The Society of Imaginary Friends (The Conjurors Series)

by Kristen Pham

But Cyrus’s father looked at them with mistrust, talking only to his son, as if the rest of them didn’t exist. “I trust you have explained to these Conjurors the rules of this island.”

  “Yes, of course. We just need a place to sleep. You’ll barely know we’re here,” Cyrus said. Valerie could hear a thick chord of tension in his voice.

  “Mr. Burns, we will always be near, but you won’t see Jet, Chrome, or me for the rest of our stay here,” Gideon said, still respectful, but with a chilly condescension of his own laced into his words. Then he turned to Valerie. “We will scout the area for any magical activity or potential threats. One of us will always keep you in sight, watching for any trouble. Farewell, for now.”

  Without another word, Gideon and the wolves disappeared into the crowd.

  Mr. Burns’ voice interrupted Valerie’s thoughts as he said to Cyrus, “Your mother will be relieved that it’s only the three of you who need lodging.”

  Cyrus’s father led them to a dark blue car that was different from any Valerie had seen on Earth. It had sharp, crisp edges rather than the fluid lines of the cars she was familiar with, and apparently ran on energy captured by metallic panels on the roof that she assumed worked like solar panels.

  It was a silent trip to Cyrus’s house, despite the fact that Kanti and Valerie each made a few attempts at small talk. Their questions were met with one-word answers from Mr. Burns, so they gave up and stared out the windows at the city. Kanti looked fascinated by everything she saw, and Valerie had to smile, wondering if she had looked like that when Cyrus and Azra first showed her around Arden.

  After a half-hour drive, the tall buildings gave way to rows of identical houses. Apparently suburbia wasn’t limited to Earth. Mr. Burns pulled into one of the plain, concrete driveways.

  Before they went inside, Cyrus pointed out a spot in the distance to her. “That’s the lighthouse where my dad works. I’ll take you there tomorrow. It’s pretty cool. When the ocean’s rough, the water splashes halfway up the tower.” She squinted and could see the tall lighthouse standing among the rocks at the edge of the ocean. The light at the top shone so brightly that it stood out like a star, even in the middle of the day.

  “Who wants to see the lighthouse when there’s a world-renowned science museum to check out?” Kanti asked eagerly.

  “Fine, we can do both. Any excuse to get us out of here early,” Cyrus replied.

  “Enough dawdling. Your mother made dinner, and I don’t want to eat it cold,” Mr. Burns said impatiently.

  Chapter 34

  Inside Cyrus’s house, everything was in meticulous order. There wasn’t a speck of dust or an item out of place. The walls were painted white, and there was something almost clinical about the extreme order in the house. Valerie was distracted from her observation by a delicious, familiar smell. She turned to Cyrus, delighted. “Is that roast turkey? I didn’t think I’d ever get to eat that ever again!”

  “If I’d known you’d get this excited over turkey, I would have brought you here ages ago. Sometimes you’re ridiculously easy to please, Val,” Cyrus said, the anxiety leaving his voice for the first time since he’d seen his father.

  A short woman with long, red hair appeared. “Welcome home, dear,” she said, giving Cyrus a light hug and kiss on his cheek.

  “Missed you, Mother.”

  “You must be Valerie and Kanti. You’re exactly as Cyrus described you,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  Valerie wondered how parents and children could be so different. Cyrus was so warm and full of life—the exact opposite of his parents. Maybe they were friendlier when they didn’t have the burden of two extra guests to feed.

  “Thanks for having us, Mrs. Burns,” Valerie said.

  “Yes, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Kanti added.

  “Where are the rest of the guests?” Mrs. Burns inquired.

  “The other three are fending for themselves. It turns out that we won’t have to deal with them at all. Is dinner ready?” Mr. Burns asked.

  “Yes, dear, Cara’s finishing the gravy. Why don’t you all sit down?”

  Cyrus’s mother disappeared into the kitchen as they all sat down at the table. Valerie could hear her arguing with a girl she assumed must be Cara in the other room.

  “I can’t believe you’re letting her in the house! She’s the reason Cy left and never came back!” the girl said passionately.

