Chapter 1
The Beginning Again

A leaf skittered across the sidewalk and into the street. Okay. I know what you're thinking. That's a weird way to start a story. Why not start with action like everyone else?

Well, I'm not everyone else. I am my own unique person. Although most of the time I feel very ordinary. I suppose no one is really ordinary though. We all have something special.

Some kids are good at sports. Some kids can say the alphabet backwards. Some kids are good at everything. And then there's me. I have a Snapper Cat. That's right. Whenever I snap my fingers, a magical cat appears.

My name is Byron J. Morel. But everyone calls me Ronny. Unless I get in trouble. Then Mom calls me Byron.

Anyway, back to the story. Wait. How did I start the story again? Oh, yeah. I remember now.

A leaf skittered across the sidewalk. Where did the leaf come from? It was too early for the trees to lose their leaves. It was only the beginning of August. I wasn't ready for summer to be over and for school to start again.

I watched the leaf glide into the street. A car went whizzing by, creating a gust of wind that sent the leaf floating back to the sidewalk. It sat on the concrete, waiting for the wind to move it again.

I wondered what it would be like to go wherever the wind told you. Not very fun, I imagined. I would much rather be a bird and be able to fly wherever I wanted. Actually, that wouldn't really work because I was afraid of heights.

There were a lot of things I was afraid of. Heights, nightmares, and Bogeymen were only a few of them.

In case you don't know what a Bogeyman is, I'll tell you. They are ghosts that scare kids like you and me. Every kid sees Bogeymen, but they all see them differently. I see them as giant ghosts that hide under black blankets.

Most kids are scared of Bogeymen. Unless you are incredibly brave. Which I am not, but you already knew that.

I wished I was brave like Tray. Tray used to be the neighborhood bully, but earlier this summer we became best friends. Don't worry. He doesn't bully people anymore.

In case you missed the story of what happened earlier this summer, I'll sum it up for you.

At the beginning of the summer, my friends and I rescued a bunch of exotic magical animals from the Bogeymen.

When we rescued the animals, one of them went missing. It was a rare creature called a Zallupa.

Over the summer, a ton of people had been searching for the Zallupa. Most of the people were good guys, but there were also some bad guys like Bogeymen.

I was on my way to the park to meet my friends. We were going to play on the playground and figure out how to find the Zallupa.

I had three best friends. My Snapper Cat named Feesher. Tray who was the ex bully. And Tenney, who was an optimistic girl that talked a lot.

Tenney and Tray were already on the swings waiting for me when I got to the park. They must have been there for a while because they were really high. I ran over to meet up with them.

“Hi, Ronny,” Tenney and Tray greeted.

“Hey, guys,” I replied.

I hopped on a swing and kicked off the ground. I pumped my legs to catch up with how high they were going.

“Have you heard anything from Feesher yet?” Tenney asked.

Feesher was my Snapper Cat. A Snapper Animal was a magical animal that talked and accompanied you on adventures. They were basically a best friend.

“Not yet,” I told Tenney.

Feesher had been gone this entire week, chasing down a lead on the Zallupa. I missed him a lot. He always knew how to make everything okay after a nightmare. I could talk to him in my mind, so that made things a little better.

Feesher? Are you there? I said in my mind.

There was no reply. The only sound I heard was the creaking of our swings.

Yes, Ronny? Feesher replied.

How's it going?

Well, the Zallupa is not in Wait.

Wait was the place where all the Snapper Animals stayed when they weren't with their Comrades.

You're probably wondering why the Zallupa would be in Wait. It wasn't a Snapper Animal. It was an exotic magical creature that lived in the zoo.

Well, when my friends and I rescued the magical animals from the Churning Wheel, we sent them to Wait to keep them safe.

When will you be back? I asked Feesher.

I'll be back sometime this afternoon. For now, I need to get going.

Okay. See you later.

“Feesher will be back later today,” I told Tenney and Tray.

“Did he find the Zallupa?” Tenney asked with rising excitement.

“No. He searched all over Wait, but couldn't find him.”

“Well, he's got to be somewhere. There can't be that many rivers or lakes,” Tray pointed out.

I was going to agree with Tray, but something stopped me before I could. It was number eighteen on the list of things that scared me the most. Chirping crickets.

You are probably wondering why I would be scared of crickets chirping. Here's why. Bogeymen used them to send messages. So chirping crickets usually meant a Bogeyman was close by.

I stopped swinging, hoping it was just the swing creaking and not actually crickets. I motioned for Tenney and Tray to stop too. The sound didn't stop with the swings.

“What is it?” Tray asked.

“A Bogeyman is close by,” I whispered.

“Are you sure?” Tenney inquired.

I scanned the entire park and there it was, hiding behind a tree next to the newly added basketball court. A tall, ghostly figure wearing a black cloak.

I pointed out the Bogeyman to Tray and Tenney. The good news was I don't think the Bogeyman saw us yet.

“What should we do?” Tenney whispered.

“We should hide and hope he leaves,” I suggested.

Tray jumped off his swing and ran over to the slide. Tenney and I ran after him. I was too focused on getting to the slide as fast as I could to notice if the Bogeyman saw us.

I climbed into the slide first and scrambled to the top. It was really hard. I almost slipped four times. One time I would've fallen all the way down if Tenney hadn't stopped me.

We were hiding in a blue tubular slide. I was at the top and Tray was at the bottom. Tenney was in the middle of the slide, so she couldn't see anything.

“Will someone tell me what's going on?” Tenney asked.

“The Bogeyman is headed this way,” Tray informed us. “We need to climb to the top of the slide.”

Tenney and Tray were extremely noisy as they climbed up the slide. I grabbed Tenney's hand to help pull her up the rest of the way. She was almost at the top when her foot slipped.

Tenney went flying down the slide, pulling me with her. We crashed into Tray and took him with us to the bottom.

I guess there's a reason why you're supposed to go down a slide and not up it. Oh well. It's not nearly as fun.

The three of us came tumbling out onto the bark. Towering above us was a terrifying seven foot tall Bogeyman.