The Menagerie #2 (16 page)

“Blue was
joking
,” Logan said with a fierce look at his friend, who was laughing so hard he'd nearly fallen off the bench. “I am not
at all
interested in Keiko. Frankly, she is terrifying.”

“Great!” Marco said, thumping Logan cheerfully on the back. “That is great, great news. Now you can stay my friend instead of becoming my arch nemesis.”

“Except now the
entire school
will think I like Keiko,” Logan said. “Thanks a lot, Blue.”

“They say let the punishment fit the crime,” Blue observed.

“The good news is that now Jasmin will be nicer to you,” Zoe pointed out. “Because you've become gossip-worthy, and therefore interesting. Especially since it means you're not, um . . . not with me.” They had run into Jasmin while they were together on Saturday, trying to smuggle a griffin cub out of the toy store, and Logan had let her think he was dating Zoe so they could get away faster.

“Man, she is going to have the weirdest impression of me,” he said.

“So what happened with the glitter bomb?” Marco asked. The others told him about Matthew's reaction and Agent Runcible and the three weeks of roc nest cleaning and hellhound walking and mapinguari baths that Zoe would have to do as punishment.

“I'm not sure I ever want to meet this mapinguari,” Logan said to Zoe.

“You don't,” she agreed. “He's a big kind of sloth thing who smells awful. Like basilisk-level awful. And baths don't help him at all; I'm not sure why my mom insists on them.” She shot a glare at Blue. “Of course Prince Blue over here didn't get in
any
trouble, even though his mom now knows we snuck out into the woods Sunday night.”

“I got a very stern talking-to,” Blue said calmly.

“Injustice,” Zoe said. “I live with it every day. Oh, and the worst part? Keiko totally knew it was Agent Runcible all along. She was hoping I'd get in trouble somehow for snooping around after him, although naturally I exceeded her wildest expectations. When I got up to our room last night, she was as smug as a fox who's eaten
all
the chickens.”

“HEY!” Marco objected. “I'm sitting right here!”

“Sorry.” Zoe rubbed her temples. “And Mom and Dad said no crazy investigating today. I have to go right home for the voir dire.”

“The what?” Marco asked.

“Jury selection.” Zoe stabbed her fork into her salad and sent a cherry tomato rolling onto the ground. “It's supposed to be six of Scratch's ‘peers,' meaning other creatures who can talk. Blue, can you round up a few merfolk who might be sympathetic to Scratch? Our other choices include the unicorns, the other two dragons, the phoenix, the griffins . . .”

“Whoa,” said Marco. “I'm in.”

“I thought you wanted to avoid SNAPA,” Logan reminded him.

“Yeah, but unicorns and dragons and griffins? This I gotta see. Besides, one of the agents is a werewolf, so it's like we're practically kindred spirits, right?”

“You haven't met many other werecreatures, have you?” Zoe said to him.

“Just my family,” said Marco. “But hey, they can't all be that bad. Ha-ha-ha!”

“The agents will probably be too busy to pay much attention to him,” Blue offered.

“True,” Zoe said. “All right. We'll all go watch the voir dire after school. I'll tell Dad to prepare Firebella and Clawdius so they don't sound the alarm.”

“Awesome,” Marco said. He leaned across the table and punched Logan's shoulder lightly. “Dibs on sitting next to Keiko.”

“All right, everyone, settle down!” Mrs. Kahn raised her voice to carry over the hubbub in front of Mooncrusher's hut.

The yeti lived in a kind of sturdy tentlike structure—a yurt, Zoe called it—that Logan guessed he'd built himself. It was made of wood and covered in woven white fur that seemed to be his own. It sat on a little island of ice, and outside the yurt was a glittering garden of ice sculptures, most of them mini-yetis. Some of them even wore giant sunglasses like Mooncrusher's.

The ice ended at a low concrete wall, and on the other side was a grassy area, currently full of milling creatures and people. Captain Fuzzbutt was sprawled on the ice in front of the yurt's door, peeking over the wall at the tables the SNAPA agents were setting up with Mr. and Mrs. Kahn. Beside the mammoth, the yeti stood with his arms folded, glaring at anyone who came too close to his territory.

As Logan, Zoe, and Marco came up from the lake path, one of the griffins—Riff, the one with black feathers—accidentally stepped on Clawdius's tail. The silver dragon roared indignantly, huffing out a small burst of flame that nearly set the top of Mooncrusher's yurt on fire.

