The axe got stuck again, and they repeated the pattern, running when they had to and getting their strikes in when they could. Eventually, the Viking began to falter.
“We’ve almost got him beat!” Penny yelled between bludgeonings. “Keep going!”
Katie pressed the mute button for her mic. She kept her focus on her laptop, but Alex could see the anger in her clenched jaw. “So if not Ben, who is my type?” she asked him.
Me, he wanted to say. He muted his mic, too, but he could still hear what was going on in the game. “Just…not him.”
She laughed, her focus slipping. “How would you know who my type is? I haven’t dated anyone since ninth grade.” Chunks of pillar pelted her fairy, and she cast another healing spell. “Are you sure you’re not just jealous?”
“Jealous?” His head whipped toward her, and he sneered like that was the craziest idea she’d ever had, but it was mostly just to cover up his shock. She’d nailed it.
Alex was jealous. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair. He could come up with a million reasons why she should be out there dating. Yet it didn’t take away the feeling of a sword tearing through his chest.
His attention on Katie, he didn’t see the shockwave headed for his avatar until Dark_Prince went flying. His health bar dropped to 30 percent. When Alex dashed him to safety, he used up another healing potion before racing back into the fray.
“And what about you?” Katie asked. “You and Lexi seem pretty tight lately.”
“I thought you’d be happy for me,” he said, feeling like a hypocrite.
He could only see her profile because she was staring determinedly at her screen, and yet, it seemed as though she was hardly seeing it.
She sighed. “I am. If she’s who you want to be with…” She tapered off, and it was like a question hung in the air between them.
He knew what answer he really wanted to give her, but then the pressure in his chest began to build again like the anaconda was back. The longer the silence went on, the more he wished he could say “I want to be with you,” but he knew he couldn’t. And he was suddenly so impatient to relieve that weight on his chest, to prove he wasn’t broken. The anaconda squeezed until the words just flew out of his mouth.
“I think I’m going to ask Lexi to be my girlfriend.”
Katie inhaled. Finally, she gave a brief nod. “Then I’m happy for both of you.” She was kind of quiet and he could hardly hear her over the sounds of battle, so he slipped his headset off again to hear her better. “Just don’t forget step five. Make sure she’s really the one.”
He nodded, unable to find a response. Katie’s reply was the best he could have hoped for. The support of his best friend meant everything to him. Yet somehow it made him feel worse.
“But what am I supposed to do, Alex?” she asked. “Tag along as your third wheel forever? To be an afterthought? Twiddle my thumbs at home waiting for my best friend to find spare time for me when you’re not with Lexi?”
“I didn’t know you twiddled,” he joked, hoping to make her smile.
“Champion two years running. I didn’t want to brag.” But she didn’t even smirk. “Don’t I deserve to be happy, too?”
As she held his gaze, Alex could hear yelling coming from his headphones. “Alex! Katie! Where are you guys?”
Suddenly pulled from his thoughts, he saw the axe on Katie’s screen. “Look out!”
Katie gasped, seeing it, too. She began button mashing, but she was too late.
Whack! Her fairy sailed through the air until she hit a pillar and fell to the ground. Stars appeared above her head, indicating she was momentarily knocked out.
Alex turned back to his own screen to help her, only to see it filled with the image of the Viking’s axe. A second later, his elf landed in a bloody heap next to the fairy.
The two warriors twitched and spasmed on the ground, a single hit point away from death. Alex searched his inventory for more healing potions, but he’d used them all up while he was being careless, letting his feelings for Katie take over. He assumed Katie had used up all her magic, because her character wasn’t moving, either.
He sat there staring blankly at his computer, feeling utterly useless. Distant battle noises trickled from his forgotten headphones, sounds of his friends shouting, the giant’s battle cry.
Panic fluttered inside Alex’s chest. He had to move. He had to help them. It couldn’t end like this, not now that they were so close. He tried again to search for something to heal himself with, but there was nothing that could give him even an ounce of energy.
Alex leaned back on the couch and let the bitter defeat wash over him. He’d let his brother down. Not just in the game but in trying to ignore his feelings for his girl.
He glanced at Katie and found her watching him, but she quickly turned away. She must have misread his expression, because she said, “I’m so sorry. I should’ve just kept my head in the game.”
The look on her face killed him, because he wanted so badly to say something to make it better. To tell her what she meant to him, that she’d always come first with him. But he couldn’t.
“Of course you deserve to be happy,” he finally said. I just wish I could be the one to make you happy.
When she finally met his eyes, he wished she hadn’t, because she didn’t look happy at all. The sadness in them hurt worse than having just failed his whole team.
…
No matter what button Katie pressed, she couldn’t get her character to move. The fairy just lay on her back, staring at the sky. The screen flashed red, warning that her character was near death. She was all out of mana, had drank all her potions, and by the frustrated cries coming from the headphones she’d tossed aside, the others were a little too preoccupied to help.
“There’s always next year,” she said to Alex. “We’ll be better prepared, and Lexi will be stronger.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, but his expression made her wish she could undo the last five minutes, could win the key for him, could unsay everything.
