Zolreaux

Chapter 1:

Prologue

Layla Kingsley was five years old. She was on a walk with her mother. "What's that mama?" Layla asked as she pointed to an old man a bit far off in the distance.

"You mean who is that, honey. That is Mr. Maumble. He guards the invisible gate to Zolreaux."

"Oh! The story daddy told me before he...dissapeared. Hey mama! Maybe daddy went to Zowo!" five year old Layla looked at her mama, "Daddy said it opens every five years, on May 5 at exactly 5:55am!"

"It is a very dangerous place. No one is allowed there Layla. You must promise me that you will never go there, okay?"

"But i want to go! I want to go to Zowo!"

Layla's mother gave Layla a stern look and scooped up the little girl in her arms. Then, she turned around and quickly made a start back to their home. Mr Maumble, who had an incredible hearing, shook his head, for Layla's mother should not have lied.

Chapter 1

 Drip- drop- drip- drop- drip- silence. Layla looked outside of her silver framed window. Odd, she thought. She had counted 68 drips and 67 drops. No more raindrops were falling from the sky. Layla would usually end up with then same number of drips as drops when it stopped raining in Livensville. Very odd. She studied the view outside as if she could find the suspect that totaled her raindrops unevenly. The weather looked damp and moist, and a thick fog had settled across the air. Her red clock read exactly 5:00 am. Her calender told her it was May 5th, and the day was marked with a dark, red pen, as if it was a special occasion. It was indeed; 55 more minutes and the gate to Zolreaux would be opening.

 Nahh, thought Layla. Not this year. Five more years, yes, Five more years, then I'll have more courage and more knowledge. Yes, yes. And with that, Layla crawled back into bed and forced herself to sleep. Not even a second later Layla jumped out of her bed. This year, NOT another five years, this is the year i will find both of them, she thought.

It was still dark, and Layla had a bit of difficulty getting around all the little toys and things left on the ground by the younger orphans from the day before. She had almost reached her section of the tiny closet she shared with her three roommates when she tripped over a rectangular box. THUD she came crashing to the floor. 

"Who...is theree" said Elenor (one of her roommate) in the midst of her sleep. Her hands vigorously searched for the rectangular box. "...that is mine...mine...uhmmph..."

Layla, very scared Elenor would throw one of her tantrums in the middle of the night, pushed the box towards the side of Elenor's bed. Elenor's rapidly moving hands slapped across Layla's face and then landed on the box. Relieved that no one stole her finding,  Elenor put a dumb smile on her face and went back to sleep.

Although Layla's cheeks were burning from the slap, she focused her attention on Elenor's box. She noticed there were sparkling rhinestones glued around the border, and in cursive letters on the left hand bottom corner was the word Zolreaux.

Layla's eyes grew wide in astonishment. For a few moments, she just sat on the floor staring at the box. How did Elenor find the box? Where did she find it? She strongly felt that the box was meant for her, not her slapping roomate. I bet she doesn't even know what Zolreaux is. 

Finally, Layla stood up, got dressed, and crouched back down. She quietly reached for the box and dragged it towards herself. Luckily, Elenor was now facing the other way, and therefore did not seem to notice the disapearence of the box.

Zolreaux...what a wierd name. Layla dusted the rhinestones with the edge of her shirt. She was extremely curious of what was inside, but took her time so that her reaction would be worthful. She examined all parts of the box, and found that the lock was oddly located more to the left than the centre. She then sturdily held the lock and pulled. The lock didn't move. Layla shook it, thinking that something was stuck, but still, nothing moved. She tried again. She held the lock and pulled harder. Nope. Then Layla got creative; she sat in a different position, and then pulled. She closed her eyes and used her thumbs to pull. She said "Hoccus poccus" and tried to get it open. Finally frustrated, she let go slash threw the lock, and almost magically it swayed towards the left. It was like as if a magnet had attracted the lock in that direction. Then, the lock fell off, just like that. Layla blinked the number of ages she had lived. 15.

Very, very, very odd. In fact, everything that had happened in the last ten minutes was so odd, so out of place, Layla was now scared to see what was inside the mysterious box. Take a deeeep breath, she told herself. She put one hand on the lid of the box, and used the other to cover her mouth in case she screamed. Slowly, very slowly, she lifted the lid. She looked inside. Inside, was a purple pouch, something that looked like a dead spider, and a magnifying glass.