The Guardians of Zoone Read online

  Aunt Temperance’s jaw dropped. So did the grocery bag in her hands. It hit the floor with a crash.

  “Don’t worry,” Ozzie assured her. “These are my—”

  He didn’t finish because at that moment the cat sprang from the sofa, bowled him over, and began lapping at his face with a long blue tongue. “I’m so happy to see you,” Ozzie said, burying his hands and face in the skyger’s luxurious blue fur.

  “Me, too,” Tug purred, tickling Ozzie’s face with his whiskers.

  Fidget tried to elbow the skyger aside, which, Ozzie knew, was like trying to move a cement truck. “Hey, I missed him, too!” When she finally managed to pull Ozzie free, she wrapped her arms around him. “Good to see you, Oz.”

  “You have no idea,” he said as Tug thrust his giant head into their hug.

  “Are you going to introduce us?” Aunt Temperance cut in eventually.

  “Oh, right!” Ozzie said. He had spent countless hours telling her about his friends—and finally, they were here. “This is Tug. He’s a skyger, and—”

  “Just to tell you, skygers come from the Skylands of Azuria,” the enormous cat declared. “But I’ve lived at the nexus most of my life. Which means I’m a Zoonian skyger.” His fur shimmered from blue to pumpkin orange, a sure sign of skyger—Zoonian skyger—exuberance.

  “Ozzie said you were a cub,” Aunt Temperance said faintly. “I thought you would be . . . smaller.”

  Tug gave a twitch of his long bushy-tipped tail. During his time in Zoone, Ozzie had come to think of that tail as a calamity looking for a place to happen. In the tiny confines of Apartment 2B, it didn’t have to look very long. A potted fern and a framed photograph from the sofa’s side table toppled to the living room floor—though the cat himself was oblivious to the accident.

  Aunt Temperance wasn’t, but before she could say anything, Ozzie continued, “And this is Fidget. Well, her real name is Kaia, she’s a princess of Quoxx, and—”

  “Just call me Fidget,” the purple-haired girl interjected. “Because, to be honest—”

  “—her parents arranged for her to get married, even though she’s only thirteen,” Ozzie continued excitedly. “Remember, I told you? So she ran away. She lives at Zoone now.”

  “Your ears really are pointed,” Aunt Temperance said, studying Fidget. “And your hair! Ozzie did warn me, but I didn’t realize it would be that purple. Even your eyebrows are purple.”

  “Really?” Fidget retorted, crossing her arms. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “Oh!” Aunt Temperance cried. “The door is still open.” She promptly shut it, then, leveling a reprimanding glare at Ozzie, said, “Someone was supposed to lock it behind us when we left for the store.”

  “It’s a good thing for us that you didn’t,” Fidget said. “I don’t think you’d want us roaming around in your building.”

  “Um . . . no,” Ozzie said, thinking of Mrs. Yang next door.

  Aunt Temperance seemed to have the same thought. She whisked across the floor to the street-facing window and hastily drew the curtains shut. “The last thing we want is someone calling animal control.”

  “Ooh,” Tug said with an excitable flutter of his wings. “Someone can control animals? They must be a wizard. Just to tell you, Fidget and Ozzie and me—we’ve met loads of wizards. But I’m not sure we’ve ever met one who could control animals. What’s their name?”

  Aunt Temperance gaped at the giant cat. “Whose name?”

  Tug sat down on his haunches and flicked his long tail. Ozzie quickly snatched it out of the air, saving the nearby lamp from obliteration. “The animal-controlling wizard you’re worried about.”

  Aunt Temperance removed her glasses and began giving them a vigorous cleaning with the hem of her blouse. “I’m not sure things work in our world the same way they do in yours.”

  “No kidding,” Ozzie agreed, before turning to Fidget to say, “You’re here! That must mean the door to Zoone has reopened. What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  “Hold on, Oz,” Fidget said, putting a hand gently to his chest. “You don’t know what’s going on there. There’s a lot we have to tell you.” She looked cryptically at Aunt Temperance. “Both of you, actually.”

  “Me?” Aunt Temperance wondered, slipping her glasses back on.

  Fidget nodded. “Something’s happened at the nexus. Something terrible. We’re not visiting from Zoone, Ozzie. We’re escaping it.”

