Ghost Leopard (A Zoe & Zak Adventure #1)

by Lars Guignard

  “Thanks.”

  “Like totally freakin’ awesome.”

  “I’m just glad he’s gone.”

  “I don’t think you’re getting how cool that was.”

  “He was evil.”

  “Yeah, but still,” Zak said. “Awesome.”

  A slight sound caused me to look up. I held my gaze there, almost unable to believe my eyes. Zak saw it too. The glacier-white Ghost Leopard stood perched above us, showing itself clearly for the first time in the soft rays of the new rising sun. The Ghost Leopard was huge, but it wasn’t frightening. Instead it was about the most spectacular thing I had ever seen. Its body was lean and muscular and its fur was bright white and there wasn’t a spot on it. There was no confusion in my mind about it being real. In that moment it was as real as anything could be. I guessed that once the sun had fully risen above the peak, it was going to turn back into a ghost but, for those few moments, it was there in the flesh right in front of us.

  I reached for my camera, turning the lens upward. It wasn’t like I wanted to steal the Leopard’s soul or anything, but it was weird. Despite all we’d been through, and Mukta’s warning, and even my sworn mission to protect it, I couldn’t help myself. It was like the Leopard took hold of me. It just too beautiful to be true. But as the Leopard stood there, perfectly still, another thought gradually snuck up on me. The thought that what I truly wanted was to just look at the Leopard. The idea that I really wanted to be there in that moment. I didn’t want to be stuck in my head taking a picture, I didn’t want to be collecting the moment as a souvenir, I just wanted to be there. I don’t know why it hit me like that, but it did. So instead of clicking the shutter, I shared a glance with Zak and lowered my camera. I knew I was losing the shot, but I didn’t care anymore. I was there. The Leopard stood there for another second and roared as the sun rose above the peak. Then, just like that, it faded like a ghost and slinked from view. It was gone before the echo of its roar had left the valley below.

  I looked at Zak and then we both looked down to where the spotted green lizard once again stood, its back arched. But instead of standing on a rock this time, the lizard stood on Mukta's red and gold carpet.

  “Did you bring the carpet down with you?” I asked Zak.

  “No. I haven’t seen it for ages.”

  “Well, it’s here.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You think someone’s trying to tell us something?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Get on,” Zak said.

  “What?”

  “Get on.”

  I sat down at the front of the carpet with the green lizard. I pulled the carpet up in front of me and looked around. There was a big hill in front of us, an enormous toboggan run right down the ridge of the mountain, and it looked like it might be worth a try. Zak got behind me and put both hands on my back pushing me through the snow. At the last moment, he jumped onto the carpet.

  It worked. We slid for about ten feet. Then we came to a stop.

  “Oh well, it was worth a go,” I said.

  “Yeah.”

  I saw a twinkle enter the lizard’s eye. Zak and I began to stand.

  “Did you feel that?” I asked.

  “Feel what?”

  “That.”

  The carpet flexed beneath us causing Zak to lose his balance. He tumbled back down onto it.

  “Whoa.”

  The carpet flexed again.

  “Hang on,” I screamed.

  Zak took hold of a tuft of silk from the edge of the carpet in either hand as it bucked below us. I grabbed onto the front of the rug and the carpet literally took off. In a flash of speed it lifted us up, up and away, propelling us over the edge of the cliff and into the cold mountain air. I snuck a peak down. We were flying. There was no other way to put it. I grabbed the carpet just a little tighter as we sped above the clouds.

  “Zak,” I said.

  “Yeah, Zoe?”

  “I just hope this carpet knows where it’s going.”

  “Have a little faith, Zoe. We got this far didn’t we?”

  I held on tight as our flying carpet banked around a mountain peak. Then I reminded myself not to look down. I still didn’t like heights.

  24

  THE MAGIC CARPET RIDE

  Zak peered down as we flew through the air. I had asked him to do it, I wasn’t going to. We had left the snowy mountaintops and were now lower in the foothills. The air was warmer here and the mountain sun felt good on our backs. Two giant griffons glided through the air on either side of us. The birds’ feathers rustled in the breeze and I sensed that the birds were somehow guiding us to our destination. Zak looked back up.