“BLAAAAARGH!” Mooncrusher shouted, waving his furry fists.

“Not destined for long life is he who dares to
blaargh
, Clawdius,” growled the dragon.

“Calm down, both of you,” Mrs. Kahn ordered. She glanced at the wand in her hand, as if double-checking that the chips were working on both Clawdius and Firebella. Zoe said the range had been extended to allow them to leave the mountain caves, so the voir dire could take place out of Scratch's hearing, but the Kahns held electric shock wands and were keeping the two dragons on a short leash.

Marco grabbed Logan's arm and shook it. “DRAGONS!” he whispered loudly. “Actual dragons!”

“I know,” Logan whispered back with a grin.

Agent Runcible and Agent Dantes stepped back from the tables and nodded at Mrs. Kahn, who raised her hands to get everyone's attention.

Just as it started to get quiet, the roc let out a piercing shriek from inside the Aviary. The two unicorns bolted out of the crowd and started galloping in a panicked circle.

“She's going to eat us!” bellowed Charlemagne.

“Who will protect us?” cried Cleopatra. “Not these worthless serfs who allow beautiful creatures to be eaten under their very noses! Alack the day!”

“Unicorns,” Zoe muttered under her breath. She leaned toward Logan and Marco. “Rocs
used
to eat unicorns, but of course Aliya hasn't had anything like a unicorn in centuries. Those two are totally acting up to get SNAPA sympathy. I could strangle them.”

“
Unicorns
,” Marco hissed to Logan. “
Actual unicorns.
”

“I know,” Logan said, trying not to laugh. He understood exactly how Marco felt.

Still shouting with alarm, Cleopatra vaulted over the concrete wall, slipped on the ice, and skidded into Mooncrusher's meticulously maintained ice sculpture garden. Her hoof struck one of Mooncrusher's mini-yetis and splintered the ice.

“BLAAAARRRRRRRGH!!!” Mooncrusher howled, flying across the enclosure. He roared at Cleopatra until she jumped back over the wall and trotted away with her nose in the air. Then he crouched and patted at the sculpture with his large, furry paws as though it was his own child.

Oh
, thought Logan. If he'd thought it was lonely sitting at lunch with no friends for two months, he could only imagine what life was like for the only yeti in Wyoming.

“There he is!” Zoe exclaimed, pointing as Blue came running up from the lake. He was followed by three merpeople: two adults and the teenage mermaid who Logan had met when he first found out about Blue. Her name was something like Sapphire, he thought. She was wearing barely enough clothes to be considered dressed—a skimpy green tank top, short navy shorts, and gold flip-flops—but she didn't seem at all affected by the cold. The mermaid tossed her long blond hair, smirked at Zoe, and sauntered over to the crowd of mythical creatures.

“Really, Blue? That's the best you could do?” Zoe asked.

“I tried,” Blue said, giving her a helpless shrug. “Nobody else would even consider coming ashore for jury duty. There's a rumor going around that if the Menagerie gets shut down, Dad and the rest of us will be relocated to the Hawaiian refuge. It's hard to motivate merfolk when tropical waters are on the table.”

“But that's not even true!” Zoe shook her head in dismay. “We have no idea where you guys might end up!”

“I know, but once they get an idea in their heads . . .” Blue trailed off as though uncomfortable criticizing merpeople.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Well, thank you for trying.”

“What about Nero?” Logan asked. “He'd qualify for the jury, wouldn't he? Has anyone been able to ask him about the night of Pelly's murder yet?”

“Oh, we've had lots of great conversations with piles of ashes,” Zoe said with a sigh. “That bird needs serious anti-anxiety meds. Matthew went to see if he could get Nero to stay nonflammable long enough for the voir dire, but I'm not holding my breath. He'll probably set himself on fire again at the very idea of serving on a jury.”

Mrs. Kahn clapped her hands, but between the unicorns complaining loudly, the griffins and dragons growling at each other, and the yeti still blaaaarghing grumpily in the background, the noise level was too high for anyone to pay attention to her.

Agent Runcible stood and blew a short, sharp whistle. The crowd fell silent as he stalked up to join Mrs. Kahn at the front.

Runcible surveyed them, looking displeased. “All prospective jurors need to line up, single file, along the wall. We'll call you forward one at a time. Predators at the front.”

