Krakens and Lies

by Tui T. Sutherland

  “H-h-hi, Miss Sameera,” Zoe stammered.

  “Good morning,” the librarian sang. “Oh, I would love a pancake. Perhaps it’ll settle my stomach; I’ve been too excited to eat since yesterday.”

  “Yesterday?” Mrs. Kahn said carefully. “What happened yesterday?”

  “I was released from my interrogation cell!” Miss Sameera said. “Sinister men-in-black types had been asking me questions for ages. And then they tried to wipe my brain and turned me loose, and here we are! Hello, Blue. Hello, Logan.” She patted them lightly on their heads. “Shall I bring the syrup to the table?”

  “Wait,” Logan said. “They tried to wipe your brain, but it didn’t work?”

  “Well, some things are gone, but it’ll come back to me eventually,” she answered airily, waving one hand at her head. “I’m used to little holes in my memory here and there. They’ve done this before, you know. Like I told the other Free Rangers, I’m on to the government’s tricks now. I even offered to teach a seminar once on Preserving Your Memories by Keeping Your Faith in Unicorns, but nobody signed up. And they claim to be dedicated to the cause of freeing mythical creatures everywhere! Between you and me and the bookshelves, those people never respected me enough. It’s as though they think I’m making this all up. Can you imagine?”

  “Somehow, yes,” said Blue.

  “But how do you remember us?” Zoe blurted.

  “I just fix on the one thing that’s most important to remember, and instead of trying to hold on to the memory, I connect it to a book in my mind,” Miss Sameera said. She closed her eyes and whispered, “Zoe, The Last Unicorn, Zoe, The Last Unicorn, Zoe, The Last Unicorn.” Her eyes popped open again and she smiled. “So no matter what else is gone, when I woke up today, I immediately knew I could come here and see unicorns. That’s a wonderful book, by the way,” she added as an aside to Logan. “You should read it. I’ll put it on hold for you.”

  “Um, okay, thanks,” he said.

  “You’ve also probably built up some immunity to the kraken ink,” Mrs. Kahn said. “From taking it so many times. Also, it only erases real supernatural memories, so anything you just imagined or hoped for would probably still be there.”

  “Wow,” Zoe said.

  “It didn’t help me at all in Parkville,” Miss Sameera said with a sigh. “By the time I got back to where the unicorns were supposed to be, they were all gone. And as usual, nobody listened to me. You’re not all going to disappear suddenly, are you?”

  “That might depend on a few things,” Zoe said. “Such as how well you can keep a secret.”

  “Dazzlingly well,” the librarian said promptly.

  Logan and Zoe exchanged dubious looks. He remembered what she’d said earlier—“If we can’t wipe Miss Sameera’s memories, what do we do with her?” He wondered if SNAPA had ever dealt with a problem like this before . . . and what their idea of a solution was.

  “All right then,” said Mrs. Kahn. “Another place setting for breakfast, Zoe.”

  “Come meet my dad,” Logan said to the librarian, picking up the glasses of water he’d poured for himself and his dad. She trailed him into the living room, where Logan’s dad was trying very hard and very unsuccessfully to talk sports with Mr. Kahn.

  “Oh!” said Mr. Kahn, startled by the sight of Miss Sameera, or possibly just by her dress. “Hello! Good heavens.”

  “This is the school librarian, Miss Sameera Lahiri,” Logan said. “Kind of a long story.”

  “Are you here to see the unicorns, too?” she said to Logan’s dad, pumping his hand up and down.

  “No way,” he said. “Not if the rumors about them are true.”

  A little bewildered wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows, then vanished again quickly. “Is that Marco Jimenez?” she asked Mr. Kahn. “May I ask why he’s snoring on your couch?”

  “We’re not entirely sure,” Zoe’s dad answered, turning to include Zoe in the conversation as she set the table. “Agent Runcible said he hadn’t heard anything about adding sedatives to the toothpaste, but Agent Dantes thought it could have been mixed into this batch by accident. She’s telling SNAPA to issue a recall.”

  “Or maybe somebody mixed it in after it got here,” Zoe suggested. “Like whoever is causing all the rest of the trouble.”

