Zoe & Zak and the Ghost Leopard: A Zoe & Zak Adventure, #1

For G & G -- Listen carefully.

You never know when adventure may knock . . .

There are those who believe that all children are born with a powerful energy within them and that we lose this magic as we grow old.

CHAPTER ONE

I GO OFF THE DEEP END

There are those who believe that all children are born with a powerful energy within them and that we lose this magic as we grow old.

Let me be clear here. I don't know if everybody is born with a powerful energy. I don't know if all kids have some kind of magic inside of them. Maybe they do. Maybe you do. Who am I to say? But don't come looking to me for some way to get that magic out. I'm not a one-size-fits-all magic coach. I don't sell magic beans at the county fair. You won't find me turning bumblebees into popsicles for fun and profit.

My name is Zoe Guire and what I can tell you is this: if you feel different, if you sometimes get the sense you don't quite belong, if you're a square peg in a round hole, then maybe the magic is inside of you. But let me warn you up front, the kind of magic I'm talking about isn't all bubbles and sunshine. Sometimes it's scary. And sometimes it's dangerous. So if you think you may have some of this energy stuff and you can handle it on your own, good for you. I wish you luck. On the other hand, if you want help, all I can tell you is one thing--how the magic was found in me.

CANNONBALL!

Zak flew into the pool like a human, well, cannonball. He totally soaked me.

Zak, did you ever hear of a little thing called not getting me wet?

Not getting wet is for the desert, Zoe!

Which, oddly enough, was basically where we were. Not quite, of course. We were in a hotel in Delhi, India, which is located between the Thar Desert of Rajasthan and the Himalayan Mountains. Delhi isn't, strictly speaking, a desert, but it gets a lot of dust storms, and from what I'd seen in my month there, the city was hot enough to qualify. Now, who was Zak and what was I doing in India?

First things first. Zak Merril was a scraggily haired boy I knew from sixth grade back home in Washington, DC. In the interest of honesty, I should probably rephrase that. Zak Merril was a majorly annoying, scraggily haired boy I knew from sixth grade back home in Washington, DC. Zak's dad also happened to work for the United States State Department along with my mother.

Zoe, dive in. Show me what you got, Zak called out from the pool.

No.

Why not?

Because I don't want to get wet.

Zak's glance wandered behind me. A sudden look of concern washed over his face.

Look out! A monkey's going to jump on your head!

I ducked. No monkey jumped on my head. Or over my head. Or anywhere near my head. But Zak started laughing hysterically. I turned to the manicured grounds beside the swimming pool, where a couple of monkeys with black faces and gray fur chewed on slices of orange.

Nice try, I said.

Okay, as you can probably tell, Zak and I weren't exactly best friends. He was in sixth grade too, but since he wasn't in my class, we didn't really know each other all that well. Zak had only shown up at the hotel a few days ago. I hadn't even known that he was coming to India. For me it was a little different. My mom had taken a temporary position in India a month earlier. The idea was that I would be tutored for what was left of the sixth grade. I'd read a few books, do some math, and we'd explore the countryside when my mom wasn't working. Or at least that was the plan.

The reality was I'd pretty much been stuck in the world's fanciest hotel for the last month of my life. My mom had ended up working a lot more than she had expected, and we hadn't seen much of India at all. Sure, I'd ridden from the airport in this cool yellow and black autorickshaw thingy, which was basically a pint-sized taxicab with no doors and three wheels. And sure, I'd seen lots of crazy stuff on the ride: cows chewing on heaps of garbage, women walking around with brass jugs on their heads, and entire families driving by on scooters designed for one person. The thing was, once we got to the hotel, all that interesting stuff was replaced by boring luxury.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like luxury as much as the next person. It just gets dull after a while. The hotel was easily the fanciest place I had ever been to. The lobby was all white marble and lush carpets. Stern doormen with red turbans stood at the glass elevators, ready to push the polished buttons for you. There were fresh-smelling flowers in vases, and huge soaring atriums, and tiny mint chocolates that were placed on your pillow every night. Outside in the courtyard was a swimming pool and a shrine to Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god. Hanuman had the head of a monkey and a bunch of arms. His statue stood under a low, rounded roof, garlands of yellow flowers draped around his neck. Hanuman was supposed to have been brave and loyal and led an army, but I wasn't totally up on it, because, just like the Greeks, the Hindus had a whole lot of gods and it was hard to remember what each of them did.

