The Bright Court

CHAPTER TWO

After school, Tam again shrugged away Jennet’s offer of a ride home. He’d made Marny get on the bus instead of going blocks out of her way just to walk him to the outskirts of the Exe. No way he’d let her go with him into the decaying core of the city. Though Marny was quick and smart, it was a lot easier for one person to navigate the dangers of his neighborhood.

Jennet waved to him as her car pulled away. While he appreciated their concern, he didn’t need babysitters. When the grav-car turned the corner, he shoved his hands in his pockets and trudged off toward the Exe.

Weariness blurred his vision, but he forced himself to stay alert. One careless step and he could end up a pile of bones in a dark alley. He kept to the shadows of the graffiti-etched walls, breathing lightly of the rot-flavored air.

Strange noises echoed through the dank streets, and Tam held his breath, listening. His heartbeat thudded, then steadied again as he realized he wasn’t hearing the eerie sound of the Wild Hunt breaking between the worlds. Just mortal trouble. Just another day in the Exe.

Close to home, he skirted the abandoned building down the block, where the yellow-eyed smoke drifters squatted. They were harmless alone, but could be dangerous in a group.

Ahead was the old auto shop - once owned by some relative, now empty except for his broken sim equip. His house perched on top, with a faded blue tarp covering the roof and rust spots on the metal walls. Still, it was home. He didn’t take the rickety steps two-at-a-time - not this afternoon. The railing wobbled under his hand, but he made it to the landing, keys at the ready.

When he finally got the locks undone, he opened the door to find his mom and little brother sitting on the couch, reading a book. The sight made his heart clench. Way too many empty days stretched in his memory, too many times when Mom hadn’t been around at all. But she was here now, and doing fine. That was what counted. He shoved his worry for the future into a box and locked it down tight.

His mom looked up, a smile lighting her thin face. The Bug jumped to his feet.

“Hey, Tam! Mom was worried but I told her you were ok, so she read me a story instead. It’s about the alien guys on other planets.”

“Sounds great.” Tam mustered up a half-grin for his brother, though he was so tired all he wanted to do was sink onto the floor in a heap.

“Honey.” His mom closed the book. “You look exhausted. Get some rest.” She shook her head. “I knew it was too soon to send you to school.”

He didn’t have the energy to protest, just nodded and pulled off his shoes. Five minutes later he was in his sleeping bag. His bones felt like they’d been replaced by iron, heavy and dense. The Bug was still talking, but the words rolled off Tam, little bright marbles shining and spinning as he sank into sleep.

***

Jennet’s dad was late getting home - as usual. Sometimes she thought he’d stay at his office all the time, if it wasn’t for her.

Of course, things were intense for him at work. VirtuMax was preparing to roll out the most cutting-edge, immersive gaming system ever, but first they had to replace the lead designer of their showpiece game, Feyland.

Her stomach clenched. She’d tried so many times to convince Dad to pull the plug on Feyland, but no luck. Even though he knew it was dangerous - after all Thomas, the original designer, had died in his sim chair - Dad didn’t understand how, or why. The company thought it was a hardware glitch.

Only she and Tam knew the game was connected to the Realm of Faerie. Feyland was a gateway to a place where magic existed, and anyone who entered the game would come face-to-face with that wild, dangerous power. Jennet shivered.

She’d been one of the first to play Feyland, and the Dark Queen had taken her essence, draining her to the point she’d almost died. In trying to rescue her, Tam had nearly lost his own life.

They couldn’t let VirtuMax release the game. The thought of thousands of people flooding into Feyland, ripe pickings for the unscrupulous fey, made her bones turn to ice.

She and Tam had to do something. But what? How did two teenagers stop a huge corporation in its tracks? Two kids babbling about magic and faeries wouldn’t get far, she knew that much. There were no answers, only a sick emptiness inside whenever she thought about it.

Tam was out of the hospital now, though, and together they’d figure something out. They had to.

“Miss Carter, your father has arrived home,” HANA, the house network, announced. “You are expected to appear for dinner in five minutes.”

“All right. On my way.” She closed the book she hadn’t been reading and went to wash her hands.

When she got downstairs, she found Dad waiting for her in the dining room. He gave her a tired smile and the usual hug.

“Hi, Dad,” she said, biting her tongue to keep from commenting on how wrecked he looked.

“How was your day?” he asked.

It was what he always asked, and usually she replied with some vague, positive-sounding answer. This time, though, it was the perfect opening to find out more about Roy Lassiter. Roy, and his weird ability to make everyone like him.

“Good.” She sat down and pulled her napkin across her lap. “We got a new student today - Roy Lassiter. Weren’t you saying they just moved into The View?”

“Yes. Dr. Lassiter has the big house at the very back of the development.”

Jennet nodded. The homes in the company compound were all big, but the Lassiter’s was huge - more like a palace than a house.

“Is it just her and her son?”

“I believe so.” Dad nodded as Tony, the chef, brought out their first course. “She has a husband, but he stayed behind to finish up his own work. And there’s a daughter, off at college.”

That huge house, for only two people?

Jennet glanced around their spacious dining room and swallowed a dry laugh. Like she should talk. Compared to Tam’s tiny house - with three people living in two rooms - her house was on par with the Lassiter’s. Sometimes her life pricked her uncomfortably, especially since she’d gotten to know Tam.

Tony slid a bowl of soup in front of her, rich red with a spicy-sweet aroma. Her favorite - tomato-basil. She took a spoonful, trying to frame her next question.