  4

  The Message and the Memory Marble

  Ozzie stared at the princess in bewilderment. Zoone wasn’t a place you escaped from—it was a place you escaped to. Fidget knew that better than anyone. “We have to go,” he insisted. “Like, now.”

  Fidget shook her head. “It’s not safe.”

  Aunt Temperance’s brow knitted in concern. She glanced briefly at Ozzie. “Not safe how?”

  “Show them the marble,” Tug suggested.

  Fidget nodded, reached into a pocket, and fished out a round pebble. “Nespera Cruxx gave this to me after staying at the Zoone Inn during the Convention of Wizardry. I guess it was supposed to be a tip for working so hard as a clerk.”

  “She gave you a rock?” Aunt Temperance asked skeptically.

  “It’s not a rock,” Ozzie chimed in. “It’s a memory marble. Remember, I told you about them?”

  “I’m still getting used to all of this,” Aunt Temperance admitted.

  “Well, get used to it quicker,” Fidget said. “I recorded something I need to show you. See, one day this strange—really strange—traveler shows up at the station. He’s wearing armor and a helmet with all this . . . stuff. Like, hoses and switches and things. He dresses like a moto, I guess.”

  “What’s a moto?” Ozzie asked.

  “They’re like people,” Tug added. “Except not people-people. Metal people.”

  Ozzie gasped. “You mean robots? Where did they come from? I’ve never seen anything like a robot at Zoone.”

  Fidget shrugged. “Klaxon—this traveler—calls them motos. He shows up with a whole gang of them, then he and the motos have a private meeting with Lady Zoone. We’re all wondering what’s going on. Then, suddenly, one of Lady Zoone’s birds flies through my window with a message from her, asking me to come to her study with my memory marble. But to pretend I’m delivering tea.”

  “Why would you have to pretend?” Ozzie asked.

  “I think I should just show you,” she said.

  She threw the pebble to the floor, which made it crack open and beam a moving three-dimensional image into the room, a scene of Fidget standing at an open window. Ozzie felt as if he were standing right next to this memory version of Fidget. Peering through the window, he could see the platforms of Zoone, with its hundreds of doors of all different designs and shapes and, beyond, the lush turquoise trees of the Infinite Wood.

  “Zoone!” he cried excitedly, inhaling the scene with every fiber of his being. “We’re at Zoone!”

  “This is a recording?” Aunt Temperance marveled. “It feels like we’re right inside of it! I can hear the breeze through the trees—I can even smell the air.”

  “That’s how a memory marble works,” Fidget explained impatiently. “I’m showing you my memory of the last time I saw Lady Zoone. Just watch.”

  The Fidget inside the memory turned away from the window to reveal a new perspective: that of a cramped and cluttered chamber. Ozzie instantly recognized it as Lady Zoone’s personal study. The room always looked like it was trying to do its best impression of a wizard’s lair; there were books, maps, and arcane artifacts stuffed into every crook and corner.

  Lady Zoone was now in the picture as well. She didn’t seem the same sturdy and sure figure that Ozzie had come to know during his time in the nexus. Her face, normally as rich and umber as tree bark, was pale with worry. Her willowy limbs were quivering.

  “Did you bring your marble?” Lady Zoone asked.

  “Yes, I brought it. I’ve already started recording,”
Memory Fidget told her. “What’s going on? Why are motos guarding your door? And why did I have to pretend to be serving tea?”

  “I thought it would be easier,” Lady Zoone explained. “I wanted to make sure they let you in.”

  “Um, you’re the steward of the nexus,” Memory Fidget said indignantly. “You don’t need anyone’s permission.”

  Lady Zoone smiled—but it didn’t seem to be a happy one. “I have a mission for you, Fidget. You and Tug.”

  “Okay,” Memory Fidget said. “Anything—you can count on us.”

  “I need you to travel to Ozzie’s world,” Lady Zoone said, taking a key from around her neck. The birds and rodents in her hair chirped excitedly as she spoke.

  “You’re giving me your key?!” Memory Fidget exclaimed.

  Ozzie was just as surprised. Lady Zoone’s key was a fabulous device, clustered with gears and wheels—by turning them to different settings, you could open any door in Zoone. Ozzie watched with a hint of envy as Lady Zoone pressed the key into Fidget’s hands.

