Ghost Leopard (A Zoe & Zak Adventure #1)

by Lars Guignard

  “Just like with that bhagwan guy today,” Zak said. “You blew him right back. Same as when that car was speeding down the freeway. It hit some kind of force field around your basket and drove into the snow pile. Something is watching out for you.”

  “OK, genius, if you're right and I'm a yogi, why did I almost fall off that bus roof?”

  “How should I know?”

  “Well, you seem to think you know a lot.”

  “I do not.”

  “Do too.”

  “Do not.”

  “Both of you. Behave. You’re acting like children,” Amala said.

  “Like Zoe says,” Zak said, “technically we are children.”

  My leg was itchy. I scratched it, pulling my pajama leg up. Then I froze. There on my bare leg sat a six-inch scorpion. Its venomous tail was reared, ready to strike. I must have turned white as a ghost.

  “Ah, guys?” I didn’t know what else to say.

  “Don’t move,” Zak said.

  “Zak's right. Stay very still, Zoe.”

  “Now yoginate it.”

  “You yoginate it.”

  “You’re the yogi!”

  I was flustered. First I had a freaky man laughing at me from a bunch of leaves, and half an hour later I had a scorpion on my leg. Could my day get any worse? Zak raised the leather handle of his whip, Stryker, high above his shoulder. Yes. My day could definitely get worse. And it was about to. Zak raised his right arm and smacked down hard.

  “Ow!” I screamed.

  Zak missed the scorpion. He did, however, leave a red welt on my leg. Fortunately for me, the scorpion didn’t sting. Maybe the big old universe was finally giving me a break. Zak lifted his arm high in the air for a second try.

  “Wait,” I said.

  I put my hand out to Zak who handed me Stryker. I tried to think good thoughts about the scorpion. Because that’s what a yogi would have done, right? Then, I took the whip by its leather handle and gently flicked the scorpion away. I don’t know if the scorpion appreciated my good energy or not, but it landed on the ground and scuttled off. Score one for me. I considered what Mukta had said. “So why doesn’t the Monkey Man just steal the Leopard’s soul with a camera. Seems easier than shooting an arrow.”

  “We’re going to need firewood,” Amala said.

  “I’ll help,” I said, pulling down my pajama leg and glaring at Zak. “If I can still walk that is.”

  I left Zak at the campfire and climbed a large leafy tree under the stars, struggling to break off the dead wood. Amala waited below me.

  “Do you ever come out in the day?” I asked.

  “Not if I can avoid it,” Amala said.

  “Tell me the truth. What do you really think about all this weird stuff that’s been happening up here? The levitation and the talking statues? It’s like these Himalayas are magical mountains.”

  “That’s what being home to the gods means, Zoe. Countless souls still believe that the normal rules of our world don’t hold true in these mountains.”

  “But what do you believe?”

  “I believe that there are forces in our world that science hasn’t begun to explain.”

  “You’re not talking about the yogi thing again?”

  “I wouldn't necessarily call it that, but yes, the yogi thing is part of what makes these mountains special. The ancient name is Purvanivasanusmrtijnana.”

  “Abra Cadabra what?”

  “Pur van ivas anu smrt i jnana.”

  “Purr van ee vass ah nu smart ee janana, like banana,” I said, carefully pronouncing each syllable.

  “It translates to an awareness of all of one’s past lives,” Amala said. “A yogi is a person who sees this connection between things. Someone to whom the normal barriers between matter and mind no longer exist. Someone who senses the all. Mukta believes you could become such a person, Zoe.”

  “The kind of person who can blow people across river gorges?”

  “Yes. The kind of person who can blow people across river gorges,” Amala said. “Mukta told me you had quite the day. When he first said that you might be able to help us, I wasn't sure. But after the incident at the river, I think it's clear.”

  “The only thing that's clear is that Zak's right. I am weird.”

  “I’d call you gifted.”

  “Some gift.” I looked at the spotted birthmark on my hand. “What am I supposed to do with it?”

