Unreal City by A. R. Meyering Read Free Book Online Page B

food.
    “And I don’t even feel full!” I exclaimed as I set the ornate silver plate down in the sand. “This is fantastic! This is incredible!” My head was buzzing, the overwhelming possibilities reducing me to a temporary state of shock.
    “I told you you’d like it. Now, make more food! Make a whole feast. ” The spirit bounced on his paws, leaping up high into the air and floating down gracefully, as if he were sinking through water and not air.
    “That is an excellent idea, um—what do I call you? What’s your name?” I faltered, wondering why I’d never bother to ask the creature before this moment.
    He stopped bouncing. “I have no name, or at least not one that I can tell you. You must give me one. I’m yours now, after all.”
    My joy wavered. Something about the idea of owning this little demon brought on feelings of trepidation.
    “A name? I don’t know. I’ll just call you…Felix. For now, I guess. Until I think of something better,” I said and shrugged, turning back to infinity with avarice. I lifted my hands up like a conductor at his podium, and out of the sand formed a table covered with a silk, embroidered cloth. With more flicks of my fingers, dishes divine and sumptuous materialized out of the gold dust. Apples, grapes, pears, nectarines, peaches, berries—all saturated with sun-given sweetness, luscious and almost bursting with juices—sprang into existence aside braised meats caramelized with glazes of sauce. Massive, moist turkeys surrounded with ruby-bright cranberries, troughs of potatoes, steamy with a light, garlic scent, and ribs dripping with thick sauce followed. There were hot rolls, crumbly cornbread, and soups fit for a king. Icy pitchers of juice, honeyed wines, and jugs of crisp, refreshing water joined the procession. More and more the feast built itself with every food I loved, and when I willed confections that I had never imagined or heard of, they too joined the culinary parade. This pleased me most of all—this strange world wasn’t limited by my own imagination.
    I could hold back no longer. Felix and I attacked the table and every last one of the victuals, forsaking any form of manners in our frenzied hunger. We ate like hyenas upon a fresh kill, and not even for an instant did a feeling of sickness or tightness of the belly come upon me. When I had finished with the feast, I threw myself down into the sand, laughing in disbelief and contentment, with the satisfying sensation that I’d finished a moderately sized meal. Just as I grew sleepy while enjoying the tapestry of dusty colors that was the eternal sunset, Felix’s bright eyes came into my vision.
    “What are you waiting for? There’s so much more you can do. Think, Sarah. Dream. Bring it all into creation,” Felix coaxed, and I sat back up. I hesitated, then decided to forge ahead. If the clock really was ticking….
    I took off at a run toward the pier with the wild amusement park twirling and blinking atop its platform. I gathered speed and right as I reached the point on the sand where the waves were crashing, I took a little hop, then a leap, and I was gliding through the air. I skimmed above the waves, my heart skipping beats and a laugh ricocheting around in my throat. Felix was beside me now, and we both gained altitude, sailing next to that brilliant disc of light that was the sun, landing atop the Ferris wheel.
    We rode it, marveling at all the attractions below us and the small crowd enjoying them. I understood that none of the people around us were real; not the beaming children tugging at the hands of their parents, nor the young lovers cooing to each other in the other gondolas. They were all part of the illusion of the garden; puppet shows created to stave off loneliness. We floated from each ride and carnival booth to the next: the unrestrained speed of the roller coaster, the mystery of the fortune telling tent, the shocks of the ghost house. My senses were overloaded with bobbing