They fell into silence, waiting for the Viking to come along and finish them off. A few times, sounds of clashing metal grew loud in Katie’s discarded headphones. Obviously, their team was fighting hard to keep them alive, to make up for their failure.
She felt Alex shift on the couch next to her and put on his headset. After a moment, he tapped her shoulder. She’d been staring off into space. Now she glanced at her screen. The camera shot of the sky was suddenly blocked by a large shadow.
Katie held her breath, waiting for the finishing blow. Then through the flashing red, she saw it was Sugarplum.
Scrambling for her headset, she slipped it on and unmuted her mic.
“…told you. They’re both alive,” she heard Penny say.
The sorceress’s hood slid into view. Katie couldn’t see into the dark depths of it, but Pizzalover’s red eyes glowed angrily—or maybe it just seemed that way to Katie. “Should we put them out of their misery?”
Katie knew Trevor was just kidding, but the sorceress’s eyes flashed, building her power for a spell. It made Katie second-guess her assumption.
Purple glitter rained down on Fairy_gurl, and her health bar filled to the top. With a click of a button, she sprang into the air, full of life again. Pizzalover healed the dark elf next.
Katie looked around in confusion. She figured she’d be staring at the game’s welcome screen by now, building a new character. “What happened?”
“We won!” Lexi’s scream blasted through her headphones. “We did it!”
A surge of euphoria raced through Katie’s veins. “We’re going to Ultra Con?”
“No thanks to you two,” snapped Trevor. “I don’t know what’s going on between you guys lately, but whatever it is, you’d better fix it and fast.”
Katie and Alex mumbled sorries.
“You two almost cost us the key today,” Trevor continued. “We have a month and a half until Ultra Con. If we don’t
start working as a team again, we’re going to lose the tournament.”
His words made Katie flinch. Not because they got all deep and Darth Vadery with menace. It was because she suddenly realized that if they didn’t become a team again, she would lose a lot more than a tournament. She could lose Alex.
“So what now?” Lexi asked.
Katie glanced around. The tranquil pool was no longer tranquil. The statues had been obliterated or dismembered, decapitated heads lay submerged under the water, and the stone columns littered the tops of the clouds, their dust still lingering in the air.
Among the wreckage stood the Valkyrie that had “welcomed” them, waiting for someone to click talk.
Penny pressed it, and suddenly the Valkyrie was nothing but smiles. “Well done, warriors. Congratulations. You have gained entry into this year’s tournament. Here is the key.”
She held it in front of her and a message popped up on both Katie’s and Alex’s screen, saying the item had been added to their inventory. Katie assumed the others received one as well.
“When you are ready, please go to the Conquerors of Caroon website and enter your team’s information using the code provided with the key. Good luck and may Valhalla shine favorably upon you all.”
They all agreed to send their contact information to Trevor, who was going to enter the team’s info online. After their shaky win, the desire to celebrate just wasn’t there, at least not for Katie. Next to her, Alex was subdued, too. It was late, way past Penny’s bedtime, so they all said good night.
The drive home from Alex’s was quiet. Neither he nor Katie said a word. Sure, she was ecstatic they’d found the key. They were going to compete at Ultra Con. But despite their big win, she felt as though she’d lost that night. She just wasn’t sure what it was.
I think I’m going to ask Lexi to be my girlfriend.
Nothing had changed, and yet it felt like everything had. She’d known that was coming, so why did it shock her so much?
As Alex pulled up outside Katie’s house, she slipped out of his leather jacket—he’d put it around her when he couldn’t get his heater to work. “Thanks for the ride,” she said, sliding out of the truck. “I’ll see you later.”
“Hey, wait,” he said. “Lexi and I were talking earlier. We want to go rock climbing this weekend. Do you want to come?”
Katie flinched at the word “we.” And so it begins, she thought. She’d become the third wheel. Last chosen. But then she reminded herself that was the Old Katie talking, that Alex and Lexi were her friends, and that she loved rock climbing.
She gave him a smile. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”
His eyes narrowed, like he could see right through her. “And you’re not an afterthought.”
She inhaled sharply as he used her phrase from earlier. Maybe she wasn’t the only one dwelling on their fight.
“No one could ever replace you,” he said. “You know that. You’ll always be number one with me.”
Somehow the sincerity in his expression hurt even worse, because she knew he didn’t mean like that. “Why do I feel like that’s not true?”
When he said nothing, she closed the door, ending the conversation. The message held in his silence was loud and clear: they’d never be like that.
Chapter Nine
Katie checked and rechecked her harness and knots one last time. Her eyes automatically scanned the side of the jagged rock face, picking out the invisible route. She gripped the end of the rope safely secured to her harness before giving Alex a nod.
“Belay on.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” Lexi asked. “Belay on?”
“It sounds cool, whatever it means,” Ben said. He was lounging on a fallen tree next to the path that led back to the parking lot.
Alex rolled his eyes like he had almost every time Ben had spoken that day. “It’s just what the belayer says to let the climber know the rope is secure and it’s safe to climb.” He tugged on his end of the rope, checking that the slack had been taken up.
“It’s an Old English word,” Katie said. “They used it a lot for sailing, I think.”