  “I don’t have all the answers, Zoe, but I do know this. Not everything is what it seems. It’s only in our darkest moments that we come closest to understanding this.”

  I had no idea what Amala meant. But I liked the fact that this mysterious woman was helping us even if I wasn’t exactly sure why she was following us around. I sensed something else though. Amala couldn’t protect us from everything. That we would have to do for ourselves.

  I carried an armful of sticks back to the campfire, Amala tagging along behind. I noticed she didn’t carry any firewood, but I didn’t sweat it. Maybe she was more of a city person. Zak was sitting at the campfire, but he didn’t pay me much attention. He was too busy looking at his treasure. In his palm he held the large diamond that he had gotten from the elephant statue’s tear. He held it between his thumb and forefinger staring at the campfire through it. Even from where I stood, I could see that the diamond broke the campfire into a thousand points of light. Looking through it was dizzying, like staring through a kaleidoscope. Zak dropped the diamond back into his dung sack and pulled out the emeralds he had found in the temple. The emeralds were pretty too, but he didn’t spend as long looking at them. Instead he pulled out Stryker.

  “Check this out,” he said.

  Zak started snapping at the air in front of him with Stryker. I was too tired to tell him to stop, so I threw a couple of sticks on the fire and sat down to watch. Sometimes the whip acted like a wet noodle, but at other times, if he really put his whole body into it, he could get a pretty good crack out of it. Zak cracked Stryker good a couple of times, rubbing his thumb along the depressions on the whip’s upper handle. They looked like little potholes. I don’t know for sure, but I think Zak and I had the same thought at exactly the same moment. Ganesha, the elephant-headed god guy, had said something about helping us with a tear. The tear was the diamond. It made sense, so why not?

  I shared a glance with Zak and he reached into his dung sack, pulling the diamond back out. Then he placed the diamond in the little pothole nearest the braided part on the handle of his whip. The diamond was probably just a bit smaller than a golf ball. Once it hit the depression, it clicked into place perfectly like it was meant to be there. I rubbed my fingers together in anticipation as the whole whip glowed a dull yellow for a brief moment. I could tell that Zak could barely stand still he thought it was so cool. Zak then reached back into the dung sack as quickly as possible and pulled out the emeralds. He plopped them into the smaller holes on the handle of the whip until he had a line of four gemstones — one diamond and three green emeralds. All four gemstones glowed and Stryker began to hum ever so softly. We both heard it. Zak didn’t speak. He just admired Stryker in awe. Then he cracked it, gently at first.

  I was so unprepared for what came next that I almost fell into the fire. A bolt of lightning shot out of Stryker’s silver tip accompanied by a crack that sounded like thunder. The lightning bolt lit up the night around us. Zak cracked Stryker again, harder this time. The same thing happened, only even more of the night sky lit up.

  “Hee haw!” Zak cried.

  “Whoa,” I said.

  Zak cracked Stryker for a third time. This time the whole field lit up around us, his lightning bolt hitting a tree. The tree burst into flame.

  “Too cool,” Zak said.

  I was starting to get nervous. “You might want to take it easy. You know, before the fire department shows up.”

  Amala looked worried. “Listen to Zoe, Zak,” she said.

  Zak couldn’t help himself. He cracked Stryker again, light
ing up the night sky. Stryker’s silver tip hit a rock which exploded into fragments. The thunder was deafening.

  “You have got to be careful with that thing!”

  “I know. How cool is that?”

  I heard a rustling sound. “Shh,” I said.

  “I’m the whip boy! I’m the king of whip mountain!”

  “Be quiet. There’s something else out there,” I said.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. It’s over there.”

  I heard the rustling again. It was just behind the circle of light cast by the fire. I put my arms out on either side of me, motioning Zak and Amala back behind me. I didn’t know why I had done it, but it felt right. I felt like whatever was out there, it was my job to protect them from it. Everybody was silent. I listened intently for a long moment. I was about to turn back to the others when I saw something that made me shudder. Eyes. We were being watched by a pair of yellow eyes and a dark human form. I backed up.

  “Zak. Hold up your whip.”