  “As soon as the door is working, you must find Ozzie, and deliver this to his aunt.” She produced a small cloth bag and passed it to Memory Fidget. “And my message.”

  “What message?”

  “This one.” She turned slightly, as if facing a camera, and called out, “Tempie?”

  Aunt Temperance blinked in surprise. From her vantage point in the room, she was looking at Lady Zoone from the side. It was Ozzie who was looking at the steward directly; Aunt Temperance quickly shuffled him out of the way and gazed up at the image of Lady Zoone. “Zaria?”

  Ozzie frowned. “It doesn’t work that way. It’s not interactive! It’s just—”

  “I need you, Tempie,” Lady Zoone began, her green eyes wide and earnest. “Frost in summer—we all do. The entire multiverse.”

  Ozzie’s expression turned to a scowl. Why was Lady Zoone begging for her help?

  “I know what happened to him, Tempie,” Lady Zoone called from the memory, anxiously clasping her hands. “He’s in trouble—terrible trouble. I know you’ve resisted visiting Zoone, but if you’re hearing this, that means the door to your world is open, and you must come to me.”

  Ozzie glanced at Aunt Temperance again. She had turned stiff, as if Lady Zoone’s words had caused her to petrify.

  “We can save him, Tempie,” Lady Zoone continued. “I can’t do it without you—and we must do it. He’s the key. Save Mercurio and we save Zoone. He’s still—”

  She came to an abrupt stop; there was the raucous sound of a door being thrown open. The image instantly disappeared. The memory was over.

  “One of the motos interrupted us,” Fidget explained into the sudden silence. “I managed to slip out of Lady Zoone’s study with my marble and the stuff she gave me. But I haven’t seen her since then. No one has. Not the real her.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ozzie asked.

  “No one’s seen her up close,” Fidget said. “Sometimes we glimpse her standing on one of the terraces. Otherwise, the only time you hear from her is if she issues some official proclamation. If you ask me, it’s an imposter. Either that, or she’s under an enchantment.”

  Aunt Temperance finally unstiffened. “Why do you think that?”

  “I know Lady Zoone,” Fidget replied. “When I first came to the nexus, she let me stay with her. She kind of looked after me. Now I’m stuck with Panya and Piper, those girls from the kitchen. You can’t move for the gossip and drama in their room, and—”

  “Where’s Cho?” Ozzie interrupted. “He wouldn’t let anything happen to Lady Zoone.”

  All the color drained from Fidget’s cheeks. She glanced uncomfortably in Tug’s direction. “I’m not sure how to say this, Ozzie. Cho’s been fired.”

  Ozzie reeled. “Fired? Fired?! Lady Zoone would never fire him.”

  “Exactly,” Fidget agreed. “Aren’t you listening to a word I’m saying? She’s not acting like herself.”

  “We don’t know where Cho is,” Tug added, his fur fading to a mournful gray. He flopped to the floor, which caused the picture frames on the wall to tilt sideways and a few of the books on the nearby shelf to thump over. “He just disappeared. He didn’t even say good-bye.”

  “It’s been a couple of weeks since he’s vanished,” Fidget explained, dropping down next to Tug—which caused absolutely nothing to happen to the apartment. “Klaxon is the captain of security now. And his motos are the new security force.” She stared fixedly at Ozzie. “They’re machines. Glorified tin cans. And now they’re in control of Zoone.”

  “What are we doing standing around, then?!” Ozzie cried.

  Fidget gritted her teeth. “Completing Lady Zoone’s mission.”

  Ozzie turned to Aunt Temperance. He wondered how she was digesting all this news. It was a lot to take in, even for him, and he’d had some experience with the strange situations that happened in the multiverse.

  But Aunt Temperance didn’t seem overwhelmed. She leaned intently forward, resting her chin on a fist. “Fidget, show me the pouch Zaria gave you.”

  “Zaria?” Ozzie asked, only to remember that was Lady Zoone’s first name. It was strange to hear Aunt Temperance refer to one of the most important people in the multiverse in such a personal way.

  Fidget reached into a pocket and passed over the pouch. Aunt Temperance fiddled with the drawstrings and shook the contents out onto her waiting palm.

  “Oh!”

