by Kristen Pham
They stopped in front of the Society of Imaginary Friends. Cara’s eyes bugged out. Waterslides came out of a dozen windows and landed in the moat that surrounded the Guild. The tall front doors were painted to look like a tunnel. They approached, and Dulcea pressed her hand against the door. It shimmered and then disappeared.
Henry, Valerie, and Cara stared, trying to take in everything at once. Inside reminded Valerie of a crazier version of Alice’s Wonderland. Young Conjurors were running around shooting what looked like water guns. But instead of water, silvery threads of magic shot out. Valerie’s leg was hit, and the instant it touched her, a horrible taste filled her mouth. She began to spit, and Cyrus laughed.
“Sorry, we brought you right in the middle of a magic fight. When you’re shot, you taste the worst things. What did you get, broccoli?”
“Dirt,” she said, wiping her tongue on her shirt. But she had to admit, it was a good idea.
“Much worse than getting a little wet,” Henry said with a grin, but then he was hit, too, and began to gag. “Farts, I think.”
The taste on Valerie’s tongue went away, and she was able to focus on the incredible, colorful space around her. Trampolines had been charmed so that jumping on them would take you to whatever floor you needed to access. In front of their eyes, they watched a young girl squeal with joy as she leaped up to the seventh floor and landed on a pad that was waiting to cushion her fall.
“So you guys play all day?” Cara asked, suddenly sounding very young.
Dulcea and Cyrus laughed.
“I wish!” Cyrus said. “It’s actually really hard work. We have to take intensive classes in child psychology and development, and learn basic Earth subjects so we can find creative ways to help kids study.”
“When you’re younger, it’s the most fun time. You’re assigned a kid on Earth who needs help, and it’s your job to be their friend,” Dulcea explained. “But once you age out of that program, you develop the curriculum and help the new Conjurors with difficult problems. You have to specialize in a certain area.”
“Can you specialize in play?” Valerie asked.
“Actually, you can,” Dulcea said. “But it’s the most competitive program, as you can imagine. A lot of people are rejected and have to settle for their second choice.”
“What are you specializing in, Cy?” Valerie asked.
“I work in Guild relations,” he explained. “We need to interact with the other Guilds, like the Guardians, pretty often, and that’s where I come in.”
“It must help that you’re on Azra’s youth council as well,” she said.
Cyrus grinned. “What can I say, everyone loves me. Now let’s go check out the good stuff.”
The rest of the day was like being ten years old again. They tried out every single waterslide, including one that used magic so they could go upside down and another that shot them around the moat underwater in a bubble. Lunch was pure sugary goodness, followed by visiting a library with a huge living tree in the middle. It had been hollowed out using magic, and inside were rooms where Conjurors could curl up and read.
There was every toy imaginable from Earth, and even more that were inventions from the Globe, like a dollhouse with little people who came alive to enact whatever scene you could imagine, and a model solar system that, when you touched it, transported you through space to whiz around the galaxy as fast as you wanted. Valerie sped by the rings of Saturn and walked on one of the moons of Jupiter.
By the end of the day, they were completely exhausted. They crashed on the steps outside the Guild and watched the younger Conjurors splashing in the moat.
“It would take a lifetime to show you everything in there,” Dulcea said. “We picked out the highlights.”
“I think I’m in love with this place,” Cara whispered.
Cyrus beamed. “I knew you would be.”
“That’s what I love, Love, LOVE to hear!” said a funny, nasal voice that was followed by a high giggle.
They turned around and saw a short man with a red face and spiky orange hair. He was wearing a tie-dyed shirt, pants, and shoes. Valerie saw Henry bite his lip to keep from laughing. But she frowned. There was something familiar about him. It hit her—he was one of the faces Chrome had shown her that he suspected could be the spy.
“Valerie, Henry, and Cara, I’d like you to meet Rastelli. He’s the Grand Master of this Guild,” Dulcea said.
