never literally dragged her out of bed before. Usually he just snuggled and poked her gently until she got up to let him out.

Captain Fuzzbutt tugged her to her feet and head-butted her toward the door.

“Okay, okay, I'm coming,” she said. She shoved her feet into flip-flops and followed him down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. The clock in the kitchen said 7:22 a.m. Zoe yawned. “Why are you doing this to me, Captain?”

The mammoth let go of her and stormed into the living room, then back into the kitchen, then back into the living room.

Zoe followed him sleepily. She slid the glass door open, and Captain Fuzzbutt galloped out into the Menagerie.

Zoe squinted across the lawn. The rising sun was bright in her eyes, so it was hard to see at first, but it looked like someone was moving down on the shore of the lake.

Oh, it's just the kelpie,
she realized, recognizing the gray water-horse. Then the kelpie moved to the side, and Zoe saw Logan standing right next to her.
Climbing onto her back
.

“Logan!” Zoe screamed.

It was too late. The kelpie dove into the water and sank instantly, taking Logan along with her.

Zoe flew down to the lake, shouting for help as she ran. Several curious mermaid faces popped out of the water. “Do something!” Zoe shouted. “The kelpie has Logan! Help him!”

The mermaids all made exaggerated gestures of “What? I can't hear you! I have absolutely no idea what you're saying!”

Captain Fuzzbutt was standing on the edge of the lake, trumpeting in panic. He was terrified of the water, but Zoe could tell he was almost ready to jump in. The last thing she needed was to rescue a drowning, thrashing mammoth, too.

“Get Blue!” she yelled, shoving the Captain toward the house. She ran into the water, losing her flip-flops instantly in the sucking sand, and dove at the spot where the kelpie had gone down.

The freezing water would have shocked her awake if her fear hadn't already. It was dark underwater, but she could see the shape of the kelpie sinking and Logan on her back, flailing desperately. Zoe was a good swimmer after years of training with Blue, so she caught up to them quickly.

But she had no idea how to separate a kelpie from her victim. She had never been properly kelpie-trained, since taking care of her was the mermaids' job. She grabbed Logan's hand, and he clutched hers like a lifeline. Zoe tried maneuvering around to brace her feet against the kelpie's side. She wrapped her arms around Logan's chest and shoved upward with all her might.

Nothing happened. This was magic; once a kelpie had you in the water, you were dead.

Not in my Menagerie,
Zoe thought. She kicked the kelpie as hard as she could, but the horse didn't even react. Zoe was running out of air, and they were still sinking slowly through the dark water. She kept one arm around Logan and grabbed the kelpie's mane with the other hand, yanking hard.

The kelpie shook her head as if annoyed. Zoe yanked again, and the kelpie reared in the water, trying to shake Zoe off.

You're not getting rid of me unless you let go of Logan,
Zoe thought fiercely. She glanced at Logan, who was swaying in a horribly unconscious way.
Stay alive. I'm not drowning for nothing.

Something brushed against Zoe's back. She started, nearly losing her grip on Logan. Was it the mermaids, coming to help at last?

A long purple tentacle snaked past Zoe and felt along the kelpie's neck. The kelpie shuddered and froze. Another tentacle slipped around Zoe from the other side and wound around Logan's waist.

The kraken
. Zoe felt faint.
The kraken is awake.
They all thought she'd gone into hibernation a month ago.

She didn't dare move or turn around as more tentacles wove past her, winding around the kelpie and Logan and Zoe herself. The tentacles felt rubbery and prickly at the same time, like shark skin, and had small suction cups that stuck to Zoe's bare arms. Zoe gripped Logan's hand as tightly as she could. The lack of air was making her dizzy. Maybe she was even hallucinating all of this.

The kraken slid one tentacle around the kelpie's neck and slowly began to squeeze.

A stream of bubbles shot out of the kelpie's nose, and the water-horse began to kick and struggle with a horrible screaming sound that echoed through the water.

The kraken squeezed tighter.

Suddenly the kelpie gave an enormous kick, and Logan flew off her back. The kraken immediately flung the water-horse away and shot to the surface, towing Logan and Zoe in her tentacles.

Water rushed past Zoe so fast she felt like she was falling. She burst out into the air, gasping and shivering. Beside her, Logan's eyes were closed, and his brown skin was frighteningly pale and clammy. She shook his hand. “Logan!”

