The Adventures of Zayla and Zac

Book 1: Hope, Zayla’s side of the story

My bad luck started when our mom disappeared on Zac’s and my seventh birthday. The police searched for her for at least two months without any trace before finally giving up and declaring her dead. We would have had a funeral for her but as I said her body was not found. My father shook his head in despair when we got the news. Zac ran to his room and locked the door. The news was the hardest for me to take because I loved my mother so much that I dared to hope that she was still alive. But now six years have passed, and no news nor sign has come.

A few hours after I was supposed to be asleep, I heard the floorboards creak as if someone tried to sneak past my room but before I could get up and see who it was, I fell asleep. It felt like I had only slept for a second when Zac woke me up and shoved a paper in my face and said, “Zayla you should read this. Dad left this morning and I think he left this note for us to read.” 

I quickly scanned the paper and gasped. On the paper our dad had written that he left to search for our mom because he couldn’t bear to be lonely for much longer. Since he thinks he won’t be back for a while, he wrote that we should go to our next-door neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Sirili’s house.

After I finished reading I handed the paper back to Zac who tucked it into his jeans pocket and I asked, “Well, should we bring something with us?” 

Zac answered with sarcasm, “No. We should leave our stuff behind so people can rob our house.” But after that he said, ‘’Of course we should bring our stuff. What do you think?” 

“That’s what I was thinking too,” I said. While talking about all that, I was thinking about dad and hoped he was okay. 

After spending a few weeks at their house, Mrs. Sirili came to us sniffling and said, “My sister died from cancer and her husband committed suicide ten years before, so my poor niece is coming to live with us. Oh, and her name is April, April Wheeler. She should be here by tomorrow, so give her a warm welcome.” 

April came early the next morning, and I sped to the door to answer it. When I opened the door, standing outside was a girl, who I guessed was April. She had long curly red hair, vivid blue eyes, and a splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was neither short nor tall. Then she waved and with a smile she said, “Hello! I’m April and I come to live here.” Then she asked, “Are aunt and uncle home?”

I answered, “Yeah, but they’re asleep. By the way, I’m Zayla SoLeo and I hope we can be friends.” April and I shared a smile as I beckoned her into the house. Since it was still early, I told April, “Why don’t we go to my room and talk or watch something?” 

April replied, “Watching something would be fine,” as we tiptoed upstairs. 

When we got to the room, I turned on the TV. The only thing on was news, so I was about to turn it off when something made me stop and listen. I heard the reporter say that Josh SoLeo was assassinated. I hoped so much that my father would be safe, so the news shocked me. I turned off the TV and turned my head so April couldn’t see me crying, but somehow April knew and hugged me saying quietly, “So Josh SoLeo is your father, and I also heard what happened to your mom.” 

“Yes, she disappeared on my seventh birthday,” I said after I stopped crying. 

Suddenly, April blurted out, “Why don’t we try to find your mom?” 

I replied, “No! That’s a good idea, but that’s how my dad got killed.” 

“Oh, but we can still try to find her,” she said.  

I sighed and said, “Let’s go to bed.” When I fell asleep, I had the strangest dream (if it was even a dream). 

It started in a dark corridor. In the middle of the room was a woman with chains on her hands and feet. It was too dark to see what she looked like. It also looked like shadowy men were jumping around her. Then I heard someone clearing their throat. I jumped and turned around. Behind me was an old man. 

The man said, “My name is Thomas Jones, call me Tom though.” He started coughing wildly and then continued, “This is not a dream. I called your spirits here to explain what’s happening to your family. Your mother wanted to explain in due time but didn’t have a chance.” 

“Woah woah woah, back up, how do you know my mom?” I asked. 

Tom answered, “I was her teacher, but that’s not the point. The point is that your parents are in great danger, and they hope that you and Zac are safe as much as you hope they are. Okay, now let me tell you what you need to do. Zac’s and your birthday is in four days, and that’s when your parents are deemed to be killed by the shadow King.” 

I asked suspiciously, “What’s so scary about shadows?” 

