Free The Imaginary by A. F. Harrold Page B

evening before.
    Snowflake wasn’t there, but some of the other imaginaries were.
    Emily smiled when she saw him. ‘Breakfast?’
    Cruncher-of-Bones wheeled her squeaking trolley towards him and offered him cakes and another mug of hot chocolate.
    There were real people all over the place. One was sitting at the table next to the bouncing ping pong ball, reading a newspaper. The real people simply didn’t see the imaginary ones and the imaginaries were ignoring the real ones. It was as if two different worlds had been superimposed on top of each other in the one library. Although they shared the same space, they didn’t actually touch.
    Or that was what Rudger thought until he put his mug down on top of a book. The book was more on the edge of the table than he’d realised. The hot chocolate unbalanced it and sent it spinning to the floor.
    The mug and its contents vanished before they hit the ground, but the book landed with a thud.
    The man reading the newspaper looked up.
    â€˜We try not to do that, Rudge, me pal,’ Emily said, punching him on the arm in a friendly manner. ‘It can scare them and we’re the good guys, remember?’
    Rudger leant down to pick the book up.
    â€˜Leave it,’ Emily said.
    â€˜But…’ began Rudger.
    â€˜Think about it a moment, Rudge. The bloke’s surprised by a book falling off the table. But books do that. Things fall down. It’s gravity. He’ll go back to his paper in a second and think no more about it. On the other hand, if he sees a book flying up off the ground and onto the table, that’s a different thing altogether. That’s just weird and he’ll think the place is haunted or something. He’ll start having nightmares and it’ll all be your fault. And you don’t want to do that, do you?’
    Rudger shook his head.
    â€˜Okay,’ she said. ‘I’ve decided, you and me, we’re gonna go and befriend a kid this morning. We’ll do it together. No point hanging around.’
    â€˜ But I want to find Amanda,’ he said.
    â€˜And how you gonna do that?’
    â€˜I’ll find out where the ambulance took her. I mean, it’s obvious isn’t it, she’s probably in the hospital. I’ll go look there.’
    Emily shook her head.
    â€˜It’s as if you’ve not listened to a word I’ve said, Rudge. You can’t go out there looking by yourself. You leave the library and you’ll start to Fade.’
    Rudger opened his mouth and held his finger up as if he had thought of something to say.
    â€˜What you need to do,’ she went on when he didn’t say anything other than ‘But…’, ‘is come with me. We’ll find you a new friend, and then, when they believe in you, if you still insist, you can try and talk them into a trip to the hospital. But you can’t do it alone.’
    As much as he wanted to just run out and find Amanda, get his old life back, he knew he had to do what Emily said. She was the one that knew what she was talking about. That didn’t stop it feeling awfully frustrating though.
    â€˜Come on,’ she said, walking towards the notice board.

    Emily plucked a likely-looking boy’s picture.
    â€˜This is the one,’ she said. ‘I’ve got a good feeling about him.’

    That morning John Jenkins opened his wardrobe door and looked for his coat.
    He needed it, since it was raining yet again.
    â€˜There you are,’ he said as he pulled it out and pulled it on.
    As the door shut with a neat little click he had the oddest feeling. It was as if something had crawled across the back of his neck, but on the inside. It said to his brain, ‘Something’s watching you.’
    He hurried from the room, across the landing and started down the stairs. His mum and dad were waiting in the hallway.
    â€˜Come on lazybones,’ his dad said. ‘We’ll be late for the film if you