Imaginary - Book 2 - Chapter 28 - An Unseen Threat (Patreon)

“How far to the Bueuru field office?” I asked as we stepped up to the nearest crosswalk.. 

“Your mother works there, don’t you know?” Kyle asked back. Kira, who was on the other side of me, immediately gave him a disapproving glare.

“Even though my mom works there, and I like a couple of agents, Pam and Mac specifically, I can’t say the same thing of the rest of the Bureau of Empowered Investigations. During the terrorist attack not only did they send like a dozen people to repeatedly interview me, but I had several agents camping outside my house trying to catch sight of Hairy, Tyberius and Angelica. They drove my friends away. I can’t say I was even that interested in visiting after that,” I said.

“Fair point,” Kyle conceded. As soon as the light changed he skipped forward getting out in front of the rest of us, before spinning around and walking backwards.

“What are you doing?” Amelia asked, as he stumbled slightly.

“I’m walking backwards while talking to my friends, so I can look you all in the eye,” he replied.

“Uh-huh. Then why aren’t you looking at any of us?” Olivia asked.

“Because that was a lie,” Kyle replied, glancing over at her. “The truth is I’m trying to get a look at whatever’s following us while appearing as casual as possible.”

“Well, you’re failing,” Amelia grumbled.

“Do you see anything suspicious?” Kira asked. 

“Nope. Everything looks completely normal, as far as I can tell. The sidewalk is full of people going about their business like normal. I’d kind of expect everyone to be running around screaming if there was something horrible chasing us,” he said.

“Unless the thing has the ability to blend in with the surroundings, or turn invisible,” I said. “There was something like that at the Rupture that happened at Darmont.”

“Weren’t you able to see that thing though?” Amelia asked. “Maybe you should take a look, and see if you catch sight of anything.”

“I’m not going to walk backwards,” I grumbled. “Not only would I look like an idiot, but it would look suspicious if two of us did it back to back. If whatever is following us is intelligent, it might begin to think we’re on to it.”

“That’s fair,” Olivia muttered. “We still need to cross the other street, and get to the opposite corner, so you could take a quick look back while we wait for the lights to change. If you stood on the far left while we waited it wouldn’t even look that odd for you to turn and look at the rest of us.”

“Or past us,” Kyle added, with a grin.

“I’m pretty sure that was implied,” Kira sighed. 

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” I admitted. “What if I see something, and it realizes I spotted it?” I asked.

“Then do your best to direct us, and Kyle, Kira and I will step in and try to stop it,” Amelia said.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Olivia asked.

“It’s better than being stabbed in the back by something we can’t see while we try and run away,” Amelia replied. “I’m confident that between Kira’s ice powers, and my ability to negate most attacks, we’ll be able to delay most entities until help can arrive,” Amelia replied.

“What about me?” Kyle growled. “I’m here too.”

“Yeah, but you tend to go full offensive when you start throwing fire, and although that’ll be helpful if you hit whatever’s attacking us, and either reveals it or kills the thing outright, it’s not as good at keeping everyone alive,” Amelia replied cooly.

Kyle stared at her in irritation, opened his mouth to say something, then apparently thought better of it. “Fair,” he finally grumbled.

As we stepped onto the sidewalk Kira slipped in between Oliva and I, forcing me to the outside as we lined up at the next crosswalk.

“Well?” Amelia prompted.

I turned my head to look at her, then flicked my eyes back across the street. The area was full of people, which wasn’t surprising since it was early on a Saturday afternoon. I quickly scanned the area, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

“I don’t see anything obvious,” I said, before turning my head back.“There are a lot of innocent people walking around though… shouldn’t we warn people, so they can evacuate the area and avoid getting hurt?”

As we talked the lights changed, and the walk signal flashed up, so we all stepped into the street, eager to keep moving.