“It’s an honor,” he said with an elaborate bow.
Valerie’s stomach clenched. He didn’t seem like the type of person who would cast people out onto the streets. But she bit her lip and tried to keep her resentment in check.
Rastelli squinted at Cara. “You’re familiar—you must be Cyrus’s sister! What a pleasure.” He pulled a bouquet of pink flowers from the air and handed it to her.
Cara blushed. “Thank you.”
“I hope you’ll all stay as long as you like. And if you have any ideas to make this place more fun, let me know personally. We always want to improve!”
Rastelli then skipped away, heading down the flagstone path. The minute he was out of earshot, Henry burst out laughing.
“Is that guy for real?”
“Don’t make fun! It isn’t nice,” Cara said. “I thought he was sweet.”
“He is—most of the time,” Dulcea said, glancing at Valerie.
Valerie hid her feelings with a bright smile, her good mood from their fun day evaporating. Where was she going to live? She wished Thai was there to help her figure it out.
“You’re thinking about Thai again, aren’t you? You always get that dreamy look like you’re imagining chocolate cake,” Cyrus said, a note of accusation in his voice.
“I miss him. I don’t have so many people in my life who care about me that I can take any of them for granted,” she said, and Cyrus’ face softened. He put his arm around her shoulder.
“We’ll keep you distracted till he gets here.”
“I think I can help with that,” Kanti said, walking up behind them.
Valerie threw her arms around her friend. “Finally! It hasn’t been right without you.”
She pulled back and stared at the person she was hugging in confusion. Instead of Kanti’s buck teeth, yellow skin, and greasy dark hair, the girl in front of her was stunningly beautiful. Her raven hair glinted and fell down her back in elegant waves. Instead of warts, she had two beauty marks that somehow gave her face a unique charm. Her skin was like milk, and long, thick eyelashes framed fathomless brown eyes.
It was the eyes that convinced her that this really was her friend, especially when Kanti scowled at her after she stared for too long.
“What happened?” Henry asked, stunned. Cyrus’s mouth hung open.
Only Dulcea wasn’t surprised. Kanti’s parents must have already told her what had happened.
“Turns out I’m a metamorph. The ugly duckling come to life. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m fine and I’m the same person.”
“But gorgeous!” Cyrus said.
“I knew I could count on you to be tactful,” Kanti said sarcastically, but her now rosy lips twitched in her familiar grin.
“We’re glad to have you back, in any form,” Valerie said.
“I knew you wouldn’t be weird about this,” Kanti said gratefully. Then her eyes turned wary as Henry stepped closer to her.
He swallowed. “Um-yeah. You’re the same as always.”
“BFFs forever?” Kanti said, trying to warm him up.
“Of course,” he said. He came over and slapped her lightly on the shoulder, like a buddy. It was incredibly awkward, and Valerie cringed for him.
“We’ve got a party that’s been waiting for you for days!” Dulcea said, sounding overly cheery.
“Sorry, I thought I’d surprise you guys. Maybe that was a bad idea.”
“Whatever, you need to lighten up,” Cyrus said. They had reached the dorm. They all went into the cafeteria and Cyrus yelled “Party on the te
nth floor!” The kids cheered.
“Let’s get up there and turn on the music!” Dulcea said. “Come on, Henry, give me a hand. The rest of you wait a few minutes before coming up.”
After they left, Kanti was swarmed. At first everyone wanted to know who the “hot new girl” was in their Guild. When they realized who it was, they flooded her with questions. Several guys tried to flirt with her, and Kanti turned away, dismissing them.
Valerie tugged her away from the crowd by her elbow. “See you guys later!”
“Thank you for rescuing me. This is no way to live,” Kanti said miserably.
Cara made a sympathetic noise, but Cyrus stared at her in disbelief. “What about this is bad? Isn’t it every girl’s dream to wake up and discover she’s a beautiful princess?”