The kraken gently deposited them on the lakeshore and let go. Zoe barely had time to see the tentacles slither back into the lake before a towel was wrapped around her shoulders and her father was picking her up in his strong arms. Logan's hand slid out of hers. She reached for it again, but Blue and Matthew and her mom were already there, wrapping towels around him and doing CPR.

Captain Fuzzbutt crowded into her dad, trying to dry Zoe with his trunk. Melissa was there, too, standing with her bare feet in the lake and yelling at Blue's dad.

“This is your fault!” she shouted. “You're supposed to watch the kelpie!”

“Why is there a man-child wandering the Menagerie at this hour?” Cobalt bellowed. He stood waist deep in the water, waving his arms in anger. “How were we supposed to know?”

“But you
did
know, and you didn't do
anything
!” Melissa shouted. “Do you know what would happen if someone died in here? You could be sent anywhere! They would do much worse than shut down the Menagerie—did you even think about that?”

Zoe felt cold, even with her father's hands rubbing her arms through the towel. She hadn't thought about what would happen to the Menagerie if the kelpie drowned Logan. Her father turned toward the house, carrying her.

“Wait, Dad,” she said, grabbing his shoulder. “Is Logan okay?”

As if he'd heard her, Logan suddenly coughed, then coughed again. Zoe's mom helped him sit up, and he spewed lake water all over the sand. Zoe leaned against her dad, feeling relief wash over her. Captain Fuzzbutt patted her head with his trunk.

“Dude,” Matthew said. He sat back on his heels and wiped sweat off his forehead. “You scared the living daylights out of us.”

“Didn't we tell you to stay away from the kelpie?” Blue said, shaking Logan's shoulder.

Logan took a few heaving, gasping breaths. “What's a kelpie?” he sputtered.

“Oh, brother.” Matthew shook his head. “Maybe you were right, Zoe. Maybe he's better off not remembering this place.”

“No, don't!” Logan grabbed Blue's arm and took another breath. “Don't wipe my memory. Please. I talked to Squorp. I think I know how to find the other cubs.” He had another fit of coughing.

“Let's get you back to the house,” said Zoe's mom. Matthew and Blue helped him stand up.

“I can walk, Dad,” Zoe said. She gave him a hug as he put her down, and they all started slowly back up the hill. Melissa stayed behind, still arguing with Cobalt.

“What happened?” Logan asked. Fuzzbutt squeezed in next to him so Logan could lean against his furry side as they walked. “I was drowning and then—I feel like I remember . . . pandas?”

Blue laughed, and Zoe felt herself turning bright red.

“Zoe's pajamas,” Matthew said, pointing to the dripping legs of her pajama pants, which were covered in soccer-playing pandas. “She rescued you.”

“I didn't do anything,” Zoe said, embarrassed. “It was Captain Fuzzbutt and the kraken. Mostly the kraken.” Her bare feet were freezing in the cold, dew-covered grass, but she didn't want to ask to be carried again.

“The kraken's awake?” said her mom. “That's odd.”

“Thank you,” Logan said to Zoe. “I guess I was an idiot.”

“Well, yeah,” she said.

“We could have warned you better,” Matthew interjected. “Kelpies are kind of evil water-horses. That's like their whole thing—stand at the edge of a lake, look beautiful and wet, lure people into climbing on them. Then,
boom
, drowning. Usually followed by devouring. It's really not your fault you fell for it.”

“I thought—” Logan stopped, glancing down at his feet. Zoe could guess what he was about to say.
I thought it liked me
. That's how the kelpie always made her feel, too. She just knew better than to go anywhere near it. Ever since she was four, Blue had been telling her all the mermaid horror stories about kelpies and their victims.

“Well, now you know,” she said. “So don't worry about it.”

“And the mermaids should have protected you, too, so they're in big trouble,” said Zoe's dad. “I don't know what's gotten into them lately.”

“With luck, Melissa will yell at Cobalt all day,” Matthew joked. “That should make them
really
sorry. No offense, Blue.”

Blue shrugged. “At least they're not fighting about me this time,” he said.

Zoe's mom slid open the glass doors, and Captain Fuzzbutt practically shoved Zoe and Logan inside. Zoe's toes sank into the carpet, and she took a deep breath of the warm air.

