The Society of Imaginary Friends

Once they were out of sight of the hospital, they slowed down, melting into the pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks. Thai walked purposefully down the sidewalk, his eyes sweeping the dingy streets for any sign of danger. Valerie did her best to hide the strain that her sprint had taken on her now that the adrenaline was fading.

“You want to tell me what all that was about?” he asked with a stern glare.

“Depends—are you sure that you want to know the answer?” she asked in the sweetest of voices.

His mouth twitched like he was forcing himself not to smile. “You’re right. I don’t.”

Too absorbed in her new freedom, she didn’t even think to ask where they were going. Before she knew it, they were on the open-air platform at the MacArthur BART train station, and Thai was opening one of the lockers lining the walls.

“I rented this locker so I didn’t have to lug our stuff all over Oakland. I figure that would look more than a little suspicious to Child Services.”

“Our stuff?” she asked, confused. The locker popped open, and he pulled out two large hiking packs, handing one to her.

“You’ll need this. Dump all your stuff in here. We need to travel light. Almost everything we’ll need for the trip is in these two bags, so don’t let yours out of your sight.”

“Uh, actually I have no stuff,” she admitted.

Thai didn’t ask for details. “Well, now you do,” he said.

Valerie peeked inside her bag and saw that Thai wasn’t kidding. He’d packed everything from a lightweight sleeping bag to an extremely fancy, technical pair of sunglasses covered in buttons and dials. She pulled the glasses out and started to try them on.

“Put them away! And be careful, those night vision goggles were not easy to get.”

“Unbelievable. I can’t wait until we get to use these! But how will I ever pay you back for all this?”

“Whatever, it’s a gift,” he said gruffly. “Oh, and you’ll need this,” he added as he handed her a passport.

“How did you manage to get this?”

“Those Conjurors have a few tricks up their sleeves. And good thing, too, or we’d never get out of here. Now let’s go. Our flight to England is in two hours.”

“England. That’s where the launch site is?” Valerie asked, a little embarrassed that she hadn’t bothered to find out before.

“Not exactly,” Cyrus said, suddenly popping into view next to Thai, who jumped about a foot in surprise.

“Don’t do that!” Thai growled.

“Sorry, champ,” Cyrus said with a smirk. Before Thai could reply, Cyrus turned to Valerie. “The launch site is in Giza, inside the Great Pyramid.”

Her eyes widened. “Then what’s in England, exactly?”

“You have to go there and take a test to prove your magic.”

Her mind whirled, trying to take in so much new information at once. “Prove my magic? What am I going to have to do? What if I don’t pass the test? Will I have to go back to a foster home again?”

“Don’t be such a worrier, Val. You’re bursting with magic, so I’m sure you’ll pass with flying colors. When you do, you’ll get a message that will show you the next step to the launch room inside the Great Pyramid.”

She wasn’t reassured. What if Cyrus was totally wrong about her and she failed the test? She still found it a little hard to believe that there could be anything magical inside of her. But she’d come this far; there was no way she was turning back now.

“Enough chit chat. You zap out of here, pal. Valerie and I have a flight to catch,” Thai said to Cyrus, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.

Cyrus shot Thai an irritated glance and left. Valerie stuffed the night vision goggles back into her new backpack and followed Thai to wait for the train. Her earlier jubilation at leaving the hospital was already starting to fade as she worried about the hurdles ahead of her.

Suddenly, for no reason that she could explain, her worry transformed into a shiver of fear. For as long as she could remember, Valerie had always had a kind of sixth sense when danger was near, and now it lurked close by. Her eyes scanned the train station and fixated on a hulking figure standing in the shadows at the end of the platform.

His back was huge and muscular, and he was so tall that he would have dwarfed the people around him if it weren’t for the way he hunched over. His beady black eyes darted around the platform, and every few seconds, his Adam’s apple bulged in his throat, as if he was swallowing a huge bite of food.

Something about the man made her stomach churn, and Valerie had learned to trust her instincts about people. It was as if all his attention was focused on her, and he would pounce on her if he could. But strangely, she couldn’t put her finger on why she was so suspicious—he wasn’t even looking at her.

She turned away, not wanting to stare, but Thai caught her gaze and followed it to the man in the shadows. His eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen him before. That’s not a face you forget. Stay close by. I want to make sure that we lose that creep.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid?” Valerie asked, but she was secretly glad that he was taking precautions.

“Remember your promise and stay close,” Thai commanded with a glare.

She nodded and kept her mouth shut. When the train arrived, Thai and Valerie stepped on board and stood near the door. The stranger boarded as well, several cars down.

But as the doors were closing, Thai yanked her out of the train with him. The doors almost shut on her backpack. Thai grinned, satisfied. “He won’t be catching up to us any time soon. That train isn’t even going in our direction. See, I told you I’d keep you safe. That’s why you’ve got to cooperate with me. No hassles.”

