by Anthea Sharp
“We are!” Jennet said.
Tam leaned forward. “Let’s try this. You’ve played Feyland, right?”
“Yeah, and hated it.” Marny folded her arms. “What’s the game got to do with this?”
“Feyland’s more than a game,” Jennet said. “Remember the fight we had with the chimera?”
Marny made a face. “I’ve tried to forget every wasted moment in that sim.”
“Well, don’t. The chimera had two heads. One spit fire, the other poison.”
“I remember.” The big girl waved her hand impatiently. “Get to the point.”
“Some poison dripped on your arm in-game, during the fight.”
“So?”
“So, roll up your sleeve.”
“You two are severely insane.” Marny shook her head. “I had an allergic reaction to something at Roy’s. Jennet’s making way too much out of this.”
“Just do it,” Tam said. “Please. It’s not like we’re asking you to take your clothes off in the middle of the cafeteria.”
“Fine. But I still think you’re drinking the crazy water.” She pushed up the sleeve of her purple sweatshirt and held out her arm. “There. A couple hives, that’s all.”
Jennet studied her friend’s arm for a long moment. The line of five round marks still looked red and painful.
“Come on,” Tam said. “That’s not hives, it’s burns.”
“Wait a sec.” Marny lifted her marred arm. “I remember, all right. I spilled my mocha on myself, at Roy’s.”
Jennet shook her head. “No - but he wanted you to think so. Marny, look at your arm. Do you actually think spilling a mocha on yourself - one you’d already been drinking - would leave marks like that?”
Marny’s brows drew together under the straight black fringe of her bangs. Slowly, she pulled her sleeve back down.
“I’m gonna have to think about this.”
“Fair enough,” Tam said. “It took me a while to get used to the idea, too.”
Jennet nodded. She remembered her own world-tilting shock when she finally realized that what happened in Feyland was real.
“You have to stay away from Roy.” Jennet glanced to the front of the cafeteria, where he was still distracted by the blond girl.
“Maybe.” Marny folded her arms, keeping the marked one close to her body.
“Actually,” Tam said, a thoughtful note in his voice, “It might not be a bad thing if Marny keeps hanging with Lassiter. I’d like to keep him a little confused, at least until we figure out what to do.”
“Well, you two can keep plotting the fate of the world over here.” Marny got to her feet. “I’m going to finish my lunch. Not that it’s delicious or anything.”
Without saying goodbye, she strode back to Roy’s table. The smile she gave him seemed genuine.
Great. Jennet tried to push down the despair uncurling inside her. She glanced at Tam, seeing an echo of her own mood in his expression.
“That was less than flawless,” she said. “Now what?”
He raked a hand through his hair, letting it fall messily back over his eyes. “I think, for Marny, we just wait. And the game… can we break into VirtuMax? Can we use your dad’s work pass to get into company headquarters?”
“And do what? Even if we hack the systems, or firebomb the place, that won’t stop Feyland from eventually being released.” She dug her fingernails into the pad of her thumb. “No - the answer has to be in-game. Somewhere.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - THE BRIGHT COURT
Tam didn’t want to head home after school - half in fear of seeing Mom teetering on the edge, half because of the restlessness running under his skin.
He and Jennet watched as Marny boarded the school bus, alone. At least she was safe. Lassiter went off with his newest spark - the blond girl. There was nothing they could do about that, though Jennet suggested tackling her and holding her down while they smeared ointment on her eyes.
He’d been tempted, but no. At this point they didn’t have enough proof the ointment worked. And even if it did, where did that leave them? Lassiter still had a whole school to pick his victims from.
Tam wanted to spend more time with Jennet - like a plant yearning for the sun - but she had to go. Since Tam had gone into that coma, Jennet’s dad had scheduled her for regular health checkups, just in case. Not that the docs ever found anything wrong, but she couldn’t skip an appointment without getting in trouble - and they had enough trouble right now.