“Cinnamon buns for breakfast,” her dad said. “No arguments. I'll take care of it while you all shower and get dressed. Then we'll head out and find those last griffins. Right?” He tousled Zoe's wet hair.

“Right,” Zoe said. She wished she could sound as confident as he did. After all, this wasn't exactly the best start to the day.

She watched Logan follow Blue up the stairs. As he got to the landing, he turned to look down, caught her eye, and smiled at her.

Then again, maybe everything wasn't so bad after all.

TWENTY-TWO

L
ogan studied the map of Xanadu laid out on the dining-room table. Zoe had insisted he have the first shower, so now she was upstairs while he and Blue had hot cocoa and cinnamon buns. His clothes had been whisked through the dryer again, but they still felt stiff and uncomfortable. He was trying really hard to act as casual as Blue, as if he wasn't still shaking on the inside.

“I totally get it now,” Logan said to Blue.

“What's that?”

“Why Zoe's clothes are always a mess. I noticed it at school, and I figured she just didn't care about that stuff. But I've been here less than a day, and my clothes have been set on fire by a phoenix, drowned by a kelpie, rolled on by a mammoth, clawed and nibbled by griffin cubs, and drenched in kraken ink. It's amazing she has anything to wear to school at all.”

“Well, it's also true she doesn't care about clothes,” Blue said. He sat down in one of the squashy tan armchairs, holding his cocoa between his hands. “But I know what you mean. And you haven't even seen how much Zoe does around here. She's like a never-ending chore machine.”

“Don't you have to do all that stuff, too?” Logan traced the streets from the Menagerie to his house with his finger on the map.

“Not exactly,” Blue said, sounding a little guilty. “I'm—it's kind of a whole thing with my dad.”

“Was that your dad down at the lake?” The shouting green-bearded man had looked familiar from the photo in Blue's room.

“Yeah.” Blue shifted uncomfortably and then muttered into his cocoa. “He'skindoftheking.”

Logan pivoted to look at him. Blue shook his hair forward into his face and avoided Logan's eyes.

“Hang on,” Logan said. “Did you just say your dad is a
king
?”

“That's right,” Matthew said, swinging into the room from the kitchen. He grabbed four cinnamon buns off the plate on the table. “King of the mermaids, at least the ones living here. Which makes Blue, obviously, a prince.”

Blue winced. “It's no big deal,” he said. “But Dad doesn't like it when he catches me doing chores, that's all. I'm supposed to help with mermaid stuff, but he doesn't let me do much of that, either.”

“Tough life,” Logan joked.

“Well,” Matthew said with his mouth full, “keep in mind that Melissa is his mom.”

“Hey,” Blue said mildly. “Shut up.”

“I'm just saying, he might not have to do chores, but he does have to be in the most advanced math class and get straight As or Melissa will flip. So that's not fun, exactly,” Matthew said. “Right, Blue?”

Blue shrugged. “It's fine.”

Mr. Kahn came into the room clapping his hands and rubbing them together. “All right, Logan,” he said. “Let's see your Tracker instincts at work.”

Matthew gave him an odd look—part curious, part offended, Logan thought. But Mr. Kahn went on without noticing. “Where do you think we should start looking for the griffins?” He leaned over the map on the table.

Logan sat down nearby. He liked the way Mr. Kahn treated him like another grown-up. It made up, a little, for how incredibly stupid he felt about the kelpie.

“Here's what I know,” he said, pulling a notepad and pen toward him. “There's a red male who really likes food. I bet he's the one who ate everything in the school cafeteria.”

“Definitely,” Zoe said from the doorway. She was wearing a dark blue turtleneck, jeans, and small silver earrings. Her hair was still wet, and she was rubbing it with a white towel. She actually didn't look like a total mess for once.

As she sat down next to him, Logan realized her earrings were tiny silver griffins. “Cool,” he said. “I like your earrings.”

She touched her ears. “For luck,” she said.

He slid the plate of cinnamon buns over to her and she took one.

Mr. Kahn was nodding, staring at the map. “So we look for anywhere with a lot of food missing. Good idea.”

“Maybe the pizza place,” Logan said, tapping the restaurant near the library. “I noticed it was closed last night, which is weird.”

