Michael S Lopez

Zoey Le Mar and the Curse of the Nian Michael S Lopez

Zoey Le Mar doesn't have the traditional worries about being a freshman in high school: getting good grades, having good complexion and hair, or bullying. Staying alive is her main concern, even with magical armor, an ancestral guide, and defensive training. She has survived monstrous golems and possessive ghosts, but she also knows she's a lightning rod for the supernatural. More will be coming. Zoey has accidentally included her friends, Danielle, Lucy, Rhea, Tricky, and Gabe, into her familial responsibility, and they are a great help, as well as a heavy burden. This weekend starts a huge Chinese New Year celebration in Sacramento, California, and strange dreams and premonitions occur, yet again. But this time, they center around Lucy and her Chinese heritage. Lucy and Rhea get pulled into a past event of an ancient monster, the Nián, attacking a Chinese village. After being shocked and disturbed by this incident, an old sage from the historical flash warns them the monster will be coming for them, and soon. Adding to the evolving problems, an exiled artist from Russia, Nikoli Ducov, has drawn a picture of Lucy in her armor, and it's mysteriously distributed around school. But wait, more bad news develops. A disgraced reported, Jenna Jones, is snooping around the high school, looking for her way back to the top. And if that wasn't enough, former friend and rival teammate, Allison Neely, is attending this high school too. Reeling with all the budding craziness, Zoey and friends seek out their Sensei who has some news of his own, some includes Major Gerard Armstrong. Emotions boil, and wild magic ignites, a reoccurring problem. A new power exasperates an explosion that levels Sensei's dojo. Many are rocked to the core. Interrupting the teens' backward slide, the Nián finds them. What will Zoey do? How will she lead them? Will she, and the others, survive and prevail?