Among those gods was an elephant god named Ganesha. Ganesha had the head of an elephant and at least as many arms as Hanuman. He was so popular that there were images of him all over the place. He was on calendars, in shrines, and there was even a mosaic design of Ganesha sitting crossed-legged at the bottom of the hotel swimming pool. Supposedly he was the bringer of good luck.

A chirping noise rang out.

Whoa, Zoe. Is that your phone?

It was Zak. He had climbed out of the pool and was now dripping all over me.

I don't have a phone, I said.

Well, it's somebody's phone.

Zak was right. A phone was ringing. The ringtone sounded like a cross between jungle noises and a barking seal. A man stepped out of the pool to answer it. I didn't see his face at first, but he had a dark tan and was of medium height and very muscular. He wore one of those super-tight, Speedo-type black bathing suits. It's a bit rude, but I suppose the thing that stood out most about the guy was his muscular butt. His butt filled out his tight black Speedo like it was made of steel. It reminded me of a rhinoceros. I had seen this guy for all of two seconds and I already knew that, in my mind at least, forever after he would be known as Rhino Butt. Rhino Butt grabbed a towel and picked up the phone for a second before dropping it back down on the lounge chair.

Yeah? Rhino Butt said in a deep, gravelly voice.

Good afternoon, Mr. Berger, I trust your flight was a pleasant one, a silky smooth voice said over the phone.

Okay, so apparently Rhino Butt's real name was Berger. Didn't matter. He was still Rhino Butt to me. Rhino Butt toweled off. I suppose he had put the phone on speaker so he didn't have to stop what he was doing. Busy guy.

It was fine.

A Jeep awaits you in Moon Surrie. I trust my men have been useful to you?

As long as they keep taking orders, they can tag along, Rhino Butt said.

And the time frame?

We're getting there.

Enough, the silky smooth guy on the other end of the line said. You're being well paid. Have you located the leopard?

The muscles in Rhino Butt's whole body tensed. I've spent nine months compiling the data. I have a PhD in geography. I was an Army Ranger. Don't worry, he said. You'll get your leopard.

Rhino Butt finished toweling off and put the phone to his ear, clicking off the speakerphone. He stood there with his back to us, obviously getting annoyed with the guy on the other end of the line.

Yes. I'm still here, Rhino Butt said. And, yes, I know what I'm looking for. But, no, of course I've never seen a picture of the leopard, because the leopard's picture has never been taken. What are you doing? Testing me? Like I said, I'll address your concerns tomorrow. At the station.

Rhino Butt hung up. It was obvious that the phone call had irritated him. He must have sensed Zak and I were watching him, because he turned toward us, and I got my first good look at his face. Rhino Butt had pockmarked skin, a crooked nose, and a balding head, but what drew my eye, besides his bulging butt, were his bulging muscles. His tanned chest was scarred, and his strong arms were tattooed in blue ink, with what looked like an eagle. All in all, he just looked really mean. I immediately looked away and pretended to study the parrots in the trees. Zak looked away, too, but with a little more finesse. Surprisingly, Zak did a pretty good job of maintaining a low profile. There we were, totally eavesdropping on this guy, and Zak had managed to look completely innocent.

After a fleeting moment of eye contact, Rhino Butt roughly pushed aside his lounge chair and left the pool area, leaving his towel in a heap. It was when the conversation had gotten to the part about this leopard never having had its picture taken that my ears had really perked up. Now that was something. With all the mobile phones, tablets, computers, and just regular cameras in the world, I didn't think there was anything left in existence that hadn't had its picture taken.

Whoa, Zak said. That guy was mad.

Tell me about it, I said.

Did you see his rear end?

What about it?

He had like muscle booty or something.

Rhino butt, I said.

Mega rhino butt, Zak said.

Double mega rhino butt, I replied.

Just looking at his rhino butt made my eyes burn, Zak said.

I can't even see straight anymore, I said. My eyes are on fire! Must! Get! Water!

