by Anthea Sharp
CHAPTER NINE - THE BRIGHT COURT
Tam lay on the couch, his sleeping bag draped over him, but he couldn’t rest. Even though his body felt heavy with exhaustion, his brain buzzed, thoughts circling like bees.
Jennet was at Lassiter’s house.
What were they doing? Probably eating something delicious that both of them completely took for granted. Playing on his no-doubt amazing systems, laughing. Lassiter showing off for Jennet, dazzling her. Gaming skills counted for a lot in her world. Just because Tam had beat the Viewer yesterday, it didn’t mean Lassiter wasn’t a prime player.
She said she didn’t see anything special about him - but what if that changed? If Jennet came back to school tomorrow all starry-eyed over Lassiter, Tam didn’t know what he would do. Other than hate himself for pushing her at the guy.
He was worrying too much, he knew it. Jennet could take care of herself - and it wasn’t like he had any claim on her, beyond being her friend. But you want to, part of him whispered. He moved restlessly, the sleeping bag making shushing noises, but there was no getting away from the thought. Even though he knew it was hopeless, he wished… he wished…
“Dammit,” he said, throwing the sleeping bag off and sitting up.
No more lying around, thinking about her smile or how soft her lips would be, if he ever kissed them. Next thing, he’d be wearing black and writing emo poetry about love and blood. He scrubbed his hands through his hair, then let it fall back over his eyes.
The afternoon was shading to dusk, the house quiet and empty. Mom and the Bug had gone out so that he could get some rest - much good that had done. Tam got to his feet and went into the kitchen, flipping the kettle on to make instant coffee. Strong and black, so he could cover the bitter taste in his mouth with something real.
Outside, the stairs creaked, signaling that someone was coming up. He went to the door, bracing himself for Mom’s clinging hug and the Bug’s excited chatter about wherever they had been.
Instead, there was a knock.
“Tam?” It was Jennet’s voice. “Hey, are you there?”
He slid the peephole aside, just to be sure. Yep, Jennet Carter stood outside his door, her hair shining in the last bit of sun.
“Jennet.” He undid the deadbolts and wrenched the door open. “What are you doing here? The Exe isn’t safe for you. You didn’t walk, I hope.”
She made a face. “Thanks, I’d love to come in. Good to see you, too.”
“I’m serious.” He stepped back so she could come inside, then closed and locked the door behind her. “It’s getting dark. You shouldn’t be here.”
He sounded like a grumpy old man, but he couldn’t help himself, even though he was beyond glad to see her.
“I had George drive me. Don’t worry so much.”
Like being chauffeured around in a grav-car wasn’t incredibly conspicuous, especially in the Exe. He bit his tongue to keep from scolding her even more. She didn’t deserve to be a victim of his bad mood.
“Want something hot to drink?” he asked.
He went back to the kitchen, trying not to notice the mess in their two-room house. While he’d been in the hospital, Mom had let the Bug trash the place. Maybe if he ignored the mess, Jennet wouldn’t see it, either. Yeah, right. One of these days, when he got his energy back, he’d start picking up.
“Tea would be good,” she said, following him into the kitchen alcove. “Um, is your family here?”
She glanced at the narrow door to Mom’s bedroom - the only other place they could be, since they clearly weren’t in the living room.
“No,” he said, getting down two mugs. “Black tea?”
She nodded, looking at him with her serious blue eyes. “I have to tell you what happened at Roy’s.”
Did he even want to know? Roy Lassiter wouldn’t be shy about kissing Jennet. Then again, she’d probably slap him. He concentrated on pouring the hot water with a steady hand. Steam curled up, warming his skin.
“Alright,” he said.
“Let’s go sit down,” she said, accepting her mug of tea.
Tam finished stirring his coffee. For a second he stared at the little whirlpool in the center of the liquid. Damn, he was tired. He set the spoon down and followed her into the living room.
“Just push the sleeping bag off the couch,” he said. At least none of his dirty clothes were obviously visible.
