Krakens and Lies Read online

  DEDICATION

  For Adalyn—

  may your dreams be filled with griffins

  MAP

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Camp Underpaw’s Guide to Mythical Creatures

  Acknowledgments

  Back Ad

  About the Authors

  Books by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  ONE

  Logan Wilde stared down at the map in his hands. Mr. Sterling’s oak-paneled study seemed to be spinning around him.

  Dragon Lair.

  Flight of the Griffins.

  Unicorn Safari.

  One week earlier, he had discovered that his little town of Xanadu, Wyoming, contained a secret home for mythical creatures called the Menagerie. Emphasis on secret. As in, nobody was supposed to know about it, and anyone who accidentally found out would get their memories wiped with kraken ink.

  He’d only been allowed in because he could communicate with the baby griffins and because of his mom’s ties to the Kahn family, who ran the Menagerie. But he understood how important it was to hide these endangered magical animals from the world.

  The map in his hands represented the exact opposite of all that: a vision of the Menagerie as an amusement park where rich tourists could snap pictures of mermaids, ride a chained-up woolly mammoth, and probably buy yeti-fur blankets and baby pyrosalamanders of their own at the large GIFT SHOP marked prominently in the corner.

  Logan’s heart was hammering in his chest. The Sterlings didn’t just know about the Menagerie. They knew all the details—the layout, the animals who lived there. But how? Ruby Kahn had given all the Sterlings kraken ink, which should have wiped their memories of the Menagerie. Why hadn’t it worked?

  He slipped his phone out of his pocket and snapped a photo of the map. The Kahns needed to see this right away.

  It was awkward working with the fake fur and claws of his werewolf costume. Across the hall, he could hear the noise and thumping music of Jasmin Sterling’s Halloween party. It was the first party he’d been invited to since moving to Xanadu—and now he needed to find a polite way to bolt out of there two hours early.

  “What on earth are you looking at?” Jasmin said from behind him, making him jump. He’d almost forgotten that she and his friend Blue Merevy were even in the room.

  Logan fumbled his phone back into his jacket and tried to roll up the map, but she was already reaching around to take it from him.

  “There can’t possibly be anything interesting in my dad’s boring papers about boring real estate and boring politics and—” Jasmin stopped, raising her eyebrows at the map. “Oh, Dad.”

  “What?” Blue asked, leaning over her shoulder to look. Jasmin glanced sideways at him with a smile and tilted it so he’d lean closer to her.

  “Isn’t my dad so cheesy?” she said. “Remember that Wild West theme park he tried to start a few years ago? The huge enormous failure?”

  “Oh yeah,” Blue said, looking at her instead of at the map. “We went with Zoe on opening day.”

  “Right,” she said, laughing. “And we all got totally sick on the free root beer, and you fell off a horse that was barely moving, and then Zoe nearly locked herself in the old jail cell while I was pretending to be sheriff.” She paused, and a wistful expression crossed her face that was almost an exact match for the look Zoe got whenever she talked about Jasmin.

  She misses Zoe, too, Logan realized. Zoe had had to stop being friends with Jasmin six months ago, when the whole Sterling family was dosed with kraken ink after Jasmin’s brother, Jonathan—Ruby’s boyfriend at the time—tried to steal a jackalope.

  He tried to shoot PAY ATTENTION, TIME TO FREAK OUT vibes at Blue, but the blond boy was . . . what was he doing? Giving Jasmin a rather goofy-looking grin, for one thing.

  “Anyway, look,” Jasmin said, shaking her hair back. “Dad’s got another brilliantly terrible idea. A theme park full of imaginary creatures? Who does he think is going to drive out to the middle of seriously absolutely nowhere for some lame animatronic unicorns? I mean, really, right?” She giggled and waved one hand at her Halloween costume. “Maybe you and I can play a couple of the mermaids.”

  Logan saw the moment where Blue realized what he was looking at. Even without the terrifying labels, it would have been easy to recognize the Menagerie from the giant lake in the middle of it—the lake where Blue’s father, King Cobalt, ruled over the merfolk.

