The Society of Imaginary Friends

Elaborate mansions with sparkling, snow-covered lawns lined the streets of Elsinore, giving the city the impression of a wealthy winter playground. All of the buildings were ornately decorated, though none so much as Kanti’s ice castle. Everyone dressed lavishly. The styles were unfamiliar to Valerie, but she could see that the rich fabrics were covered in lace and sewn in golden thread.

The sight of so much finery was dazzling as she rushed through the streets with Kanti, who wasn’t distracted in the least by the sights, even when a bird settled on her shoulder and started talking in her ear. “Princess Kanti, you’re back!” But Kanti shook the bird off, and the little creature flew away.

“What was that all about?” Valerie asked, wide-eyed.

“Bad news. Those birds carry gossip around the city. News of my return will circulate in a matter of minutes. We need to get that charm and get out of here. If Zunya and his crew didn’t know where we were before, they’ll find us now for sure.”

Finally, they stopped at a building that had four stone gargoyles on the roof that stared down menacingly at any visitors. This foreboding manor seemed out of place with the opulent, sparkling houses they had passed by earlier. Kanti lifted a heavy knocker, and the boom was thunderous as it crashed against the door.

A wizened old man with glasses as big as saucers eventually opened the door. His gray eyes brightened when he saw Kanti, and he gave her a quick hug. Then he hurried them inside, glancing around the street before he shut the door.

When the door closed, the air around the man blurred, and he morphed into a tall woman with long, dark hair that was streaked with silver. Valerie gaped, and the woman laughed deeply.

“Valerie, this is my Aunt Ani.”

“Call me Ani, PLEASE. My, child, you are SO puzzled. Haven’t you ever seen a glamour disguise before?” Ani said. She spoke strangely, overemphasizing some of her words. It made everything she said sound SO dramatic.

“No, she’s from Messina. So it’s all pretty new,” Kanti jumped in. Then she explained to Valerie, “Ani bought a disguise from the Glamour Guild a few years ago so that she could go out and about in Elsinore without being recognized.”

“It gets so DREADFULLY dull talking gossip and going to parties all day,” Ani said with a dramatic flourish of her hand. “But no one bothers me when I’m disguised as old Iago. SO much fun to see what people REALLY think. But unless I’m much mistaken, you’re here for MORE than a friendly visit.”

“We need a protection charm for someone on Earth.”

“More of your Imaginary Friends’ GUILD work, dear? Of course, those charms are very expensive, even for YOU.”

Kanti hastily handed Ani the small pouch that she had taken from her bedroom. Valerie examined it more closely and saw that it was moving, as if something was squirming around inside. Ani peeked in the pouch and raised her eyebrows.

“I never needed to spend the allowance my parents gave me. There’s nothing here I ever want to buy, and there is no currency in Arden,” Kanti said.

“What’s inside?” Valerie asked, a little worried. Whatever was in that bag churned like it wanted to get out.

“It’s magic. That’s the currency around here,” Kanti explained. “The best kind—it can be used for any purpose.”

“VERY rare,” Ani added. “I accept. Wait here.”

Ani walked down the hall and into another room, and they heard her rummaging through some drawers. She came back, blowing dust off of a crystal so pure that it was almost invisible. Only the light glinting off its surface indicated that it was a real, solid object. Ani dropped it into Kanti’s hand.

“I DO hope you’ll stay for dinner, and overnight if you need.”

“We’re as safe at Ani’s as anywhere in Elsinore,” Kanti whispered. “We’ll get outta here first thing tomorrow morning. Everyone sleeps late, so the streets will be deserted.”

Valerie’s stomach was empty, and a warm bed sounded welcome. “Thank you, Ani,” she said, gratefully.

Ani showed Valerie and Kanti to a room that was paneled in dark wood carved with roses. The bed was covered in heavy, red sheets. Once Ani left to arrange dinner, Kanti handed Valerie the crystal.

“Might as well go visit Thai now,” Kanti said.

“How do I make the crystal protect Thai?” Valerie asked.

“The spell is already inside. Go visit Thai, and before you leave, look at him through the crystal for a few seconds. When you come back to the Globe, there should be a little image of him inside. Then we’ll know it worked.”

Valerie nodded. It sounded simple enough, even for her. She settled down to concentrate on Thai, eager to see him. It felt like forever since they had last talked. She shut her eyes and pictured his smile.

“At last!” Thai cried. Valerie opened her eyes. He was standing outside, and behind him was a magnificent view of the mountains. A little ways away, she saw his tent next to a small, smoldering fire.

“Still in Yosemite?” she asked, enjoying the sight of his face and relieved that at least for Thai, she wasn’t too late to protect him.

“Are you kidding? You’re really going to ask me about the view when I haven’t seen you for two days? What happened after you left the boat? I was freaking out!”

As Valerie related her story, Thai’s face began to relax, until she reached the part about Zunya’s attack.

