Don’t let go and don’t give up. Janae snorted, thinking Thomás should have known her better than that by now. “Don’t tell anyone else what he said, Little John. This has to be kept secret. If Mab knows he got a message to me, I might lose him for good.”
The big green warrior nodded. “I won’t tell a soul. I swear.”
♛
On the morning of the Wild Hunt, Janae woke up early. She couldn’t get thoughts of Thomás out of her head. Throughout the night, dreams of Queen Mab and her Knightmares had haunted her. Rescuing TamLin seemed as impossible as finding Mab’s treasure had been, and she still wasn’t sure the treasure was a real thing. Would rescuing TamLin be just as much of a fantasy?
After Janae climbed out of bed, she took a long, hot shower, urging the tense and twisted muscles in her back to relax. After dressing and fastening her leg into place, she joined her mom at the kitchen table for a cup of coffee and a plate of eggs and toast.
Janae’s mom glanced up from her tablet, her gaze locking on Janae as she scraped strawberry jam across her toast. “Today’s a big day, huh?”
“It’s the Wild Hunt. The biggest massive-player quest of the year.” Janae bit into her toast and savored the jam’s sweetness. “By invitation only.”
“This game’s really important to you, isn’t it?”
“It’s not just the game.” Janae forked up a pile of eggs and considered telling her mom about Thomás and her fears of losing him, as well as her fears of what it would take to find him again, namely, stepping out from behind Lady Janet’s unblemished façade. “In the Forest of Carterhaugh, I’m anyone I want to be, and there’re no limits on what I can do.” Unconsciously, she stroked the long scar curving from the corner of her eye to her jaw. “I have friends there, too—good ones who only judge me on what I can do instead of how I look.”
Janae’s mom stood and went to the coffee pot to refill her mug. “Believe it or not, I understand. Those games are so lifelike, it’s easy to get lost in them. Easy to escape the real world. I can understand why that would be attractive to you.”
Janae said nothing but bit off another piece of toast. After the car wreck, her mom had been the one who’d bought Janae her first VRGameWatch™. Her mom had been the one who’d introduced Janae to the Forest of Carterhaugh so she’d have a place to escape to during the endless hours of surgery and recovery. Even after they’d left the hospitals and rehab centers behind, her mom had never pushed Janae to undertake anything that made her uncomfortable.
Her mom crouched and wrapped her arm around Janae’s shoulder, giving her a sideways hug. “But anytime you want to explore other interests, or if you want to reach out to people in real life, I’m here to help. Just let me know, okay?”
After helping her mom clean up the breakfast dishes, Janae retreated to her room and spent some time reflecting on the imposing task before her. A month ago, when she’d received her invitation to join the Wild Hunt, she’d been able to think of nothing better than the thrill of stalking the white boar, but now, so much more was at stake. If she hoped to ever have her questing partner at her side again, she was going to have to figure out a way to save him from Mab, and she didn’t know if that was even a possibility. Maybe, if she interfered, Mab would turn her into a slave, too. She’d never questioned whether Thomás was worth that risk, though.
When she finally felt ready, Janae arranged herself into a comfortable position on her bed. She closed her eyes and tapped her game watch’s face. After she’d entered the portal, the game spat her out in Cheapstow, a quaint village of thatch huts standing along the banks of a winding river called Wye. Cheapstow was the default location to which all gamers were sent the first time they entered the game. It was also FoC’s unofficial headquarters and the place where all gamers gathered at the beginning of the Wild Hunt, whether they were participants or simply observers.
Janae searched Cheapstow’s map, found Little John’s beacon, and threaded her way through the crowds milling in the market square. She found him standing at the north side of the town’s central fountain, and a broad smile spread across his green face when he spotted her. “Lady Janet. I was starting to worry.”
She smiled back. “You thought I wouldn’t show?”
“You sure waited until the last minute.”
