Krakens and Lies (26 page)

“Oh, it was accidental kidnapping, really,” said Abigail. “They just wanted Xiang. They thought I'd take the two million dollars and disappear, but I'm afraid they got the wrong Tracker. I wouldn't leave him, so they were stuck with me.” She turned and whistled a low, shivery series of notes. The creature under the blanket rolled over with another growl.

“But couldn't you have pretended to take the money?” Mrs. Kahn said. “And then come to us for help?”

“I couldn't risk leaving Xiang—we might never have found him again. And he needed taking care of.” Logan's mother crouched and whistled again.

A tiny, lionlike face poked out of the blanket. It had bushy white eyebrows, long curling whiskers, and small horns like antlers on the top of its head. A shaggy white lion's mane surrounded its gentle face, and as it crept forward, Logan could see shimmering reddish-pink and gold scales all along its serpentine body. Sharp little talons dug into the mattress nervously.

“Oh,” Jasmin whispered, pressing her hands to her chest.

“It's all right, Xiang, these people are all safe,” Abigail said quietly.

Xiang looked up at Logan, who tried to hold very still.
With a small ripple of motion, the dragon threw aside the blanket and flowed off the bed, scurrying across the floor into Abigail's arms.

“His pearl,” Mrs. Kahn breathed. She knelt down beside Logan's mom. “Oh no. How did they know?”

Logan's mom expertly held the dragon in a way where he looked comfortable and she could tilt him to show Mrs. Kahn his chin. “They must have done their research,” she said. “They took it first thing, before I could stop them. You see why I couldn't leave.”

“Of course,” Mrs. Kahn said.

“I don't,” said Logan's dad.

Abigail brought the dragon over to show him and Logan. “Chinese dragons normally have a pearl here, fitted below his chin,” she said. She pointed to a small depression under the dragon's jaw. “It's the source of their power—with it, they can be any size, they can call down storms from the sky, they can walk on clouds, and they can bring luck and protection to their friends. Without it, they lose all their magic.”

Xiang made a sad cooing noise.

“It's all right,” Abigail said gently. “I don't need luck. I have a brilliant husband and son, see?”

“So they took his pearl?” Logan said.

“And I couldn't leave him like this, with all his power gone,” Abigail said. “He's been so sad.”

“They,”
Jasmin interjected. “You mean the Sterlings.
My parents
. My parents kidnapped you and stole this dragon's pearl?” She turned to Zoe. “So they could expose your Menagerie to the world and turn it into an amusement park?”

Zoe twisted her fingers together. “We think so. I'm sorry, Jasmin.”

Jasmin turned and walked out, letting the door slam closed behind her. Zoe glanced at her mom, who had worry lines all over her forehead.

“I'll go talk to her,” Zoe said. She pulled open the door and ran out after Jasmin.

“Poor kid,” Abigail said. “I'm not sure I'd know what to think if I found out my parents were like hers.”

“Jasmin seems fairly resilient,” Mrs. Kahn said. “But I hope they don't find out she helped us.”

Logan glanced at his watch. “Then we should hurry to get back,” he said. “So we can make sure she's home by three thirty.”

“I don't think we need to go back the way we came,” said Mrs. Kahn, pulling out her cell phone. “If I can find service, I'll call Matthew to pick us up.” She shook her head. “I don't know how we're going to get that pearl back, though.”

“Um,” Logan said. “I—I have a sort of half idea. It might be crazy, though.”

“A crazy half idea is better than none,” Mrs. Kahn said.

“Maybe we could use one of the Menagerie creatures,”
Logan said. “Can he bring Nira with him?”

“Who's that?” his dad asked.

“The mother griffin,” Logan said. “She's pretty fierce. I bet she could help.”

Mrs. Kahn gave him a quizzical look. “All right, I'll ask.” She held up her phone, checking for a signal. “Let me go try outside.”

Left alone again, Logan and his mom and dad looked at each other and broke into matching grins.

