Ruddy paced around the room. “What are we going to do, Xeke?”

  Xeke slumped back on the couch. “I don’t know.”

  “Corey doesn’t even seem worried,” Ruddy said. “I can’t believe he’s asleep.”

  “He’s exhausted,” Xeke said. “And he may be hiding it well, but I promise he’s worried.”

  “You don’t seem worried, either,” Ruddy said. He put his hands on his hips and glared.

  Xeke’s face quivered, and for a second Ruddy thought he might cry. Then it was gone.

  “Of course I’m worried,” Xeke said. “But I can’t think of anything else to do. We’ve looked everywhere.”

  “Come on,” Ruddy said. “You always think of something. Just tell me what to do.”

  Xeke stared at the wall. Ruddy’s stomach turned over.

  “If she doesn’t want to be found, there’s nothing we can do,” Xeke said. “We’re lucky she didn’t make us forget she exists. She could, you know, if she was really through with us.”

  “Yeah,” Ruddy said. “Yeah! She must be planning to come back. She’s still mad, is all. I can understand why. We have to let her know how sorry we are.” He paced. “But how do we do that without telling her about ...”

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  “Careful,” Xeke whispered. Then he shook his head. “No. You know what? We need to tell her everything.”

  “What? Are you sure?”

  “Think about it. She might be standing here right now and we wouldn’t know it. Even Corey knows something’s up. How can we expect her to trust us if she knows we’re hiding something? It’s time to be honest.”

  Ruddy nodded. “All right. I’m going to do it. Right now.” He took a breath and spread his arms like a politician making a point. “Teri, if you can hear me—we weren’t talking about you, we were talking about the other Terry. She’s your imaginary friend and she’s been living in your head for years … um … she made you forget about her. She came out when you were asleep. We would have told you about her but …. she said it would hurt you … and you’d lose it … um ….”

  Xeke’s mouth dropped. “Well, that’s not how I would have put it, but I guess that sums it up.” He looked around. “I sure hope the room isn’t bugged.”

  Ruddy’s face turned red. “Oh. Oh, god. Sorry.”

  Xeke was smiling. Ruddy chuckled. “I was rambling, wasn’t I?”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. Everyone was probably wondering why you were looking under every rock in town. Now they know—you were looking for your imaginary friend.”

  “But ...” Ruddy replayed their conversation in his head. He started laughing. A few seconds later, Xeke let loose a braying noise Ruddy had never heard before.

  “Oh, my God!” Ruddy howled. “No wonder you never laugh … you sound like that guy in Revenge of the Nerds!”

  Xeke continued to hoot. “Shut up ... I ... I’ll strangle you.”

  “Mister cool … smooth and handsome, gets all the girls ... and you laugh like a donkey.”

  Xeke honked even louder. “God, Ruddy … stop, please … I can’t breathe ...”

  By the time they got their laughing fit under control, they both had tears rolling down their faces.

  “Thanks.” Xeke wiped his eyes. “I really needed that.”

  “Me too,” Ruddy said. “We still need to tell Corey. Not looking forward to that.”

  “He’ll understand, once we explain it to him,” Xeke said.