“What about the other two griffins?” Zoe asked.

“I don't have any ideas for the gray female yet,” Logan said. “Squorp told me she likes secrets and she's clever. Not much to work with. But the other one, the brown male, his name is Clonk. He wants to be just like Clink, so I think he'll be trying to follow in her footsteps.”

“Figures,” Matthew snorted. “Bossy older sisters. Zoe and I know all about that. Luckily her big brother is totally awesome.” He tapped the chore wheel by the doors. “For instance, I did your Aviary rounds last night, so you can pick up mine today while I'm out with Mom and Dad searching for griffins.”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Fine. I'll add it to my list.” She pulled out her notebook with all the triangles and squiggles; Logan realized it must be a kind of code. Each item had a little box in front of it, some checked off, most of them not. She muttered to herself as she wrote. “Feed the salamanders, ask Mooncrusher for an extra blanket for Pelly, Saturday fire safety equipment check, let Captain graze by the griffin enclosure before that grass gets too long, check on Scratch in case he's not eating because he's sick—”

“Actually, Zoe,” said her dad. “You're on griffin-hunting duty today and that's it.”

“Wait, what?” Matthew looked startled. “Zoe's coming with us?”

“You're not going anywhere,” Mr. Kahn corrected. “I need you to install the software updates on SNAPA's list.”

Matthew crossed his arms. “But
I'm
the one with Tracker training.
I
should be looking for the griffins.”

“You're also the only one who can wrestle that computer, which is why I asked you to install the updates earlier this week. I don't know what you've been doing instead, but now they have to get done. So you're staying here until it's finished.”

“I think my training—”

“Training isn't everything,” said Mr. Kahn. He winked at Logan. “Instincts count for a lot, too.”

Matthew frowned and turned to look out at the Menagerie. “Who's going to do the chores?” he asked.

“Keiko will do them for you and Zoe.”

Matthew let out a slightly strangled noise, and Zoe raised her eyebrows. “Oh, really?” she said. “Which Keiko is that? Not the one who lives here.”

“We'll take care of it,” her dad said firmly. “I have to go speak with Cobalt about the grate and the kelpie. Zoe, I want you and Logan and Blue to head out now and start looking for Clonk. Trust Logan's instincts and your smarts. Your mom and I will go out looking for the red cub as soon as we can. Matthew, if you're done with the computer by then, you can come with us.” He smiled at Logan. “We'll start at the pizza place.”

Matthew snorted and stalked off to Melissa's office without looking at any of them. Logan felt vaguely guilty, as if he'd caused a fight—but surely the same thing would have happened with or without him there. He hoped Matthew wasn't mad at him.

He checked his phone while Zoe and Blue got their bikes, but there were no messages from his dad. He probably thought it was way too early for Logan to be up on a Saturday. Logan sent him a text that said
Thanx for letting me stay over last night. Going biking w Blue now.

A minute later his phone buzzed.
Sounds great. Have fun.

They paused at the bottom of the driveway, and Logan saw Zoe looking up the street toward the Sterling mansion. She twisted one hand around the other wrist and turned to him. “We saw brown feathers outside the post office yesterday. But Matthew managed to check inside while we were in school and said he didn't find anything.”

“I get it,” Logan said. “The post office has those steps and columns outside. To Clonk it would kind of look like the bank, where Clink went. Let's check it again.”

The post office and school were in the center of town, halfway between the Menagerie and Logan's house. The school, of course, was deserted on a Saturday. It looked kind of weirdly abandoned, like in a zombie movie.

To Logan's disappointment, the post office wasn't open yet. He poked the sign on the door. “Ten to noon?” he said. “Jeez, maybe I should be a postal worker when I grow up.”

“The feathers are gone,” Zoe said, scanning the steps.

“Probably blew away,” Blue said.

Logan glanced across the street and saw someone drive into the school parking lot. Instinct made him grab Zoe and Blue and pull them behind one of the columns.

“Look,” he said, nodding at the lot.

It was the school librarian again—Miss Sameera. She parked her white Vespa and stood on the front steps of the school for a moment, looking up and down the street and twirling something in her hands.

Suddenly Zoe gasped and grabbed Logan's arm. “Look!” she whispered.

The librarian was holding a large brown feather.