Ben nodded appreciatively. “You’re pretty smart.”
“She’s incredibly smart,” Alex said, like “duh.”
Katie scowled at Alex, but Ben didn’t seem to notice his attitude. She spotted Lexi pulling a frown, however. Maybe because that was the third super nice thing Alex had said about Katie already. However, Katie didn’t think it was to talk her up to Ben but rather so Alex could rub it in his face that he knew her best.
“I only know because I Googled it,” Katie told Ben.
In fact, she’d Googled everything about rock climbing when Alex first asked her to do it with him a year and a half before. The equipment, the techniques, and the fatality rate. She did the same with every crazy activity he wanted to try, but unlike most of the other things that scared her to death, she found she really enjoyed this one.
Rock climbing gave her a thrill, a sense of accomplishment at reaching the top, and yet, she never felt at risk. She was always safe, tethered to Alex, the rope like a lifeline between them. And there was no one she trusted more in the world than him.
“I can’t believe you’ve never tried rock climbing,” Alex said to Lexi.
“I’ve always wanted to. I just never had the chance.” She readjusted the harness they’d picked up from a sporting goods rental store.
“Well, you’re a natural at it,” he said. “Just like with Conquerors of Caroon.”
“Thanks. I’ve done a lot of other outdoor things like repelling and snowboarding and paragliding. My dad’s crazy about that kind of stuff.”
“Wow, you can do it all. Ben, do you have any outdoor skills?” he asked super casually.
Ben slapped a mosquito on his arm. “I’m not really an outdoors person. I prefer climate control.”
Katie frowned at Alex again, but he didn’t see, maybe on purpose. “Ben is really talented at other stuff, aren’t you, Ben? He’s an amazing guitar player.”
“Bass,” he corrected.
“Yeah, bass, whatever. He let me listen to his demos,” Katie told Alex.
Alex huffed but seemed to have nothing to say to that. He turned back to Lexi. “You’ve been paragliding?” He looked impressed. “I’d love to do that. Maybe we can do it together sometime.”
Katie winced at the word “we.” She was pretty sure he meant without her. But she didn’t care. Nope, not at all. She was on a double date with Ben.
Lexi glanced at Katie. She was probably thinking, Will the third wheel be there, too? Because, at the moment, that’s exactly what Katie felt like, even though Ben was there. Well, he was physically there.
While Alex and Lexi had driven out together in his truck, Katie rode with Ben in his car. The entire trip there, however, they hadn’t said much to each other, even though she’d wanted to gush about their upcoming trip to Vegas. Maxware Studios had sent them all an email congratulating them on making it into the tournament. Since then, she’d been reading up on Ultra Con and all the things they could do there.
Instead, all Ben wanted to do was listen to music. Even now, he seemed perfectly content to lounge on his fallen tree. He wasn’t talking to anyone, just humming a tune to himself, perfectly unaware of the tension growing among all of them. Or maybe it was just between Katie and Alex.
“Sure. That might be fun,” Lexi finally told him. “I can show you how.”
Like a twitch, Katie involuntarily yanked on her end of the rope. It took up the slack and cinched Alex’s harness up between his legs. The result, she imagined, was probably pretty uncomfortable for a boy. Okay, maybe it was bothering her just a bit. However, she was determined not to let it get to her.
Ben, Ben, Ben.
Alex wheezed, and a choking noise escaped him. He stood on his tiptoes to relieve some of the pressure, not unlike a ballerina.
“Sorry,” Katie said, holding back a giggle. “I slipped.”
“Climb on,” she replied, and he did just that.
They’d chosen a fairly easy route for Lexi and Ben’s first time called The Tree Route—probably due to the big pine tree that grew at a ridiculous angle straight out of the solid rock wall. It was one of the many routes found on Dome Rock, the granite monolith bulging out of the conifer forest in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
Surrounded by so much nature, there were times Katie completely forgot they were only an hour and a half from Porterville. But then the odd tourist would give in to temptation and throw a stone from the summit above them, nearly knocking her senseless, and she’d be brought back to reality.
As Alex climbed up the jagged rock wall, his legs moved so swift and smooth. His natural physical abilities always amazed her. It was like he was dancing up it, graceful and decided. His fingers found invisible ledges, his hands clamping onto shallow holds as easily as rungs on a ladder. He might as well have been Spiderman.
Katie couldn’t deny that Ben wasn’t exactly athletically inclined. During his turns, he spent more time hanging than climbing. But of course, Lexi was as amazing as Katie guessed she’d be. And somehow she still managed to look like a model, even with a goofy rental helmet on.
With each move Alex made, the rope fed through the anchor at the top and back down to Katie. Her hands ran over the rough material, feeding it through the device on her harness. Her arms were burning by the time he was only halfway to the top.
“You’re really good at that,” Lexi told Katie.
“Oh, thanks,” she said, keeping her eyes on Alex. “The trick is keeping the rope tight enough that if he falls, he won’t fall very far. But you don’t want it so tight that it’s pulling him away from his route.”
They watched as Alex glided his way up the rock face until he touched the carabineer at the top like a finish line. Katie took up the slack, and he let go of his handholds, so she could lower him.
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