Power in the Palm of Your Hand

"How boring."

"Will you shut up? We haven't even started yet."

"Woman, you're trying to get me, Luke Anthes, to read. What makes you think you'll be successful?"

I glare at him. "Wanna die?"

He puts his hands up in mock surrender and makes a face. For a moment, I consider my mother's assortment of kitchen knives she keeps on display not five feet away.

"Bold actions for someone so shamefully unarmed," I growl.

"Aw, I know you, Ikah. You wouldn't hurt a fly."

"A fly is innocent and doesn't deserve to suffer. I'd send it to the afterlife before it knows what hit it. You, on the other hand-"

"All right, all right. How do we do this?"

"Are you stupid?"

"I placed third from last on the midterms."

I stare at him in disbelief.

"What?"

"Nothing. The fact that you're friends with me is shocking."

Luke crosses his arms, pouting. "Whatever. All we're doing is reading, right? Let's get this over with and eat something later."

He picks up a random book from the small pile I'd picked out.

"Nope," I pluck the book from his hands and place another one in front of him. "Today, we're going to be writing."

"You're taking me from crawling to flying."

"Relax! It's fun. I promise."

Luke flips through the pages. "It's blank."

"Oh really? We're gonna be writing in it. Brilliant observation, Sherlock."

"Whatever. How do we do this?"

I hand him a pencil. "Write a location. Any location."

"Challenge accepted."

Luke jots something down. "Urakilupon."

"Sounds evil."

"Is that a bad thing?"

I shrug. "Write down a few things about Ura... um..."

"Urakilupon."

"Yeah. Write a few things about it."

"Like what?"

"I dunno... is it magical? Technologically advanced? Stone Age-type stuff?"

"Dark magic," he decides, writing it down. "Corrupted by the Five Sages."

"Nice! Now make up a loose storyline."

"What do you mean?"

"Kinda like what you said about the Five Sages and how they corrupted Ura-...pon. Worldbuilding. Is there a prophecy? Does someone come along and decide to save it?"

Luke makes a face. "The residents don't know they're evil. They're unwittingly the villains, but think they're the good guys."

"Okay... keep going."

"Umm... a few kids from all over Urakilupon decide at around the same time that they want to explore the outside world. So they go and end up meeting each other, and they realize that Urakilupon is actually bad? So they overthrow the Five Sages? But the people living in Urakilupon revolt against the kids because they liked their government and exile them without listening to their explanation so obviously, the kids get mad and become the villains and destroy Urakilupon."

I stare at Luke in open-mouthed wonder. "Write a book."

"Huh?

I take his hands and press his palms against the notebook and his messy scrawls.

"Urakilupon!" My voice echoes all around us. Light bursts behind my eyelids.

And there is silence.

-

"What the frick."

It's a statement rather than a question.

"Is this what you were imagining?"

Luke and I stand just outside a high, high wall. Fog rises around us, and naked trees cast looming shadows on the leaf-covered ground.

"Uh, kinda? What did you do?"

I look at him. "Um? This is your imagination. This is your world. We're just living in it."

"Couldn't you have warned me?"

"That takes the fun out of it. What happens next? The kids want to go outside, right?"

"Um... yeah..."

"How?" I pick up the notebook and pencil from where they lie on the ground in front of us.

"Hold on... you're telling me... that we got transported into this imaginary world?"

"Yah."

"And now we have to see it through to the end?"

"Yah."

"Is there any way we can leave?"

"Um... I dunno. I've never really tried to leave before the end of a story."

"You've done this before?"

"Duh."

"Oh my god." Luke stumbles backwards, his back hitting a tree. "Oh... my god."

"What? Why?"

"I have to think. Hand me the book."

I pass the notebook to him.

"The children..." he mumbles the words as he writes them. "Are sent on a mission... to... um... assassinate... the king of... Irayuk? Because of... trade... disagreements?"

Luke pauses. "Wait. Urakilupon is the bad guy. Why would anyone trade with them? The kids are sent on a mission to assassinate the king of Irayuk because the Five Sages... no- the Five Sages wouldn't tell them why."

"Uh..." Luke points to the portion of the wall in front of us. It morphs, turning into a black gate. "The kids... aged sixteen... are named... uh... Kyna, Jiani, Hykil, and Isa...kyumi."

Luke looks up at me. I nod an affirmation back at him. He's doing a lot better than expected.

"They leave the city-"

As soon as the words leave his mouth, the gates swing open. Out walks two girls and two boys.

Luke's jaw drops.

"Don't worry," I tell him. "We're invisible. They can't hear us, either."

"Th-that's..."

"Kyna, Jiani, Hykil, and... Isakyumi," I say slowly, recalling their names.

"How?"

"Your imagination is a powerful place."

"What a drag," one of the children drawls. He casts a glance around and takes another few steps forward.

"It's our first time outside the walls! Be grateful," one of the girls retorts.

"That's... that's Hykil... And Kyna," Luke makes a noise of disbelief. "This is really happening. They're alive. They're real. What the frick? And I created them?"

I nod.

The other girl points ahead. "Let's go."

The small group follows her down the narrow trail.

Luke presses the tip of his pencil against the notebook again. He writes something, and a roar shakes the leaves. Luke splutters in utter disbelief as a huge, black dragon soars into view.

With a shaking hand, Luke writes another few sentences.

There's a grumble of annoyance from the group. The girl named Kyna points a finger at it, and a bolt of multicolored lightning strikes the beast. It vaporizes into thin air with a cut-off shriek.

"You're the author of this story," I tell Luke. "Your job is to finish it."

The dazed, disbelieving look in Luke's eyes fade, replaced with excitement and determination as the realization of his power dawns on him

"I can make anything happen?"

"That's right."

Luke lets out a whoop of laughter, looking down at the notebook again.

"Let's do this!"

"Writing isn't that bad after all, huh?"

"Writing is awesome!"