  A long golden chain was spilling through her fingers. Attached to it was an old-fashioned locket and a peculiar ring. The band of the ring was plain and tarnished, but the gemstone was huge, round, and seemed to be pulsing. Ozzie reached out to touch it and immediately felt a zap. It didn’t hurt him—but it was surprising. It hadn’t felt like magic. It had felt like static electricity—or maybe real electricity, the kind you could use to power a car. Or, judging by how the gem was glowing, a small city.

  “What is it?” Ozzie asked. “Why did Lady Zoone want you to have it?”

  “Because . . . these things are mine. I didn’t know she had them. I threw them away, but she must have . . .”

  Aunt Temperance clicked open the locket and Ozzie leaned in over her shoulder to see a photo of a young man and woman. Even though the picture was tiny, the man’s broad smile stood out, as did his wild, unruly hair. As for the woman—Ozzie suddenly recognized her as Aunt Temperance. She wasn’t wearing her glasses, but it was definitely her. A long time ago.

  Fidget crowded in and asked the question burning in Ozzie’s mind. “Who’s the guy?”

  “Mercurio,” Aunt Temperance answered, eyes still fixed on the photo.

  The one Lady Zoone wants her to save, Ozzie realized.

  “Yeah, but who is he?” Fidget pressed.

  Aunt Temperance raised her gaze from the locket. Her expression made Ozzie grimace. Because he instinctively knew the answer to Fidget’s question.

  “He was my . . .”

  “Oh,” Fidget said. “Your boyfriend.”

  Ozzie squirmed. It wasn’t like he had anything against romance. But it was one thing to gaze longingly at Laurel, the girl who sat across from him in social studies; it was another to have to think about the fact that your aunt had those sorts of feelings.

  Fidget scrutinized the photo. “He’s handsome,” she pronounced, which, for a reason Ozzie couldn’t quite explain, bothered him.

  “Definitely,” Tug agreed, plowing his giant snout between Fidget and Aunt Temperance.

  “I don’t understand,” Aunt Temperance said, rising to her feet to pace across the floor—which wasn’t entirely easy with Tug present. “Save him. Save him from what?”

  “Klaxon and the motos—obviously,” Fidget said. “But, um, no offense . . . everyone needs saving from the motos. What makes your boyfriend so important?”

  “Old boyfriend,” Ozzie quickly interjected. “Ex-boyfriend.”

  “Why did you break up?” Fidget asked.

  A
unt Temperance exhaled. “Because sometimes the world conspires against you. Or at least your parents do. Mercurio, Zaria, and I . . . those days . . .”

  “Those days what?” Ozzie prompted.

  “If Mercurio’s in trouble—”

  “Everyone’s in trouble,” Fidget corrected her.

  Aunt Temperance nodded. “Mercurio is—I’ve never met anyone like him. Clever. Kind. If anyone can stop these . . . these . . . motos, maybe it’s him. Zaria said to come to Zoone. So that’s where I’m going. But I’ll go farther if I have to.”

  Who are you? Ozzie thought, gaping at her. Aunt Temperance wasn’t a take-charge type of person. But now she had a glint of determination in her eyes. “You’re actually going to do it?” he asked her. “When do we leave?”

  “Immediately,” Aunt Temperance announced. “Well, as soon as I pack a few essentials. Oh! I’d better grab my blender.”

  “Your blender?!” Ozzie cried, chasing Aunt Temperance into the kitchen. I guess she hasn’t completely changed, he thought. Which, in a way, was kind of comforting. But there was also a part of him that was annoyed. What did Lady Zoone expect her to do? Most heroes embarked on quests with swords at their sides—not blenders. “You know, Aunt T, I’m not sure the blender’s an ‘essential.’ I’m not even sure it will work in Zoone.”

  “I guess we’re going to find out,” she replied, unplugging the blender and wrapping the cord around its glass pitcher. “I’m going to figure this out, Ozzie. I’m going to save my friends.”

  She whisked herself off to her room, where Ozzie heard her hurriedly yanking out drawers.

  “Ozzie,” she called, “clean up that knocked-over fern, will you? And put away the groceries. Then you’d better pack a few things, too.”

  “Like what?” he wondered, going to her doorway.

  Aunt Temperance didn’t reply; she was burrowed waist-deep in her closet. Ozzie sighed, then turned to the groceries that were still scattered near the front door. Tug and Fidget joined him and together they contemplated the trickle of orange juice meandering from one of the bags. Tug licked it up with a single swipe of his tongue.