  “You’ll never guess where we are,” Zak said.

  “About a million miles in the air?”

  “Abut a million miles above Mukta's hut,” Zak said.

  I decided to risk a glance over the edge of the carpet. I could see the crooked chimney of the howling hut, the train station perched immediately above it. As I looked down, I felt the carpet swoosh into a corkscrew of ever-descending circles. We were going down. I didn’t want to black out so I concentrated my gaze on the griffons. When we finally landed with a flutter, I stepped off the carpet, followed by Zak. The lizard scurried across the yard and through the crack in the partially opened door. The door creaked open a little more and then the hut began to howl. It howled softly, like the wind was blowing through it, even though there was no wind. But it was howling, anybody could hear that.

  “Mukta?” Zak said.

  “Shh. Mukta's dead.”

  “He is not.”

  For a moment, I really thought I was going to have to have a long talk with Zak about what had happened to Mukta back in the cave, but then I heard a voice.

  “Zak is right, my young Mud Devil. I am not dead. I am merely moved on. Come, come, you must have a glass of chai.”

  Maybe Zak was the one who needed to have a talk with me. I took a breath and entered the hut, Zak right behind me. The first thing I noticed was that, except for a little dust, things were basically the same as before. The kettle was boiling and two steaming glasses of chai sat by the fire. Everything was the same, that is, except for Mukta. He sat there meditating, levitating in the air. But there was something different about him. Something transparent. Both Zak and I stared. I took a step forward to touch Mukta. My hand went right through him.

  “Yes, yes, my friends, I am a ghost, you see.” Mukta gestured to the tea. “Chai, chai. You must drink your chai.”

  Zak reached through Mukta and handed me a glass of chai. I took a sip. It was hot and rich and sugary sweet.

  “This is very weird,” Zak said.

  “Not weird,” Mukta said. “This is life. I have moved on. But for you, for you I take this form.”

  “But I thought the bhagwan killed you?”

  “Yes, Zak, he did. He killed my body. But not my spirit. My spirit is here. My spirit lives on.”

  “But how?” I asked.

  “All living things live on,” Mukta said. “But not all living things see the ghosts of the past around them. You have protected the Leopard. You have done well.”

  “Thanks,” Zak said.

  Mukta turned to me. “I sense you have questions, Mud Devil?”

  I nodded. I didn’t know how to start the conversation so I just blurted it out. “What am I, Mukta?”

  “You are a very special girl, Zoe Guire.”

  “Yeah, but what am I?”

  The bhagwan had been right about one thing. I had been afraid of what I was. I think that’s why I wanted to have that talk with my mom. Why I wanted to know about my adoption. I thought I wanted to know who I was, but it turned out to be more than that. I wanted to know what I was. I didn’t feel so afraid anymore, but I knew that if I wanted answers, this was the only place I was going to get them.

  “You, like me, have the mark, Zoe. The mark makes you special.”

  I looked at my birthmark. The sp
ots weren’t glowing. They were just there.

  “So am I a yogi? Do the spots make me magic?” I asked.

  “The spots make you what you are. I do not yet know if you are a yogi, Zoe Guire. But I do know that you have power. Power that you are only beginning to explore.”

  “I’m not sure that I get it.”

  “You have the spots, Zoe. The spots give you strength. The spots let you become what you must be.”

  “How?”

  “When the Ghost Leopard needed protecting, the spots let you absorb my power to protect it when I could not. But I will not always be here. Others may need your help and you can absorb their power as well.”

  “So I’m a power sponge. I absorb other people’s power. Do your spots let you absorb other people’s power too?”

  “The spots allowed me to do many things in my life, Zoe. Your journey will be to discover what the spots mean to you.”

  “Like when I was a kid and those school girls couldn’t kick me?”

  “Yes. There is no doubt that the spots were involved that day. You will need to explore this power.”

  “Can’t you just tell me what it is?”

