by Kristen Pham
Chapter 16
Cyrus led Valerie further down the lighted path in front of The Horseshoe, and then stopped near one of the buildings. “This is the Society of Imaginary Friends,” he announced proudly.
Her jaw dropped. The building was every kid’s dream. Giant waterslides extended from some of the windows and splashed down into a moat. Valerie could hear screams of laughter peal from inside. “Those slides must be so much fun. I can’t believe you get to work in a real castle!”
“You should see the inside. There are secret passages, trampolines, a room made of candy—almost anything you can imagine. I’ll have to give you a tour soon. You know, this is sort of where your whole adventure began.”
“What do you mean?”
“If the Society hadn’t assigned me as your imaginary friend when you were seven, the Conjurors might never have known about your magic. I’m the one who figured it out, ya know.”
“How?” she asked, fascinated in spite of herself.
“There were lots of reasons. The first clue I had was how you’d get super strong when you went into panic mode. But then there was—”
She was so absorbed in Cyrus’s story that she didn’t see the man in front of her carefully sweeping the path. As a result, she tripped over him, falling to the ground. The man grunted in pain.
“Oh, sir, I’m so sorry,” she began her apology, but she choked on her words when he turned to her and stared into her eyes. His stormy eyes were blue-gray with flecks of gold in them, somehow reminding her of the sea during a storm. His wild brown hair was streaked with gray, and she doubted that he’d cut it in years.
“Watch where you tread!” the man snarled. Power hummed from him so intensely that it vibrated in her blood, like it had at Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid.
She couldn’t even open her mouth to finish her apology. He was still staring in her direction, but he didn’t quite meet her eyes. His gaze seemed unfocused. She suddenly understood—he couldn’t see her. He was blind.
Cyrus quickly helped her to her feet. He seemed nervous around the man, too. “Sorry, Oberon. We’ll get out of your way,” Cyrus said as he hurried her down the street.
“What’s his story?” she asked as soon as they were out of earshot.
“Oberon is one of the founders of the Globe, like Azra. He’s the one who set up the weather system. He has powers over the sun, weather, land, and sea. No one knows the specifics, but he is one of the most powerful Conjurors of all time.”
“What’s he doing sweeping the sidewalk, then?”
Cyrus’s face became very serious. “For years, he was a spy for the Fractus. He believed that Conjurors should be able to move back and forth between Earth and the Globe whenever they wanted. He gave the Fractus some pretty important information, supposedly. But then maybe his conscience bothered him or something, because he confessed everything. His punishment is that he can’t use his magic for one hundred years, and during that time, he has to serve the city as its groundskeeper.”
Once again engrossed in another of Cyrus’s stories, she hadn’t noticed that they had left The Horseshoe, and were now walking through the twisted streets of the city. But the strangeness of the buildings finally demanded her attention. Never on Earth would a cottage stand next door to an L-shaped skyscraper—especially when the skyscraper was completely filled with water and mermaids swam around inside. It reminded her of a giant aquarium.