  “Keep your voice down! Don’t embarrass us. Azra asked us to do this. We can’t very well turn her down, now, can we? Mind your manners.”

  Valerie was shocked. Were they talking about her? Was she the reason Cyrus hadn’t come home? Cara and her mother burst out of the kitchen, their hands full of plates piled with traditional American Thanksgiving food.

  Cara had red hair, like her mother, and Cyrus’s blue eyes. She looked like she was only a year or two younger than Cyrus. Cara shoved a plate in front of Valerie, spilling some of its contents onto the table.

  “You must be Cara. I’m Valerie. I’ve been really excited to meet you—Cyrus has told me a lot about you,” Valerie said, smiling tentatively.

  Cara snorted. “I’m sure he barely mentions us. But we know plenty about you. You’re all he talks about.”

  Cyrus turned bright red. “Enough, Cara! Nice to see you, too.”

  “Sure, whatever, big bro. Bet you’re overjoyed at a chance for a family reunion.”

  “Children, I’ll thank you to be quiet and eat your food,” Mr. Burns glowered.

  For several minutes, everyone chewed quietly.

  “This is delicious, Mrs. Burns. I’ve really missed traditional Earth food,” Valerie said.

  “Thank you.”

  More silence. Kanti and Valerie exchanged glances, and Kanti nodded, acknowledging that it was her turn to try to dispel the awkwardness with a safe subject. “So, Cara, is it true that the science programs in the schools here rock?”

  Cara stared back at Kanti, clearly trying to figure out what to make of the weird-looking girl wearing a Ludicrous T-shirt. Cyrus’s mother gave her a nudge, and Cara sighed dramatically before replying, “We’re studying life science right now. It’s kind of cool.”

  Kanti was genuinely interested. “There isn’t even a class offered at my Guild on life science—not enough students interested to form a class. What kinds of things do you get to do?”

  “We watched caterpillars grow into butterflies and released them at a park last week. It was beautiful,” Cara replied, warming to the subject.

  Kanti’s eyes were wide. “Wow, that sounds better than magic.”

  “That’s the kind of thing you’re missing out on, Cyrus,” his mother said softly.

  “Don’t start, Mother, please.”

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” she replied sharply, but then the harsh expression on her face relaxed into concern as she examined his face. “You look exhausted. You haven’t been getting in to fights again, have you?”

  “That fight wasn’t his fault, Mrs. Burns, I swear,” Kanti said. Cyrus shot her a look, and Kanti immediately turned back to her food, realizing that she had opened a can of worms.

  “So there was a fight. I knew it. You really have turned your back on everything we stand for,” Cyrus’s father reprimanded.

  “I get it! You’re ashamed of me. Do you have to remind me every time I come home?” Cyrus shouted, upsetting the gravy bowl in his angry rush to leave the table. Then he stormed out the front door, slamming it behind him. Valerie started to get up to follow him.

  “You’ll finish your dinner, young lady. My house, my rules. Then bed. I don’t want either of you causing any trouble and making the neighbors talk any more than they already are.” Mr. Burns’ tone didn’t leave any room for arguing.

  They ate the rest of their food in silence. After dinner, Mrs. Burns showed Valerie and Kanti a small room with two twin beds, and they quietly changed and turned out the light. Kanti fell asleep right away, but Valerie lay awa
ke, waiting to hear Cyrus come back. Minutes passed, but he didn’t return. What if someone had followed them from Arden after all, and Cyrus was in danger?

  Quietly, she slipped out of bed and crept out of the house. Outside, the stars were harder to see than when they were in Arden because of the lights in the city. But in the distance, the lighthouse glowed brightly, a beacon in the night. Cyrus had to be there. But she couldn’t leave—hadn’t she learned that the hard way when she had disappeared without telling Dulcea? Instead she softly called for Gideon.

  “The island is free of magic,” Gideon’s voice came quietly out of the darkness. “You’re safe.”

  “Cyrus ran off during dinner. I have to find him. What if he’s hurt?”

  “Chrome followed Cyrus when he left. If anything had happened to him, I would know.”

  She was relieved. “Is it okay if I bring him back? I’d feel safer if we were all together.”