She sat and patted the space beside her. “Sit down, Tam. You look terrible. Are you sure the doctors said it was ok for you to be back in school?”
Great. He looked as bad as he felt. He lowered himself onto the thin cushions, and took a scalding sip of coffee.
“Go ahead,” he said. “Tell me about your afternoon with Roy Lassiter.”
“Oh, Tam. You would not believe his gaming setups.” She shook her head. “But the most important thing is he has the Full-D systems. All three prototypes.”
He swallowed, tasting fear along with his coffee. “That’s not good. Are they just for show, or do you think he plays?”
“I know he plays. He took me into Feyland.”
“What?” Hot liquid splashed onto his wrist. He winced and carefully set the mug down. “How could you go back in-game, Jennet?”
Especially without him.
“I had to.” She looked down at the threadbare carpet. “More than anything, I wished you were there.”
He wanted to shake her for being so dumb. He wanted to hug her, for coming out safely. Instead, he gently took her hands. Those hands were damaged now, because she had saved him. She had held him, in-game, had wrested him from the power of the Dark Queen. He owed Jennet his life.
“Are you ok?” he asked, keeping his voice calm. “Any injuries carrying over into the real world?”
“No carryover,” she said. “The fights were easy. I emerged without a scratch.”
She met his eyes and curled her fingers around his. Warmth pooled between them and his breath hitched. It felt good, their skin touching - almost too good.
“Why the hell did you go in?” If anything happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself.
“When Roy was talking about the game, he called the final boss ‘he.’ It made me think that his Feyland might be different. What if my version is the only bugged one? Maybe faeries aren’t trying to take over the world, after all.”
“And? Is his game different?” Tam squashed down the hope her words kindled. It couldn’t be that easy. Life never was.
She shook her head. “It was hard to tell. Some things, like the starting area, were changed - but the game was still pretty unpredictable. At the end, I got Roy to tell me that the final boss was a king of some kind. A king that’s apparently waiting for Roy to bring him a tithe.”
“And you came straight here.” The knowledge eased the knot inside his chest.
“Of course I did. We’re in this together, Tam.” She gently squeezed his hands, then let go and took a sip of her tea.
He cleared his throat. “What’s a tithe, anyway?”
“A payment, a tax.” She frowned. “The way Roy acted when I asked him - the subject was completely off limits.”
“Alright.” Tam leaned back. “So, Lassiter found a king, instead of a queen. And he owes this king something.”
“I still can’t believe he didn’t encounter the Dark Queen. She’s the end boss.”
“In the Feyland we played, yes. But you already said his game was different. Maybe…” He picked up his coffee and turned the mug back and forth between his palms, thinking. “Maybe he went to a different court.”
Her brows drew together, then snapped up, her eyes going wide. “That’s it! Remember the old book Thomas gave me, Tales of Folk and Faerie?” He nodded, and she continued, her voice fast with excitement. “The fey-folk have two courts - we talked about it in-game once. There are the Unseelie, or dark faeries, and the Seelie.”
“I remember.” Understanding sparked through him. “So, if the Dark Queen i
s Unseelie…”
“Then this king might be the leader of the Seelie Court,” she finished. “It explains a lot. Why Roy isn’t as damaged as I was after fighting the final boss, but why he still seems to have the magic of Feyland around him.”
“Because the Seelie faeries aren’t nearly as bad as the Unseelie.” Tam nodded. “It makes a tweaked kind of sense. So, how did Roy get there, instead of the Dark Court?”
She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know - but maybe the different landscape influences where the player ends up.”
“I bet your connection to Thomas is part of it, too,” Tam said. “You went to the Dark Court.”
“And he’s the Dark Queen’s Bard.” Jennet’s voice was solemn. “Do you think the Seelie faeries have the same problem as the Dark Court - that without enough human contact, they’re fading away?”
“It makes sense.” He took another swallow of coffee. “Both courts are part of the Realm of Faerie, which Thomas said is starting to die.”
