The Society of Imaginary Friends

“Valerie, wake up!” Thai’s voice cried frantically.

“Come back to me!” Cyrus shouted.

Valerie was yanked out of her vision and found herself slumped against Thai’s chest. Part of her half-awake mind registered that he smelled like vanilla and cookies.

“I’m back; it’s okay,” she said, but her voice was weak. She had never been pulled into a vision like that before, without being weak from a fight.

Her breathing was shallow, and she knew that if Thai let her go, she wouldn’t be able to stand on her own. Luckily, most of the visitors were gone for the day. The sun was setting, and gray clouds made the light dim.

Her heart slowed to a crawl, and instinctively she knew that it would never speed up again. This was the end. This was a dream that she couldn’t recover from. And to think that she had been so close to experiencing magic! Valerie’s eyes fluttered and she was too weak to keep them open. “I’m so sorry, guys.”

“No, please! Stay with me!” Cyrus begged.

Thai’s dark, chocolate eyes were a little misty. “You’re a fighter, I knew it as soon as I saw you. No way are you going anywhere!”

Valerie didn’t want to let them down, but she knew that unless a miracle happened, she was going to die. A large drop of rain splashed against her forehead, and in a matter of seconds, water poured from the sky.

Thai started to lift her. “We’ve got to get her out of this.”

“No, wait!” Cyrus pointed at the stones, which were being pounded by the rain. As they were drenched, the stones began to glow from within. “Take her inside the circle. I’ve heard that the stones have healing powers. It’s worth trying—there’s nothing any doctor can do to help her now.”

Thai carried her to the ring of stones, and she knew exactly when he stepped inside the circle. Suddenly, warmth ran through her body, and with the warmth came energy. Her heart beat almost normally again, and strength flowed through her body. “Let me go,” she said to Thai, but he still gripped her tightly. “Let me go, seriously!”

He set her gently on the ground, and she laughed. She was still weak, but she knew that she had enough strength to go on. She walked over to one of the stones, which wasn’t glowing anymore, and touched it. “Thank you,” she said, not caring if anyone thought she was crazy for talking to a stone.

She turned to Cyrus and Thai. “I’m going to be okay for a while longer. Maybe I’ll even make it off this planet after all.” Hope spread through her. Maybe she would pass the test of her magic tomorrow after all.

Thai slumped against one of the boulders in relief. “Thank God.”

“I heard that water on the stones can heal, but no one has seen it happen in hundreds and hundreds of years,” Cyrus said.

“Hey, you kids! Get out of there!” A guard yelled, jogging toward them in the rain.

“Sorry, sir,” Thai said.

“Well, you have to be on a private tour to walk wherever you want. Anyway, we’re closing.”

Reluctantly, Valerie followed Thai out of Stonehenge. But as she walked toward the bus, she couldn’t help looking back over her shoulder at the stones that had saved her life.

An hour later, Thai and Valerie arrived at the Stonehenge Touring Park in Orcheston, which was as close to the monument as they could camp. The next day before dawn, they would have to walk the four miles to Stonehenge in the dark, before the buses started bringing visitors to the ruins.

Luckily, the rain stopped by the time they set up their tents. Valerie saw a small bonfire created by some of the other campers flickering in the distance. They decided to bring their cans of beans and stale bread to the fire to warm them up.

As they approached, she examined Thai, who still wore his drenched sweatshirt with the hood up. “Why don’t you take that thing off and let it dry? Besides, you’re kind of threatening with it on. You’ll scare people.”

“That’s the point. It’s better that people keep their distance.”

“God forbid that we should have any fun tonight,” she muttered.

But she cheered up as they approached the fire. The chill from the rain finally eased, and the other campers shared marshmallows for toasting with them. Valerie saw Thai’s eyes start to droop, and he made a small sound, like a child who was trying not to fall asleep. She knew he’d never go to bed without her, so Valerie headed back to her tent.

Valerie slept lightly that night, excited to get up and go back to those magical stones. At first, she thought she was dreaming again when she heard a noise coming from Thai’s tent. She sat up and listened harder. There it was again.

She went to Thai’s tent and pulled back the flap. “Thai, are you okay?” In the dim light, it seemed as if he was tossing and turning in his sleeping bag. “Who are you talking to? Is someone in there with you?”

“Get out of here!” he yelled, enraged, yanking the flap of his tent closed. “Leave me alone!”

Valerie, fully awake now, stood back, shocked. She couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night and was fully packed and ready to go at three a.m., when the two silently began the hike to Stonehenge.

After a mile of trudging in silence, she finally said, “Aren’t you going to say anything? It’s not like I meant to invade your privacy.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Then why don’t you explain it to me?”

“Because it’s none of your business,” he said without emotion as he pulled on his hood and retreated into its depths.

“Fine.”

Neither of them said another word until they reached Stonehenge. Valerie could barely make out the giant stones in the light that was starting to creep over the horizon, but her heart leapt at the sight of them anyway.

“So what’s the test?”

Cyrus appeared in front of her. “Simple. Show that your magic is too strong for you to survive on Earth.”

“Obviously the magic inside her is strong enough. It nearly killed her last night!” Thai blurted out. “So tell us where the next clue is!”

“I don’t even know, dude,” Cyrus said. “But chill out, she’ll be fine.”

“Both of you, give me some space,” she said firmly, as she saw Thai about to shout at Cyrus again.

Valerie approached the stones slowly. Magic hummed as she walked around the outside of the ring of stones. Inhaling deeply, she stepped inside, and the humming inside of her grew stronger.

Gently, she ran her hands over the rough stones, one at a time. At the fifth stone she touched, she stopped, puzzled. There was something different about this one. All of the stones contained power, she could sense that, but this one contained something else as well. It seemed—alive.

