Game World

by C. J. Farley

  Eli snorted. “What’s in it for us?”

  “Xamaica is filled with treasures. Springs of liquid silver. Mangoes filled with gold. A sorceress with a magic book that contains all the wealth of the world between its covers.”

  Eli’s green eyes got even bigger than usual. “All the wealth of the world? Sweet!”

  “So how do we link up to this portal?” Dylan asked.

  “Well, there’s a hitch,” Ines cautioned.

  Eli sighed. “There always is.”

  Ines held up a sheet of yellowed parchment. Different feelings and emotions—curiosity, anticipation, anxiety—kept flashing across her face like vehicles with their high beams on zooming by on a dark highway.

  “What’s that?” Eli asked.

  “If I knew I wouldn’t have to ask you,” Ines said.

  Emma took a closer look. It was a map of the edge of an island with three faint symbols on it. “It’s a code.”

  “If we can decode it, will the tablet turn on?” Dylan asked.

  “Obviously that’s the point,” Eli said. “But I don’t know why they have to make it so difficult.”

  “There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation . . .” Emma began.

  “Here she goes,” Dylan moaned.

  “Monks used to put dots or spaces between words when they were copying books,” Emma said. “But between the second and seventh centuries they stopped. Wanna know why?”

  “Not really, but I guess you’re going to tell us anyway,” Dylan said.

  “Leaving no space between words made books hard to read. It forced people to pay attention to what was really being said. Whoever made this parchment wants us to focus.”

  “Thanks for the history lesson,” Dylan scoffed. “Ines—did your dad use this parchment? Why can’t we just ask him what it means?”

  “Yeah—and where is he anyway?” Eli added.

  “Let me worry about that,” Ines replied. “Nobody knows more about Xamaica than us. We need this portal if we’re going to get to Xamaica for real. This code is what opens up the portal . . . So what do these symbols mean? Anybody? Anything?”

  Dylan peered at the parchment. The top image was an oval with a kind of bar jutting out of the top, the next appeared to be a smile, and the last looked like a lock without a keyhole. “Well, the first image could be a key.”

  “I thought that too,” Ines said. “There are 256 doors in Uncanny Valley, and 145 keys. None of them opens anything in this room.”

  “We’re being too literal,” Emma said.

  “So when is a key not a key?” Eli asked.

  The kids stood around for a bit and Ines began to hum that same crazy tune that her dad did in the video. Dylan smiled and turned to Ines. “You have a tapestry room, a cheese room—and a piano room, right?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Your humming gave me an idea. I’m going to need help.”

  * * *

  Dylan and Ines pushed one of the grand pianos into the room.

  “A piano key!” Emma laughed.

  Ines ran her hands over the keys. “What do we play?”

  “It’s gotta be some song that means something to your family,” Emma said.

  “What’s that melody your dad’s always humming?” Dylan asked Ines.

  “He used to play it when I was a baby,” she answered. “I don’t know the name.”

  Ines hummed a simple little tune that was like really sad carnival music.

  Emma sat at the piano. “I’ve got nearly perfect pitch. I hear something once, I can play it.”

  She played the tune with her left hand. Nothing happened for a few moments, then all at once the black tablet flashed like the sun emerging from an eclipse. The kids were momentarily blinded, and shut their eyes. When they opened them again, the black tablet had vanished, and the white room was gone. “It’s on,” Ines breathed. “It’s really on.”

  Xamaica was suddenly all around them, brighter and bolder and realer than ever, like going from standard to HD to whatever is a quantum leap past that.

  Dylan turned to Emma. “Time for you to scram.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m not going to let you go alone!”

  “Let me?”

  “You got through the tournament. But you need a doctor, Dylan. You nearly—”

  “Whoa—medical issues?” Ines broke in. “Should I have my lawyer draft a release form? If you get hurt I don’t want you suing Mee Corp!”

  “Dude—are you gonna tell me what this is all about?” Eli asked.

  “He’s not supposed to play!” Emma said. “The doctor . . .”