  “I will accompany you. Jet will stay with Kanti.”

  “Thank you.”

  She hurried down the street, using the bright light from the lighthouse as a guide. It was farther than she had guessed, and an hour passed before she and Gideon reached it. Chrome was noiselessly circling the base of the lighthouse in the dark. When he saw them, he gave a quick nod, indicating that everything in the area was safe. Chrome sent her an image of Cyrus huddled at the top of the lighthouse, and she knew that her guess as to where he was hiding was right. As she approached the door at the base of the lighthouse, Gideon joined Chrome in scouting the area in order to give Valerie and Cyrus some privacy.

  The door was slightly open, and Valerie went inside, looking around cautiously. There was a small kitchen and a few sofas inside. It looked cozy, and much more welcoming than the Burns’ house. A set of stairs spiraled to the top. She hurried up the stairs, and sure enough, standing at the top, staring out at the ocean, was Cyrus.

  “You found me,” he said, turning around. His eyes looked slightly red and swollen, but she knew better than to ask if he’d been crying.

  “It’s nice up here, away from the rest of the world. So this is where you discovered your power for the first time, huh?” Valerie asked, still breathless from her climb.

  “Yeah, the best and worst day of my life.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Discovering my power made a whole new world of possibilities open up before me. I could do anything. But it was also the first time my parents seemed really disappointed in me. Obviously, it wasn’t the last time. You know, if I stayed in Messina, I’d probably follow in my dad’s footsteps and take over maintaining this lighthouse. But as much as I love it here, I’d suffocate if I could never use my power. My parents don’t understand. They think magic is turning me into some kind of violent gangster. They don’t understand the beauty of using their powers and feeling magic rush through them.”

  “The last thing you could ever be is violent.”

  “I know that, most days. But sometimes, when my dad looks at me as if I’m some disgusting distortion of the son he once knew, I worry that he’s right. Maybe someday, my magic will warp me into a power-hungry villain, like he thinks it will.”

  “But lots of people with powers don’t abuse them. Look at Azra, or Jet and Chrome.”

  “I guess.”

  “And your sister, she feels this way, too?”

  Cyrus shook his head sadly. “No, I think she’s mad at me because after I left, my parents started keeping tight control over every aspect of her life. They’re afraid she’ll run away and turn out like me.”

  “I think she misses you.”

  “I miss her, too. But my parents never let her visit me, and I dread coming home because every time I do, it’s always more fighting. I’m so sorry that you and Kanti have to deal with this, Val. So, so sorry.”

  She heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and Kanti’s head popped into view. “So your parents are tools. Join the club. Don’t feel bad about it. Hopefully, they’ll come around and understand you’re being who you are. But even if they don’t, they love you, in their own bizarre way. At least, that’s what I tell myself about my parents.”

  “She’s right. Your parents wouldn’t be so mad if they didn’t care. They’re not perfect, but at least they’re yours,” Valerie said. Cyrus’s parents were angry because he had left them to see the world. That meant they loved him enough to want him around.

  “I say, let’s take Cara and ditch your parents tomorrow. We’ll check out the museum, and you guys can show us the sights,” Kanti suggested.

  “Yeah, what do ya think, Cy?”

  Cyrus nodded, and his eyes glinted with a little of their old mischief. “Even without magic, we can still have some fun. I have a few ideas that my parents wouldn’t approve of.”

  Kanti grinned. “Those are the best kinds of ideas.”

  Chapter 35

  Valerie, Cyrus, and Kanti managed to sneak back to the house that night without waking Cyrus’s parents, so luckily no one got in any real trouble. It was a quiet breakfast the next morning because no one knew what to say after the blowup the night before. Valerie caught Cyrus’s mother shooting him a worried glance. She did care about him, Valerie realized. She probably didn’t know how to deal with a son who was different.

  “Um, Mother, Father, is it okay if I borrow the car to show Kanti and Val around the island? They want to see the science museum and stuff.”

  “Fine, but no bending any rules this time,” Mr. Burns said sternly. “We have a reputation to protect that’s still recovering from your last visit.”

  “Cara, want to come with us?” Cyrus asked.

