The Menagerie

by Tui T. Sutherland

  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 ke
ep 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.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Six hours later, Logan sat down on the bench outside the ice-cream shop and rubbed his sore legs.

  “I cursed us,” he said ruefully. “Why is there so much food in this town?”

  “You mean, why was there,” Zoe said. She pulled out her phone and started typing a message to her parents.

  “School cafeteria,” Logan said, counting on his fingers. “Pizza place. Candy store. The Dumpster behind the supermarket. The Dumpster behind the sandwich shop. All the cat food in the pet store, but none of the dog food. We’re lucky he didn’t try to break into the hamster cages. The freezers at both Chinese food places and the Mexican place. All the Twinkies in the 7-Eleven, but nothing else, so maybe he’s finally getting full.”

  “It’s like we’re searching for a bottomless pit instead of a griffin cub,” Zoe said. Her phone buzzed. “Okay, Mom and Dad are at the Buffalo Bill Diner, but everything seems normal there. And Blue is still stuck in crisis management with his parents. I guess the mermaids haven’t done all the underwater things on SNAPA’s list yet.” She sighed. “I feel like I should be there helping. I’m better at the scuba work than Matthew is.”

  “You are helping,” Logan said. “Finding the cubs is the most important thing, right?”

  “Maybe I’d feel that way if we were finding a cub,” she said ruefully.

  “Well, let’s think,” Logan said. “This cub is fast, stealthy, and on a totally different mission than the others.”

  “Mission Eat the Entire Planet Before We Stop Him,” Zoe agreed.

  Logan stood and began pacing up and down the sidewalk. They hadn’t made it to his house yet, and he was starting to fantasize longingly about clean T-shirts. They also hadn’t stopped for lunch, although it didn’t seem like the red griffin had left anything uneaten in the whole town anyway.

  A few blocks down the street, a flash of reflected light from one of the library windows caught Logan’s eye. “Hey,” he said, “there was a flyer in the library about missing sheep. Is there any chance the griffin could have eaten those, too?”

  Zoe shoved back her hair and twisted one of her earrings as she thought. “I doubt it,” she said. “Even after eating all this, he’d still be smaller than a sheep, and the cubs have never learned to hunt or kill anything. Besides, that flyer’s probably been up for a while. The ranchers around here are always complaining about something.”

  “Okay.” Logan stopped and rocked back on his heels. “Think. What does this griffin like to eat more than anything else? Does he have a favorite food?” He scratched his arms. “Can we think and bike to my house at the same time?”

  Zoe nodded and followed him to their bikes. The morning chill had burned off quickly and it seemed like a hotter day than normal for late October. Logan led the way to his house, cutting through the supermarket parking lot on the way. He glanced at the Dumpsters again. From the mess and the way the bags were piled like a nest, he was afraid the griffin had slept there, which meant he was not going to be very pleasant smelling once they found him.

  For the first time that day, Logan started feeling weird as he unlocked his door and let Zoe inside. While they were out searching, he hadn’t even thought about how he was hanging out alone with a girl. But now she was in his house, and it was Zoe Kahn, of all people. Not the first friend he’d expected to bring home, and possibly the last girl.

  He glanced around his living room and wished he’d vacuumed the beige carpet last week the way his dad had asked him to. It seemed like he could see crumbs everywhere. His Gatorade was still on the coffee table from yesterday afternoon. And Purrsimmon was sitting on top of the brown leather armchair, glaring at him. Replace ME with a griffin cub? her expression said. WELL, I NEVER.

  “Sorry, Purrs,” Logan said, offering her his hand. She turned up her nose at him and twitched her tail.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” Logan said to Zoe. He took the mouse food he’d bought at the pet store into his room, closed the door, and fed Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who looked a lot happier now that a griffin wasn’t eyeing them hungrily through the glass. Logan shoveled his clothes off the floor into the laundry basket. As he dug through his drawers, Zoe started talking to him through the door.

  “The griffins all like fish,” she said. “We have a lot of fish in the lake, so the griffins get plenty of that. Um. Matthew gave them chocolate once, and they all freaked out—it was like a griffin rodeo in there for the rest of the day.” Her voice wandered away, as if she was exploring his living room.