Not thinking too much about where he was going, Tam ended up at Zeg’s. The owner took one look at him, gave him a wave, and left him alone.
It was easy to lose a few hours playing Madkartz, racing fiendishly convoluted tracks that absorbed his attention until, at last, he surfaced. Played out - for now. He set aside the sim helmet and wandered into the front room. Not many customers in the place this afternoon. This evening, he amended, with a glance outside at the darkening sky.
“Want something?” Zeg asked from behind the counter.
“Nah, I need to get home.”
“Hold up. Marny messaged, looking for you, and I told her you were here. She’s on her way.”
“She is?” That could be bad, or good. Tam slid onto one of the stools fronting the counter and started messing with the paper napkin holder.
“Here.” Zeg put a cup of hot tea in front of him, something steaming and minty.
“Thanks.” He grabbed the honey and stirred a big dollop in, since this was probably dinner.
“Anything to keep you from reprogramming my napkin holders.” Zeg smiled from inside his bushy beard, then looked over as the front door swung open. “There’s my girl.”
He came out from behind the counter to give Marny a hug. A bear hug, of course.
“Hi, Uncle Zeg,” Marny said when she emerged from his embrace. “Thanks for…” She tipped her head at Tam.
“Let me get you some tea. It’s frosty out there tonight.”
“That would be great.”
She pulled off her fuzzy mittens, then her coat. Without really looking at Tam, she took the stool next to him. Before the silence between them strained into something more serious, Zeg slid his niece a mug of tea.
“There you are. Now I better go check the kitchen. Get talking.” He gave them a wink, then headed through the swinging door.
“So subtle,” Marny said, rolling her eyes.
“Part of his charm. So - what’s up? I need to get home.”
Marny twisted her mouth to the side, as if she’d bitten a lemon. “I owe you and Fancy-girl an apology. I guess you guys were right.”
Tam sat up a little straighter. “Apologizing to me doesn’t get you out of talking to Jennet.”
“I know. But I didn’t want to wait.” Her gaze dropped to her mug of tea. She played with the handle, rotating the mug back and forth. Back and forth. “I didn’t want to believe you. When I said Roy made me feel special - well, I didn’t want to have to lose that. If I kept one eye shut, I could at least pretend.”
“Pretending’s never as good as the real thing.” He should know.
“It was never even real.” Marny sounded more vulnerable than he’d ever heard her.
“Hey. Just because Lassiter was playing you, doesn’t mean you’re not something special. It’s too bad nobody else in this town is awake enough to see it.”
She gave a snort, sounding more like her old self. “What, you’re suggesting I need to go to the city in order for anyone to notice me? Or should I leave the country altogether?”
“You’re the strongest person I know. I mean it. Too strong for Crestview High, that’s for sure. But Marny, you know that.”
“Yeah.” She sighed and set her chin in her hand. “But I’m tired of having to fight for every inch. Why can’t it be sparkly and easy for once?”
“Because sparkly and easy isn’t for people like us.” Tam took a gulp of his tea, trying to wash down the bitter words.
She cocked one eye
brow. “Do you really think easy is for anybody? I mean, from the outside, things might look great - but our own problems cut us the most.”
His felt razor-sharp, that was for sure. But was it any better for Jennet? He had some idea of her problems, but, like Marny said, only from the outside. Even Lassiter probably had issues. Becoming the Bright King’s tool - there had to be reasons.
“There you go,” Tam said. “All the answers again. Quit being so smart.”
“Smartass, you mean.” Marny looked at him, the beginnings of a genuine smile in her eyes.
“That goes without saying.”
She grinned at him. “So, got any more of that stuff Jennet put on my eye? Going around like this is making me dizzy.”
“It’s faerie ointment - and Jennet’s got the jar. I’m sure she’d be happy to smear you up first thing tomorrow.”
“Ok.” She sipped her tea. “I get that there’s some freaky sort of… something going on here. But really, Tam - faeries? Glittery pink winged things?”