  “I’m calling my lawyer,” Ines announced. “What time is it in Zurich?”

  “Stop it—everyone!” Dylan shouted. “I’m doing this, okay?”

  “Then I’m coming too,” Emma said. “You have to let me help—”

  “No!” Dylan barked. “Absolutely not!”

  “Dude—c’mon, chill,” Eli said. “She did stop your nosebleed with a pirate doll. That’s got to count for something.”

  “She shouldn’t be carrying that thing around! Especially with the trouble it’s caused us!”

  “You shouldn’t blame her for that pirate party! That was all on Chad and his goons!”

  “Don’t you get it?” Dylan shouted. “I don’t need Viral Emma following me around.”

  “Stop calling me that!” Emma shot back. “I’m just trying to help you!”

  “I don’t need your help! You act like you can fix everything—but you can’t! You’re not my mom. We never even really knew Mom! She could be some evil crazy person!”

  “Maybe I’m not Mom. But some part of me is. I mean, she’s the root of our family tree, right? But the way you’re acting, would you even recognize Mom if you met her? ’Cause I’m your sister, I’m standing right in front of you, and you don’t know me at all.”

  “Get out! Go play with your pirate doll!”

  Emma seemed close to tears as she stared right at Dylan. “The only journey is the one within. Rainer Maria Rilke. Think about it.” She sulked off, clutching her doll.

  Eli shook his head at Dylan disapprovingly. “Harsh.”

  Dylan crossed his arms. “Necessary.”

  “You want to go get her?” Eli asked.

  “Definitely not,” Dylan said. “I don’t care where she goes. Let’s do this.”

  Ines’s expression grew serious. “So now it begins,” she said. “To the forty-fourth level and beyond!”

  The kids’ avatars appeared. Ines was a metal-winged Iron Lion, Eli was a fire-eyed Rolling Calf, and Dylan, as usual, was himself, but a little more ghostly.

  Eli stomped his hooves, throwing up sparks. “So what do the other symbols mean?”

  “We’ll have to figure them out en route,” Ines said, her game voice a mix of purrs and growls. “They point the way to the forty-fourth level. If we can uncover what they mean, we’ll make it through. For now, let’s just go as far as we can.”

  They quickly went through level after level. When nobody was looking, Dylan whispered his cheat code to himself and multiplied his powers. Opposition withered away.

  “I haven’t seen anything that reminds me of the second two symbols,” Eli said.

  “Wait for it,” Ines replied. “Those images are the key to unlocking the final level.”

  They journeyed through the misty reaches of Xamaica. They climbed blue mountains that had never been scaled, and swam down purple rivers whose waters had never been swum. Eli and Ines offered up advice—secret trails, hidden passages, and the like. And Dylan used all his power to keep the party moving along. But they didn’t run into anything that seemed to have a connection to the symbols.

  “The map seemed to show a lock without a keyhole,” Eli said. “Maybe that means there’s no solution.”

  “You said the same thing after the French midterm,” Dylan said.

  “Exactly—I got every question right and they still failed me.”

&nbs
p; “Do you think maybe answering in Spanish had anything to do with your grade?”

  “I’m proud of my Spanish heritage, amigo,” Eli said. “Viva la Revolución!”

  Ines sighed. “Let’s just keep going.”

  So they went on. The adventure points were pouring out like coins spitting out of a slot machine that had hit the jackpot. Soon they came to a place where the land met the sea.

  “This is it!” Ines exclaimed. “The end of the forty-third level.”

  “I can’t believe we’re already here!” Eli said. “I thought the forty-fourth level was one of those things corporations make up to keep you buying products, like static cling or morning breath!”

  “Dude, morning breath is a real thing,” Dylan said. “So is static cling.”

  “Really?” Eli said. “Well, that explains my problems with girls and with laundry.”

  Dylan looked around. “Hey—I got here once. I carved my name on a tree.”

  “It’s as far as anyone has gotten,” Ines said. “The question is, what does the next symbol mean?”

  “When is a smile not a smile?” Eli wondered out loud.

