Parallel Agenda: Zartoto, #6

By Callie Woodridge

Warning: This book has more than one point of view. If you prefer to avoid multiple perspectives, this book may not be your cup of tea.

In the electrifying conclusion to the Zartoto series, an unprecedented threat looms over every corner of existence, plunging the residents of Zartoto and countless other planets into a desperate struggle for survival. With time running out, it falls upon the shoulders of the community members to band together and confront this existential peril head-on, before all life as they know it is wiped from the cosmos.

At the heart of the conflict lies Alyssa's sword, its ancient power serving as a beacon of hope in the darkest of times. Bound by fate, Alyssa and the sword must unlock its full potential to stand against the encroaching darkness. Meanwhile, the elder members of the community, guardians of ancient knowledge and wisdom, play a pivotal role in guiding and empowering the next generation for the battle ahead.

As the community braces for the ultimate showdown, Laney, a mere seven-year-old, discovers a startling connection to the fairies of the distant planet Wurmolane.

As alliances are forged and sacrifices made, the community races against time to thwart the apocalyptic threat. Will they unlock the secrets of Alyssa's sword and harness its power in time? Can Laney uncover the mysteries of the fairies and rally their aid in the battle against annihilation?

In a pulse-pounding finale that will keep readers on the edge of their seats, the community must navigate treacherous terrain, confront their deepest fears, and unite against overwhelming odds. Will they emerge victorious, or will darkness reign supreme? Join them on an epic journey where courage, sacrifice, and determination will be tested to their limits. The fate of countless worlds hangs in the balance as they strive to save everyone before it's too late.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Callie Woodridge
• Release date: Apr 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224746750

Book preview

Callie Woodridge

Parallel Agenda

The final book of the Zartoto Series

Copyright © 2023 by Callie Woodridge

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Callie Woodridge asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Callie Woodridge has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

First edition

Cover art by Getcovers

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"To my kittens, my furry muses,

Thank you for all the purrs, snuggles, and endless entertainment.

You both have brought so much joy and love into my life.

This book is dedicated to you, as a small token of my gratitude for all the happiness you have brought into my world.

I love you both more than words can express. Purrfectly yours."

Contents

William

Paul

Paul

Paul

Paul

Paul

Paul

Hailey

Hailey

Hailey

Hailey

Hailey

Hailey

Tiffany

Tiffany

Tiffany

Tiffany

Cameron

Cameron

Cameron

Cameron

Cameron

Hailey

Hailey

Michelle

Michelle

Michelle

William

William

William

Paul

Paul

Tiffany

Tiffany

Tiffany

William

William

William

William

Alyssa

Alyssa

Alyssa

Alyssa

Alyssa

Hailey

Hailey

Alyssa

Tiffany

Tiffany

Tiffany

Tiffany

Tiffany

Tiffany

Epilogue

Thank you for reading!

Some exciting news for those who enjoyed!

William

Space exploration was one of the best opportunities we’d had so far. I could understand why people chose to be explorers, and the idea of going back to Zartoto didn’t seem appealing to me.

Part of me was still surprised we’d been allowed to go in the first place, but magic hadn’t failed in almost two years, and we hadn’t heard of any spaceship malfunctions from anyone.

Cameron had been obsessed with trying to find a planet that Aldophous called Wurmolane ever since we’d gone to Zeredar. However, up until recently, we hadn’t been allowed to go because everyone worried we’d crash again.

However, Brian was with us, and he’d promised my parents that he’d keep us safe. Lula, Cameron’s girlfriend, was on standby too.

Not that we really needed our parents’ permission anymore; we would be twenty soon enough, but they still preferred it when we talked to them about it. None of us minded, though.

With everything that was going on, neither Cameron nor I minded. Plus, our grandparents wanted everyone who was flying in and out to check in anyway.

A lot had changed since the Zeredarians had been there, and we now had visitors from other planets sometimes, or we left. Our communities were also a lot more connected, and often people from all over Zartoto came to visit—mainly a lot of Grandpa’s leader friends from other communities.

