This chapter was never intended. Not at all. I was going to keep this strictly from Kaz's POV. But then I read The New Policeman and I got kind of inspired to do this scene. Who knows, maybe there'll be others (shrugs).


The Files of Kazdan Kalinkas

Book One: Not By Choice

Chapter Six: Interlude—Tom


UnderWorld Rule #6: If you want it, take it. But kill whoever had it first.


It was supposed to be his fifteenth birthday.

I'd planned it months prior with his parents and now I didn't have the heart to face them.

A month ago, my best friend had vanished off the face of the earth. We didn't know where he went. He wasn't the type to run away.

His Chaotic-self was gone too. But I wasn't going to tell his parents that; they already thought their son was crazy. They didn't need anymore grief by hearing it from me.

It was Saturday when it happened, I think. He was supposed to come over to my house but he never showed. I figured he got busy with chores or something. But when I called, his parents said he'd left for my house hours ago.

Of course we panicked and called the police.

What a nightmare.

All I could do was stare at the floor in shock. My best friend had disappeared. It was one of those moments where you realize you've been thinking your whole life "it'll happen to somebody else."

Well guess what.

Somewhere out there, someone's thinking you're the somebody else.


Chaotic was the first place I looked for him.

I searched all over. I asked everyone. No had seen him since yesterday when he'd ported there with me. I went to Sarah and Peyton. They hadn't seen him either. When I told them his real world self was gone…

"He had a Drome Match coming up, didn't he?" Sarah asked and I'd nodded.

Then stopped.

I swore out loud, turned on my heel, and ran, pulling out my Code Scanner as I went.

"Tom! Tom, what're you doing!?" Peyton came after me, Sarah at his heels.

"He went to the UnderWorld for a new scan!" I shouted, panic cracking my voice, "He went to the UnderWorld! He went to that no-good, stinking liar Chaor like he always does! If that UnderWorlder scumbag has done anything to him I swear I'll—!"

"Tom! Stop and think a second!" Sarah grabbed my arm before I could port, yanking me away and towards her, "So he went to the UnderWorld; that's what he always does! He trusts Chaor, even if you don't! Besides," She shook her head, "How could they get his real world self, that's impossible and you know it."

I stared at her for a few seconds and then scowled.

"I have to try." I muttered, pulling my arm out of her grip, "I have to try and find him, Sarah. He's my best friend."

"Then we're coming with you."


I'd always hated the UnderWorld.

From the moment I'd first set foot in that place, from the moment I'd first breathed that hot, stifling air, I'd loathed it.

But he'd loved it. It made him feel strong, alive. Because it was filled with Creatures so much stronger than he could ever be. And he looked up to them. Believed in them.

If they'd hurt him, they'd pay. I would personally make sure of it.

"Come on." I didn't even wait to see if Peyton and Sarah were following me. I knew they were. Those ragged buildings towered overhead, jagged as teeth, looming, foreboding. Silence pressed in on us. I stopped in the middle of a crossroad, looking this way and that for any sign of life.

No one but us.

Or so I thought.

"Hey! It's them!" Shouted a voice and we all looked around to see a couple of UnderWorld soldiers running towards us, Battlegear at the ready, "Get out of here!"

"H-hey, hold on!" I raised my hands in a submissive gesture and then ducked with a cry of alarm as they fired at us, "What the heck!"

"Tom! Port!" Peyton shouted before vanishing in a flurry of Code.

"But—!"

"Later!" Sarah cried, knowing what I meant. Then she was gone too.

I ducked another blast from the soldiers, Code Scanner in my hands, and took one last, fleeting look around. Then I ported out.

When I arrived back in the Port Court, there was one thing I was certain of, one thing that had been carved in cement by the actions of the soldiers:

Kaz was in the UnderWorld.


I didn't want to post this. Not at first. I got into an argument with myself about it but I eventually caved and decided it was okay.

And also because somebody said Tom's smart enough to figure that if Kaz went missing, it's probably Chaotic related. XP to you Mr. Plot Hole Picker.