  “Maybe it’s not a smile,” Dylan speculated. “Maybe it’s something else.”

  “Maybe it’s laughing at us,” Eli said.

  “Come on, think!” Ines demanded. “These symbols are the opposite of what they look like. This looks like a mouth. What else could it be?”

  “What else has a mouth?” Eli said. “A shark?”

  “Too easy,” Dylan replied. “What about a bottle? Or a cave?”

  Eli started chuckling. “We’re right next to the answer.”

  They were standing on the bank of a river.

  * * *

  Starting from the river’s mouth, they followed it farther inland.

  “We still have to figure out the last clue,” Ines said.

  “We could use Emma’s help right about now,” Eli mumbled.

  “We don’t need her,” Dylan shot back. “Stay on point. We can do this.”

  At last, they came to a waterfall. But it wasn’t just any waterfall—it was the mother and father and maybe the aunt and uncle of all waterfalls. It was so high Dylan couldn’t see the top, which extended into the clouds. And where it crashed into a river below, it exploded into golden spray—it was the source of all the mist in the area. It was a column of crashing water connecting heaven and earth. And the water was gold.

  “The forty-fourth level is behind the falls,” Ines said. “How do we get to it?”

  “When is a lock not a lock?” Eli said.

  “When it’s an air lock?” Dylan ventured.

  “Dude, what about a leg lock—y’know, like in wrestling?” Eli said. “Not that I would know anything about wrestling or legs.”

  “The Erie Canal,” Dylan said. “There are locks on that.”

  “I got a mule her name is Sal . . .” Eli sang.

  “. . . fifteen miles on the Erie Canal!” Dylan finished.

  “I am gonna put both of you in a headlock unless you shut up and focus,” Ines said.

  The kids stood there for the longest time but nobody had any more ideas.

  Ines stomped her foot. “I can’t believe we went this far, only to come up short!”

  She tugged at her curtain of hair in frustration. Dylan and Eli looked at each other. Eli nodded and Dylan walked over to her. As usual, her black hair cascaded down the right side of her face. Dylan reached out and Ines jerked back a bit.

  “When is a lock not a lock?” Dylan said.

  Ines stared at him—and then smiled. “When it’s a lock of hair,” she said.

  He brushed back the lock of hair that always covered her right eye. In the image before them, the curtain of waterfall moved aside. “My dad used to brush my hair back like that,” Ines said. “I was connected to the game all along.”

  Eli pointed. “Look—behind the water, something is carved onto those rocks.”

  “It’s an inscription,” Ines observed. “There is no way—but The Way.”

  “Some of the lines have been struck out,” Dylan added. “But I think I can make out a few. Give your life—and you will find it. That sounds dangerous.”

  Eli looked closer. “It’s signed or something. Look at the bottom—those are probably initials. The Inklings—H.G., J.K., C.S., and . . .”

  Ines unconsciously brushed her hair back in front of her face. “No!” Dylan shouted.

  It was too late: water began to gush from the ceiling onto the floor. The images were suddenly real, and the chamber quickly began filling up with water. The children were caught in the current and started to be swept around the room. Just then, the door opened.

  “What’s going . . . oh!”

  Emma had entered the room and the torrent had taken her by surprise. Now she was caught up in the raging waters too.

  “Brush your hair back!” Dylan shouted over the sound of the surge.

  “I tried that!” Ines said.

  “Kill the power!”

  “What?” Ines asked.

  “He’s right!” Eli hollered. “We’ve got to turn off the tablet!”

  Ines dove down and surfaced a few moments later near a far wall, coughing up water. She slammed her hand on an emergency panel. The room went white—except for a rectangular area where the tablet had hung at the far end of the chamber. The water began to drain from the room like when a stopper is pulled in a tub. The flood was being sucked into the rectangular space where the tablet had been.

  “Hold on to something—or we’ll be drained away too!” Dylan yelled.

  Ines latched onto a door handle, Eli wrapped his arms around a table leg, and Dylan grabbed onto the grand piano. But Emma had been caught by surprise.