Protocols for coming and going had become even stricter because we knew a lot of threats still existed. Not everyone who came to see us could be friendly, so there were many steps we had to follow. Usually, for space travel, we had to give at least a week’s notice if we wanted to leave.

No one could fly unless more than one person did the safety checks, and we had to connect to someone from home every few hours.

All of us had girlfriends (mine was a secret outside the four of us) we usually connected to, though we made sure to talk to our parents once in a while too. So far, no one was too worried, and our trip had been uneventful so far.

Hayden was mainly stressed because his mind was on Gracie and his daughter, Ella, but for the most part, we were having a great time flying further than we’d ever gone without an adult. None of us counted Brian as one of the adults because he felt like one of the boys to us.

We were learning a lot about space in our travels that we’d never known about, and I wondered if any of our parents knew some of the stuff we found out. We’d discovered that certain planets that no longer had magical civilizations, but still had magic, were universal trading places.

People could trade for anything, but we learned we had to be careful too. After someone tried to steal our spaceship on the last planet we’d landed on, we discovered we had to keep it hidden at all times and have someone always stay back.

Some planets were tamer than others, but it was always hard to tell which ones didn’t have gangs on them.

The odd thing was, all sorts of aliens, magical or not, knew about them. We saw aliens from all over, and many were not magical and had no idea that they were on magical planets, but they participated in trades.

Cameron had taken us to one we’d originally thought was safe the night before because their civilization had only been wiped out perhaps fifty years ago by a deathly plague. Shortly after we landed, we discovered it was a place for criminals to hide and have illegal trades. Brian was the one to discover this as he felt it was best he checked things out first.

What surprised me was that the Head Supernaturals knew about these places, but they didn’t enforce any rules. According to Hewerty, these planets were considered no man’s land, which meant if people visited them, they did so at their own discretion.

They only cared about thriving planets, but left it alone if the civilizations were no longer there. However, they did watch if there were animals on any of the planets still, and would cast protective magic on their habitats.

They believed it wasn’t up to them to do anything about dead civilizations beyond protecting the animals. Unless someone (such as Akydarn) was wanted and known to be on such a planet, they’d come looking for them, but that was it. Otherwise, they looked the other way.

Mom says it’s kind of hard to enforce rules on what they consider a dead planet when so many different aliens visit, Brian had told us on the last planet we’d stopped to rest on. The planets are still magical, so they hope life will eventually evolve again. Thus, they leave it be because the more magical visitors the better, and those who aren’t magical can pick up on the magic. Besides, it helps for people like us who are taking longer trips to have a place to stay and to re-energize our magic.

The place we currently were on was nearly as magical as Zartoto, so I could understand the draw. However, we’d heard word about the magical plague that had killed everyone off. We all assumed it wouldn’t have many people there because they’d be scared to catch whatever killed the people of the planet off, but it was the opposite.

People liked this planet because so many of its buildings were intact, so there were a lot of places to stay. A lot of the old inhabitants’ stuff was still there, so people enjoyed looking through it all for something to trade.

Cameron believed it was an explorer’s dream because everything was still there and well preserved, but it just saddened me. This was once a thriving planet of billions, and now it was a rest stop for aliens. Most were criminals hiding away on it or taking advantage of people.

Brian had sent Andrew, Cameron, and me out invisibly to see if we could find out any more information while he stayed in the ship. We weren’t far off from Wurmolane, so Cameron figured we could take our time there and explore. We just needed to be back in time for Laney’s seventh birthday, but we still had time, and Brian said he could teleport us home if he had to.

It reminded me of a magical Earth from the way their buildings were built, particularly the high rises of the massive city we’d landed outside of. It even had the same highways with interchanges and several elevated over the other. There were vehicles similar to the ones on Earth. Their tires were made out of something besides rubber, and their cars or whatever they were formed a shape of a triangle with one wheel at the front and two at the back.

