Her arm went rigid in his grip. “Don’t ask for more than I can give you,” she said.
He shook his thoughts away. “I’m going to find a way to get a visa. I’ll follow you there, I’ll find you.” He had his arms around her waist, his face pressed against the zipper of her jacket. “I promise.”
She moved her fingers through his hair and then stopped abruptly. He’d meant to make her feel better, but he’d only upset her more. The door popped open, but he hardly heard the sound. She left him with the feeling he was back inside his dream, pressed up against some glass ceiling and shut out of better worlds.
Reef waited outside her apartment building while imaginary creatures passed by him unseen. He itched to put on his goggles, but he didn’t dare give in to the distraction. An un-enchanting fog hung in the air and left a chilly mist on his face. Aedric finally stepped out through the glass door of the building. He immediately turned to Reef as if he’d sensed him.
“What’re we going to do?” The words came out before Reef even knew he was speaking them.
Aedric paused to fit his goggles over his eyes and scan the street, oblivious to Reef’s anxiety.
“He’s not going to get any visas for us,” Reef said.
“No, he’s not.” Aedric took his time studying something through his goggles. Most likely an Alt character offering a quest. All Reef could see was a huddle of men gambling with food tickets. “Even the kind of money they’ve got on the Floating Isle can only get a person so far.”
“So what’re we going to do? She’s going to Canada without us. Can’t you use your vorpal to get us visas?”
“Don’t you think I’ve been working on getting visas for a long time now?”
Reef’s frayed nerves exploded. “Well, where are they?” he snapped.
Aedric snatched off his goggles and glared at Reef. “I think I know how we can get one visa real easy. Don’t you?” A few of the men had turned to stare at them. Aedric lowered his voice. “Her newest recruit—Breck. He’s got a visa for himself as well as for her and Shasta.”
“We’re just going to take it from him? His vorpal’s got to be stronger than yours if he lives on the Floating Isle.”
Aedric scowled. A food truck rumbled up the street, and the men in the alley scrambled to meet it, tickets in hand. Reef couldn’t help watching the kitchen steam pour out as the truck opened. Aedric didn’t even glance at it.
“Breck’s been salivating over this epic item in the dungeon inside the Georgetown steam plant,” Aedric said. “A silver scepter. I told him I knew a guy with a level three hundred sword who could help us get to it.”
Level 301, Reef thought.
“We run the instance with him,” Aedric went on. “Let him wear your goggles so he can use your epic sword, kill the Bristle Beast, and get the silver scepter that the beast drops. You’ll have to wear his goggles, of course, since he’ll be wearing yours. So while he’s busy fighting off mages, you’re busy searching through his hard drive for that visa.” He tossed a tiny disc at Reef. “Save it to disc—”
“Why don’t I just send it through the chat channel?”
“How many people do you think have heard him talk about getting a visa? How many of them do you think would like to intercept it when some idiot sends it through a chat channel?” Aedric glanced at the line of men waiting for their handouts, as though they were the ones plotting to intercept stolen visas. “Save it to the disc and then give it to me. I know how to erase Breck’s info from it so it’ll be good as new.”
Reef resisted the urge to roll his eyes. You don’t think I can figure it out if you can? “And the other visas? For me and Croy?”
Aedric gave him a blank look. “She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
He let out a huff. “She’s in denial. Croy took a turn.”
“A turn? You mean he’s dead.”
“Will be soon enough. Too many drugs, or not enough—I’ve lost track of it.” Aedric put his goggles back on, used his electronic glove to flick through his inventory. “He’s in the hospital, but for all I know he’s already gone.” Flick, flick.
Reef’s stomach tightened. The bitter taste of resin or fear filled his mouth. Someday that’ll be me, he thought. Will anyone care?
Aedric tossed an invisible item into the gutter—dropping some vial from his inventory, probably. Reef heard a ping from Aedric’s earpiece that meant he had completed some task or quest. “I can get another visa,” Aedric said, taking off his goggles. “When that silver scepter drops, Breck will want you to pick it up so that it’ll go to his account—because you’ll be wearing his goggles. Then you can gift the silver scepter to my contact before Breck realizes what you’re doing. You and Breck swap goggles back and we get away fast. The money we get for the scepter should be enough to put us just over the edge of what he’s asking for a visa.”