  The normally unflappable merboy jumped back as though the map had snarled at him. All the color drained out of his face.

  “Blue?” Jasmin said, turning toward him. “Are you all right?”

  “We have to go,” Logan said quickly. “I was just telling Blue—that’s why we’re in here, sorry.”

  “No!” Jasmin cried, genuinely upset. “Blue, you can’t leave already. You just got here. We haven’t danced or anything. And there’s, um—there’s red velvet cake! In the shape of a ghost! You can’t leave before the cake.”

  Blue shook his head and ran one hand through his hair. “Sorry, Jasmin. It’s, uh—”

  “My cat,” Logan jumped in, right as Blue said, “My mom.”

  Jasmin glanced between them suspiciously.

  “His mom,” Logan agreed.

  “Got bitten by his cat,” Blue blurted.

  Logan shot him a look. You are the worst liar. Poor Purrsimmon, as if she would ever bite anybody.

  “What?” Jasmin said. “Is she all right?”

  “Yes,” Logan said.

  “No,” said Blue, and Jasmin’s eyes went wide.

  “His mom is fine,” Logan said firmly. “He means my cat, who is now missing, and we have to find her, so we need to leave now.” Before this lie gets any more absurd. He pushed Blue toward the door.

  “Are you taking your disturbing sixth grader with you?” Jasmin asked. “Because she just dared Cadence to bite off one of her own fingers, and then got all outraged when she wouldn’t. I’m not sure she completely understands that Truth or Dare is a game. Also, she might be a psychopath.”

  “Keiko, yes,” Blue said distractedly. “We should get Keiko.”

  “This is going to go over well,” Logan muttered. He took out his fake fangs as they left the study. At least he wouldn’t have to wear his uncomfortable costume any longer.

  They found Zoe’s adopted sister, Keiko, perched on the kitchen counter, chatting to three seventh-grade girls, while Marco Jimenez stood beside her holding two plates of snacks. Keiko took a tiny meatball from one plate and a mini-quiche from the other without looking at him. Her blue fox ears twitched, but no one seemed to notice that they were real.

  “Terrible idea,” Keiko said to her fascinated audience. “Getting you together would be an utter waste of time. Violet, stop liking him at once. There are much more useful things you can b
e doing with your brain than thinking about idiots and how to get those idiots to pay attention to you.”

  “Aidan’s not that bad,” Marco protested faintly.

  “And he’s so cute . . .” Violet said.

  “He is twelve, and a boy,” Keiko said, as if this were boringly obvious. “He’d require an exhausting amount of training. You wouldn’t have any time for soccer.” She speared another meatball.

  “What kind of training?” Marco asked. “I’m a fast learner. Just in case you were wondering.”

  Keiko gave him a skeptical look and then spotted Logan and Blue heading toward her. Her expression shifted into a glare.

  “Absolutely not,” she said, pointing her toothpick at them. “Take those pathetic faces elsewhere. I will rip off your eyelashes if you try to make me leave right now.”

  “It’s an emergency, Keiko,” Blue said.

  “You’re an emergency,” she said.

  “Seriously, we have to go right now,” Logan said.

  “Aw, really? Already?” Marco held up the plates. “Look, she’s letting me hold her fancy miniature foods!”

  Keiko studied Blue’s eyes for a minute, then growled softly. “Help me down,” she ordered Marco.

  He hurriedly dropped the plates on the counter, scattering crumbs everywhere, and took Keiko’s outstretched hand. She jumped lightly to the floor and patted him on the head. “Think about what I said,” she said to the three girls. “See me in school on Monday if you have any questions.”

  Logan turned toward the exit and nearly ran into a woman wielding a gleaming knife.

  “Aah!” he yelped, leaping back.

  “It’s all right, you’re safe from me unless you’re a cake,” Mrs. Sterling said, smiling. Her gold-rimmed glasses caught the light so it was hard to see her eyes.

  “Oh—sorry, Mrs. Sterling,” Logan said awkwardly.

