Krakens and Lies (24 page)

“Besides,” Elsie pointed out, “you should probably get Logan to go with you, yeah?”

“Tomorrow, then,” Zoe said. “First thing. We're getting into the Sterlings' backyard and we are going to shake that statue until Abigail and the dragon fall out.”

She went over to the window, twisting one hand around the other wrist.

I hope I'm right
.

I hope they're there
.

Because if they're not . . . I have no idea what we're going to do
.

M
onday morning dawned cold and chilly, much colder than usual for early November, according to all the chatter on the car radio. Logan and his dad drove in silence for the first five minutes, listening to the local Xanadu station newscasters talk about the mayoral election the next day, which Mr. Sterling was predicted to win by a landslide. He'd been profiled in
Time
magazine as a small-town political star with big ambitions and a bright future, so the buzz around town was that a national news network was coming to cover his victory speech.

“He's always been such a benefactor to this town,” gushed one of the radio DJs.

“I just hope we get to keep him for a few years before Congress snaps him up!” said the other with a laugh.

“I heard he's going to make a big announcement tomorrow night,” said the first one. “Something that will put Xanadu on the map.”

“And bring in lots of jobs, let's not forget!” said the second. “An economic boom for everyone, that's what Mr. Sterling has promised. We'll all be millionaires in three years if his plans are even half as successful as he's predicting they will be.”

“Of course, the election's not over yet. There's also . . . the other candidate.”

“Right. Anything could happen, after all—”

Logan's dad reached over and switched the radio off. “He's going to look like quite an idiot,” he said calmly, “when everyone is standing there ready to hear his big announcement and he doesn't have that little dragon to show them.”

Logan shot him a smile. Whether his dad was faking it or not, his confidence was incredibly reassuring.

“Or Pelly,” Logan said. “I guess they stole her for the same reason—to prove to the world that the Menagerie is real.” He shook his head. Something still didn't fit about that theory. Why frame Scratch? Was there a connection to the deaths of Scratch's mom and sister? Why disrupt the Menagerie so much at all? Why not just go on TV with the Chinese dragon?

He also didn't understand how telling the world about
the Menagerie was supposed to benefit the Sterlings. Even if everyone knew about the unicorns and griffins, that wouldn't make the Sterlings any money—exposing it still wouldn't give them the right to turn it into an amusement park for their own profit—and from what he knew about the Sterlings, money was the end goal of everything they did.

He wrapped his cold hands in the ends of the scarf around his neck. It was a warm fiery red shot through with soft gray streaks. His mother had brought it back for him from one of her trips—to Mongolia, she'd said. He wondered which animal she'd been Tracking on that trip and whether it was in the Kahns' Menagerie right now.

“Listen,” his dad said. “I don't want you getting the wrong idea about skipping school. I'll write you a note saying you were sick today, but this isn't going to happen again, understand? Special exception for rescuing kidnapped mom.”

“Got it,” Logan said, returning his smile. He knew his dad was trying to joke to break the tension, but he had to be feeling as anxious and keyed up as Logan did.

His dad parked in the Menagerie driveway and turned to face Logan. “But seriously, Logan, I'm worried about involving you in this.”

“I involved
you
,” Logan pointed out. When Zoe had told him about the message, he knew they could have kept it to themselves and investigated the statue without their parents. But he also knew he was done with keeping secrets from his
dad, and he hoped the same was true in reverse. “I want to find her together, Dad.”

“I know,” his dad said. “Me too. That's why I'm letting you come along.”

“That's why I'm letting
you
come along,” Logan said, grinning but only half joking.

“Partners, then.” His dad held out his hand and Logan shook it.

Zoe and her mom were standing at their front door as Logan and his dad got out of the car. Zoe was wearing a fuzzy white hat with little black eyes and ears so it looked like a yak. Her red hair stuck out under the earflaps and her face was pink with cold.

“No luck with Blue?” Logan asked, pulling his own plain gray wool hat down over his ears.

Zoe shook her head. “Melissa said he was not allowed to miss school just to go on ‘some wild goose chase,' when we don't even know if we'll find anything, and plus there were quite enough of us ‘wasting our time' already.”

“Melissa doesn't handle disorder well,” Mrs. Kahn said sympathetically. “It's the merfolk situation. She's in a bit of a state about Elsie's paperwork, and SNAMHP is supposedly coming to negotiate with Cobalt today. Zoe's dad has to drive all the way to Cheyenne with Agent Runcible to pick them up from the airport. Apparently one of them is a vampire and needs special transport during daytime travel.”

Captain Fuzzbutt poked his trunk around the door and made a mournful noise.

“Shhh,” Zoe said, kissing his trunk and then nudging it back inside. “You know you can't be seen out here. We'll be back soon, I promise.” She pressed her hands together, squeezing her fingers nervously.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Mrs. Kahn asked her. “You could get in trouble. Maybe you should stay here, or go to school after all.”

“
You
could get in bigger trouble,” Zoe pointed out. “Logan and I are just kids poking around a friend's house. You and Mr. Wilde could get arrested for breaking and entering. Maybe
you
should stay here.”

It sounded so much like Logan's conversation with his dad that he laughed.

“All right,” Mrs. Kahn said. “I guess we're all going.”

They walked to Jasmin's house, stopping at the bottom of the long driveway to scan for the Sterlings' cars. Zoe pulled off her glove to check her phone.

“Jasmin says they're all gone,” she reported.

“Someone is going to notice that you, me, and Jasmin were all out sick today,” Logan pointed out.