Valerie smacked him on the arm, and Kanti gripped him by the shoulders and shook him. “Do you know me at all? How could you think that I would want everyone to suddenly want to be around me because of how I look? I’m the same freaking person. I don’t like frills, pink, or people who are fake.”
“Sheesh, fine. Relax. We’ll get you a glamour disguise if it’s that bad.”
“Or we could just cover you in mud and dress you in a potato sack,” Valerie said.
Kanti gave a little snort of amusement, and Valerie was relieved. The tension was temporarily broken.
“Isn’t there a party in your honor up there?” Cara asked.
“Let’s get this over with,” Kanti said darkly.
“It’s a party, not a public execution,” Cyrus said. “Maybe you’ll have fun.”
On the tenth floor, Kanti’s favorite hip-hop was blaring. They opened the door to the hall and saw that someone had used magic to turn the color of everything from the walls to the ceilings to the furniture completely black—Kanti’s favorite color.
Already a good number of kids from the dorm were dancing, and even though a few of the guys checked Kanti out, she wasn’t swarmed again like she had been earlier. Henry wove his way through the crowd.
“Like it?” he asked Kanti.
“Love it,” she said and beamed at him. It was the first time she had smiled since she had come back, and the effect was breathtaking. Henry’s eyes widened, but he recovered.
“Glad your tastes haven’t changed,” he said. “Come on, you haven’t even seen the real dance floor yet.”
Henry led them all down the hall and opened a door. Inside looked like a club on Earth, complete with plush red furniture to sit on and dim lighting. In the corner, there was even a DJ spinning records. He was so good that Valerie was sure he must be using magic, but you couldn’t tell unless you really watched him.
“I thought you should have the full Earth experience,” Henry explained.
“This is amazing,” Kanti said, her eyes lighting up as she took in all the details.
Henry’s pleasure and embarrassment pulsed through their mental connection. He must be really flustered if he wasn’t shutting her out of his mind as he had been since their last conversation about their father.
“Dulcea did all the decorating. I just told her what it should look like,” he said.
“And don’t forget, I brought Lance!” Cyrus chimed in, gesturing to the DJ.
“Who is he? He’s amazing,” Valerie said.
“He’s a Master in the Music Guild and a buddy of mine. He owed me a favor and I called it in.”
“You guys really pulled out all the stops,” Kanti said, trying to hide that she was touched.
“Enough talking, more dancing!” Dulcea said, and then led the way to the dance floor.
Finally, the gang was reunited—except it was even better because now Henry was part of the group as well. Once Thai and Tan were there, it would be complete. But for now, having her friends together and happy was enough.
The next couple of hours they spent dancing, eating mouthwatering desserts that Dulcea had whipped up especially for Kanti, and when they were tired, relaxing on the couches and catching up.
Cyrus, Cara, and Valerie were deep in a conversation about which guilds Cara should visit before she left when Valerie saw Henry whispering in Kanti’s ear. At first, she was smiling, but as he continued to speak, the warmth drained from her face. Finally she pulled away from him.
“I expected this from my parents and my sisters. Even the other Conjurors here in Arden. But not you, Henry!”
“What do you mean?”
The conversations around them stopped, and everyone listened to the fight.
“You see me differently because I look different.”
“You’ve got it wrong—” he tried to say, but Kanti interrupted him.
“You think you’re the first to suddenly ‘discover’ you have feelings for me?” she said, raising her voice.
Henry set his mouth in a hard, angry line. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Valerie was glad to see that instead of crumbling, he was standing up for himself.
“I do know! Everyone disappoints me. It’s a lesson I learned when I was ten, and I guess this whole thing happened to me so that I can learn it again. Everyone’s alone.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he snapped.
Kanti stalked away, and everyone stared after her. Even Lance had stopped spinning.
“Okay, the show’s over!” Cyrus shouted to the crowd.
“Right!” Dulcea said, but her usual good humor seemed false. “Music, please?”