He shook his head. “Not those kind of faeries. We’re talking dangerous, mysterious, nasty creatures. I’ll show you.”
He bent, pulled Tales of Folk and Faerie out of his backpack, and set it on the counter between them. One of these days he was going to have to remember to give it back to Jennet.
He paged through, pausing at the picture of Wicked Peg, the water hag, complete with green pond-weed hair and pointy teeth. A few more pages brought him to the Wild Hunt. A shiver went through him, remembering how it felt to be pursued by those red-eyed hounds and menacing riders.
“Hold up.” Marny set her hand on the illustration. “This hunt - it has someone blowing a horn, and dogs and things. Right?”
“Yeah.” Not to mention a terrifying dark figure with huge antlers on his head - the huntsman that led the pack.
Her brows drew together. “About a month ago, around Halloween, there was some creepy stuff going on, late at night. Don’t tell me you didn’t hear it, too - though it was during the time you’d, um, gone missing for a few days. Anyway, I asked Jennet about it, and she was pretty evasive.”
Tam wrapped his hands tightly around his mug of tea. “That was the Wild Hunt.”
The eerie sounds had echoed over the Exe, waking him from a fitful sleep. At first he’d been sure the hunt was after him - but when they moved off, he knew they were seeking Jennet. That had been a rough night.
Marny tapped the page with her finger. “So, somehow the things in here are coming to life?”
“Not exactly. Feyland is based on the book and, well, it’s like a gateway. It’s connected to the Realm of Faerie, and the realm is breaking through, affecting real life.”
He expected Marny to slam the book closed and shove it back at him, reacting with the same disbelief he had when Jennet first tried to explain. But to her credit, Marny pursed her lips and drew Tales of Folk and Faerie closer, flipping slowly through the pages.
“Who’s this?” she asked, tilting the page so he could see.
The midnight gaze of the Dark Queen stared back at him - stars snared in her hair, her dress wisps of cloud and moonlight. Tam’s breath caught in his throat. For a moment he smelled roses, tasted burnt sugar on his tongue. A terrible yearning swamped him, followed by the icy touch of fear. He was done with the Dark Queen. Wasn’t he?
“Hello - Tam?” Marny waved her hand in front of his eyes.
He yanked his gaze from the book. “Yeah, sorry. Um, that’s the Dark Queen.”
“Hm.” She gave him a considering look, but didn’t push it. She was good at knowing when to back off. “Feyland truly is affecting the real world? My arm, and whatever’s with Roy? And… the stuff going on with you and Jennet last month, right? That, may I say, almost killed you.”
“Yeah, basically.” He scrubbed his fingers through his hair.
“So - what are we going to do?”
He studied her a moment. It would be good to have Marny on the team - but she didn’t like to sim, and she still didn’t understand everything that was going on. Not that he did, but at least he and Jennet had more to go on.
He looked out the windows. Night had fallen, the pale orange streetlights doing little to push back the dense darkness. “I need to get home. We can fix up your eye and talk more tomorrow.”
“Ok.”
He grabbed Jennet’s book and tucked it in his pack, then slid off the stool and headed for the door.
“Hey, Tam.”
“Yeah?” He turned, to see Marny’s concerned expression.
“Be careful.”
“I always am.”
As careful as he could be, living in the Exe. Not to mention fighting off evil faeries that wanted to take over the world.
Still, he paid extra attention making his way home. The back of his neck prickled, like something was watching him, but no fey creatures rushed at him out of the night.
The yellow light coming from their windows cheered him more than he wanted to admit, and he took the stairs two at a time. Inside, it was reasonably warm, and smelled of frying synthi-meat. The Bug leaped on him, and Mom smiled from the kitchen. Everything was all right.
So why did he have the feeling serious trouble was just waiting to break loose?
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - THE BRIGHT COURT
“Your father has arrived home,” HANA said, interrupting Jennet’s homework. “He requires your presence in the living room.”
Great. “Tell him I’ll be down in a minute.”
After a short pause, HANA said, “I have notified him.”