Could you imagine how this place was over fifty years ago? Andrew asked as we stood on a high overpass that looked down on other roads.

Below us were a group of yellow scaly aliens walking along the road and talking. No one could see us because Brian had turned us invisible and he’d hidden our energy. Thus, we were able to check out different groups without any worries.

Cameron suddenly disappeared, and I yelled out in fear, while Hayden tried to connect to Brian, only for him to appear moments later clutching a piece of paper.

I think these people were human, if that makes sense, Cameron said. Look at how similar their stuff is to the Earthlings.

Where the hell did you go? I asked. You know you’re supposed to say something before you disappear like that.

Sorry, he responded. I saw someone drop this as they got into their shuttle. I think they were humans too.

Wait, so you’re saying there could be more than one planet of humans? You mean like human humans? Hayden asked.

They’ll obviously have something different, like their eyes are bigger, or something that they evolved differently from humans. It’s like the Zartians or Zartoians who look similar but not really. I mean, there are obvious differences between Lula and me, Cameron said.

But they’re in the same solar system as us, Andrew pointed out. This planet is further from Earth than we are from Zartoto, and we are far. What planet do you think the people you just saw are from?

Cameron hesitated before holding up the piece of paper he was holding. It looked similar to lined paper on Earth; in fact, it was identical, and the written language was in English.

What the hell? I asked, grabbing it from him. So they speak the same language too? Not even the people on Zart and Zarto speak our language.

No, I think the people I just encountered are Earthlings. But I think they were curious about the humans or whatever they were called here.

How? Andrew, Hayden, and I asked simultaneously.

They’re not advanced enough in space travel to get this far. Last we heard, they are still trying to put people on Mars for the first time! Hayden said.

They must be with people who abducted them, but read it. They’re learning about this place, Cameron told me.

I glanced down at the piece of paper I was holding and lifted it close to read. In blue pen, they’d written:

The planet is called Ilvera, a mystical and enchanted world where magic is the norm. Ilvera is a diverse planet, home to a wide range of landscapes, from lush forests to towering mountains, and even vast deserts. The planet’s inhabitants, known as Ilverans, possess extraordinary magical abilities and can cast spells with ease.

The Ilverans live in various magical kingdoms, each ruled by a powerful sorcerer or sorceress. These rulers are some of the most powerful magic users on the planet, and are responsible for maintaining peace and order among the people.

The Ilverans have a deep connection with nature and many of them have the ability to shapeshift into different animals, this ability is passed down through generations and is considered a great honour. Some Ilverans can transform into powerful beasts such as dragons, phoenixes and griffins, while others can take on the form of more common animals like wolves and bears.

Ilvera also has a unique system of magic, where the Ilverans are born with a specific affinity for a certain element, like fire, water, air and earth, this allows them to channel and control their specific element more efficiently. This elemental magic is also used for practical purposes, such as for agriculture, transportation, and construction.

The Ilverans also possess a wide range of other magical abilities, such as the ability to teleport, levitation, and even the power of divination. These abilities are often passed down through families, and are considered to be a sacred part of Ilveran culture.

Overall, Ilvera is a magical and enchanted world, where magic is a natural part of everyday life. The Ilverans live in harmony with nature, and their powerful abilities allow them to shape and mold the world around them to their will.

I read it aloud, and the others exchanged looks.

It’s written like they’re still alive, Hayden said. Do you think some still are?

You never know. With civilizations on any planet, small pockets of people can survive and repopulate. These people could too, and whatever killed them off is probably long gone by this point. I feel like this guy might just be writing it like this for research purposes. I don’t think he wanted to write it like they’re all dead, Cameron responded. I honestly think it’s possible people did survive, but obviously this place is different now. I want to follow them. Maybe they’re explorers like us and we can find out more. I just feel like we shouldn’t pass this up. Those are Earthlings, but they must be with an advanced race of aliens.

I’m all for it, and Alyssa just connected to see if we made it to Wurmolane yet, Andrew said.