“It seems like every time you disappear, my worst worries come true,” he said. Then his face changed, and his eyes turned gold.

“H-he misses you. So do I,” Tan said. His shoulders slumped.

“I miss you, too. I promise, when all of this craziness is over, I’ll visit more often.”

Tan’s face brightened, and then he blinked, and Thai’s dark eyes looked back at her. “He’s getting stronger. He takes over more easily now, and for longer periods of time,” Thai said, sounding proud.

“That’s great!”

“Great, but weird. I can’t always regain control of my body right away,” he said. “Anyway, finish your story.”

“I’m in Kanti’s hometown now. When I got here, I had another vision of Henry, and I finally know where he is. Venu is taking him to Zambia, Africa. But I have no idea why.”

“Me, either. But we finally have a clue. I’ll catch the bus out of here and take the first flight leaving Sacramento.”

“Be careful, okay?”

“Right back at you,” Thai said, softly, the worry returning to his eyes.

“One last thing. I was finally able to get ahold of a crystal to make the charm that will protect you from being found by anyone on the Globe except for me. I swear I’ll keep this charm with me always and die before I part with it.”

“No, Valerie, if it ever comes to that, give them the charm. I’d rather have you alive and be harassed by a crazy redhead than lose you.”

She had an overwhelming urge to touch Thai’s hand, but knew she couldn’t. Before she left, she looked at him through the crystal as he warmed up his hands over the small fire. He flashed one of his rare smiles, and then she let herself be pulled back into her body on the Globe.

Back on the Globe, Valerie saw a tiny image of Thai inside her crystal, warming his hands on the fire.

“It worked!” she said, and an enormous weight lifted from her heart. She didn’t realize how much she had worried about Thai being taken from her by Sanguina until now. She carefully slipped the crystal into her pocket next to the flower of light, which she always kept with her like a lucky charm.

“Finally, one thing is going right,” Kanti said.

“If only we could know for sure that Cy and the others are okay,” Valerie said. “I can’t imagine sleeping tonight without knowing for sure.”

“Actually, I thought we’d give them a call, now that Thai’s safe.”

“A call? As in a call on a phone?” Valerie asked, confused.

“Most people don’t have phones on the Globe, outside of Messina. But Ani does business with people in Messina, and that’s the only way to communicate with them. Come on,” Kanti said, and Valerie followed her down the hall. Hanging on the wall was a cordless phone that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Earth. Kanti picked it up and said, “Cyrus Burns,” and then handed the phone to Valerie.

The phone rang, and Valerie’s palms started to sweat. “Hello? Who is this?” Mr. Burns’ gruff voice answered.

“Um, hi, Mr. Burns, it’s Valerie. Is Cyrus—”

“I let you in my house, feed you, give you shelter, and this is how you repay us! We will never forgive you for this. You are not welcome in this house ever again—” Mr. Burns’ shouting was suddenly silenced and Valerie heard a brief scuffle on the other end of the phone.

Then a new voice, deep and slimy, said, “I always knew you were a coward at heart.” A chill went down Valerie’s spine as she recognized Zunya’s voice. “You may be safe, wherever you ran away to, but those you’ve left behind aren’t so lucky.”

“You leave Cyrus alone!” she tried to shout, but her voice trembled at Zunya’s unspoken threat. She gripped the phone in her hand so hard that the plastic bent out of shape.

“Cyrus isn’t here anymore.”

“What have you done?” she slumped against the wall, so weak she could barely prop herself up. How could she have abandoned Cyrus? Zunya was right—she was a coward.

“Aw, don’t sound so sad. It’s so—pathetic,” Zunya said with a snicker. “Cyrus is alive. He’s staying with a friend of mine in Dunsinane.”

“Sanguina,” she whispered.

“Yes. If you want his head to stay connected to the rest of his body, go, alone, to the castle on the highest peak of the Dunsinane mountains. And Valerie, things will go very badly for Cyrus, his family, and the rest of your little Knight friends if you don’t come by yourself.”

The way Zunya said her name made her flesh crawl. But Cyrus was still alive, and there was a sliver of a chance that she could save him. That was all that mattered—more than her life. “I’ll come. Then she’ll let him go?”

“Then he’ll stay alive.”

“Leave the rest of them out of this.”

“You’re not the one calling the shots here. No, they’re my insurance policy. If you or anyone runs to Azra or the Knights, I’ll strip them of their sanity. Now, scurry off to Dunsinane, little girl. You better hurry or something might happen to one of them. I get so bored when I have to wait.” Zunya hung up the phone.

The receiver slipped out of her fingers and she heard it clatter on the floor. As she imagined Cyrus, locked up somewhere under Sanguina’s control, her helplessness and guilt hardened into a cold determination. For Cyrus and Henry, she knew it was time to face Sanguina again, even though there was no way to win.