When Jennet reached the living room, her dad was sitting on the couch. He looked tired as usual, his eyebrows pulled into a nearly perpetual frown. Getting moved off of Feyland hadn’t been good for him. Neither had swimming against the company tide, and it seemed the company-mandated psych sessions weren’t doing much to help.
He glanced at her. “Come in and sit down, Jen. We need to talk.”
She perched on her chair like it was the edge of a cliff. “What’s going on?”
“It’s come to my attention that you and Tam have been using the Full-D systems. Which you know are off limits.”
She swallowed and clenched her fingers together. “Dad, we had to. You have no idea what’s at stake! Feyland can affect the real world - we can’t let the game be released.”
“So by breaking the rules and using the Full-D, you’re saving the world?” He shook his head. “I’m afraid Tam’s not welcome here any more.”
“What?” Panic squeezed her chest. “But… he has to come over.”
If she and Tam couldn’t go in-game, how could they possibly find a solution? They’d saved Marny - but what about everybody else?
“I can’t trust you.” Her dad pinched the bridge of his nose. “If Tam comes over again, there will be serious consequences.”
“When Feyland is released, there will be serious consequences for every person who plays it! Dad, you have to believe me. Please… just come in-game.”
He gave her a tired look. “At least it looks like our hardware is fixed - since neither you nor Tam required hospitalization after playing.”
“I told you, it’s not the system, it’s the Realm of Faerie - ”
“This is the modern world, not some fairytale.”
“But - ”
He held up one hand. “Jennet, listen to me. The company is scheduling the beta-testing for Feyland. And I’ve volunteered to be a tester for the game.”
“You have?” She sucked in a breath. Suddenly the tables were turned, and she didn’t like it one bit. “But… what if you get hurt?”
“I won’t - because I’m starting to believe Dr. Lassiter is right. A couple of the early prototypes had neural interface issues, but the company has worked everything out. And if there are problems, I’ll be right there, willing to speak up.”
Worry settled in the pit of her stomach, like she’d swallowed tar. She couldn’t talk Dad out of playing - especially not when sh
e’d just been begging him to. And maybe, just maybe, he’d see she was right. She let out her breath.
“When does beta-testing start?” she asked.
“In another week. Now, do I have your promise that Tam won’t come over again?”
If she didn’t agree, he’d probably do something even more drastic, like forbid her to see Tam at all. Or ship her back to Prep, her old school, as a boarding student.
“All right.” The words tasted sour in her mouth.
A solution seemed as far away as the moon, but she and Tam had to figure out some way to keep playing. They had to break the Bright King’s power and shut off the connection between Feyland and the Realm of Faerie. Permanently.
Jolted from a deep sleep, Jennet opened her eyes, but it was too dark to see anything. What had woken her? She turned to look at the glowing numerals on her clock - but it wasn’t there.
In fact, she wasn’t even lying in her bed, but on something velvety and way too soft. Fear washed over her, kicking her heartbeat up and winding her breath tight.
Relax. Breathe. It’s just a bad dream. Any second now, she’d wake up. She kept her eyes shut, trying to ignore the faint chiming in her ears. Wake up. Wake up.
Warm air surrounded her, scented with flowers. Then brightness, red against her closed eyelids. A high, bright laugh, quickly smothered.
Maybe if she pretended to be asleep, whatever-it-was would just go away.
“Fair Jennet, why do you feign sleep, when our king awaits?” The voice was familiar - the sweet tones of the Bright King’s handmaiden.
Dread squeezed through her - she couldn’t deny the knowledge any longer. She was in the Bright Court. But how?
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. As she’d feared, there was the luminous pearl high overhead, the fantastical gemmed trees. And the dais where the Bright King sat, watching her. His silvery gaze was fathomless, and a faint smile etched his handsome, severe face. Fear shivered through her bones.
Pushing away the silken coverlet, she sat up. A quick check confirmed she was wearing the tank-top and flannel pj pants she went to sleep in.