I leaped up and made a dramatic run for the diving board. Okay, remember I warned you that the kind of magic I was talking about wasn't all bubbles and sunshine? Cue the scary music.

I felt a presence lurking over me. It was like somebody or something was watching.

I glanced behind me as I ran toward the diving board, but there were only the monkeys. I did notice, however, that the monkeys didn't seem as pleasant looking as before. Their mouths were open and I could see their teeth. They looked mean.

At the time, of course, monkeys weren't my main concern. I was focused on my dive. I charged up the end of the diving board and then jumped once, twice, and on my third spring up, I did a full forward flip. It was something I'd practiced in gymnastics and I wasn't half bad at it. After I'd done a complete aerial rotation, I began concentrating on my dive. I tucked my head down and put my arms out in front of me. I didn't want to dive too deeply and end up hitting my noggin on the mosaic elephant god at the bottom of the pool.

I could tell immediately that it was going to be a perfect swan dive. I closed my eyes as I hit the surface of the water but then opened them as I sliced through the cool clear water toward the grate at the bottom. Everything about the dive was perfect. Then, I heard a voice.

Greetings and salutations, Zoe Guire.

I nearly peed in the pool. Why was I hearing voices down there? It was like the mosaic elephant god had spoken to me. I thought I even might have seen his lips move. I looked away. Mosaic elephant gods at the bottom of swimming pools didn't speak. They sat there and looked pretty. But this one didn't. This one did something I could scarcely believe. It came to life. The mosaic tiles rose from the bottom of the pool and turned into a flesh and blood elephant before me. Only it wasn't just an elephant. It was an elephant with multiple arms and blue skin.

I know what you're thinking. The tiles turned into an elephant god. Right. Weren't you at the bottom of a swimming pool? Weren't you thinking about coming up for air? Isn't an elephant god kind of big to be lounging at the bottom of the pool? I know, my thoughts exactly. All I can say was that I was floating at the bottom of the pool and the blue-skinned elephant god was towering above me. There was no doubt about it. It was Ganesha, the Hindu god of new beginnings, and apparently he had something to say.

You must watch yourself, Zoe Guire. You must be very careful.

Why? I managed to squeak out.

Don't ask me how I managed to talk underwater. I already told you that I'm not normal, and besides, I don't really know. Maybe I just said it in my head. The pool must have been deeper than I had thought, because, even though Ganesha towered above me, his head was still submerged. Ganesha didn't say anything for a long moment. Then he replied, Because it is within you, Zoe Guire.

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but as he said the words, the sunlight, which had been shining brightly, grew dim and then the pool was thrown into shadow. It was dark down there, scarier than it had been before, almost like a huge door had been shut on the sun. Once again I had the creepy feeling that I was being watched, but not from above this time. From below.

Mr. Elephant, I said. Sir?

Ganesha's blue skin began to dissolve into brightly colored mosaic tiles that sank back to the bottom of the pool. I really hoped that was it, but I suspected it wasn't. You don't have an elephant god stand up and talk to you without some serious fallout. I needed air, so I began swimming to the surface of the pool. That's when I knew it wasn't over. What looked like a claw swiped in front of my eyes. I started to kick faster, but my situation was more serious than I had originally thought. Because I couldn't move. Something thin and furry had wrapped tightly around my ankle. It poked out of the grate and looked like a long wet tail. I swam upward, but the tail tugged me down. I knew I was in big trouble. I was going to drown.

My head started to ache. I felt pressure building in my brain. I had experienced it before. It felt like a really terrible headache was coming on. Bad timing considering I was underwater with a mangy tail wrapped around my foot, but what can you do? I reached down for my ankle and struggled to get the tail off, but it kept pulling. It dragged me nearer and nearer to the grate, and then it flicked to the side so the whole grate broke away, leaving a gaping hole at the bottom of the pool. Then, the tail began pulling me inside the hole. First my feet, then my legs, and then my waist. The tail was trying to kill me.

I don't know what happened next. Part of the problem, obviously, was that I couldn't breathe. But what was worse was the pressure in my pounding head. Just when the thing was about to pull me all the way into the hole, the pressure in my head got so terrible I couldn't stand it anymore.