“We don’t have the authority to evacuate people, and if we ran around yelling that there was a dangerous creature running around it would probably create a panic,” Amelia explained calmly. “And even if it didn’t, there’s a chance it would cause whatever’s following us to realize something’s up, and prompt it to attack us. Better to pretend like everything’s normal.”

“Did they teach you that in self defense class?” Olivia asked.

“No… we were supposed to start learning tactics next week, assuming that we all passed our evaluations,” Amelia admitted. “However, one of the things I’ve learned in my martial arts class is that you should never aggravate an aggressor. I know there’s a difference between a drunk guy with a bottle, and an otherworld entity, but I figured the basic principle still applied.”

“Didn’t you jump across the hood of a car in order to deck Mr. Ortiz in the face the last time we saw him?” Kyle asked.

“That was different,” Amelia growled. “Ortiz had already turned aggressive, and was beating Tamera. If I hadn’t intervened he would have severely injured her, or worse. I don’t regret what I did.”

“And I appreciate that you stepped in when you did,” I muttered as I stepped up onto the sidewalk. “I’m pretty sure that if you’d waited much longer that manic would have shot someone.” I paused and looked down both the main road and the side street before turning back towards my friends. “Which way?”

“The back road would be safer for others, but the main road would be safer for us,” Kira said. “Both have their downsides.”

I bit my lip, before glancing at Frost who was still perched on my shoulder. “Is the thing you’re scared of still chasing us?”

The sprite nodded vigorously. “It’s stalking us, like a housecat through the garden. Watching. Waiting.”

A shiver went down my spine, and I glanced back over my shoulder, despite knowing it probably wasn’t the smartest idea. Some animalistic part of my brain expected to find bright yellow glowing eyes sitting there, right in the middle of the street, staring at me. Instead, the area was exactly the same as the last time I checked. Calm and quiet.

A lot of the foot traffic had dispersed, leaving just a handful of people sitting on the patio of the coffee shop across the street, and a man with messy hair and a fine suit standing at the crosswalk.

“We stick to the main road,” Olivia declared, before I could. “This thing doesn’t appear to be interested in attacking us while we’re out in the open, but who knows what’ll happen if we go someplace more isolated. Maybe it’s just waiting for us to go someplace quieter before attacking. I could be wrong, and maybe it’ll be content to continue stalking us no matter what we do, but why take the chance?”

“She’s got a point,” Kira said.

“That she does,” Kyle agreed. “Amelia said the best thing we could do is avoid provoking an aggressor, and who knows, maybe this thing will see leaving the main street as provocation.”

“Although I doubt it’ll see going to a more isolated area as a provocation, that’s a strange way to word that, I do agree that we don’t know what this thing’ll do if we leave the more populated areas,” Amelia said. “So if you want to stick to the main street, I’ve got no problem with that. We just need to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.”

“Agreed. We stick to the main street, at least for now,” I said as I started to move. “Can someone lend me a phone?”

“Of course,” Olivia replied, fishing her phone out of her bag and holding it out to me. “Are you going to call the field office to let them know what’s going on?”

“I don’t have the number, but I’ve memorized Pam’s contact number. I’m hoping she can pass on a message and have someone come meet us part way,” I said.

“And if you can’t get through to her?” Kira asked.

“Then I have to do something I REALLY don’t want to do, and call my mother with the same request. After the week I’ve had I’d hate to worry her any more than I have,” I replied.

“Better to have her worried, than for us to get injured because we couldn’t get through to anyone,” Kyle said.

“I know. That’s why I said she’s my last choice instead of insisting I wouldn’t call,” I said. “Can someone keep an arm around me, and keep me from walking into anything while I call? I don’t exactly have a lot of practice using a phone and walking at the same time.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” Olivia declared, grabbing my off arm.

“Alright, now that that’s squared away, let’s get moving,” Amelia said. “Although I don’t know which direction is better, I’m fairly confident that sitting in one place is the worst decision we can make, and we’ve tarry’d long enough.”

“True enough,” I agreed. “Lead the way.”