“I don’t like the sound of this tithe that Roy owes the king.” Her voice trembled, ever so slightly. “The last faerie payment was you, Tam.”
Coldness crept up his spine. “Then we better hope the Seelie Court isn’t into human sacrifice. Or Lassiter’s in severe trouble.”
CHAPTER TEN - THE BRIGHT COURT
Jennet got home a few minutes before her dad, which was a relief. He didn’t mind her spending time with Tam, but her going into the Exe would have made him furious. Luckily George, the chauffeur, was on her side - sort of. He wouldn’t tell Dad where she’d been unless directly asked.
When Dad walked in the door, it was clear that asking about her afternoon was the last thing on his mind.
“Welcome home, sir,” HANA said. “Dinner will be served in fifteen minutes.”
Instead of responding like he always did, he just stood there in the entryway holding his briefcase. His face was set in a grim expression.
“Dad?” She went over to him. “Are you all right?”
“Jen.” He gave himself a little shake. “Sorry, I didn’t see you.”
Moving like his bones hurt, he put his briefcase down and slowly removed his coat. One of the maids bustled up - no doubt alerted by HANA that Mr. Carter was home - and whisked the coat away.
“Sit down.” Jennet took his arm, worry pulsing through her. “What happened? HANA, send my dad something to drink, please.”
“Whiskey,” her dad added.
“Right away,” the house replied.
When he got to the couch, Dad sank down and stared at his hands. “I can’t believe it. After all that work, all those years…” He shook his head.
“What?” She sat beside him, suddenly chilled. “Did VirtuMax fire you?”
“No - it’s worse than that.”
“How could it be worse?”
“They pulled me off the project.”
“You’re…” she swallowed, her throat dry with worry. “You’re not in charge of Feyland any more?”
This was bad. Even though Dad hadn’t been able to stop Feyland, he had done what he could. Now there was nothing standing in the way of the company releasing the game.
He gave a thin laugh. “It would be better in some ways if they had, in fact, fired me. But no - they’ve shunted me off to work on the Virtual Conferencing beta.”
“What happened?”
“They’re moving the Full-D release forward, again. When I heard that… well, I lost it. I’m the project manager and they’re making all these decisions without me. I stormed into Dr. Lassiter’s office and demanded she listen.”
Obviously, she hadn’t.
One of the maids came in and set a glass of amber liquid on the low table. Dad grabbed the glass and took a long swallow.
“I told Dr. Lassiter the equipment is dangerous,” he continued, “told her she’s opening up the company to enormous lawsuits in the future. She shook her head and said the Full-D is perfectly safe - that her own son has played it for almost a year now, with no problems.”
“Right,” Jennet breathed.
It explained a lot about why VirtuMax was so determined to go ahead with the launch. The CEO’s own son had been playing, and hadn’t had any issues with the system. No wonder the company wouldn’t listen, not with that example in front of them.
“I…” He took another drink, then set the glass down. “I started yelling at her then. How the hell could she tell me it was safe? She wasn’t there in the hospital, she didn’t see the burned hands, the boy in a coma.” His voice broke. “Her best friend dead in his sim chair.”
“Oh, Dad.” Jennet put her arms around him and squeezed, tight.
He leaned against her for a moment and took a deep, shuddering breath. “She made me sit there while she called in the company counselor. They asked me a bunch of questions, and decided that Thomas’s death had obviously affected me deeply, I hadn’t dealt with it properly, and I couldn’t handle the stress of the accelerated timeline. I’m required to go in for regular psych-evals. They took me off the project, and reassigned me to one without the ‘taxing personal issues’ of Feyland.”
“But,” her voice was shaky, “who’s in charge of Feyland now?”
“Dr. Lassiter herself. And she’s set a firm launch date for the game.”
“When?” She could barely say the word.
“January second - just in time for the new year.”
Fear stabbed into her lungs, stealing her breath. January second? She made a quick calculation. Five weeks. She and Tam only had five weeks to figure out if Feyland truly posed a danger to the mortal world. And if it did?
