Listen to the audiobook of this chapter:

  Aaron arrived at my door at precisely nine o’clock the next morning. The park opened at ten, but we were hoping to get there early so we could be in the front of the admission line.

  We didn’t waste any time at my apartment and headed straight to his step-father’s house. A yappy but friendly little dog greeted us at the gate, followed shortly by Valorie racing out the front door.

  “Brother!” she called, running and jumping into Aaron’s arms as he passed through the fence door. “I missed you!”

  Aaron laughed and hugged her before setting her on the ground again. “I missed you too. Are you ready for the trip to the park?”

  “Of course!” she replied excitedly. “Daddy even put sunblock on me already!”

  “That’s good,” Aaron said. He looked up to see Valorie’s dad standing in the doorway. “Hello, Robert.”

  As Aaron walked to the house to talk to his step-father about the trip, I turned to Val. “Hi, Val. Remember me?”

  Val nodded and smiled. “You’re my brother’s girlfriend!”

  I laughed. “Well, I’m a girl and I’m his friend, but I’m not his girlfriend.”

  “Why does he bring you to all our parties then?”

  “That’s what friends do, isn’t it?” I smiled and held out my hand to her. “Let’s go get in the car.”

  I helped Val into the front seat and climbed into the back. “Sisters get priority!” I told her.

  Aaron returned to the car and Robert stood at the gate and waved to Val, whose head was sticking out the window, as we drove away.

  “Have fun, sweetheart!”

  The dog echoed this farewell with more barking.

  “He’s a good dad, isn’t he?” I commented through the seats. I didn’t know him any better than I did Valorie, but from what I had seen of the two of them, I could tell her father cared for her very much and provided the best home he could.

  “Yeah,” Aaron nodded. “I only lived with him and my mom for four years before going off to college, but he always treated me right. Smart guy, good sense of humor. And very generous. He gave me enough money for all three of us to have a good time today.”

  “Daddy’s awesome!” Val chimed in. “He even got me a VR computer for my birthday last month!”

  “Cool,” I said. “What’s your favorite game?”

  “Bonko the Good Dragon,” she exclaimed.

  I chuckled at the name. “What’s that one?”

  “Bonko has to go get all the magic fruits back from Zamboo the Bad Dragon, who stole them so he could become more powerful! But they weren’t ripe yet, so he couldn’t eat them right away, so he hid them in all sorts of places instead.”

  “Sounds like a fun game,” Aaron said, and I could hear the laughter in his voice, too.

  We arrived half an hour before the park opened. As we hoped, the line wasn’t very long yet. Several small vendors had set up booths outside the gates as well, hoping to get some sales in before everyone spent all their money on the main attraction. I volunteered to hold our place in line while Aaron and Val went out to explore.

  I pulled out my phone and checked Chatterbox. I had seven messages from Me-kay-L. The earliest was from the night before, about an hour after I went to bed. Of course, I’d already read them earlier that morning, but I scanned them again in case I’d missed something.

  I forgot this part of the show. They all have to pretend they’re someone else in the group. It’s great!

  I’m so wasted, lol. It’s awesome! I’m gonna sleep great tonight!

  I’m booored. You should get up and talk to me again!

  There’s only five episodes left in this show. I don’t want it to be over yet.

  HAHAHA! Look at this! Followed by a link to a video of a person on a talent show failing their audition by tripping over their props and landing in a pool of water instead of tightrope-walking across it.

  Then another video of his favorite comedian doing a ten minute skit.

  And finally, I’m out, dude. Have a good day tomorrow!

  The last one was time-stamped at about four hours earlier.

  My simple reply of lol followed, sent that morning before Aaron had arrived. I left another one now. Just arrived at the park, waiting for it to open. I’ll keep in touch!

  Aaron and Val returned shortly with a large bag of kettle corn, a stuffed dragon, a packaged balloon that would blow up to look like a butterfly, and a dolphin painted on Val’s cheek.

  “Wow,” I said as they reached me. “We haven’t even gone in and you’re already loaded up with stuff.”

  “It’s Bonko!” Val bounced up and down. “Can you believe it? They had a whole booth FULL of Bonkos and Zamboos! All I had to do was knock down the jars with a ball!”

  I looked at Aaron, who gave a lopsided smile and shrugged. “What can I say? I guess Bonko the Good Dragon is a big hit. We’re just out of the loop on all the popular games these days.”

  “We should have brought a backpack,” I thought aloud.

  “They should have some kind of carry bags for sale inside,” Aaron said. “We can check a gift shop sometime today before we run out of arms.”

  Val giggled right as a bell tower in the middle of the park rang out the hour.

  We spent several hours standing in lines for five-minute rides and I remembered why I disliked amusement parks in general. But Val was a good sport about it the whole time, and the park did a good job of providing amusement for the kids stuck in lines. Clowns made balloon animals, mimes pretended to be stuck in boxes and fall over invisible rocks, and monitors played short episodes of some children’s show that was mildly amusing. Every couple hours, a conga line danced through the middle of the park, leading interested guests to a building where they performed a dance-and-acrobatics show.