I still couldn’t believe he was dating my sister, but unlike how they thought we’d react, we’d been happy for them. At first, I wanted to be upset, but I was secretly dating her best friend for one, and for another, Andrew was like another brother to me. And we could all see they were good for each other. Even mom and dad at first were wary about it, but in the end, mom convinced dad that they were fine together, and we had to let Alyssa make her own choices. He wouldn’t cheat, unlike Cory, who had done it again to another girl in our community despite his promises not to.

I’d lost all respect for him, especially when he stated that he didn’t want just one girlfriend when the world could end either way. Even Hannah was angry with him, but she’d been working on her problems lately. I wasn’t sure what Cory’s problem was but I knew we could trust Andrew with Alyssa, so none of us made a big deal out of it, least of all me.

Soon. Did she say how much longer we have until Laney’s birthday? Hayden asked.

A week and a half, Andrew answered. So we should make a decision now. We can’t stay here for longer than a day.

We could always try to find a rift if we have to, I said with a shrug.

We were avoiding them because we wanted to see everything between Zartoto, Wurmolane, and Zeredar, but we could always come back and explore, or let Brian take us back.

I’m curious about the humans and this planet to be honest with you, Andrew said. I bet we could find pictures of these people in some of the abandoned buildings. Honestly, the similarities between the architecture here and Earth are phenomenal. Do you think they were advanced in space travel?

It’s hard to say, but we will have to come back after Laney’s birthday to find out, Cameron said. But I vote that we follow those people.

I shrugged and voted yes too, because, why not? I was curious as well. Now learning about how these people lived with their magic made me want to learn more. They had frigging dragons and phoenixes here, and whatever a griffin was! It was a shame they’d been wiped out because quite frankly, they sounded cool!

Cameron pointed out where their spaceship was after we all voted yes, and after informing Brian of where we were going. Hayden let him take control of him in case he needed to pull us away, but Cameron was convinced that none of them were magical.

It’s just from the way that is written, Cameron said. It’s written in a way that they discovered these people had magic and that it’s really real. Gosh, this place is an explorer’s dream. I think we should see if anyone survived when we come back. Maybe we can figure out a way to help them.

I wasn’t sure how, but it would be great if this planet could go back to the way it used to be. Seeing it in this state when it seemed so Earth-like made me feel sad for their civilization.

Cameron teleported us to a spaceship that looked like a red and white rocket ship from Earth—though it was square instead of round. All four of us froze when we saw the glass door rise open, and a pair of steps appeared. Could they see or sense us?

There were four humans among a grey-looking species who looked like a less scary version of Berty, who had shocked us all the first time we’d seen him. They had friendly faces, however. In fact, as I took in the one female with long black hair, I had to apologize to Ava inwardly because the woman was hot. The other guys were staring at her too, which I felt relieved about.

They’re not magical, Cameron stated. I’m guessing these grey aliens are advanced for their race. Funny how much they look similar to the aliens in the Earth movies.

Probably people got abducted by them. I wonder how they send people back, then, Andrew answered. Are you sure they don’t know we are here?

Brian said we are safe. He just did a read on them too. They’re from an advanced alien race who have made their achievements without the need for magic. They’re as magical as Earth currently is.

Cameron let out a whistle. That’s impressive.

Look, I’m not on board with this idea. Daro is big enough, why do you need to invade Earth? One of the male humans asked. We don’t want our people harmed.

No one is going to harm anyone. We want your people alive. We just want them to help us for a while. We don’t plan to stay, but as you can see, we are over fifty years too late for Ilvera, which is a damn shame if they were actually magical. I never knew it truly existed, but from what we’ve found, magic is real! Earth would have been our last choice too since they’re not magical and they’re behind. But you humans are great workers and you’ll be able to do the work we can’t do on our planet. They can use their materials to build it all.

Yeah, so you’re going to enslave them to do the work your people won’t do anymore, another human snarled.