“How involved is Dr. Lassiter with the Full-D development… and Feyland?” She hoped her voice sounded casual.

Dad gave her a sharp look. “It’s the company’s number-one project. She keeps a close eye on our progress. In fact, now that she’s here, things are moving forward quickly. She’s brought a new content developer on board to finish up the programming. Mr. Chon. He’s got an excellent background in game design.”

“Oh.” Jennet set down her spoon.

The original designer of Feyland had been her dad’s good friend, Thomas Rimer, who had been like an uncle to her. But he had died, with Feyland still incomplete. A shiver scraped the back of her neck. Had Thomas known what he had been creating, or had he only understood at the very end?

Her dad pinched the bridge of his nose. “No one can ever replace Thomas - we both know that. Still, he laid enough of the groundwork that Mr. Chon expects to finish up the programming soon.”

“Soon?” Fear zinged through her. “But… I thought you were re-testing the hardware.” Not that they’d find anything, but she’d been counting on having more time.

“We’ve just finished running people through the sports-sims on the newest Full-D prototype.” He shook his head. “I tried to extend the trial, but Dr. Lassiter took a look at the tests and said the data was sufficient. There were no issues whatsoever, even with excessive usage.”

“Dad, playing virtual ping-pong isn’t even close to entering Feyland! Look at what happened to Thomas, to Tam.”

“I’m concerned, too - in fact, I brought this up with Dr. Lassiter as soon as she arrived, asking for more time to troubleshoot the system.”

“How could she say no? The problems are obvious!”

He let out a heavy breath. “She made it very clear that the project has been delayed too long already - and that if I kept pushing, I could find myself out of a job.”

“What?” Jennet set her water glass down, hard. Liquid sloshed over the side, darkening the white tablecloth. “But… you’re the heart of the program, Dad. You and Thomas - ”

“Thomas is gone.” He looked suddenly weary beyond words. “Dr. Lassiter doesn’t see any problems. She explained to me - very patronizingly - that Thomas was dying of cancer, regardless of whether or not he played a computer game. And Tam, well, we have no idea what kinds of toxins he’s been exposed to, growing up in the Exe. There’s no direct evidence that their problems were caused by Feyland.”

A hot beast of anger rose up inside her. “Then what about me? Your own daughter? Where did these scars come from?”

She thrust her hands out, palms up. Despite the wonders of plas-skin, she would always bear the memory of Feyland, burned dark red against her skin.

He squeezed his eyes closed for a second, but not before she saw the pain reflected there. When he spoke, his voice was low and defeated.

“VirtuMax has put too much into this project, Jen. They won’t stop now, not without compelling evidence that the game is harmful. Harmful to many players, not just one.”

“So what, I’m statistically insignificant?” Bitterness rose up in her throat. “Why can’t you do something?”

He was her dad. He was supposed to be all-powerful, supposed to protect her. Though that hadn’t stopped her mother from taking off, never to be seen again, when Jennet was a kid. She should know better than to feel this bewildered hurt. Heat pricking behind her eyes, she turned her hands back over, resting her marked palms on the white tablecloth.

“Short of corporate espionage, I’m doing what I can,” Dad said. “Putting the brakes on as much as possible - but this is what the company’s been working toward for years. I can’t stop it, any more than an ant could stop a bulldozer.”

Espionage. She swallowed. Was there any way she and Tam could somehow smuggle explosives into VirtuMax headquarters? The idea flickered through her, then died. The last thing they needed was to be arrested for terrorism. Even if they managed to do some damage, that would only delay things, not halt the project altogether.

“So. What’s next?” The words were dry in her mouth.

“As soon as Chon finishes up the programming, they’ll begin play testing. It’ll be closed beta, with handpicked players.”

“And after that?” She clenched her hands into nervous fists.

“They start shipping. The pre-orders for the Full-D have been incredible.” He shook his head.

“How long…” She cleared her throat. “How long before you think the game will be released?”

“Two months, barring any more technical glitches.”

Two months. Her lungs clenched and she had to force herself to breathe normally. She couldn’t believe that maiming and comas counted as ‘technical glitches.’

Tony came in and silently took their used dishes away, then returned with plates of Fettuccine Alfredo. Jennet poked at the pasta with her fork. It was usually one of her favorites, but tonight her stomach was full of leaden worry, not hunger.

Two months. The only thing she had to go on was a hunch about Roy Lassiter. A hunch that, somehow, had to turn into a plan.

“Um, Dad. Does anyone else besides us have a Full-D system? I mean, outside of the company headquarters.”

Dad rubbed his cheek. “Well. I suppose Mr. Chon was given one, now that he’s lead designer. And Dr. Lassiter, or course. She’s very particular about that, collects every VirtuMax system designed to-date. And I hear she likes to provide the members of her family with top-end gear - even before release.”

Heart sinking, Jennet counted. With the prototype systems, there must be at least three Full-D setups at the Lassiter’s.

She and Dad had two systems - but it had only taken one to suck her into Feyland. She shivered, cold with memory.

A fantastical clearing, silvered by moonlight, where fey creatures danced around a bonfire. The haunting beauty of the Dark Queen, diamonds like stars caught in her midnight hair. A sphere filled with orange flames, while Jennet’s own heart wrenched in two. A red-hot bar of iron clasped between her hands. Burning. Burning.

She shuddered. The CEO had multiple Full-D sim-systems at home. Multiple entries into Feyland.

What were the chances Roy Lassiter had been in-game? And what had he found there?