Tom replied, “Oh! You should be scared of them; they like to take control of people’s bodies and destroy their souls. You should be afraid of the person who turned these men into power thirsty shadows. We call him the devourer.” 

I said, “Wait, I have another question. Who is the ‘we’?” 

Tom answered, “The people with unique abilities used for greater good or shortened down to AUFG. I’m one of them. You, April and Zac plus some others might be too, soon. You do know that you need April too?” 

“Yes but what are our abilities?” I wondered. 

“You will find out in due time. But we don’t have enough time now to talk. I’ll see you soon, Zayla, I hope,” he said as his voice grew fainter and fainter. 

When I got up, the first thing I realized was that the woman that I saw was my mom, and that wasn’t a dream. I nearly shrieked in delight but instead I started packing. It was noon when I woke up, and I had missed breakfast, that’s why April had already left the room. I hurried downstairs and on the kitchen table was a plate of food was left for me. I quickly ate the food and went to find April and Zac. I found them in the living room playing video games. 

I stepped in front of the television and Zac complained, “Aww man, why did you have to interrupt? I was beating April!” 

April frowned and said, “As far as I am concerned, I am winning, not you!” 

Then I said, “Anyway, stop playing and pay attention.” They stopped and listened as I told them about my encounter with Tom.

Zac said something first, “So, wait, let me get this straight; you believe some guy in your dream said mom and dad are alive? How is that possible?” Zac had also seen the news report.

“It wasn’t just any dream!” I shouted. 

April however believed me and said, “So we have to save your parents before your birthday which I must mention is in three and a half days while figuring out our abilities. So let’s save them as soon as possible.” 

Zac sighed and said, “Oh well, we better try. So we need to pack some things like money.” As April and I hurried about to gather the things he added, “Food, knives, matches, clothes, …” 

When we were finished with packing our stuff, we decided to borrow some money from Mr. and Mrs. Sirili to buy train tickets to Chicago. Since Zac had a similar dream, that gave us a clue of where to go when we were ready. We left to the train station and we managed to get aboard without any of the officers being suspicious about kids traveling without supervision. I sat down and looked through the window as the landscape seemed to fly by. I fell into a peaceful sleep but then the train stopped abruptly, and I hit my head on the seat in front of me. 

As people screamed, “We’re falling!” I woke April up. She said we had to do something to save them. I nodded, then I closed my eyes, and concentrated, which is hard when you’re falling, but I managed. Then an idea popped into my head. It was symbols. I didn’t know if they would work but I had no choice. 

I did the symbols and as soon as I did them, the train stopped falling and started to fly back onto the track. I was excited and stopped concentrating, but the train started to fall again. April did something I wouldn’t have expected. Ok, let me explain first, there were vines nearby and she shouted while pointing to them, “Save us.” 

It worked and soon we were back on the track. Zac came and said, “Not fair, you found out what abilities you have. April has nature magic and Zayla can levitate things.” 

I said, “I’d prefer to just call it magic, and just like Tom said, you’ll get your abilities in due time.” Then we got to the station and we quickly hurried away. 

The next day we explored Chicago with only three more days before our birthday. We decided to split up and search. We would meet up at the hotel we stayed at the night before. I went south, and the city was beautiful as people went along with their businesses. The day went by fast, and we went back to the hotel without finding our parents. Only two more days remained. April told us her dream and said, “On your birthday, they plan to kill your parents at noon.” The dinner was good and we planned to wake up at dawn the next day, but we couldn’t find any clue. 

“We have only a few hours, let’s make the most of our time,” I said. As we were walking, we saw a place that we hadn’t seen before and we went to check it out. When we got there, the shadowy men that I saw in my dream popped out of hiding and attacked us. I was caught off guard, so one of them got me. I’m sure you’d rather have them not touch you; their touch was so cold. Then the shadowy man who had caught me started swinging me and we disappeared to a cliff where he threw me. 

My thoughts were, I hope Zac and April can save mom and dad, as I fell to my certain death. Then I thought about what would be written on my tombstone: “Zayla SoLeo died on her birthday, age 14.” At least I thought I would die. 

Find out what happens next in Book 2 with Zac’s side of the story.