She didn’t tell him that the longer she had to stand around waiting for Queen Mab’s arrival, the more her anxiety would increase, and this was not the time for doubts and second-guessing. Lady Janet motioned for Little John to follow as she jostled her way past crowds of elves, goblins, pixies, and other fantastical beings. On the outskirts of town, beside the river, Queen Mab’s workers had erected a platform on which all members of the Wild Hunt were to gather and await her arrival.
As Lady Janet passed through town, several spectators recognized her and wished her good luck. Janae had thoroughly scanned FoC’s forums and chatrooms the previous night, and no one seemed to suspect she had ulterior motives for participating in the hunt. It appeared that Little John had kept his vow of silence on the matter, as promised. If only people in the real world could be as trustworthy as people in the virtual one, she thought.
Lady Janet and Little John left behind the crowds of Cheapstow and followed the riverbank to a meadow bedecked in festive trimmings—blue flags and pennants bearing Queen Mab’s crest and silhouettes of the great white boar. Members of a little band had gathered beneath a willow to play their fife, fiddle, and concertina in celebratory cadences. Lady Janet and Little John climbed the steps to the hunting party’s platform and greeted their fellow players.
Despite her efforts to remain calm, Janae’s pulse thundered in her ears. Her palms sweated so profusely, she worried the dampness might interfere with her sword grip. She closed her eyes and swiped her sleeve across her brow. Stay cool, she thought. Thomás is depending on you.
A blast of horns ripped through the air, drowning out the little band’s inane festival music. Janae grimaced at the ringing in her ears, but she glued her eyes to the road, searching for a glimpse of the royal parade. As anticipated, the queen appeared, riding astride her great white horse at an ambling pace. Mab was followed by standard bearers and her personal guardsmen, who rode single file and looked indistinguishable except for their horses, which were black, brown, and white, respectively.
The white horse, Janae thought, her gaze locked on the last rider in the procession. Thomás had said TamLin would be riding a white horse. If not for that message, she’d never have guessed it was him. Gone was his russet skin and ebony hair. Now he was pale like the queen, his hair corn-silk white and his eyes light blue.
Her heart rose into her throat and beat a rapid pace full of fear and panic. Now what am I supposed to do?
Queen Mab halted her procession before the hunting party’s platform and raised her hand. Everyone fell silent, and the river’s quiet roar behind them was the only sound. Janae knew Mab would give a standard speech about tradition and sportsmanship. She would announce the rules of the Hunt and list the prizes for the winner. Janae barely heard the queen as she spoke. Instead, her senses were focused wholly on the TamLin changeling. She willed him to look at her, give her a sign, an indication that it was really him behind the pale façade, but his gaze remained detached and distant, almost haughty.
Mab’s horns trumpeted again, catching Janae off guard. She grimaced and gritted her teeth.
“Fall in, hunters,” shouted one of the standard bearers, and the hunting party surged to exit the platform. The group lined up along the side of the road to watch Queen Mab’s procession pass, and Lady Janet squeezed into a spot at Little John’s side. Queen Mab flicked her reins and shoved her heel against her horse’s haunch. The steed trotted forward, and Mab’s icy eyes roamed over the faces of the hunting party as she rode by. When her gaze reached Lady Janet, her eyes seemed to harden, and she flashed her teeth, revealing the same sharp fangs all members of her court bore, but Janae refused to flinch.
Whether
Mab was a complex bot, or a live person playing her role from somewhere within the Forest of Carterhaugh’s corporate offices, her animosity felt as real to Janae as the hostility in the looks of the people in real life who saw her scars and prosthetic leg and thought her something less-than because of it. In the real world, such a look might have cowed Janae, but in the Forest of Carterhaugh, she was not so easily intimidated. She growled, not caring if the queen could hear her. Her fear was gone, replaced by eagerness, ferocity, and anger. “I’m not afraid of you, Mab, and when I get TamLin back, we’re coming for you and your treasure.”
With those words, Janae put the queen out of her mind and focused again on TamLin, bringing up the procession’s rear. Finally, his cold, blue eyes met hers, and she thought she saw a glimmer of hope in them. Little John grabbed Lady Janet’s elbow and squeezed, and his grip reminded Janae of the message he’d passed her from Thomás. Whatever happens, don’t let go and don’t give up.