But they’ll get something out of it. Look, it won’t be hard for us to take over the planet to set up our factories. No one will be forced to work longer than their eight hours or whatever is there, and they’ll still get a paycheck. We will make sure they all think they’re applying for jobs for us, the pretty woman said, and one of the male humans snorted.

Do you think we are stupid?

You have our word that we will not hurt your people, the woman replied. We just know humans work well with their hands. Their fingers were made for it. No one is getting enslaved.

Cameron held a finger to his lips before walking over to the human closest to us. They couldn’t see or hear him, but I still stiffened up as I watched him. He bent down to whisper something in her ear, and she flinched. He backed up and came back to us.

Make a pinky promise with me then, the female human suddenly said, and the three of us glanced at Cameron with surprise.

A what? The pretty alien asked with confusion while the other humans looked at her raised eyebrows.

If someone broke a pinky promise on Earth, it meant nothing but hurt feelings, but a broken magical promise meant they’d lose a sliver of magic. Neither had a lot to lose off Ilvera, but then again, it meant they’d probably lose any magic they might have.

What is this? The female alien asked while the female human held her pinky out, though she only had four fingers, and they looked long and flimsy.

Just do it. You have nothing to lose, right?

Whatever, the pretty alien woman said and locked her fourth finger into the human’s outstretched pinky.

I felt the spell take hold even if they didn’t notice.

We’ve got to go back to Zartoto to tell everyone now, Cameron whispered. We can’t let it happen to the Earthlings. They should be warned.

The group continued to talk, and by the sounds of it, they were going to go back to their planet to get recruits. I didn’t know how fast they flew, but it sounded like they knew about the rifts, only they called them travel gaps. Cameron was right. Our trip to Wurmolane needed to be postponed. We couldn’t let Earth be invaded.

Brian said he’s going to get in contact with Crearat. I think they’re going to get a team together. He said he’ll stay with us until we’re outside our solar system, but then he’s going to go talk to her, Hayden said.

Let’s go then, I said, and the four of us grabbed hands and teleported to our spaceship. We couldn’t let it happen to Earth, especially since the Head Supernaturals believed the humans could be key to stopping the timelines from failing. Either way, they didn’t deserve to be invaded. We could stop it or warn the Earthlings at least.

Paul

Ipaced back and forth while peering up at the night sky anxiously. Why hadn’t the boys connected back to me? Why couldn’t I connect back with any of them? I was trying not to let my wife’s anxieties about letting them take off into space on their own, but after the lost conversation I’d had with William, it was hard for me not to be at the moment.

Not that I didn’t stand my decision to let them finally go on their own space exploration adventure; I’d been even younger than them after all. But I understood her misgivings about them going now. The strange and sometimes even brutal storms were affecting every planet and star. The Universe was a bit too unstable to be traveling through at the moment, but I also knew I couldn’t hold them back. The twins were almost twenty now, and Hayden was over twenty, and he was a father. I couldn’t very well say no.

I kept thinking back to William’s last message to me. Dad? I have some bad news, and you’re not going to like it. Don’t tell mom yet, he’d disconnected immediately afterward, and I hadn’t been able to get a hold of him or the others since.

Tiffany was in the house at the moment with the girls, who were all preparing for Laney’s seventh birthday. The boys knew that, so part of me hoped William just didn’t want them to all worry for no reason. There was enough to worry about with whatever was happening to the timelines without something else major happening.

Since the Zeredarian’s departure nearly two years ago, everything had gone back to being peaceful, and we had better communication with the rest of Zartoto. We’d also forged a good relationship with the Zeredarians despite some of their people attacking our planet. We still weren’t as connected as Earth was, but the social connection app Alyssa had created was still around, and it was still used frequently. It just wasn’t used for anything useful except trades. Otherwise, people wasted time on it the way they did back on Earth. There were still instances of communities just looking out for themselves, but it was also easier to find communities who were willing to help.

