He considered asking for a Queen’s Mark and gifting it to his own account so he could get into the palace on the harbor. But what good would that do him if he was going to Canada?
And there was still that question that haunted him. “Who made up the quest for the Fated Blade?” he asked the rabbit. Somewhere in the distance the others were clanging their way up to another floor. Olly would kill him if he knew he was hanging back for this. “What’s the username?”
The rabbit remained silent for a moment, as if considering how to answer. Then it said, “Would you want me to warn you if you were walking into a trap? Should I—if it means harm to me?”
Reef tried to shake the haze out of his brain. Was his mind playing tricks on him?
“What would you do in my place?” the rabbit went on.
Cold dread seeped into Reef’s stomach. “What’re you talking about? What’s the Fated Blade?”
“Do you want to know about fate? You joined your world to another’s without thought of what dangers might come. And now the connection between the worlds will be severed. It must be.”
More confusion, and then—clarity. Reef checked the bottom of his display and confirmed that the chat channel was open. The white rabbit wasn’t a real white rabbit at all but was someone talking to him through a digital pet. “Who is this?” He already knew. He whipped around, looking for some sign of Aedric’s alien friend. Only black leaves and riotous blossoms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m trying to warn you. Are you listening? You have walked into a trap.”
“What trap?” Reef said to the rabbit.
The chat channel closed. The rabbit vanished from Reef’s grip.
“Whatcha doing?” Breck said from the bushes.
Reef spun to face him. “Uh. White rabbit.” Breck couldn’t have heard anything the rabbit had said—its voice had come through the chat channel directly to Reef. “Found it a second ago. Gone now.”
“I heard you say something to it about the Fated Blade. Said you thought it was a trap?” He pulled up his goggles and their light flashed on a metal bracelet around his wrist. “It’s not a real quest. Just the Chinese mocking us.”
“What?” Reef’s eyes were glued on the bracelet. No doubt it had Cadence’s name engraved on it.
“You know the game is riddled with leeches? All waiting for their creator to say the word and . . .” Breck mimed an explosion with his hands, made a noise with his cheeks puffed out. “Down goes all of our infrastructure. The leeches are waiting for the signal. The signal, the attack—that’s the Fated Blade.”
Reef squinted at him. His head was filling with fog again.
“Think about the character who offers that quest,” Breck went on. “Ever noticed the color of his clothes? Red with yellow stars, same as Great China’s flag.”
A vague memory came to Reef of the man outside the hotel that served as the Immigration Office. A battered leather vest like a second hide, red sleeves showing underneath—
“I read about it on this forum.” Breck grinned that harmless grin Reef was coming to despise. “You read forums? There’s a lot of tips that can help you level up. Well, I guess you don’t need that.” He shook his wrist, fidgeting with the metal bracelet that must still feel foreign to him. The movement dislodged something in Reef’s brain.
“You met Cadence . . . how, again?” he asked Breck.
“Aedric introduced us. I met him on the Floating Isle.”
Reef’s mind went back to what Aedric had said earlier that day. Don’t you think I’ve been working on getting visas for a long time now?
Aedric had introduced Breck to Cadence on purpose. Because he knew Breck had visas or could at least get some. He had set up Breck from the beginning.
Reef almost laughed. Aedric was even more of a snake than he had thought.
Then his skin went cold. What else isn’t Aedric telling me?
From above, Olly’s voice rang out. “Where are they?”
“Better go help,” Breck said.
Reef followed him. He felt suddenly jumpy. The shadowed plants seemed ominous. What had he gotten himself into with Aedric? What was Aedric planning?
As he clanged up the stairs, he remembered he hadn’t yet taken the visa from Breck’s hard drive. He quickly located it and fumbled for the disc Aedric had given him.
On second thought . . . He left the disc in his pocket and instead sent the visa through the chat channel to his own goggles, the ones Breck was wearing.
Breck jolted to a stop at the top of the stairs.
“I got a transmission on your goggles?” he said, turning toward Reef. “Let me check it.”
“No,” Reef said a little too forcefully. “No, it sounds like they need us. Look, I can see them over there.”