  “That’s an awfully weird choice of sabotage, though,” Logan pointed out. “Making dragons sleepy is hardly going to disrupt the Menagerie. Sounds like it would make things more peaceful, actually.”

  “Unless the idea was to drug them so someone else could get past the intruder alarm,” Zoe said. “AHA!”

  “Speaking of which,” said Mr. Kahn. “Matthew! Could you please run up to the dragons and tell them not to yell about our current visitor when she steps into the Menagerie?”

  Matthew appeared in the doorway of the kitchen and made a forlorn face. “But pancakes!” he said.

  “They’ll be here when you get back,” his father said implacably.

  “Unless Marco wakes up,” Logan chimed in. “Then all bets are off.”

  “And what if Elsie shows up while I’m gone and you’re all super-embarrassing?” Matthew paused, then got a wicked look on his face. “I think Ruby should have to do it.”

  “If you can get her out of bed,” said Mr. Kahn, “then you have my complete support.”

  Logan could hear Matthew chuckling gleefully all the way up the stairs.

  “I didn’t understand any of that,” Miss Sameera said blithely. “But I assume I will once all my memories come back. We’re all very good friends, aren’t we? Although I have this feeling there’s someone here I’d rather avoid. I suspect there’s some connection to the new mountains of nibbled pillows at my house.”

  “We’ll steer clear of the Aviary,” Logan promised, guessing that Pelly wouldn’t be too pleased to see Miss Sameera, either, given how willing the librarian was to part with her. He glanced at Marco, wondering how long the sedative would last. Maybe they should go ahead and interrogate Nero without him.

  “Breakfast!” Mrs. Kahn called. “Where’s Melissa?”

  “Talking to SNAMHP about the merfolk situation,” Mr. Kahn said. “She’ll be a while, we should start.”

  “All right. Keiko!” Mrs. Kahn shouted at the stairs. “Breakfast!”

  “I’m not hungry!” Keiko shouted back.

  “It’s blueberry paaaaaaancakes!” Mrs. Kahn sang.

  “I hate blueberry pancakes!”

  “I suppose I could have seen that coming,” said Zoe’s mom. “Everyone, sit, sit, sit.”

  “So what do you remember?” Zoe said, steering Miss Sameera into the chair next to hers. “You said you followed someone into the woods and that’s where you found Pelly. Do you remember that?”

  “Nope,” Miss Sameera said cheerfully. “Who’s Pelly?” She paused suddenly, and a dark cloud seemed to cross over her features. “Oh dear. I think something is coming back that I might prefer not to remember.”

  “If you could think really hard,” Zoe begged. “It’s so important. We need to figure out who you followed into the woods. Or where the cabin was. Or anything that could give us a clue about who took Pelly.”

  “Pancakes will help,” said the librarian. “And seeing a unicorn, of course.” She smiled at Logan as he passed her the platter of pancakes.

  Zoe sighed. Logan could tell that sitting through breakfast was like torture for her right now. He looked around at the others eating and thought, I wish my mom could be here, too.

  “Can I just show you one thing?” Zoe said, flipping through pictures on her phone. “Does this cabin look familiar? Could it be the place where you found Pelly?”

  Miss Sameera studied the building in the photo Zoe had up on her screen. After a moment she said, “Well, goodness. I’ve definitely been there. I don’t remember who this ‘Pelly’ is. But I have a feeling I did some kind of daring rescue—this window gives me a kind of ‘I crawled through that’ vibe.”

  “Really?�
�� Zoe turned to her dad. “That’s the Sterlings’ cabin,” she whispered to him and Logan. Logan took her phone and looked at the elaborate two-story structure, which was bigger than any house he’d ever lived in.

  “So they are working with whoever’s sabotaging the Menagerie,” he whispered back. “Because they couldn’t have gotten in to get Pelly or set up Scratch, right? It must have been someone else doing their dirty work for them.”

  “I hope Pelly ruined all their stuff,” Zoe said furiously.