  Logan grabbed an orange T-shirt with a bulldog on it, gave it a quick sniff, and then discarded it again. There’s got to be something clean in here somewhere. He finally found a striped yellow-and-gray T-shirt and switched out his cargo pants for blue jeans, plus a gray zippered hoodie.

  “We grilled for the whole Menagerie for the Fourth of July.” Zoe’s voice sounded like she was in the kitchen now. “The cubs were only a month old at that point, but they each got a cheeseburger. They totally loved—” She stopped talking abruptly.

  “Zoe?” Logan called. She didn’t answer. Uh-oh, Logan thought. What could she have found? Was there anything embarrassing in the kitchen?

  He threw on new socks and different sneakers, poured fish food into Warrior’s bowl, and ran back through the living room.

  Zoe was standing in front of the refrigerator, staring at the door.

  “What?” Logan asked. “Did you think of something the griffin would want?”

  “Um—yeah,” Zoe said. “Yes. Cheeseburgers. Right. I have to call my dad. Stay here.”

  Logan blinked as she disappeared out the front door. What the heck? He glanced at the fridge. It was covered in magnets from Chicago, old photos, invitations to his dad’s department events, recycling info, a calendar, and a couple of takeout menus. Nothing very dramatic here.

  Unless she’d noticed the department of wildlife heading on his dad’s papers. Logan rubbed his head, worrying. Yes, his dad’s department would probably want to know about griffins and dragons in their neighborhood. But surely Zoe knew he would never tell his dad about the Menagerie.

  Maybe she was mad that he hadn’t mentioned his dad’s job. Mad enough to wipe his memories? Would she think he was a threat to the Menagerie now? Would Blue agree with her?

  Logan got a couple of clear plastic bottles and filled them with water, to make sure he’d have something safe to drink, just in case. He also wrote a quick note to his dad, letting him know he’d been home. Then, since Zoe still wasn’t back, he made them both peanut butter sandwiches with blueberry jam. He packed up some carrot sticks and a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies. They could take everything to go and keep searching.

  He gave the door a nervous look. This seemed like a long conversation. Focus on the griffins. The more useful you are, the more likely they are to trust you and keep you around.

  “Cheeseburgers,” he muttered. Squorp had eaten a fair amount of their hamburger meat, but he found another block of it at the back of the freezer and defrosted it in the microwave. He separated out two patties and cooked them on their countertop grill, then packed the rest of the meat into a cooler bag with several slices of Ame
rican cheese and a squeeze bottle of ketchup. Just in case, he threw in a bottle of chocolate syrup as well, then packed a few other supplies in his backpack.

  He was just zipping up the bag when Zoe opened the front door. She definitely looked upset.

  “What happened?” Logan asked. “Is everything okay?”

  Zoe nodded, but the look on her face was the same as the one he’d seen Friday morning when she was lying to him about losing her dog. Logan wondered if he should bring up his dad’s job . . . but if that wasn’t the problem, he didn’t want to make it the problem.

  “I made sandwiches,” Logan said, pushing hers toward her. “And I have an idea about the cheeseburgers.”

  “Okay,” Zoe said. “Whatever you think. Let’s just go.”

  Logan hesitated. Maybe she’ll be willing to talk about it after we find the next griffin, he thought. “Bye, Purrsimmon,” he called into the living room. “I promise you’re still my favorite cat.”

  “RRRREOW,” she grumbled.

  Outside, Logan stared at his bike for a moment, holding the two cooked hamburgers in a napkin in his hand.

  “What’s happening?” Zoe asked.

  “I was thinking we’d ride through town with these and lure him to the grills in Teddy Roosevelt Park,” Logan said. “But I can’t figure out how to attach a hamburger to my bicycle.”

  Zoe covered her mouth with one hand, like she was fighting back a laugh. “Let me see.”

  Finally Logan went back inside for some dental floss, which they used to tie one of the hamburgers to the book rack on the back of his bike. It was kind of gross, even with a paper towel underneath it, since the meat was still a bit raw and drippy.

  “My poor bike,” Logan said.

  “I just hope Jasmin doesn’t see me like this,” Zoe said. Her bike didn’t have a book rack, so they tied the other hamburger onto the front like a meaty headlamp. “It’s a level of weird I don’t think I’ve ever reached before.”

  Logan laughed. “All right, so I’ll go one way through town and you go the other way, and hopefully the griffin will catch the scent and follow us there.”