  “No, I cannot, because for now, it is not clear. Like you, your powers are not yet grown. But they will reveal themselves in due time, Mud Devil. All that is not clear will be revealed in due time.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  “What is wrong, Mud Devil?”

  I felt like screaming. Wasn’t it obvious what was wrong? I spelled it out for Mukta. “What’s wrong is I still don’t get what the spots do or why I have them. Do I have them because I’m adopted?”

  “You have the spots, because you are you. You must understand, Mud Devil. It does not matter from where you come. What matters is what you are.”

  We had come full circle. Indian mysticism was definitely harder than math. I wasn’t sure that I was any closer to understanding what I was than when I asked the question, but something else had been bothering me.

  “In the field back at the airport, there was something big in the grass. It jumped over us and scared the goons away.”

  “Yes, yes. You did not think that you would not be given help on your journey Mud Devil?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean to say is that you were asked to protect the Ghost Leopard. In that field, the Leopard was able to protect you.”

  “That was the Ghost Leopard?”

  “Do not be so surprised, Mud Devil. Did you not dream of the Leopard? Did you not sense your were being followed? The Leopard has kept watch on you since your arrival in India.”

  “What about Amala?” I said.

  “Amala thanks you for your service.”

  “No, I mean, I know the mummies were her past lives, but she was always following us too. It was like she was everywhere.”

  “Like the Leopard, Amala is also a ghost, but she is a ghost of one of the Leopard’s past lives.”

  “I don’t get it,” Zak said. “Each past life has its own ghost? Doesn’t that get confusing?”

  “Yes,” Mukta said. “It can sometimes be very confusing. Every being has one spirit, but every being also has many ghosts. You may think of the ghosts as the colors in a rainbow. There is one rainbow, but there are many colors. The ghosts of our past lives are everywhere.”

  “That doesn’t explain the spotted blue butterflies,” I said.

  “Butterflies travel in groups, Zoe. Amala traveled on the wings of butterflies to help you on your quest.”

  “So what about me?” Zak said.

  “You,” Mukta said, “were very helpful indeed. Without your bravery, Zak, the Leopard would surely have died.”

  Zak smiled. “That’s what I’m talking about,” he said. “Can I keep Stryker?”

  “You may keep Stryker.”

  Zak pumped his fist. “Yes. What about the carpet? I’m thinking about calling it Doormat. What do you think? You think the carpet would like that, or is it kind of, sort of insulting?”

  “This is up to the carpet,” Mukta said, “For now, let us call Doormat a loan. I intend that you should bring him back, should I require your services again.”

  I checked the dusty, old clock hanging from the wall. I wasn’t sure what day it was. But it was just after twelve in the afternoon. If we were going to get back before dark, we were going to have to hurry.

  “Mukta?” I said. “I think we need to go.”

  “Yes, you are correct. You must go, Mud Devil. You must fly. All of India thanks you for your service.”

  Mukta smiled broadly and faded from view.

  Doormat, the flying carpet, dropped us down in the garden outside the hotel pool. There was some commotion as we landed. The griffons abandoned us as soon as we got to the city, leaving Zak and I to guide Doormat sort of like a horse, pulling the silk tassels in the direction we wanted to go. All of which was fine, except when we got above the hotel, I wanted to land without alerting the sunbathers by the pool. I think I pulled up on the tassels too quickly which is probably why Doormat dumped us in a banana tree — that, or he didn’t like his new name. Whichever it was, it wasn’t a big deal. The banana leaves were scratchy but the grass below was soft.

  Doormat fell down after us and Zak quickly rolled him up. Zak and I then hurried into the lobby. We didn’t know if our parents were back yet, but there was no sense being any more late than we had to be. We ran through the marble lobby with every intention of getting back to our rooms as quickly as we could. We ran so fast that I didn’t see the arm come out as we tore into the waiting elevator. It was Anu, the rent-a-nanny.

  “My word, where have you been? I was worried sick!”

  “Ah…” Zak said.

  “We were around,” I said.

  “Do you have any idea how many people were looking for you? You children. You’re not concerned about anyone but yourselves.”

  “We’re really sorry,” I said.