“I'm so proud of you for figuring out my message,” Mom said to Dad.

“Well, sort of,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “Some of it took me a while.”

“But you got here,” she said. “I was afraid I'd been too clever with the Fanny reference.”

“Right,” he said. “Because she was . . . ?”

“Robert Louis Stevenson's wife!” she said. “He went on a honeymoon with her to an old ghost town and wrote a book called
The Silverado Squatters
about it! Come on, everyone knows that.”

“Literally nobody knows that, Mom,” Logan said, hugging her again.

She shook her head. “Too clever. I knew it. Then what brought you to Old Silverado?”

“Xiang sent a distress signal and the kraken picked it up,” Logan said.

“Oh, aren't you clever,” she said admiringly to the little dragon. “I'm so glad I convinced them to let you go swimming, then. See, even without your pearl you're full of wisdom.”

“Qrrrrrrrr,” said the dragon, nudging her shoulder with his nose.

“He doesn't want to leave without his pearl,” she said. “I've tried to talk him into escaping before. But it's everything to him.”

“We'll get it back,” Logan said. “Come with us, and we'll get it back together. Today. All right? I don't know exactly how, but we will.” He imagined another night creeping around the secret staircases in the Sterling mansion and wondered where in that enormous house they could be hiding a magic pearl.

The little dragon leaned over and reached out one of its talons. Logan gently touched it with his fingertips.

“It has to be today,” Abigail agreed. “The Sterlings are planning something big and I think it's happening soon.”

“It is. Tomorrow,” Logan said. “They're planning to expose the Menagerie at the election victory party. But if they don't have the dragon—”

“Doesn't matter,” Abigail said, shaking her head. “If they have his pearl, they can compel him to come to them. He'll have to go if he senses his pearl is in danger. I'm sure they know that.”

Logan felt his heart sink.

They'd rescued his mom.

But if they didn't find that pearl . . . then they were still going to lose the Menagerie.

Z
oe sat next to Jasmin at the bar in the saloon. A dusty chalkboard overhead offered root beer floats and sassafras something-smudged. The mirror across from them reflected Jasmin's face, but Zoe couldn't read it, and that was only partly because of the dirty glass. Jasmin seemed to be staring into space, her hands holding up the sides of her head. She hadn't said a word as Zoe explained the whole story—from Jonathan trying to steal the jackalope to the kraken ink to Logan and the griffin cubs to the map and Miss Sameera seeing Abigail drive away with Jasmin's dad.

Zoe finally trailed off. “Did—did all that make any sense?” she asked.

“No,” Jasmin said at last. “Would it make sense to you if you found out your parents kidnapped someone else's mom?”

“No,” Zoe admitted.

“Zo—are my parents going to go to jail?” Jasmin asked, unable to look at her. “I mean . . . you said there was a government agency involved. When we bring Logan's mom back, how much trouble will they be in?”

“That's not how SNAPA works,” Zoe said. “They'd rather keep everything quiet than deal with trials and jail. Jasmin, it's going to be okay, I promise. Now that Abigail is safe, we can give your parents and Jonathan kraken ink, and they'll forget all about the Menagerie. Everything can go back to normal.”

But Zoe couldn't get the worried note out of her voice.
Except . . . except . . . except . . 
. her brain kept chiming.
Except we still don't know who helped them sabotage the Menagerie or why they targeted Scratch. Except we have no idea how to give them kraken ink. Except we still have to find the dragon's pearl before tomorrow night. Except . . 
.

“They're not bad people,” Jasmin said. “Not even Jonathan. Although he did sneak his laundry in with mine and turned my new jeans pink, that jerk.” She threw Zoe a weak smile. “If you need someone to lock up in a secret prison guarded by dragons, I volunteer him.”

“We'll just wipe his memories,” Zoe said. “He'll probably be very confused for a while.”

“So, no different than usual,” Jasmin said wryly.