When the game went live, the Wild Hunt would rampage, the Dark Queen would rule, and humans would be at the mercy of her fey magic.
Time was running out.
The cafeteria was noisy, but not as loud as the clamor of worry in her head. She’d explained to Tam what had happened to her dad, and that the company had accelerated the schedule for Feyland’s launch.
“What now?” she asked, leaning over her tray of mushy vegetables.
Maybe Tam had some ideas, though she had the sinking feeling there was only one thing they could do. She’d spent half the night awake, trying to think of a solution, and had finally come up with the answer.
Tam was going to hate it.
He stopped prodding his lunch and met her eyes. “We need to get back into Feyland.”
She nodded. “I agree, but if we go on my systems, we won’t learn anything. I think… I have to go back in-game with Roy. Get him to take me to the Court.”
“No.” He shoved his tray away. “No way - you’re not going without me. What if our theory about the Seelie Court is wrong? What if you meet the Dark Queen? I can’t let you do that alone.”
She shivered. “I know - but we still don’t understand enough about Roy’s version of Feyland. He could be in serious danger. The whole world could… or not. The only way to find out is by going back in-game. His game.”
“Fine. Then I’m coming, too.” He stood. “In fact, I’ll go ask Lassiter right now if he’d like to game again. I bet he’d love to even the score between us.”
“Wait…” It was a decent idea, but she knew enough about Roy to know it would never work. In fact, it would kill any chance of slipping Tam in under the radar.
Before she could stop him, Tam strode to the front of the cafeteria, halting at the long table Roy had claimed as his own. He spoke, and Roy responded, shaking his head. Tam lifted his hand, as if asking a question. Whatever the answer was, it disappointed him. His shoulders fell. He said something else to Roy, then turned and walked back to where Jennet sat.
“No luck?” She could tell from his expression.
Tam sat down and folded his arms. “Prince Lassiter made it clear that no Exies were allowed at his pristine mansion. But if we wanted to meet at Zeg’s again, he’d be glad to teach me a lesson in defeat.”
“You refused.”
“Yeah
.” He let out a heavy breath. “I don’t care what he says. I’m coming along with you anyway.”
“Then he’d just turn us both away. Tam - ”
“Hi, guys.” Marny set her tray down next to Jennet’s, effectively ending their conversation.
“Hey, Marny,” Jennet said. “Glad you could join us.”
It had been a few days since the other girl had eaten lunch with them. Maybe whatever weird hold Roy had over her was fading.
“Did you get kicked out of the harem?” Tam asked.
Marny made a face, looking almost like her old self. “I got tired of watching Keeli make a fool of herself. I can’t believe she got his attention! Roy could do so much better.”
Jennet glanced to the front of the cafeteria. She hadn’t noticed before, but Keeli, the black-haired girl from The View was sitting right next to Roy - and he had his arm around her. Did that mean the rest of the girls would become immune to his dubious charm? Judging from the adoring looks around him, it didn’t seem so.
“Better than a good-looking Viewer?” Tam shook his head. “You don’t need him anyway. Come on, Marny, it’s not so tragic. He just went with his own kind.”
A doleful expression crossed her round face. “But Roy is great, and she’s nothing but an over-privileged, empty-headed, rich - ow! Tam, don’t kick me. You know I don’t think Jennet’s like that.”
Jennet shifted. There was enough truth in Marny’s words to hit close to the bone. And Tam approved of Roy’s choice. His own kind. Like that was the only option for someone who lived in The View. Tears made a sudden lump in her throat.
She grabbed her tray and stood up. “I have to run… catch up on some homework. See you later.”
“Wait,” Tam said as she turned away. “Jennet…”
“Talk to you after school,” she said, not looking at him. “Bye.”
She walked past the table where Roy was laughing at something Keeli had said. The black-haired girl looked blissfully happy, and the hurt inside Jennet scratched even harder.
She was a fool for hoping, but somewhere along the way the warmth of their friendship had changed. At least for her. It was getting more and more difficult to pretend things were still the same.