  Ruby came storming down the stairs with Matthew right behind her. Her short blond hair stood up in little spikes and she was wearing a chunky red sweater over her pajamas. “Why do I have to go talk to the stupid dragons?” she demanded, flouncing into the living room. “Oooh, pancakes. Are those organic blueberries?”

  “You may have some after you go see the dragons,” Mr. Kahn said, smoothly moving the plate out of her reach. “Which you have been chosen to do because we said so.”

  “Because you’re in trouble,” Zoe offered. “Because you did something way way way worse than I have ever done.”

  “You know nothing about love!” Ruby declared passionately. “None of you do!”

  “Perhaps the dragons will shower you with all the understanding and affection you’ve been lacking,” her mother said. “Better take a jacket, it’s cold out there.”

  “And wear a flameproof suit,” Mr. Kahn added.

  “I bet I can eat all of these before she gets back,” Matthew said, sliding into his chair and eyeing the stack of pancakes.

  “Don’t you dare!” Ruby cried. She dashed into the hall, grabbed her coat, scarf, and boots, and ran out the back door. They watched her sprint down the hill, trying to put everything on at once.

  “When does she start the OOPSS course?” Matthew asked his mom.

  “Over her winter break,” said Mrs. Kahn. “I’m afraid she won’t be home for Christmas this year.”

  “That is a terrible shame,” Matthew said impassively.

  Logan turned back to his plate and spotted something small and furry near his foot. Carefully he leaned a little bit to the side, pretending he was reaching for the syrup while looking down out of the corner of his eye.

  He was pretty sure it was the tiny creature he’d seen eating marshmallows the day before. Now it was sitting against the leg of the table, picking up crumbs and eating them delicately with long, slender fingers. It looked a lot like a slow loris or a lemur with no tail—its face was all giant eyes and its fur was the color of caramel, except for dark patches around its black eyes that made them look even bigger. Unlike a slow loris, though, it had two little wings that folded between its arms and its body like a bat’s.

  “Zoe,” Logan whispered, testing a theory. “Is there a creature under my chair?”

  She gave him a baffled expression but didn’t even look down. “I doubt it,” she said.

  It’s the deflector, Logan guessed. Bob. I bet I can see her now because of the scarab. He touched the lump of the insect necklace under his shirt. That’s why her deflective power isn’t working on me anymore.

  He cut off a piece of his pancake, glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to him, and casually dropped it beside his chair.

  Swoop! A small hand darted out and snatched it.

  If nobody can see her or even remember she’s there most of the time, then nobody feeds her, Logan realized. He remembered the disappearing candy bar on Halloween night. Obviously she can take care of herself. He dropped another piece of pancake, and again it vanished in a flash.

  He took the next bit of pancake in his fingers and slowly lowered his hand until he was holding the pancake just under his chair. Conversation swirled around him, but he barely listened; his attention was focused on the slightly sticky crumb he was holding.

  A long moment passed.

  And then he felt tiny fingers brush his as the little creature tugged the pancake out of his hand.

  Yes, Logan thought with excitement. We’ll be friends in no time, Bob.

  “—con cheeseburgers,” Marco said suddenly from the couch. He sat up, blinking and shaking his head. “Whoa. How did I get here?” Logan saw a blur of motion as Bob zipped out of the room.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Zoe said with relief. She twisted around in her chair to look at Marco. “I was worried you’d sleep through school tomorrow.”

  “Yikes, Ma would have such a fit if that happened,” Marco said. He hopped off the couch and wobbled a bit on his way to the table, but made it into a chair. Logan pushed the plate of pancakes toward him.

  “Hi, Marco!” Miss Sameera said brightly.

  Marco stared at her for a minute with his fork halfway to his mouth. “Did I miss something?” he said. “Isn’t this the same librarian who chased me down the hall with a stapler just a few days ago?”

  “Did I?” Miss Sameera said with avid curiosity. “I don’t remember that at all.”

  “She has a few holes in her memory,” Logan explained.

  Marco apparently decided not to volunteer that he’d been a rooster at the time. He shrugged and went back to eating pancakes.

  But that reminded Logan of what they’d found that day on the librarian’s computer while she was distracted with Marco.

  “How often do you talk to the other Free Rangers?” he asked. “You haven’t told them anything about this place, have you?”