“Quickly, please!” Ruby called, bustling up to join him. “Dragons first!”

“She's really going to defend Scratch?” Logan asked Zoe.

“Well, she thinks she is.” Zoe frowned at her sister's tailored red suit and the clipboard Ruby was waving at everyone. Ruby caught her expression and sent an equally disapproving look at Logan. “Excuse me.”

Zoe went to help escort Riff and Nira into place. The two griffins turned to nudge her affectionately with their beaks. Logan had visited the cubs before coming over here and had gotten an earful about how unfair it was that they couldn't be on the jury and why didn't anyone care about
their
opinions and did juries get snacks? Or treasure? And they would be
great
jurors and hey while Mom and Dad are gone let's have a contest to see who can eat the most pears hooray bye Logan!

Logan smiled, thinking about them, but his smile faded as he glanced over at the SNAPA agents. If this trial went badly . . . not only would it mean Scratch's extermination, but most likely the whole Menagerie would be shut down, with all the animals sent elsewhere, or worse.

Finally the potential jurors were arranged, more or less, in a line. Mr. Kahn led Clawdius forward to a spot in front of the tables, while the agents, Mrs. Kahn, and Ruby took their seats.

Agent Runcible studied the silver dragon. “What are your feelings about Scratch?” he asked carefully.

“Neither wise in years nor stars is Scratch the young.” Clawdius inspected his talons and gave the mountain caves a faraway, pensive look. “To leap before time is to break one's wings.”

Ruby cleared her throat loudly, then paused to flip a page on her clipboard and jot something down. Finally, she looked up at Clawdius. “Do you think Scratch could have committed this terrible crime? Would he kill Pelly if given the chance? Could he, perhaps, have been acting on natural instinct?”

Logan was no expert, but it seemed counterproductive to ask that many questions at once. Particularly of a dragon, whose speech was a little convoluted to begin with.

“Of little consequence is loss of fat the honk-bird,” Clawdius observed. Behind Logan, Melissa snorted. “Evermore after-dragon meets not the honk-birds.” His silver scales caught the afternoon sunlight as the dragon cocked his head before continuing. “Caring not about honk-bird or eating of honk-bird is Clawdius. Only hopeful is Clawdius for delicious the meal and trouble the worthwhile for Scratch.”

“I see. Very clear,” said Agent Runcible. “We respectfully dismiss this juror.”

Ruby frowned, but the other SNAPA agent was already waving Firebella forward. Agent Dantes looked up at the female dragon, then quickly down at her notes with a deep breath.

While Clawdius reflected light, Firebella seemed to absorb it. Her scales were velvety black with an occasional flash of purple. Logan did not want to encounter her in the dark of night. Well, he didn't particularly want to encounter her anytime without a fireproof, bite-proof, claw-proof suit and lots of backup.

The graceful dragon stopped in front of the yurt and blinked her yellow eyes at Runcible and Ruby.

“Could you be impartial in this trial?” Runcible asked her.

“Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss,” hissed Firebella, flicking her tongue at him.

Runcible glanced at the electric shock wand in Mrs. Kahn's hand, perhaps wishing they were all wearing fireproof suits. “If we promise not to wake you with any more inspections?” he offered.

“Rrrrrrrrrll,” growled Firebella.

“Wait,” said Mrs. Kahn as Runcible reached for the wand. “Firebella, we just want to know—do you think Scratch is guilty or not?”

“No,” said Firebella. And then, with equal force, “Yes. Guilty. Not guilty. No scales off my tail to both. Prefer to be sssssleeping would be Firebella.”

Ruby stepped forward, but with a wary glance at Firebella's narrowing eyes, she didn't waste any time. “How do you feel about Pelly's death?”

“Long the march of time is on and on. Moonrise to sunset and ever the star-time, but all things to death in close of brief years. Briefer for man-things. Briefer also but less brief for golden honk-birds.”

“I'll take that as a not bad,” Ruby muttered. She turned to Runcible. “The defense has no objections.”

“Nor the prosecution. Firebella, you will be on the jury.”

The dragon narrowed her yellow eyes still more and breathed a long plume of white smoke. “So-ever and ever delighted is Firebella.”

“Yes, well,” said Dantes, clearing her throat. “Both dragons should return to their caves now.”