Fiona peeks around the cat at me. “You’re awake, are you okay?” All three of my friends are crowded around her.
“Yeah,” I look at the monsters, “I am.” I sit up.
“Careful there, honey,” the female monster still in beast form tells me, “don’t get up too fast.”
I stare at her incredulous. How is it they are here, that they know me? That I know them? I stand up and hold on to my friends. Blythe is so pale, she looks like one false move and she will be where I just was. Aaiden mouths, “What’s going on?”
I shrug at him.
“What...err...who are you? How do you know me?” I say.
The monsters all look at each other.
“I am Percy,” the biggest one says.
“Alex,” the monster who saved me nods at me.
“Phelix,” the red-haired smiley guy says.
“Zaphyra.” The girl with ringlets and the tinkling voice curtsies.
“Zemira,” the final monster answers. She winks at me.
“You’ve met Achilles,” the Alex monster tells me pointing to the cat at my feet.
“We are gargoyles,” the biggest one, Percy, says. In unison they all get down on one knee. The cat makes a whirring sound in his throat and paws at my leg.
“And we are at your service,” Phelix tells me with a smile on his face before bowing his head simultaneously with the others.
“Zoana,” the she-monster Zemira says.
ALL THREE OF MY FRIENDS stare from me to the monsters. I just shake my head in shock.
“Whoa,” Aaiden finally breaks the silence. “So, you’re gargoyles? Like from Notre Dame? Does this make Vi, Quasimodo?”
I scoff.
Blythe smacks Aaiden’s chest with the back of her hand half-heartedly, still staring at the gargoyles who are rising. “Don’t,” she whispers fearfully. She seems to be the only one still afraid.
“No, she’s our zoana,” Zemira replies.
“Zoana as in...” Aaiden asks.
“The book?” I question, looking around.
I spot it at the same time as everyone else. The Alex monster—er, gargoyle picks it up. “Oh, this just figures!” He turns and shoves the book at Phelix. They both give me a very poignant goofy glare as if I have done something purposely silly and wrong.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Fiona yells. Going after the book, she doesn’t seem afraid of them at all. “Give it back!” She lunges for Phelix; he quickly jumps up backwards onto a tombstone and perches like a bird as if it were nothing. Fiona huffs. What happened while I was out to make her so brave?
“Actually,” Phelix grins, tossing the book from one hand to the other in the air, “this book belongs to Violet and the entire Kai clan.”
“That explains why she never came to the house,” the monster named Percy says.
“Hold up!” Trying to keep up with them is getting too hard. I’m supposed to get answers, I know that deep inside, but getting answers out of these things is confusing. “Please just explain. Fully. You keep saying things I don’t understand. What just happened? What is that book? What is a zoana? What are gargoyles and how do you know me and my family?”
“That’s a bit of a long story,” the curly blonde Zaphyra chirps.
“But one we will be more than happy to share with you,” the gargoyle Zemira says.
Percy holds out a hand to me. “You, Violetta Teresa Kai, come from a very special family. You are a born zoana. From a long history of magical beings. Humans refer to them in differing terms, sometimes gypsy, sometimes witch.”
“But you’re not evil!” Zaphyra nods cheerily. “Sometimes new zoanas worry they are evil, you’re not.” She bounces. She kind of reminds me of Blythe - I like her.
“You are laden with a heavy calling. One you may not always like, but must come to trust. To understand. Your great uncle was our last zoana. He has since passed, and as such the calling has now passed down to you.” Percy clears his throat and looks away.
Alex speaks up now, “With each generation a new zoana is chosen, and that is also where we come in. With each new zoana, we show up to help them, train them in their powers, and fight for them and alongside them if the need arises, as you have seen tonight with the zombies.”
“Zombies,” I breathe out the word. “Did I...” I bite my lip for a second before getting the courage to ask, “Did I cause the zombies?”
“Did you read from the book?” Alex asks.
I nod.
“Then yes.” He shrugs. “It happens.”
“This book,” Phelix holds it up smirking at Fiona, “is also passed from generation to generation, just like your powers, and within these pages contains your family’s history, its secrets, and some powerful spells akin to the likes of which you used tonight. It exists as a guide, complete with advice from previous ancestors.”
“Advice,” Blythe asks, “about what? Magic?” The words end in a whisper.
“That is correct,” he says.
“M-a-a-gic, right. I’m still finding it hard to believe this isn’t some kind of a joke. I’m sorry,” I say even as something inside of me tells me to quit being stupid. I mean, I just used a book as an electronic conduit to ward off zombies that I watched climb out of the ground, and I can’t explain that with reason.
“We would like to sit down with you and explain further, but some things are safest discussed in private,” Percy’s deep voice tells me.
“Awe c’mon, don’t be like that,” Aaiden tells him, “I wanna know everything.” Aaiden winks at the Zaphyra girl.
“How are you okay with this?” I hiss at my obviously crazy friend. Just as I roll my eyes, I catch Percy nodding at the Zemira gargoyle.
“You’re just gonna make her mad,” Zemira sighs, then turns to my friends. Before I can blink, she blows gently in their direction, a long sigh echoes out of her as she does. The sound reverberates into the night. I watch as a cloud of dust settles over them.
“What are you doing?” Fiona swats the dust away from her. Immediately, though, her eyes droop and her words trail off. My jaw drops as my friends begin to fall, causing Zemira, Alex, and the Zaphyra girl to grab them and lower them gently to the ground. My heart pounds. Are they dead? Did they just kill my friends?
“What did you do? What the heck did you just do?” I yell; putting my hands up, I start backing away. I can’t leave them here though. They’re in this situation because of me, I can’t abandon them if there’s a chance they’re alive.
“We didn’t hurt them, honey, they’re just napping,” Zemira tries to calm me.
“You’re a monster! How can I trust that?!” I yell, taking them all in. The cat whirrs at me again trying to get my attention, but I ignore it. I just let monsters convince me they don’t want to hurt me, but they didn’t say the same about my friends. The book! Phelix has put it down on a stone next to him. I lunge, before I can think better of it, and swipe it. I hold it out in front of me like I did with the zombies. My breath comes out in short bursts. “Fix them! Fix my friends now or I’ll...I’ll use this!” They said the book has magic; they believe it. That’s enough for me.