  Zak raised Stryker. He didn’t crack it, but he ran his fingers over the elephant’s diamond tear. The diamond tear glowed more brightly casting its pale light in an arc around us. Undersized heads and glowing eyeballs revealed themselves in the darkness.

  “It’s a bunch of little kids,” Zak said.

  “What are they doing out here?”

  The glowing eyeballs moved closer and closer. Amala's look was grave. It was obvious that she didn’t like what she saw. I didn’t know what to think. A bunch of little kids all alone in a field didn’t make any sense. Didn’t they have bedtimes? Or parents? I didn’t have too long to think about it, because something tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around and realized my mistake: They weren’t children. They were monkeys. A whole troop of reddish-brown monkeys with pink faces. I thought they might be rhesus monkeys, but the coloring was off. They were more reddish than gray. One of the monkeys advanced a little closer than the others and took a cookie from Zak's shoulder bag. We were surrounded by them.

  “We should get out of here,” Amala said gravely.

  The monkeys moved closer and Zak laughed.

  “They’re monkeys. I love monkeys. Monkeys are super cool.”

  One of the monkeys threw a rock at Zak.

  “Hey. That’s not super cool.”

  Zak cracked Stryker into the air. A bolt of lightning shot out of its silver tip forcing the monkeys to scatter, but not for long. There were too many of them. Zak had been carrying the map since after we met the bhagwan at the gorge. It dangled out of his pocket. I guess Zak didn’t like being hit by a monkey because he bent down to pick up a rock of his own. Then he threw the rock. Not to hit the monkey, but to scare it. I knew he wasn’t trying to hit it because the rock didn’t even come close to its target. But more monkeys appeared. They were everywhere. One of them lunged at Zak and he jumped back. As he did, the map fell out of his pocket. Zak quickly scooped the map back up, warding the monkeys away with it. We were all in a tight circle now with our backs to the fire. Another monkey lunged at us, screeching its lungs out.

  “Give them the map,” Amala said.

  “I stole it,” Zak said. “It’s mine fair and square.”

  The monkeys moved closer. There were hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, their eyes glowing yellow in the firelight. A few of them bared their teeth. The monkeys weren’t cute anymore. They were scary.

  “Get out of here!” Zak said.

  Zak cracked Stryker. But not into the air this time. He cracked it forward across the fire. Stryker’s silver tip lit up, the monkeys moving away from it in a broad swath.

  “We don’t need to give them anything,” Zak said.

  Zak cracked Stryker again, the monkeys moving away from the lightning and smoke. I felt it happen before I saw it. Zak kept an eye on the monkeys in front of him, but he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head. A monkey, larger than the rest, moved stealthily forward. I turned, but by that time it was too late. The monkey sprang for Zak's fingers, ripping the map right out of his hand. The big monkey took off with the map, the rest of the troop following.

  “Let it go,” Amala said.

  “It’s my map!”

  Zak ran after the monkey, cracking his whip. I guess after spending three hours in that trunk, he figured that the map really was his. And he wanted it back. Stryker’s crack didn’t do much besides light up the sky though, because the monkeys were already too far ahead of him. I didn’t think it was the best idea, but I knew I had no choice but to follow. I couldn’t abandon him. Not out there. So I gave Amala an apologetic look and took off after Zak, down the trail.

  17

  THROUGH THE MONKEY HOLE

  The crack of Zak's whip lit the night in brief flashes, but what really helped us see where we were going in the dark night were the monkeys themselves. They left glowing footprints as they ran. One thing I was now sure of was that these weren’t normal monkeys. Nothing in these mountains had been normal and the monkeys were no exception. I finally caught up with Zak at the top of a ridge.

  “Thanks for waiting for me,” I said.

  “I was in a hurry,” Zak replied.

  I looked over the ridge. The moon had risen from behind a mountain peak to reveal a perfectly reflective lake. The glowing footsteps led down the trail to its shore where the mass of monkeys stood.

  “Let’s try this my way,” I said. “Slow and easy.”

  “We’ve got Stryker.”

  “Didn’t much help you keep the map, did it?”