Don’t let go...
Acting on instinct, Janae lunged, grabbing TamLin’s ankle and knee. Before he could brace himself, she yanked, upsetting his balance. Realizing her intention, Little John joined her, and together they pulled TamLin from his saddle.
He collapsed to the ground, and Lady Janet tackled him, twining her arms around him while thinking fervent thoughts about leeches and octopuses and superglue. “I won’t let go, TamLin,” she said. “No matter what happens, I won’t let go. I won’t give up.”
TamLin bucked like an angry bull. He roared. As everyone watched, his bright hair melted from his scalp. His skin turned hard with scales, and he grew a tail. As a lizard, he writhed, and his strength was almost too much for her. Her muscles strained and trembled. Her life-force indicator flashed in warning from the effort of holding on as he twisted again, losing his claws and legs, trading them for a rattling tail, poisonous fangs and a flat, diamond-shaped head.
She held him fast, refusing to be afraid, and when she didn’t let go, he shifted again, sprouting coarse brown hair. When he was a grizzly bear twice her size, he tore at her back with claws as big as the knives strapped to her thighs. Pain flashed through her in a bolt of searing lightning. She screamed, and her life-force indicator flashed yellow, warning that her energy was draining away.
He transformed into a lion and bit her shoulder with fangs like sabers. White stars exploded across her vision as agony burned in her bones. With a broken, weak voice, she chanted revival spells as blood flowed down her back. Her energy reserves drained lower, but she held TamLin close and ignored the urge to panic.
She’d endured tortures worse than this before.
She’d battled pain countless times and won.
She’d win this time, too, because she was fighting for more than herself.
TamLin’s mane and fur fell off in clumps, revealing a glowing, hot coal beneath. To hold him was to burn, but Janae gritted her teeth and chanted another restorative spell as flames rose around her. Her own screams rang in her ears, and each of her heartbeats sent a new pulse of agony storming through her body.
If she released him now, she suspected she’d never find her partner in the Forest of Carterhaugh again, not even as Queen Mab’s slave, and the thought of losing him hurt worse than any broken bone, bruise, or burn. Maybe she could work up the courage to find Thomás in real life, but their relationship would never be the same in a world where her twisted back made her slow and ungainly on her prosthetic leg. The scars near her eye made her sometimes weep for no reason. She was no warrior goddess. She was only Janae, and she didn’t know if that would be good enough for Thomás. But maybe it’s finally time to find out...
“The river,” Little John yelled. “Get him in the river!”
With her jaw set and brow furrowed, Janae swallowed her pain—a skill she’d spent the last year perfecting—and eyed the route she would take. Then she flung herself into a powerful roll. Over and over, she and TamLin tumbled down the riverbank. His flames had burned through her tunic, blistering her skin. Her life-force indicator flashed red on its last bar, and the edges of her vision turned fuzzy and dark, but she held on as she plummeted into the river, taking TamLin with her.
After chanting her last remaining restorative spell, Lady Janet stayed conscious long enough to watch the river douse their fire. Thomás’s avatar traded flames for skin—warm, russet skin and dark hair that shimmered like an ocean at night—and he held her in his arms. The last thing Janae heard before Lady Janet’s life-force drained away was Thomás’s familiar voice in her ear.
“You did it, Lady Janet. I knew you’d save me.”
♛
Janae’s finger hovered over the answer icon on her video-chat screen. Thomás was on the other end, waiting to talk with her face to face. It was late, and she was tired. Her back muscles were cramped, and her eye was weeping, but she’d been dying to talk to him after their last encounter in FoC. Instead of agreeing to meet her in Primeval Wood, as usual, he’d insisted on a live video chat, and she knew she had no good reason to refuse him. Besides, she was tired of the walls she’d put up to protect herself. She’d fought hard to earn his trust, and perhaps he deserved some of hers in return.
She wiped her eye, plastered a smile on her face, and answered the call. “Hi, Thomás.”