Boom!

Something just exploded. I felt the pressure leave my head. I felt an enormous swoosh of water. And I felt my ankle slip from the slimy tail's grasp. The next second I hit the surface of the swimming pool, gasping for breath. The pool was bubbling and turbulent, like a giant wave had just hit, but outside on the pool deck everything was calm. Except for Zak. His jaw was hanging open.

Zoe? Are you all right?

I swam as fast as I could to the side of the pool and pulled myself out of the water.

What happened? Zak asked.

A tail, I said. I saw an elephant and then a tail.

Slow down, Zak said. You're not making any sense.

Something tried to drown me!

But there was nobody else in the pool.

"Did you hear me? I said some thing!"

We both eyed the pool warily. There was nothing strange-looking about it. The grate was in place and the mosaic Ganesha smiled up at us.

Crazy, Zak said.

Yeah, I said. Crazy.

I picked up my towel and walked slowly back into the hotel. I didn't want to panic. I didn't want to freak out. What I wanted to do was catch my breath and think. There had to be a reasonable explanation for what had just happened. Or so I thought then.

CHAPTER TWO

DOING THE WRONG THING

I paced back and forth in our hotel room while my mother packed her clothes. I had tried to calm down, but it hadn't worked out as well as I had hoped. I was wired and I was scared and I wanted to tell my mom, but I had no clue what to say. A mosaic elephant god just whispered to me from the bottom of a swimming pool? A slimy tail just tried to drown me? She'd make me see a psychologist.

Zoe? Are you all right? my mom asked.

Yeah. I guess, I said.

You're sure? It's only for a few days. Daya will take care of you.

My mother had to go out of town for work. Not a big deal under normal circumstances. The State Department had this thing called the Family Liaison Office. Because employees like my mom had to travel a lot as part of their job, the Family Liaison Office arranged for people to help with child care and stuff. That's what this woman Daya did. Daya, aka the FLO, had been assigned to tutor and help take care of me while we were in India. Since Zak had arrived, she was looking after him too. So far the arrangement had been fine. Daya had taught me a lot of stuff about India, and there had been some overnights while my mom had been away. Now, however, it felt different. Probably because I'd almost been drowned.

Yeah, Mom. I'll be all right, I assured her.

Cell coverage is spotty where we're going, but I'll call if I can.

I know, Mom.

I promise I'll make it up to you as soon as I'm back. Zak's father is coming with me on the trip, so Zak will be here too. Be nice to him. He's been having a hard time adjusting since his mom and dad split.

Don't worry. I'll be nice.

I love you, Zoe.

Me too.

She gave me a big hug. My mother's really, really great. She adopted me when I was a baby and she's never been married, so it's always been just the two of us. I had never known my birth mother or father, but that was all right. My mom and I were a solid team. Which is exactly why I didn't want to worry her before she left. On second thought, who was I kidding? I needed to get it off my chest.

Ah, Mom?

Yes, Zoe.

She had zipped her suitcase shut and was already rolling it to the door, her long chestnut hair bouncing as she walked. I changed my mind. No point freaking her out before her trip.

Forgot your key, I said, handing her the plastic keycard.

Thanks, pumpkin.

She came back and gave me another big hug. Then she turned to leave and the hotel room door closed behind her. I knew that Daya, the FLO, would be over in the next few minutes. She had the room right next door, where I did my lessons. But I didn't want to see the FLO. I wanted to clear my mind. I needed to calm down. Relax. I needed to do something that didn't involve swimming pools or elephant gods.

I decided to take some pictures. Photography is kind of my thing. I love to take pictures. I had already snapped a ton of shots since arriving in India. One of the reasons was that my sixth-grade class back in DC was participating in a famous magazine's photography contest. The first-place prize was a field trip to New York City for the whole class, plus a really cool new camera for the lucky winner. I was pretty sure that I could win it if I tried hard enough. Especially since I was on this trip to India. I knew that things hadn't exactly worked out as planned, but I was really hoping that once things calmed down for my mother at work, we'd be able to see the sights.

I passed through the lobby, where the men in red turbans were helping a big group of people in. There were always people coming into the