  When they came through for the third time, Val dragged us along to watch the performance, followed by a trip to the OMNIMAX theater where we took a journey under the ocean, exploring ship wrecks and visiting all the oceans and the creatures that lived in them. At the end, they had a virtual tour through the Marianas Trench and a theoretical journey in the seas around Indonesia. Nobody knew for certain what was in those magical waters, so the movie took some artistic liberties in what they showed.

  “Are you ready for some dinner?” Aaron asked Val after the movie was over. It was nearing six in the evening, which meant we’d been at the park for eight hours. We’d gotten a couple snacks along the way, but hadn’t had anything substantial to eat.

  “Can I go on The Monster first?” Val begged. The Monster was the inverted roller coaster that Aaron had been saying no to her riding all day. It was no different now.

  “Continuing to ask isn’t going to change my answer,” he said sternly. “No. So, what do you want to eat?”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Val frowned but didn’t say anything else about the ride. “I dunno,” she moped.

  “How about we head over to the food court and see what they have?” I suggested.

  The food court was a large grassy area with trees for shade and picnic tables set up in rows. Venders selling any type of carnival food you could want were set up around the perimeter. I chose some pizza and a giant pretzel, Aaron picked a hamburger and roasted corn on the cob, and Val jumped at the corn dogs and fries.

  Since most of the seating was full when we arrived, we took our food to the river view to enjoy. Holographic projectors on the shore cast neon images of fish jumping and whales breaching in sparkling water. Val pointed and laughed at the designs while we ate.

  A gondola slowly made its way up the river and around the corner. Val watched it pass overhead. “Can we go on that next?” She asked.

  Aaron looked at me. I checked the clock on my phone and nodded.

  No messages.

  “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” He asked Val.

  The girl shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t know. I’ve never been that high before.”

  “Well, let’s try it,” I said, dipping the last of my pretzel into my cheese cup and popping it into my mouth.

  The gondola ride started at the bottom of the river on the south side of the park and went to the top of the bell tower that would chime out the hours. Visitors could either take the gondola back or walk down the stairways that ran along the outside of the tower, taking in the views of the amusement park and nearby city.

  We climbed in one of the cars as it slowly swung around the loading dock, picking up a little speed as it began the ascent over the river. The gondolas were clear, and, much like the VR headsets, could be digitally opaqued if the passengers wanted. Val was insistent that we leave it translucent so she could see everything.

  She stared, fixated by the aquatic neon scenes playing out below us until we passed above the tree line.

  “Look over there,” I said, pointing at the sunset. The horizon was ablaze in shades of red and orange, the light of the setting sun turning the clouds violet. Val oohed and aahhed at the sight, then turned around to look at the ferris wheel. It was lit up with changing colors as it turned. The top of the giant carousel was also blinking, it’s music too soft to hear at our distance.

  “This is so cool!” Val squealed as we went higher. “I love being up high!”

  Aaron and I smiled to each other, happy that we could give Val such a wonderful experience.

  “Can we go back down?” Val asked excitedly as we neared the top.

  I looked at the time on my phone again.

  “Actually, let’s hang out up here for a while,” I said. When Valorie frowned, I continued, “there’s something that’s going to happen soon that will be much cooler to see from up here than on the ground.”

  “Ok,” Val said, unconvinced.

  “We can always go back down afterwards,” Aaron reassured her.

  “Does the gondola work at night?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  Val smiled brightly again. “OK, but only if you promise that what we’re gonna see will be worth it!”

  I grinned back at her. “I promise.”

  The sun was almost done crossing the horizon by the time we reached the top. It was only an eight-minute ride, but it takes less than five minutes for the world to change.

  Val raced over to the guardrail to watch the amusement park as life switched over from tech powered to magicus powered.

  As all the lights in the park dimmed, new lights beside the fading ones lit up. These magicus lights were subtly different than the electric ones, but it’s hard to describe exactly how. Less harsh, more like moonlight compressed into small bulbs. From our height at the top of the bell tower, we could also see beyond the park and into the city where street lights were twinkling off and on again as they changed power sources. It looked almost like the stars had fallen to Earth as the sun fell from the sky.

  “Cooool,” Val said, turning to me. “So can we go back down now?”

  “Not yet,” I said, resting my hand on her shoulder and leading her ninety degrees around the viewing platform. In the distance, beyond the amusement park, the river opened up into a lake. This time of the year it was mostly empty, but in summer it would be swarming with fishing boats and jet skis and cruises from the resort on the opposite shore.

  “Watch over there,” I said, my pointing finger blending in with the growing darkness.

  Val stood still for a whole ten seconds before beginning to dance in place with boredom. “What am I looking for?” she asked

  Suddenly the sky over the lake lit up in an array of colored lights, fireworks exploding in all shapes and colors, the sounds too distant to reach us.

  “Wow!” Val said excitedly. “Now that is cool!”

  We watched the five-minute show, all three of us oohing and aahhing at the choreographed display that began after the initial explosion of color. The finale had everyone clapping and cheering, and the catwalk became an ocean of excited chattering as kids turned to parents to talk about how neat it was and could they have fireworks to shoot off too?