“We'll have notes,” Zoe said, nodding at her mom and his dad. “And I highly doubt anyone will get Jasmin in trouble the day her dad gets elected mayor.” She stuck her phone in her pocket and put her glove back on. “Except maybe her
own parents,” she mumbled. “I told her she didn't have to stay home and help us.”

“But she didn't listen,” her mom said. “Because she's just like you two.”

“Intrepid?” Zoe guessed as they headed up the drive.

“Resolute?” Logan offered.

“Heroic!” Zoe said.

“I was going to go with
stubborn
,” said Mrs. Kahn. “But sure.”

Zoe hesitated at the bottom of the steps, looking at them. “Remember, Jasmin doesn't know about Logan's mom yet. I've told her we're looking for our missing creature. I just—I didn't want to tell her her parents are kidnappers until we were sure.”

From the grim look on his dad's face, Logan could tell
he
was pretty sure. But he didn't argue.

Jasmin threw the door open before they could knock. She was wearing the same fuzzy yak hat as Zoe. “Eeeeee!” she cried, pointing to Zoe's head. “I was hoping you'd wear it!”

“Well,” Zoe said, “I decided if we could wear them when we were pretending to be Arctic explorers—”

“We could wear them to find a mythical creature on the coldest day in the history of the universe,” Jasmin said. “Me too!”

Logan had met colder days, living in Chicago with the wind coming right off the lake. But there was an extra chill in
the air today that wasn't about the weather; it was the danger of hope rising under the awful dread that all this could lead to nothing.

“This is my dad,” he said. “Dad, Jasmin.”

“Hello,” his dad said awkwardly. “Thanks for your help.”

“It's nice to see you again, Jasmin,” said Zoe's mom, stepping forward to hug her.

“You too, Mrs. Kahn,” Jasmin said warmly. “Where do you guys want to start looking?” She waved them inside. “I swear, I don't think it could be here, considering how people get into every nook and cranny of this house. Even last night, at least three different people wandered into
my
room during that awful party, claiming they were looking for the bathroom. I ask you, what bathroom says JASMIN in huge glittery letters on the outside of it? I mean, seriously.”

“We think we found a clue,” Zoe said. “Can we look at the giant Buddha in your garden?”

Jasmin wrinkled her nose at her. “Sure. I don't think it has any secret compartments, though. Remember how we used to climb up and sit on its lap?”

“And remember how your mom yelled at us for doing that?” Zoe countered.

“Oooh, good point,” Jasmin said. “She freaks out whenever anyone goes in her Zen garden. Okay, let's check it out.”

Logan had seen the Sterlings' yard up close once before,
the night he and Zoe and Blue snuck in to look for one of the missing griffin cubs. It had looked a lot more mysterious and creepy in the twilight. Now, in the pale morning, it just looked gray and a little trampled. There was a cover over the pool and a few champagne glasses were scattered around, abandoned on the poolside table and the edges of the wooden planters.

The stone Buddha was as tall as Logan and sat in the corner of the yard, near the towering white brick wall. It was surrounded by a neat square of white sand dotted with three piles of smooth black rocks. A small bonsai tree grew out of a miniature rock mountain beside it, and water trickled down a pebble fountain nearby.

“How do we avoid leaving footprints?” Logan wondered, looking at the sand.

“We'll rake it again after we're done,” Jasmin said, pointing to an odd-looking fork thing leaning up against the wall. “I'm sure we'll do it wrong, and Mom will get all shouty, but you know what, somehow she'll live.”

Logan stepped gingerly across the pristine sand and studied the statue. It looked fairly ordinary—huge, with an enormous flat pedestal at least four feet square, but not huge enough to hide a person inside, obviously. And it appeared to be solid stone all the way through. He tapped on it gently.

On the other side of it, Zoe and Jasmin were poking it
much more vigorously, tugging on its earlobes and trying to find something that moved. Logan's dad crouched to examine the base, while Mrs. Kahn glanced around the garden uncomfortably.

Logan stepped back to look at the statue from a distance again. He tried to imagine himself as a small whiskered dragon, looking at it. Why would it be such an important clue—a quarter of the dragon's whole message?

“Can I see the sketch Matthew and Elsie made?” he asked Zoe.

She pulled out a folded-up piece of paper and passed it to him. The drawing did look quite a bit like the statue in front of him, except there were strange wavy lines coming off the left side of it.

“What are these?” he asked, showing them to Zoe.

“I don't know, but Elsie was sure they were part of it,” Zoe said.

Jasmin leaned over to look at the drawing and giggled. “They look like those motion lines you see in a comic book,” she said. “You know? Like, ZOOM! When the character is running across the page. Except here it's my giant stone Buddha zipping off.” She gave Logan a stern look. “If you tell anyone at school that I know anything about comic books, I will destroy you.”

“She's kidding,” Zoe said.

“I am absolutely not,” Jasmin said.

“Maybe that's it!” Logan jabbed the paper. “Maybe the whole statue moves!”

“Let's try sliding it,” his dad suggested.

Jasmin squinted at him, then turned to Zoe. “Remind me why he's here?” she whispered.

“I'll tell you soon,” Zoe said. “I promise.” She glanced at Logan. He knew this must be hard for her. But all he could think about was his mom and how close she might be.

Logan, Zoe, and his dad lined up on the statue's left side, found spots for their hands, and started to push.

The statue moved an inch. And then another inch. And then, suddenly, it slid smoothly to the side, revealing a trapdoor barely hidden under a thin layer of sand.

“YES!” Jasmin nearly shouted. “That is amazing! I can't believe I've lived here my whole life and had no idea that was there.”

Logan's heart was pounding. Was his mother below that trapdoor? What would they find when they opened it?