The Society of Imaginary Friends (Book 1 of The Conjurors Series)

Chapter 28

The next day, Valerie woke up early after dreaming that Sanguina had found Thai and sent Venu to kill him. Her dream made her all the more anxious to create the charm to protect Thai as soon as possible.

When Cyrus and Dulcea met Valerie in front of the dorm the next morning, their moods were much different from hers. They were both excited for the trip, and they talked and joked as they walked into the forest toward the caves. But she couldn't join in, unable to shake the sense of urgency and danger that had gripped her last night when she visited Thai.

Venu and Sanguina were acting more openly, attacking a stranger on the street. Had Venu had targeted that woman, or had she been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Either way, he was getting bolder, and if he discovered that Thai was trailing him, Valerie knew that he wouldn't hesitate to attack with full force. She shivered, remembering how pale Chisisi had been, lying in the hospital after the attack. With a little more poison, who knew what would happen to Thai.

She was abruptly distracted from her thoughts by the sight of a glinting waterfall in the distance. The water rushed over white rocks and sent up a spray that caught the light, creating dozens of little rainbows. She veered away from her companions, drawn toward the waterfall with a powerful sense of urgency that she didn't understand.

"Hey, where are ya going?" Cyrus called.

Several yards away, Valerie stopped. A screen of vines hanging thickly from the surrounding trees blocked her path like a curtain. When she pulled the vines aside, the sight behind them made her breath catch in her throat. Spreading out before her was a spectacular garden. Four white marble tiers were stacked on top of each other, each containing thousands of flowers in brilliant shades of purple and gold, creating a cascade of petals that seemed to be flowing all the way down to her feet. Elegant waterfalls gracefully flowed down the marble tiers, adding to the sensation of movement within the garden.

The strangest feeling came over her, as though this place belonged to her, even though she'd never seen it before. Valerie heard Dulcea's and Cyrus's steps as they came closer to see what she was looking at. Dulcea gasped.

"What is this place?" Cyrus asked.

"You don't know?" Valerie asked, surprised, as she stepped into the wonderland with her friends behind her. Inside, the garden was still, like she'd entered a church. There was something almost holy about its intense beauty.

"I think you found Babylon, Valerie," Dulcea said.

"I thought that was a story," Cyrus said, confused.

Dulcea shook her head. "This was a really popular vacation spot a couple decades ago. Conjurors traveled from all over the world to rest here for a few days and take in the beauty. And then one day, it vanished, as if it had been wiped off the map. No one knew exactly what happened, but it would take a very powerful Conjuror to seal off this garden from the rest of the world."

"Why did we find it now?" Cyrus mused.

Valerie noticed that between the flowers, a set of stairs wound their way up to the top tier. Despite the urgency of her mission, she had to see where they led. She quickly ascended the steps, and the sight when she reached the top made the detour worth it. An enormous waterfall rushed down into a pool surrounded by trees with leaves in every color imaginable. The leaves were reflected in the pool, turning the water into a liquid mix of colors.

Valerie heard Cyrus shout, and then he came running past her and cannonballed into the water below. Seconds later, he bobbed to the surface, laughing. "It's warm, like bathwater! You guys have to jump in!"

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Dulcea said, following him into the water with a splash.

"I guess you've found your inner child," Valerie laughed.