Zoe started giggling. “You know, every time I've seen him in the last few months, he's had this vaguely spaced-out expression. I thought it was the kraken ink and the holes in his memory, but now I've realized—that's just his
face
.”

Jasmin laughed. “I know exactly the look you mean.” She thought for a moment and the smile slowly drifted away.

“You're right, they're not bad people, Jasmin,” Zoe agreed. “They've done some bad things. But I know they've done good things, too, like all their work on wind energy, and I know they love you. And we can fix this.”

“Yeah, we can,” Jasmin said, flipping her braids back and squaring her shoulders. She gave Zoe a determined look. “I know where that pearl is.”

“You do?” Zoe cried.

“If it's enormous and sort of golden, then yes. It's in my mom's new necklace,” Jasmin said. “She never takes it off. She's been wearing it
all the time
for the last six months. That's why I noticed—I was like, ‘Mom, hello, what happened to a little variety in our accessorizing?' and she was all ‘Simple elegance is always in style, especially if it's wildly expensive.' You know. Mom.”

“Do you think she's wearing it now?” Zoe asked.
How on earth are we going to get it if she is? Maybe Mom and I can put on masks and mug her. And then Mr. Sterling can give an ironic
speech about crime in Xanadu and how he'll put a stop to it when he's mayor
.

“I'm sure,” Jasmin said. “Still, knowing where it is is half the battle, right?”

“Absolutely,” Zoe said, throwing her arms around Jasmin. “Thank you. Let's go tell the others.”

Jasmin stopped her as Zoe hopped down from the stool. “If my parents do get in trouble—” she said. “Will you help them?”

“I will help
you
,” Zoe promised. “Whatever it takes.”

They went back out through the swinging doors and found Zoe's mom sitting with Logan and his parents on the fence of the corral. The dragon was coiled around Abigail's shoulders, stretching its tail in the sun and glittering gold-pink-red. It was pretty crazy-cute. Zoe wondered what Captain Fuzzbutt would think of it. Sometimes he got a little jealous of other creatures Abigail brought in, especially if they were adorable. But she hoped they'd end up friends.

“Matthew's on his way,” Zoe's mom called. “We'll get you back in time to meet your parents, Jasmin.”

“Oh,” she said, glancing at her watch and then at Zoe. “That's right. Hey, maybe while I'm with them, I could grab the pearl.”

“No way,” Zoe said, alarmed. “Jasmin! Don't be crazy. We can't let you do something dangerous like that. I don't want
them to have any idea that you're helping us.” She told the others about Mrs. Sterling's necklace.

“Oh!” Logan said. “I saw it! She was wearing it the night of the Halloween party.”

“So how are we going to get it back?” Mrs. Kahn asked.

“Logan has an idea,” Abigail said with a smile.

“I'm still thinking about it,” he said. “Let me figure it out a bit more.”

“He's a natural Tracker, Abigail,” said Zoe's mom. “You'd be so impressed. He's as great with the animals as Zoe is.”

Zoe looked down at her shoes, feeling her face get warm. Her parents didn't usually have time to stop and tell her she was good at anything.

“Someone's coming,” said Mr. Wilde, pointing at a cloud of dust in the distance.

Zoe rubbed her wrists, sending up a small prayer that it wasn't the Sterlings. There had been piles of food, a microwave, and a small refrigerator stuffed in the jail cell with Abigail, so clearly they didn't come every day. Zoe was hoping they weren't planning to return for the dragon until right before the victory party tomorrow. In the best-case scenario, they'd never discover he was missing because they'd be all kraken inked by sunset tonight.

Matthew rolled up in the Kahns' dilapidated van. “Hey there, vagrants,” he said. “Sorry, my mom says I'm not allowed to pick up hitchhikers.”

“Ha-ha,” said Zoe's mom, leaning in the window to kiss his forehead.

“Hi, Ms. Hardy,” he said. “I'm glad you're okay.”