The Menagerie

by Tui T. Sutherland

  “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.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Miss 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-clacking 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

  Zoe 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 na
tural 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?”