  “Dylan—help!” she cried.

  The water was almost all sucked out of the room. Emma was in a swirling pool being pulled into the portal. “Emma!” yelled Dylan, letting go of the piano and splashing toward her.

  Too late—her face disappeared in the deluge and a beastly roar filled the room that sounded like the combination of a breaking dam and an avalanche.

  The room was dry now and the tablet had reappeared and swelled to the size of a door. Its flat surface showed the image of rushing water. Emma was gone.

  Like most twelve-year-olds, Dylan had gone his whole life without ever seeing magic.

  Sure he had observed card tricks, watched palm readings, and a couple times he had seen street magicians performing for spare change. But seeing real magic was completely different—it made special effects in movies seem totally un-special. Real magic is more than an experience for the eyes. True wizardry wakes up the body and puts the senses on notice as they struggle to make sense of what’s going on. All of Dylan’s senses were awake and screaming for explanations, like baseball players shouting at umpires.

  “This isn’t happening, right?” Dylan asked Ines. “Tell me this is a prank!”

  Ines’s face was flushed.

  Eli dragged himself back onto his wheelchair and rolled over to the weird opening. He reached out a hand and when he pulled it back it was dripping water. “The portal—if that’s what to call this—is still open.”

  “This is a sick joke,” Dylan cried. “Let’s jump in the portal and find her!”

  “Whoa—hold on and think about this,” Ines said, recovering a bit.

  “You’re filming this for TV—is that it?” Dylan said.

  Ines shook her head. “This is not a TV show. I don’t know where your sister went.”

  “Things like this don’t happen in New Rock!” Dylan yelled. “This can’t be real!”

  “Maybe we should call the cops,” Ines said. “Or the coast guard.”

  “You told us that Xamaica was real!” Eli shouted. “Greatest. Adventure. Ever. Why weren’t you better prepared?”

  “This is magic!” Ines shot back. “How can you prepare for that?”

  “This isn’t happening!” Dylan moaned. “We’ve
got to get my sister—now!”

  “This better not be some corporate trick to cheat us from our prize!” Eli added.

  “Will you shut up about the prize? This is about my sister!”

  “You know how I feel about Emma! I just think the spokesmodel here is hiding something! You can’t trust a corporation, I’m telling you!”

  “What about the red-eyed stalker guy?” Dylan asked. “Is he behind this?”

  “He couldn’t have gotten by security,” Ines said. “We need help. Call 911!”

  “I don’t know if this is a game, a trick, or what, but there’s no time to call anyone,” Dylan said. “We don’t know how long this portal will stay open. This has to be linked to the forty-fourth level. We’re Xamaica’s greatest players. If anyone can find her, it’s us.”

  “Let’s do this,” Eli said. “I got your back, Dylan. Another mission for the Game Changers!”

  Eli strapped himself securely into his wheelchair and gave Dylan a fist bump.

  Ines paused for a moment in thought. “I started this—so I’m going too,” she said at last. “But no group hugs or anything. This bromance thing you guys got going made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.”

  “You’ve got an heiress and a paraplegic as bodyguards,” Eli said, putting up the hood of his snuglet. “What could possibly go wrong?”

  Dylan wondered about that, and about the wounds on his chest. Maybe something in this game was out to kill him. He didn’t know what it was but he was going to find out very soon. He just hoped he’d find his sister before whatever it was found him. It’s just a game, he thought. I’m not really here. This isn’t happening.

  He took a step forward into the portal, Eli and Ines by his side.

  The roar of a waterfall filled their ears and they were submerged in liquid and gulping for air. Dylan had a vague sense he was plunging from somewhere high to somewhere down below.

  The Professor had once taken Dylan and Emma to Niagara Falls. It wasn’t a vacation or anything, she had a conference and couldn’t afford a babysitter. After about five hours of bird lectures (including a ninety-minute symposium on molting), Emma and Dylan had gotten a chance to see the falls, and heard all about the daredevils who used to go over it in barrels. This was exactly like that only multiplied by skydiving and minus the barrel.