We’d helped a few communities in the past two years from attacks from some unsavory characters or energy vampires. We’d also maintained friendships with other communities and so had the kids. I figured it would be slow, but perhaps someday soon, Zartoto would be even more connected. We weren’t allowed to interfere with community wars, for example, unless we wanted a war on ourselves, and most of us knew what that could lead to. No one wanted a full-scale world war.

Dad believed that we didn’t want to be like Earth anyway, that the way we communicated now was fine. He’d reasoned with Rebecca and Tiffany that when it comes to magical beings, things were run differently, and likely in the future, Earth would have to find a different way to live as well once everyone was magical, if they made it to that point before they blew themselves up, that is.

I glanced up at the sky to see that there was another electrical storm in the distance that was coming. The storms had been affecting the wildcat shifters big time, especially when it came to the unseasonable weathers we’d been having for the past two years. We’d have snow during our hot season for a week or so, and hot weather during our very cold season. It didn’t last; the weather would go back to the way it was supposed to, but for the past couple of years, we’d definitely had strange weather we’d never experienced on Zartoto.

It was the same over on Zeredar and Earth as well. Maverick had come for a visit recently and told us that they were getting a type of hot rain they only got in their warm season during their cold season. Tiffany had gone back to Earth to finalize the sale of her old house to find that they were having a major ice storm at the end of July.

It wasn’t just the weather either; the very air felt different. Usually, when we traveled between planets, we noticed there was a change, and it made it harder for us to breathe at first. Lately, we felt that way even on Zartoto, which made us all worry about the children under the age of seven since they didn’t have magic yet. We worried it would have a different effect on them than us, but so far, they didn’t seem too uncomfortable. Spells were cast around babies just in case. There was also a certain static to the air, even when there wasn’t an electrical storm. We often got shocks from touching each other or objects. We thought maybe someone from another timeline could be doing something, but the Head Supernaturals said it was impossible for it to affect us here.

Something was off not only in our Universe but in the Head’s Universe and their own Head’s Universe. It seemed to stretch beyond three dimensions, and I still worried it had to do with all the abductions we’d done over the years. Stephen used to wonder with the way we altered timelines when we sent people back to their home planets would eventually have a bigger effect than just a ripple one.

We’d learn just how much we were connected to them from when we’d sent Tiffany back and then retrieved her. One of the first things we’d asked Aldophous was whether or not that would mess things up for us later down the road, and the Head had answered no, but I wondered if it had. I’d questioned Aldophous about this more than once since I’d brought it to his attention, but he was adamant that it hadn’t.

Paul, we’ve used that spell multiple times to change things because people on many different planets have made messes we’ve had to clean up, Aldophous said. I know it might not sound like it, but retrieving Tiffany from the past is minor compared to some of what we had to do. Someone who was abducted to Zartoto from Earth once nearly set off world war three! We stopped a comet from hitting a planet because it was our fault that it would have hit it. We’d gone overboard with some magic which affected a comet flying nearby, and it took off to the next inhabited planet. We couldn’t stop it, so we had to timeline hop.

So that means there is a timeline where that planet is gone though, right? I’d asked, already knowing the answer and wondering if that was such a good idea. As glad as I was that those people didn’t have to suffer a horrible death, what if stopping the comet in another timeline was a bad idea?

Aldophous was insistent that it wasn’t because there were many timelines out there where comets hadn’t hit certain planets, such as the one that had hit Earth and killed the dinosaurs. There were many timelines where something happened to interfere with the comet so that it didn’t, but I felt that it wasn’t the same thing as timeline hopping. That was natural for those timelines.

We don’t even know if it is the timelines, it’s a theory, Aldophous told me. "You’re just paranoid about it. Timelines alternate all the time where major events don’t happen in another timeline. We’ve prevented some very bad things from happening. We’ve told you that we can’t alter timelines when someone dies, but that’s not entirely true. It depends on the situation. We’re only granted permission for special situations, such as the war that nearly broke out on Earth. The comet