  She sat up indignantly and waved her fork at him. “Those troglodytes!” she cried. “I could probably send them a photo of me riding a unicorn and they still wouldn’t believe me!”

  “Neither would anyone,” Zoe said with a frown. “Unicorns absolutely refuse to be ridden. You should hear them gripe about their ‘delicate bone structure.’”

  “I found the most appalling thing when I got home yesterday,” Miss Sameera said, reaching around to fish in her coat pockets. “Look at this! A letter from Mr. Claverhill—finally, after all the letters I sent to him!—and what does it say? It says ‘Please stop ensnaring us in these elaborate hoaxes’! HOAXES INDEED.”

  She slapped the letter on the table and Logan leaned over to look at it.

  “Cease and desist!” the librarian yelped, stabbing at the letter with one finger. “Cut off all ties with our organization! Take your harebrained nonsense to the Inquirer! Leave the serious mythical-creature investigating to the truly dedicated cryptozoologists! WELL. The joke’s on THEM, isn’t it? Now I’m going to be the first Free Ranger to befriend a unicorn and they’ll never even know. Ha!”

  “That’s great,” Zoe said with relief. “You’re right, they didn’t appreciate you. You’re way too smart for them, Miss Sameera. Never speaking to them again is definitely the way to go.”

  “And the ridiculous thing is,” Miss Sameera went on, “if they had just listened to me and sent backup six months ago when I followed the lady with the little furry dragon here, they could have been in on all these amazing discoveries, too. But NO. Roll their eyes at ME, will they?”

  Logan’s father dropped his fork with a clatter. Logan felt his own heart stop in his chest.

  Miss Sameera rolled to a halt, realizing that everyone was staring at her.

  “What did I say?” she asked. “I promise I won’t really go to the Inquirer.”

  “Lady with a furry dragon?” Logan’s dad said in a choked voice.

  “Oh yes,” she said brightly. “I spotted her in an airport in Los Angeles. At first when something moved in her pocket I figured, you know, illegal monkey smuggling or something. But then I caught a glimpse of its face. SO adorable, clearly a furry dragon, just like you might see in a Chinese painting. I changed my flight right away, of course, so I could follow her. To Denver, then Cheyenne, and then out to Xanadu, as it turned out, although I nearly lost her when I had to argue with the rental car people. So what if I didn’t have a reservation? Do you think all the cars in Cheyenne were booked? I mean, really.”

  “You followed her all the way to Xanadu?” Lo
gan said. “Did you see what happened to her?”

  “Nothing happened to her,” Miss Sameera said in surprise. “Oh, well, she got pulled over, but the police officer didn’t give her a ticket or anything. Probably because her friend showed up and talked to the cop. I don’t know what he said, but she ended up switching to his fancy black car and leaving her car on the side of the road.”

  “Her friend?” Logan’s dad asked. “What kind of car did he have?”

  “The fancy kind,” she said confidently. “It was definitely black.”

  “Where did they go after that?” Logan asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “That’s when I lost her, I’m afraid. I stopped to try and snoop in her car, which was silly of me. I thought maybe she’d left the dragon in there, but it must have gone with her.”

  Logan reached out and took his dad’s hand. This was the closest they’d ever come to finding out what happened to Mom. Miss Sameera might have been the last person to see her before she disappeared.

  “This ‘friend’ she drove off with,” Logan’s dad said slowly, as if he was afraid the librarian would suddenly leap up and bolt away. “Can you describe him?”

  “Well, sure,” said Miss Sameera. “But I don’t really have to. His picture is all over town. It was that nice man who’s running for mayor.”

  SEVENTEEN

  There was an electric pause.

  “Jasmin’s dad?” Zoe whispered.

  “That’s right,” said Miss Sameera. “He’s very charming, isn’t he?”

  Before Logan could regain control of his breathing, his father stood up, knocking his chair over, and headed for the door.

  “Wait,” Mr. Kahn said, scrambling after him. “Jackson, wait. Storming over there isn’t going to do any good. They’ll just lie. You won’t get her back that way. Stop and think about this.”