The dim light caressing the stone changed, and she gasped. How could she have missed it? Etched into the stone was a face. Were it not for the angle of light casting shadows on the stone, she would never have been able to see it. The etching had obviously faded over the hundreds of years that the monument stood. In direct sunlight, it would be practically invisible.

Valerie hesitated before touching the face with her hand, not wanting to offend it. Her fingertips brushed the cheek of the face, and she made a small sound of surprise. Instead of rough stone, it was warm flesh. At her touch, the eyes of the face glowed a gentle blue.

Her vision blurred, and when she was able to refocus, she was looking out over Stonehenge through those blue, glowing eyes. She could now see the monument as it once was in all its glory, with the stones all standing. At the horizon, the sun was now peeking over the edge. She followed with her eyes the first direct ray of light from the sun as it passed through the two heel stones in the distance and struck a stone in the middle of the circle.

Suddenly, Valerie was back in her own body, and the stone in the center of the circle, the altar stone, was still glowing. She approached the stone, which was bathed in new morning light. She stepped into the light and a flood of power surged through her. A thousand images of the Great Pyramid in Egypt flashed through her mind, too fast for her to process. But the last image burned into her brain—the great stone Sphinx staring down at her with glowing blue eyes, the expression in them curious.

She had her clue. What lay beyond the Sphinx’s strange gaze was a mystery, but at least she knew where she had to go next.

The bright light faded into normal morning sunshine. She was about to shout to Thai and Cyrus when a black shadow flickered in the corner of her vision.

“Val, watch out!” Cyrus shouted, pointing to her right. Thai came running toward her.

She turned and saw the enormous man who had frightened her at the Oakland train station a few days ago. Thai was right—he was dangerous. As quick as lightning, the man crouched and then jumped, farther than any human could possibly jump. As he flew through the air, she saw that his palms were covered in yellow, nasty-smelling slime, and he was reaching for her neck.

Valerie’s body responded, and she was able to dodge his grasping hands, despite his speed. She hit the ground, hard, and it knocked the wind out of her. But she forced herself to her feet. Without knowing what she was doing, she knocked his hand away with the back of her foot with an elegant spin kick. Her kick packed more power than it should—she was tapping into her magic.

But for the first time, she had the sense that she was capable of so much more—this bit of strength was only a taste of what she was capable. She strained against the invisible bonds holding her magic at bay.

With a growl, the man was on his feet again, lunging toward her. By now, Thai had reached the fight, and he kicked the man on his back from behind. The man spun around to face him, and Thai punched him in the face. The man staggered backward, but then leapt forward and slammed into Thai with his entire weight. With a grunt, Thai was thrown backward and his head hit one of the stones.

At the sight of Thai out of commission, her adrenaline or magic or whatever was inside her spiked. The man approached Thai, and she saw that the slime on his hands also oozed out of his bare feet. Instinctively, she knew that if any of that goo touched Thai, he might not survive. For the first time since the fight started, she was afraid. It made her gut clench. There was no way she would let him hurt Thai. As the man lifted his foot, she tackled him to the ground.

“Val, get away from him. He’ll kill you!” Cyrus yelled helplessly.

The man head-butted her, and her vision went black for a split second. Then he was on top of her, his weight pinning her to the ground, his slimy hand raised. Without knowing where the knowledge came from, she wrenched an arm free and brought her fist down hard on a spot between his neck and shoulder.

The man went limp, unconscious, and she knocked his hand away so it didn’t touch her. As she wriggled out from under his heavy body, she could swear she heard Sanguina’s voice, cursing. But when she searched for the source of the sound, there was no one at the monument other than the four of them.

“If you ever needed more proof that your magic is tied to your fighting ability, this is it,” Cyrus said with a relieved grin.

Thai staggered over to her, holding a hand against his head.

“Are you okay? I thought he knocked you out.”

“Not quite, but he might as well have, for all the help I was able to give you.”

She started to disagree, but was distracted by a putrid smell that stung her nostrils. It came from the slime on the man’s hands and feet.

“That must be poison,” she commented, and then noticed the stunned expression on Thai’s face. “What is it?”

“I didn’t see the poison. He could have killed me.”

“Let’s get far away from here before he wakes up. We’ll be long gone when he tries to find us.”

“No, Valerie, you don’t get it. You saved my life.”

“No—we beat him together. And your life wouldn’t have been in danger if it weren’t for me.”

“Well, thanks,” he said in a tone that was a mixture of admiration and gratitude.

Valerie couldn’t meet his eyes. She never knew what to say when someone thanked her. “Any time.”

Cyrus crouched over the unconscious man. “Now that I see this guy up close, I think I recognize him. I’ve heard people talk about someone helping out the Fractus with tasks they need done on Earth. His name is Venu.”

“Why isn’t he dying from the magic inside him, like me?” Valerie asked, confused.

Cyrus glanced at Thai, who had pulled rope out of his backpack and was tying up Venu, before answering. “It’s rare, but there are exceptions. Venu doesn’t have a magic power like yours. He’s part amphibian or something, from what I hear. That kind of magic—a person possessing qualities from nature—doesn’t break Earth’s rules for some reason.”

“So he can’t come to the Globe? He must feel like a freak on Earth.”

“Leave it to you to worry about the mental well-being of a guy who tried to kill you,” Cyrus said. “But anyway, I heard that the Conjurors offered him the chance to come to the Globe, and he refused. It was too late—the Fractus had already gotten to him. No one knows what they promised him, but he’s doing whatever they want.”

“I guess the Fractus want to stop you from getting to the Globe, Valerie,” Thai said quietly, giving a sharp tug on the expert knot that fastened the rope around Venu’s wrists and ankles. “But we’ll make sure they fail.”