  “My toy!” came a sudden shout to our side. A little boy was leaning through the railings, reaching for something. “I can’t reach it!”

  A couple I assumed were the boy’s parents were looking at each other helplessly.

  “We’ll get you another one,” his mom finally said, pulling him back from the edge.

  As the boy burst into tears, Aaron walked over to the adults. “I might be able to help,” he offered.

  “I would be grateful if you could,” the man said.

  Aaron crouched down by the boy. “Can you show me where it is?” he asked. The boy sniffled and nodded, leading Aaron to the rail and pointing down. Val and I followed them to see what happened next.

  Aaron reached his arm through the gap in the bars and, smiling at the boy, wiggled his fingers dramatically. The toy, a stuffed tiger, began floating upwards from the ledge it had landed on until it was within the boy’s reach. The child quickly snatched it from the air and grinned at Aaron.

  “Thank you!” He said, and turned to his parents. “Look! Look! I got it back!”

  “Yes, thank you,” said the boy’s mom, extreme gratefulness in the words. The dad nodded in agreement.

  “No trouble at all,” Aaron replied, smiling. “Have a good evening.”

  “You too,” the mom said as they turned to leave. The boy waved enthusiastically at Aaron as he walked away.

  “Sometimes I wish my ability was as useful as yours,” I commented as I walked to Aaron’s side.

  “Precog is useful. It can save lives.” Aaron countered.

  “I hope I get telekinesis when I grow up!” Val piped in from the side. “It’s sooooo cool!”

  “I suppose,” I replied to Aaron’s comment. “But it’s not something I can use at will like you. It’s not like I can pick the winning lotto numbers with it. It only happens when it wants to happen. And sometimes it barely helps...”

  “But it does save lives,” he said again, gently.

  I didn’t have a good reply to that so I just nodded and turned to Val instead, who was tugging at our sleeves for attention. “So you like telekinesis? What about your dad, what does he have?”

  “He’s an Illuminate,” she said. “Making light is so boring compared to moving things with your thoughts!”

  I grinned at Aaron’s little sister. “It sure seems that way, doesn’t it? But imagine if you could make all the fireworks you wanted with it.”

  Val’s eyes lit up. “Could I really do that?”

  I looked at Aaron.

  “Probably,” he said, shrugging. “I haven’t seen it myself, but if you can make a ball of light, I don’t see why you couldn’t make a dozen balls and throw them all up at the same time.”

  “Coooool,” Val said. She paused a moment to think. “I think I’d still rather be able to move things. I’ll just have daddy make the fireworks for me!”

  Aaron and I laughed and led her to the gondola for the ride back down.

  Our adventure at the amusement park complete, we headed back to the car. Val opted to sit in the back seat and was asleep almost before we were out of the parking lot. It had been a very long day for all of us, and, despite the early hour, I was half asleep myself by the time we dropped Val back at home.

  Aaron had to nudge me awake when we arrived at my apartment. I jolted upright in surprise and looked at my friend abashedly. He grinned crookedly.

  “Thanks for coming along,” he said as I got out of the car.

  “Thanks for inviting me. It was fun,” I replied. “Val is a great kid. You and your dad are doing right by her.”

  Aaron smiled in the darkness. “Thanks, Zee. She means the world to me. I’m glad my best friend finally got to really meet my best sister.”

  I laughed. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Aaron waved and took off. I wobbled my way into my apartment and peeked at my phone. I had several messages from Mikael waiting for me.

  Sup dude! How’s it going? When you gonna be home?

  I slept sooo good last night. I didn’t want to get up, so I went back to bed after an hour, lol.

  Come on, where are you?

  I messaged him back. Home now. Had a great day. Val is a doll. Sup you?

  It was a moment before I got a reply. Playing that card game. Won five games in a row!

  Part of me just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. But now that Mikael was here, a bigger part of me wanted to stay up and spend some time with him.

  I grabbed an iced tea with extra sugar out of the fridge and dropped into my desk chair, pulling on the virtual reality headset. I let the sugar and caffeine in the black tea rejuvenate my brain as the system loaded up.

  Though the caffeine was doing its job, I opted not to play that night, instead attempting to write that damn essay on literature and modern society while on a voice call with Mikael.

  “You really should do that sexy story!” He said after an hour of listening to me fail to come up with a topic.

  I laughed. “No! But maybe I’ll look into folklore from Indonesia. There are some pretty interesting stories about magical sea life around there.”

  “Nah, that’s booring,” he drawled. “Try the German fairy tales! They have some pretty crazy stories you haven’t heard of before.”

  “I’ve actually studied European fairy tales already, so I probably do know them,” I said. He laughed. “But that might be a good idea, they do have a lot of stories that tell lessons the people of the day were supposed to know.”

  “See! I knew you’d figure it out!”

  I giggled. “Yeah, thanks.”

  I finally hit upon the idea of comparing the transformations of the fairy tale Cinderella as it went through retellings and reboots, and how each variation told a different story about the society during the time it was written. There were no shortages of Cinderella-esque stories and movies, so my problem then became deciding which ones were unique enough for my essay.

  I begged off slightly earlier than usual, saying that I needed to get some extra sleep to recoup before work and school the next day. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.