The young man smiling at her from her screen was not so different from his avatar—a little younger and rounder perhaps. His bottom teeth were slightly crooked, but his skin was a lovely shade of brown with gold undertones, and he wore his dark hair short and messy. When he saw her, he didn’t recoil or flinch. She held her breath as his gaze roamed her face, taking in her green eyes and freckles, but when he didn’t linger on her scars or give any sign of disappointment, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s nice to finally see the real you.” His voice was familiar, even if his face wasn’t, and his broad smile was genuine enough to put her at ease.
“I wasn’t sure,” Janae said, “even after everything that happened, if Mab was going to let you go.”
“I wasn’t sure either, but after Lady Janet died and you disconnected from the game, Mab just gave me a vicious smile”—Thomás bared his teeth like a snarling animal—“and then she acted like I’d never existed. I think, to her, it was all just part of the game—just another quest for us to win or lose. I disconnected and got out of there before she changed her mind.” His smile dropped. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through to save me, though. I never thought it would be that horrible.” He swallowed, but his voice was shaky when he said, “I knew I was hurting you, but there was nothing I could do to stop—”
“Don’t apologize.” She waved her hand, dismissing his confession. “I would do it again if I had to.”
He looked at her through his dark, long lashes, and her heart melted for him. “That’s why you’re the best player in the FoC.”
“But what if I hadn’t been?”
“Then Mab would have deleted my account for good, and I would’ve been permanently banned.”
“So, is she a bot, or is she just a FoC employee?”
“From what I could tell, she’s the closest thing to an AI I’ve ever encountered. Inside the game, she’s omnipotent and omniscient. It’s freaky. I never want to be her slave again.”
“So... no more chasing Mab’s treasure?”
Thomás chuckled, and the sound of it fizzed in Janae’s veins like warm soda bubbles. “I didn’t say that, exactly. But next time, I play it straight. No more hacking. And maybe we could put together an elite team. I bet Little John would be up for it.”
“I don’t know. After taking down the white boar and winning the grand prize, he doesn’t need more treasure.”
“I think you should still ask him.” His gaze dropped and his voice turned quiet and hesitant. “You two made a good team without me.”
Janae’s breath caught. “There’s no team without you, Thomás.”
He leaned closer to his camera. His brows drew together, and his expre
ssion turned earnest. “Maybe, if Mab had deleted my account, I could’ve gotten new nanos and a new game watch and started over again. I might’ve gotten away with it as long as I stayed away from you. But, the problem is... I don’t want to play FoC if I can’t play it with you, Janae.”
The sound of her true name on his lips, his real lips, shot through her, a bullet of pleasure and delight. Her heart swelled in her chest, beating like a big, bass drum. “You... You really mean that?”
“Of course.” The fierceness of his smile stole her breath.
“Then let’s message Little John and form a team. I promised Queen Mab we were going to take her down—that we would get her treasure.”
“So, when do you want to start?”
Janae sat back against her headboard, folded her arms over her chest, and cocked a wry, self-confident grin. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
♛
Lady Janet arrived in Primeval Wood a few minutes early to search for an opening in the tree canopy. She explored until she found a spot where no shadows concealed her, a place where sunlight illuminated the formidable scar curving from the corner of her eye and gleamed on the polished brass of her new leg, a contraption of gears and pulleys that matched the game’s aesthetics while looking as badass as she felt.
When dry leaves rustled behind her, announcing the approach of her questing companions, she turned to face TamLin and Little John, who greeted her with matching wide-eyed expressions of awe and surprise. Wearing a tentative smile, she twirled around, letting them look their fill. If they asked about the changes, she was prepared to tell them the truth, that she didn’t want to hide anymore. Instead of asking, TamLin merely grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “You ready for this, Lady Janet?”
Nodding, she strode forward, her friends falling into step beside her. No doubts, no hesitation, no second guesses—together they made a daunting trio, the best three players in the Forest of Carterhaugh, intent on accomplishing a unified goal. Lady Janet patted the sword at her side and flashed a fierce smile. “Queen Mab will never know what hit her.”
Magic at Midnight Page 20