  “Leopards,” Zak said.

  “What was that?”

  “We’re concerned about leopards.”

  I was about to stomp on Zak's foot to get him to shut up when the look on Anu's face changed completely. I turned to see my mom and Zak's dad walking toward us from the main entrance, rolling their suitcase behind them. Talk about good timing. Anu’s angry glare was replaced by a giant smile.

  “How about we keep your whereabouts just between us for now?” Anu suggested.

  We didn’t have time to answer her because our parents called out across the lobby. “Hi guys!” they said together. “Anu, how have they been?”

  Anu smiled. “Almost like they weren’t even here, “ she said.

  “Hi, Mom!”

  I ran out of the elevator and gave my mom a big hug. Zak hugged his dad too.

  “Sorry, we’re a day late, there was no way to reach you. I’m so glad you’re OK, I was a little worried.”

  “Everything’s great, Mom.”

  “Did you get any good pictures?” my mother asked, observing my camera.

  “Well, um,” I thought about it. “Almost.”

  “Almost,” my mother said. “What happened?”

  “I guess I decided that sometimes it’s better to just enjoy the moment.”

  My mother looked at our filthy striped pajamas. “Where did you get those?”

  “Same place we got the carpet,” Zak said.

  Both our parents looked at the rolled-up carpet. “Never mind that for now. We have news,” Mr. Merril said.

  “News?”

  “Well, we still need to show you the real India,” Mr. Merril said. “I know you’ve been cooped up in this hotel for a long time, just dying to get out, so we’ll do that. We’ll take you around the city for the next few days.”

  “Cool,” Zak said.

  “But there’s something else,” Mr. Merril said.

  “What?” Zak said.

  “Zak, Zoe's mother and I…”

  “Oh no,” I said under my breath.
>
  “Relax, Zoe, we’re not dating.”

  “What is it then?”

  “We’ve been asked to fill in at the American Embassy here in India.”

  Zak looked at me. As he did, I noticed that my spotted birthmark glowed slightly.

  “We were wondering how you would feel about us extending our trip?” Mr. Merril said.

  “For how long?” I asked. I noticed that my mother’s expression looked a little pained. Like she had intended to discuss it with me, but not at that moment.

  “We’re not sure right now, Zoe. What I can tell you is that there are some really good schools here. One great one, actually, up in the mountains,” my mother said.

  “Whoa. School?” I said. A vacation was one thing. School was quite another. I liked my school just the way it was. I wasn’t sure I was ready for anything like that.

  “In the mountains?” Zak said. “I love the mountains.”

  “Then we’ll have to take a look around,” Mr. Merril said.

  “No worries, right now,” my mom said. “We’re only talking. Now, how about you two tell me what it is you got up to, to get so dirty?”

  My mother picked what I was pretty sure was a white griffon feather out of my hair. I looked at my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling lobby window. My face was smudged and my birthmark was glowing brightly.

  “You know, the usual,” I said. “Just hanging. Hanging off buses, zip-lines, cliffs, carpets, that kind of thing.” I looked at my mother’s puzzled expression. “Don’t worry, I was safe,” I said.

  “Well, whatever you did, you’ll have to tell me all about it.”

  “I will, Mom. When we have that talk.”

  My mom took my hand and smiled at me and I smiled back at her as we walked through the grand lobby. The sun had just begun to set over the city and as it did, a reflection appeared in the window. I don’t know if I was the only one to see it, but it was Mukta. He winked as he levitated there, smiling his crazy smile.

  That’s it. Call it a blog, diary, memoir, whatever you want, that’s all I have to write. How this stuff with this potential new school is going to play out, how the stuff with my birthmark is going to play out, how any of it is going to play out, I just don’t know. What I do know is that, for right now, I’m having a very normal time with my basically normal mother, taking in the semi-normal tourist sights of Delhi, India. When we’re done with that, I’ll just have to see what happens. But for the time being, for right now at least, everything is refreshingly sane. I just hope it stays that way. Of course, a little part of me, the tiny part that came alive on this trip, wouldn’t mind if things got just a little interesting again.