The Map
Zoey looked at her watch. Only twenty-five more minutes until school ended. Then, she would go to her friend’s house and play
games. Come on, Zoey thought to herself. It’s Friday! Annoyed, she opened her book and continued to follow along with her teacher’s reading.
After twenty-five long and boring minutes, Ms. Webb, Zoey’s teacher, announced the class was over. Filled with excitement, she ran down the hallway to gather her backpack and caught up with her friend outside her classroom.
″Zoey! Over here!″ yelled Jasmine. Zoey came up to her. ″Hi Jaz! Are you ready to go? I can’t wait to continue building my house!″
″Of course! But, I need to show you something.″ Jasmine hesitated, and then replied, ″I saw it this morning.″ Confused by what she meant, Zoey shrugged. Then, they walked towards Jasmine’s house. On the way, they spotted a black cat looking at them. It seemed to be studying their every move. The cat was sitting near a tree. It didn’t seem that it was trying to hide. Noticing that Jasmine was worried about the cat, Zoey assured her everything was fine. ″Don’t worry. Aren’t black cats considered good luck in Ireland?″
Jasmine looked down at her feet and said, ″Yea...but, we don’t live in Ireland.″ Getting the clue, Zoey continued walking forward, occasionally turning around to see the cat still staring at them. After a couple of minutes, they were inside the safety of Jasmine’s home.
″Hey girls! How did school go today?″ Mrs. Woods asked them.
″It was good.″ replied Zoey, stuffing her mouth with one of Mrs. Woods’ homemade cookies.
″These are amazing!″ Mrs. Woods beamed, as she was always perfecting her recipe.
″Mom, since it’s Friday, can I skip my homework and do it tomorrow?″ Jasmine asked her mother. Mrs. Woods thought for a moment, and eventually agreed. Jasmine hugged her mom and the two girls headed upstairs into Jasmine’s room.
″Jaz, what’s wrong?″ Zoey asked. ″You’ve been very peculiar today.″ Instead of replying, Jasmine took out a box from under her bed. From the inside, she pulled out a map and a letter. They looked like they were hundreds of years old. ″This morning, I woke up and I found this on my desk......look at this letter.″
Jasmine handed an envelope to Zoey. She opened it. The inside was written in bad handwriting. It read:
″Dear reader,
If you are reading this, it means I have chosen you to complete an important task. Use the map to go to the location specified. Once you go there - you find see another map and letter. Take them and do what they say. There are three letters in total. You MUST complete this OR ELSE. I warn you.″
″Okay. Now I see why you were odd today.″ Zoey told Jasmine. ″Are you going to do it?″
″I have to. Look, it says ‘OR ELSE.’ I don’t want to die! Have you ever read books Zoey?″ She replied all-knowingly. ″However...″ Jasmine started. ″I’m going to need your help.″
Zoey thought about it for a moment, and then agreed. ″You know I can’t miss an epic adventure with my bestie!″ She smiled widely.
″But, that’s not all.″ Jasmine said abruptly, changing the mood in the room. ″Look at the back.″
Zoey flipped the letter. When she saw that there was nothing there, she flipped the letter’s envelope. The envelope had been sealed with a black stamp with the outline of a cat.