Valerie wasn’t entirely sure that she’d needed protection in this case, but she decided not to say that, choosing a more diplomatic answer. “Thanks—I do feel safe with you.”

He nodded, satisfied. “Good. You should.”

A little later, they boarded a train for the airport. One short train ride and quick bus trip later, Valerie stood for the first time in the bustling Oakland International Airport. Everything was new to her, from checking in for their flight using a touch screen computer to passing through security. She almost laughed when they made her take off her shoes.

“What do they think I could be hiding in my shoes? A killer case of athlete’s foot?” she whispered to Thai. Instead of laughing, he glared at her again, like a silly kid.

Once they were past security, Thai hurried her through the terminal. “Thai, slow down! I’m missing everything!”

With that, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along at top speed. By the time they reached the gate, their flight was already boarding.

“Perfect timing,” Thai said smugly as he and Valerie joined the long line of people waiting to board the plane.

“I guess,” she said breathlessly. “But I wish there was time to walk around a little. It’s my first time in an airport.”

“Listen, kid. This is no Saturday afternoon trip to the mall with your little friends,” he hissed. “I timed it this way on purpose. I don’t want us hanging around anywhere for too long. You never know, the wrong people might notice us.”

“Get over yourself, Thai. It’s not like you’re escorting the president,” she retorted.

“Yeah? Well, one thing I’ve learned is that you never know what can happen. I mean, would you have guessed a month ago that you’d be taking a trip through the universe to a magic…” Thai stopped short and turned around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation.

“To you know where?” he continued. “Life’s full of surprises. Some are good, some are bad. Besides, I know for a fact that those evil Conjurors—the Fractus—like to mess with humans. They’re causing a lot of problems on the Globe right now. I hear that they want to come back to Earth and take control of the whole planet. And you’ve got to know that if the Conjurors have people like me to help them out on Earth, the Fractus surely have people doing their evil bidding, too.”

Valerie stopped smiling. “But I don’t think they’d be coming after me. I’m nobody.” But her words rang false, even to her. After all, why wouldn’t Sanguina and Yellow-Eyes leave her alone?

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what kind of magic you’re capable of.”

His comment startled her. He didn’t seem to have any doubt that she had magic power. At last, they reached the front of the line, distracting Valerie from her thoughts. The flight attendant took their tickets with a smile, and they boarded the plane and searched for their seats. It was smaller than she had imagined, and her heart thumped a little harder at the thought of being stuck in there for hours. Sweat prickled under her arms and she hoped that Thai didn’t notice.

“You take the window seat. It’s pretty cool to watch when we take off,” Thai said as he stuffed their bags into the overhead compartment. He tossed her a pair of headphones and a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. “It’s a long flight, and I thought you might want something to keep you busy.”

“I love this book! Maybe I’ll pick up some tips for my trip to the Globe,” Valerie said with a grin as she and Thai buckled themselves into their seats.

“It’s one of my favorites, too. Sometimes I feel like the hero in that book, Arthur Dent. It’s like the entire universe is opening up before my eyes, but at the same time, it’s so sad because the world as I once knew it is gone.”

She wanted to ask him what he meant, but a sudden rumbling beneath her distracted her, and then the plane catapulted forward. Unthinking, she grabbed Thai’s arm. It was warm and solid, and something about his nearness made her heart beat faster.

“Don’t worry. You’re safer here than you are in a car. Relax and enjoy the ride,” Thai said, his voice gentle for the first time.

The plane sped down the runway, and the seat beneath her shuddered. Was that supposed to happen? Out the window, the airport sped past, a white blur against the blue sky. Unexpectedly, the shuddering stopped, because the plane had lifted off the ground. They were airborne. The knowledge exhilarated her, and her fear evaporated. It was incredible how this huge hunk of metal holding hundreds of people could fly seemingly weightless through the sky.

She pressed her face against the window, staring at Oakland shrinking beneath her as they ascended into the clear blue expanse of sky. Below them, toy cars raced on thin ribbons of highway, and she couldn’t imagine real people living in those tiny dollhouses. At ten thousand feet in the air, the world, which had always seemed so huge to her, had suddenly shrunk.

Hours passed, and Valerie drifted to sleep, her eyes heavy from staring out her window at the endless miles of puffy clouds.

Later, Valerie couldn’t decide if what she heard had been a dream.

“What’s happening? Where am I?” she heard a gravelly voice ask with a hint of panic.

“It’s okay, buddy, we’re safe,” Thai’s voice replied soothingly. “We’re on a plane.”

She opened her eyes to see who he was talking to, but the seat next to his was empty, as it had been for the entire flight. Thai had his earphones on, and when he saw she was awake, he quickly turned his attention to the movie playing on the screen in the seatback in front of him.

“Who were you talking to?” she asked.

He pulled off his earphones. “What did you say?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

She leaned back in her seat, drifting back to sleep. She must have dreamed the conversation. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that she’d had a dream that seemed real.