  His sister’s mouth fell open in surprise. “Really? Why?”

  “You probably know more about science than I do. You can give a better tour. Plus, I hardly ever get to see you.”

  Valerie saw a grin flash briefly across Cara’s face that she tried to hide. “All right. I’ll go, as a favor.”

  As everyone put on their shoes, Mrs. Burns quietly slipped a few brightly colored bills that Valerie guessed was Messinian money into Cyrus’s hand. “Have fun today. Take your friends somewhere nice to eat for dinner,” she said, and Valerie read the apology in her eyes.

  “Thanks, Mother,” Cyrus said, giving her a quick hug and a small smile.

  They started to head out the door, but Mr. Burns suddenly stepped out in front of Cyrus and Valerie, blocking their exit. “You two had better watch what you say around Cara. No talking about magic and making her yearn for things that will ultimately destroy her. The last thing we need is another bad influence in her life.”

  “Fine,” Cyrus retorted through clenched teeth. “Excuse us!” Mr. Burns, with anger flashing in his eyes, silently stepped aside, and Valerie and Cyrus hurried out the door.

  Outside, Valerie briefed Gideon on their plan for the day. Gideon decided that the wolves would scout the island while he accompanied Valerie and her friends on their tour of Messina. The reminder of the possible danger that Gideon and the wolves were protecting her from made her fingers suddenly feel cold.

  “Gideon, has there been any word from Azra?” she asked. Cyrus and Kanti moved closer, curious to hear the answer.

  Gideon’s eyes looked troubled. “I spoke with a messenger from Azra this morning at dawn. New charms have been placed on the fortress where Sanguina lives, making it impossible for enemies to find. Wandering around the mountains of Dunsinane is dangerous, so Azra and the Grand Masters with her have returned to Arden to discuss a new strategy.”

  “Does that mean—” Valerie started to ask, but Mr. Burns’ approach interrupted their conversation.

  “Why are you still standing around? If you’re not going to the museum, there’s plenty of work around the house you can all help with!” Mr. Burns said sternly.

  “We’re going, we’re going!” Cyrus said, hustling everyone toward the car.

  The minute the door slammed closed, Kanti turned to Cara and burst out, “You must be rea
dy to scream, living in that house. Your parents are so uptight that they could crack walnuts between their butt cheeks!”

  “Tell me about it, and they’re so over-protective,” Cara said with a huff of impatience. “They have to know where I am every second of the day.”

  Kanti then started asking her questions about her science classes and life on Messina. Their chatter eased the tension that had weighed on them all when Cyrus’s parents were around. Within minutes, they reached the science museum and parked.

  “I’ll be scouting the area to make sure it’s safe,” Gideon said, obviously needing some space from the chattering teenagers.

  Inside, the museum reminded Valerie of the science museum in San Francisco that she had visited once on a field trip. Other than a few differences, such as the advanced use of light energy to power the city, she didn’t learn anything new. But Kanti was completely fascinated by the exhibits, and Cara enjoyed playing teacher and explaining concepts to someone older than she was.

  Valerie and Cyrus hung back, pausing to examine a pool filled with underwater creatures that they could pick up and touch. Valerie cradled a bright purple, spiky creature in her hand. It purred when she petted it, like a cat. She was about to ask Cyrus to tell her about it when a girl with curly blue hair whose arms were covered in glittery tattoos suddenly stopped, staring at Cyrus.

  “Cyrus?” she squeaked. “You’re back? I have to tell everyone! Give me a huge hug!”

  Without waiting for him to even stand up, the girl sat on his lap and threw her arms around him. “Without you, there has been, like, no excitement. Are you here to stay?”

  “No, I’m only visiting. Val, this is Shelley, an old friend.”

  “Friend? We were a little more than that, weren’t we? As of last summer?” Shelley asked, sounding a little offended.

  “Yeah, um, of course. So what are you doing here, anyway?” Cyrus said, obviously desperate to change the subject.

  “I work here, duh,” she replied, pointing to her shirt, which was stitched with the museum’s logo. “The real question is, what are you doing here, since it’s obviously not to see me?” Shelley pouted.