Lance put on another song, and people slowly resumed talking and dancing. Henry left the room without another word.
“Do you mind if I get out of here?” Valerie whispered to Dulcea.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll shut the party down soon anyway.”
“I’ll come with you,” Cyrus said.
“Thanks, but I’m going to see if I can find Henry. Maybe you can help Cara find another bed to sleep in tonight, in case Kanti’s still on the warpath.”
“You got it,” he said. “Tell Henry—tell him I’m sorry. I have a pretty good idea how he feels right now and it’s worse than having your powers ripped away by Zunya.” Cyrus swallowed once before turning away from her.
She didn’t have time to ask him about it. Instead, she followed the path her brother had taken. Outside of the dorm, she didn’t see any sign of him or Kanti. She shut her eyes and tried to see if she could connect to him mentally.
Without warning, she was blasted with intense heartbreak. It was like being hit in the face with a fire hose of pain and grief. She stumbled, almost losing her balance.
“Henry,” she whispered. As abruptly as it started, the connection closed. He had found the strength to close his mind to her again.
She suddenly was incredibly angry at Kanti. She hurried over to a platform and went up to her room on the eighth floor. But when she stepped inside, she stopped short. Kanti was sitting on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. Valerie couldn’t bring herself to make her feel even more miserable than she already was.
“I was a total jerk, wasn’t I?” Kanti asked.
Valerie didn’t say anything.
“He told me that he loves me and I threw it in his face.”
“Why would you do that to him, Kanti? You know what he’s been through. At the very least you could have let him down gently instead of publicly humiliating him.”
“You don’t understand. A month ago, hearing him say those words would have meant everything to me. But now I know it’s meaningless. He doesn’t love me—not like that. He just thinks he does because of all this,” she said, gesturing at herself with disgust.
“You’re so wrong.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he was planning to tell you he loved you before any of this happened. He’s practically been going crazy without you. All those days by your bedside, saving your life—”
“What?!” Kanti’s shouted.
“Didn’t your parents tell you that Ani tried to hurt you and Henry saved you? They
forced him to leave, or else he would have still been there when you woke up.”
“They never said…they didn’t even tell me I had visitors. I am a first-class, Grade-A idiot.”
“And a jerk, don’t forget,” Valerie teased.
“How will he ever forgive me? I should have known. I totally underestimated him.”
“He’ll come around,” she said gently.
Kanti laid her head on Valerie’s shoulder. “I’m no better than my parents.”
“Yes you are. You’re one of my favorite people, and I have amazing taste in friends, in case you didn’t know.”
Kanti laughed weakly. “You know what’s worse than all this looks stuff?”
“No, what could possibly be worse than becoming stunningly beautiful?” Valerie asked.
Kanti held out her hands and concentrated, and suddenly a shower of pink flower petals rained down on both of them, covering their beds and the floor.
“Your power has appeared!” Valerie said excitedly. “What is it, exactly?”
“I have no idea, except that it’s useless,” Kanti said, rolling her eyes dramatically. “I’ve made flowers grow in a garden, a rainbow appear, and turned some old woman’s hair from gray back to its original color—red. It’s the shallowest power ever.”
Valerie couldn’t help laughing. Kanti had turned into a princess that would have made Disney proud, but she was the last person who would ever want that.
“It isn’t funny!” Kanti said, but she was giggling, too.
“It’s hysterical,” Valerie contradicted. “And you know who would appreciate the irony of this better than me? Henry. Now go make my brother the happiest guy in the universe.”
Chapter 15
Valerie fell asleep waiting for Kanti to return, and again she had her terrible dream of Azra and Sanguina and the darkness that wanted to claim her. She woke up with a pounding heart. When Kanti came out of their bathroom, she would only say that Henry said he forgave her, but he wanted some space.
Valerie worried about her brother on her walk to her Guild. She didn’t want him to shut out Kanti the way he was shutting her out. He needed someone who could pull him out of himself and into the world.
