I fell hard for the way her mind worked, and for the way she understood how those things that mattered to no one else mattered so much to me. When my granddad’s health took a turn, there wasn’t much room for anything resembling a social life, so talking to Bluebird while we trained became a kind of holiday from caretaking. She had a disability, so she understood when I talked about doctor visits and my fears for the worst. She knew how to joke our way through it.
Then my granddad died.
And it left me in this funk. I couldn’t talk to her. I couldn’t talk to anyone, let alone play in the tournament. I shut off my games, my computer, my phone. Everything that had distracted me from the time I had with him.
I didn’t know how much I loved him until I lost him.
It took me weeks to even be able to open my phone. I didn’t intend to look for Bluebird. I didn’t know how to talk to the girl I’d used to escape my granddad, but I couldn’t ignore the heap of messages from her, some swearing at me for quitting, some in caps lock—all date stamped about two weeks earlier.
The second I connected to our chat, she was there.
You all right?
It took me a minute to answer. I always said I was fine when anyone else asked. But I didn’t have to lie to her.
No. I’m really not.
Is it your granddad?
I didn’t answer.
Oh Grig. I’m so sorry.
It was later, on video chat, when she convinced me to try to get back in. I’d forfeited a few matches, but there was still time. If I won the final match with a high enough score, I could still get into the game. The best part of The Heir’s Ascension competition wasn’t the experimental immersive technology; it was that the winner would also get an internship at the company, on-the-job training, and the promise of a future that didn’t require a degree.
I didn’t want to leave my home. But as I glanced around my half-cleaned room, I realized I didn’t really belong here anymore anyway. My granddad would want me to live my own life.
All I needed was the ability to get a high score.
One of my top three skills.
Just behind the bean dip.
Bluebird was already in. She told me all she could about the other players, their strengths and weaknesses, and tips about that final round.
When I won that match, I was giddy like a fool, because it meant I could meet her. Once we met, whatever it was we had would become real.
I couldn’t betray her.
Not for all the money in the world.
The cut scene ended, and Dagney knelt by my side, Ryo next to her. They seemed to be in the middle of an argument of sorts. I closed my eyes. “Oh, would you just kiss already and get it over with?”
“Grig,” Ryo said, though I noticed his cheeks reddened, the poor boy.
I let out a laugh, and I couldn’t stop. Suddenly my whole fake life was just the funniest thing in the world.
“Are you all right?” Dagney asked. “Does your head hurt? You overwhelmed? What are you thinking?”
Oy. There comes the headache.
I pressed the side of my head tight until the pain receded, cursing my squishy Mage class.
Dagney clung to my arm.
“I’m all right,” I told her. “I’ve just got to find my Bluebird.”
Then it wouldn’t matter what world I was in.
11
RYO
“So who is this Bluebird person?” I asked. I had several questions, of course, but that seemed the most pressing.
“Bluebird of Death,” Dagney said. “She’s incredible. If we get her, we’ll win the game for sure.”
This was the second time I’d heard the world called a game.