  “Don’t blame it on Stryker. That big monkey snuck up behind me.”

  “So, like I said, let’s try this my way.”

  Zak nodded begrudgingly. He followed me as I led the way carefully down the trail, trying my best not to scare the monkeys.

  “Here, little monkey.”

  Zak and I walked into a large group of monkeys and soon they were everywhere. The reddish-brown fur on their backs stood up, but they parted to the sides allowing Zak and I to pass. I didn’t think the monkeys looked as mean as they had before. Maybe they were nice after all. Either way, I knew we’d find out. Soon, we reached the lakeshore. We stood directly across from the big monkey with the map. The monkey had dark circles under its yellow eyes. I extended my open palm to it.

  “Can I have the map, monkey?”

  The big monkey shrieked and leapt into the lake. But instead of falling into the water, it landed on a stepping stone. The stepping stone glowed brightly. But the monkey didn’t stop there. It leapt to the next stepping stone and then the next in a twisting, turning pattern. The rest of the troop followed. As they leapt across the lake, stepping stones glowing behind them, I thought I recognized a pattern. Feeling my stomach knot up, I pulled Zak up the trail away from the lake.

  “Where are we going?”

  I stopped and turned, staring down at the lake. “Look,” I said.

  It was what I thought. A pattern that resembled a giant Lite-Brite had emerged in the lake. All together the glowing rocks looked like a huge evil monkey head staring up at us from the black lake. The monkey head winked at us in the darkness.

  “How bad do we want that map?” I said.

  “How bad do you want to take a picture of that Leopard?”

  “It’s not just about winning the contest, Zak.”

  “What’s it about then?”

  “You know. Protecting it.”

  “So you believe in this Ghost Leopard now?”

  “I believe this is one crazy place.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “Look. I don’t know what I believe, OK? But I know what I see. And what I see right now is a troop of chunky monkeys that stole our map. I don’t know about you, but I want it back.”

  “Me too,” Zak said.

  “Then let’s go get it.”

  I led the way back down the path. Once I was a few feet from the water’s edge, I took a running leap onto the first glowing stepping stone. I landed slightly off ba
lance, but steadied myself.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. Come on.”

  As I leapt off the rock, Zak jumped on. But he almost didn’t make it, because as my feet left the rock I had been standing on, the rock started to rise into the air, growing out of the water like a towering column.

  “Hurry!” Zak said.

  I jumped to the next stepping stone, but it was trickier this time. The rock I was standing on had already begun to move up. Jumping from rock to rock was like being on some kind of crazy teeter-totter. Zak continued to leap after me, but it was getting confusing. First the rocks were up, then they were down. If that wasn’t bad enough, I looked behind us and saw that the glowing rock Zak had just been standing on had disappeared back into the water entirely.

  “Crud,” Zak said.

  We had no way to go but forward. I looked back as Zak leapt onto the rock behind me. He only had a second to jump forward again before it disappeared back into the lake. Some of the stones would shoot up briefly after I leapt off, but they quickly began falling again. It was hard going and I had no desire to fall off the slippery glowing stepping stones into the water. Who knew what kind of monster lurked down there? It went on like that, each stone disappearing into the black water behind us until finally we made it to the rock island in the center of the lake. We both took a moment to catch our breath. It felt good to be on solid ground. But it didn’t feel safe. The bhagwan's sedan chair sat on the far shore of the island.

  “Double crud,” I said.

  Zak took out Stryker. “Let’s just get what we came for and get out of here,” he said.

  I scanned the rock island. Huge stone monkey columns rose high off the ground in a circular formation at the center of the island. It looked like some kind of abandoned ancient temple or something. Zak and I walked toward them to find a round stone pond in the middle of the carved columns. It was just like a donut hole in the middle of the island, or in this case, a monkey hole. The pond wasn’t that big, maybe fifteen feet across, but it was perfectly round. The same chunky monkey who had stolen the map stood there in front of the pond, the map between his teeth. The others monkeys had climbed the carved stone columns. They covered them like a coat of living fur.