  “I’ll forgive you this time, young man,” she said, tipping the knife slightly toward him. Her dark hair was swept back from her face and pinned into a bun. Her orange-and-black dress was made from some kind of shiny material and she had on what looked like ten pounds of jewelry, between the diamonds dangling from her ears, the bracelets sparkling on her narrow wrists, and the giant pearl nestled in a gold-and-silver pendant at her neck.

  Logan’s mom would never have worn any of that. She wore her wedding band on one hand, a black-and-silver ring on the other, and that was usually it, apart from her charm bracelet. Jewelry would have gotten in the way of wrestling chimeras or whatever she had to do in her secret Tracker job.

  “Jasmin says you’re leaving already?” Mrs. Sterling said to Blue. He nodded, and she made a little fake sad face with her mouth. “What a shame. I hope we get to see you again . . . soon.”

  As an exhibit in your theme park? Logan wondered. She must know Blue was one of the merfolk, if the Sterlings knew everything else. She probably knew about Keiko being a kitsune, too. He felt a sudden flare of anger. Blue and Keiko weren’t specimens; they were his friends. Well, Keiko was more like the unpredictably grouchy younger sister of a friend, but still. He’d do anything to protect her, or Blue, or the Menagerie.

  “Come on,” Logan said, taking Blue’s arm and dragging him away. He could feel Mrs. Sterling’s eyes on his back as they left the kitchen, as if she were thinking, I know where you’re going. And it will be mine soon.

  TWO

  In the main entrance hall, Logan and Blue found Jasmin sitting on the stairs with her chin on her hands and her elbows on her knees, staring sadly into space. Her mermaid tail was a green, glittery waterfall flopping over her feet, and her hair was a dark curtain around her thin shoulders.

  Blue hesitated, glanced at Logan, and then went over to sit on the stair beside her. He gently put one hand on Jasmin’s back.

  “I’m sorry we can’t stay,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll be an awesome party.”

  “Of course,” she said, mustering a smile. “All my parties are awesome. You’re so missing out.” She looked into his eyes for a minute, then turned away, wrapping her arms around her legs.

  Blue tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, leaned over, and quickly kissed her cheek. “See you Monday,” he mumbled, jumping up and practically running for the door.

  Keiko was already outside, so Logan was the only one who saw the radiantly hopeful expression spread across Jasmin’s face. He waved good-bye to her and followed Blue out.

  “Don’t say anything,” Blue warned him as they walked down the long driveway, past the eerie glowing jack-o’-lanterns. Logan hadn’t noticed it on his way in, but now half the carvings made him think of mythical creatures. Was that one an octopus, or a kraken? That one could be an ordinary ghost . . . or the yeti the Sterlings were planning to imprison and exploit. And that one was definitely a dragon. Its orange eyes seemed to be glowering malevolently at him.

  “I’m not saying anything,” Logan said. “Jasmin seems . . . kind of okay once you get to know her.”

  “Yeah,” Blue said, kicking the gravel. “She’s not really like how she acts at school now. It was always great hanging out with her, before . . . everything with Jonathan. I don’t get it, Logan. How do the Sterlings know about the Menagerie?”

  “Agent Dantes said some people have stronger resistance to kraken ink, didn’t she?” Logan pointed out. “Maybe Ruby didn’t give them enough.”

  “Or maybe she didn’t give it to them at all,” Blue said grimly.

  “Wow,” Logan said. “And then lied and told everyone that she did? That would be so unfair to Zoe.”

  “Tell me about it,” Blue said. “Zoe dosed Jasmin and stopped speaking to her, to protect the Menagerie. It was pretty much the worst thing she ever had to do. And if it was for nothing—if Ruby didn’t even dose the other Sterlings—”

  “Then we should feed her to a . . . a . . . what’s the most dangerous mythical creature?” Logan asked.

  “Yeah!” Blue said. “We should feed her to a pyrosalamander!”

  The tiny fire-eating lizards weren’t quite what Logan had had in mind. He’d been thinking something larger and toothier.

  “You’re the one doing my math homework for the next month,” Keiko informed Blue as they caught up to her at the bottom of the driveway. “As for you—how’s your Spanish?” she added to Logan.

  “Keiko, when you hear why we had to leave, you’ll understand,” Blue said. “You’re in danger, too.”

  She tossed her head. “In danger of being lame,” she muttered. “Leaving a Jasmin Sterling party before nine. My followers are not going to believe this.” She growled at a passing group of trick-or-treaters and a tiny pirate shrieked and hid behind his mom.

  Soon they turned up the drive to Zoe’s house, and Logan breathed a sigh of relief. The sprawling colonial-style house looked just the same as when they’d left it, although Zoe was no longer staring mournfully out the front window. An enormous wall stretched in either direction, abutting the sides of the building and hiding the Menagerie from view. Everything seemed quiet.

  “Oh, look at that,” Keiko said snidely. “Still standing. I was expecting at least a smoldering pile of rubble, given all the extreme panic-stricken urgency and everything.”

  “How do you guys keep people from asking what’s inside those walls?” Logan asked Blue. “The Sterlings must drive by this place every day—but they can’t be the only people who’ve ever been curious about all the land hidden back there.”

  “It’s the thing,” Blue said vaguely.

  “The thing?” Logan asked.

  Blue scrunched up his face. “We have a—well, you know.”

  Logan blinked at him. “No, I don’t. How would I know? What are you talking about?”

  Blue waved his hands. “The . . . thing.”

  “Blue! WHAT thing?”

  “The whatchamacallit that makes you not think about it so that—hey, your wig is falling off.” Blue didn’t seem to notice that he’d shifted topics midsentence.


  Logan reached up and pulled off his werewolf wig, rubbing his head. If he understood Blue’s evasive weirdness right, it sounded like there was some kind of device that could block anyone from noticing it, and its power worked on the whole—

  The front door flew open. A vampire in a long, slinky red dress stood framed in the doorway, flashing her fangs at them.

  “HAPPY HALLO—oh, it’s you,” she said.

  “Don’t let any real vampires see you dressed like that,” Blue said, frowning at her. “Those fangs are just insultingly wrong. And why are your arms all sparkly? Are you a vampire or a pixie?”

  “I’m not dressed as a real vampire.” Zoe’s sister Ruby sniffed, rearranging her black wig. “I’m dressed as a Twilight vampire.”

  “Oh, much better,” Blue said. “Nothing makes a real vampire more likely to bite you than bringing up those books. There’s a safety tip for you,” he said to Logan.

  “Okay, thanks,” Logan said, following him into the house as Ruby sashayed off up the stairs.

  A furry head with two enormous, flapping ears poked around the corner.

  “EEEEEHHHH-WEEEEIIIIHHHH-NUUUU!!!” The woolly mammoth trumpeted in excitement and bounded into the hall.

  “Ew, no, get off!” Keiko shrieked as Captain Fuzzbutt tried to pat her with his trunk. “Don’t you dare touch me, you overgrown hairy elephant!” She swatted him away and the mammoth turned happily to Logan, stretching out his trunk. Logan stepped forward and gave it the fist bump the mammoth was looking for.

  Zoe appeared behind the Captain. “Why are you guys back so early? Is Jasmin all right?” She narrowed her eyes at Blue.

  “They made me leave,” Keiko said huffily. “Apparently it’s the end of the world. Can’t you tell? Now I have to go wash mammoth drool out of my hair, so—”

  “Wait, Keiko,” Blue said. “You should hear this, too. Zoe, where are your parents?”

  “In the kitchen,” she said, twisting her hands together anxiously. “What’s wrong?”

  Logan pulled out his phone as they went after Blue into the kitchen. Mrs. Kahn was reading from a cookbook while Zoe’s dad shaped a mound of lumpy oatmeal dough into giant dog biscuits. Two of the hellhounds sat below them, slavering rivulets of drool all over their paws. The room smelled like pumpkin bread, and cello music played softly on the stereo in the corner. Logan could see Zoe’s older brother, Matthew, doing homework at the large table in the next room.