“Legion,” I whispered, pretending to think. Thanks to my dev vision, I could see that the room had changed since Firestarter's arrival. The changes were small, subtle: a few dotted lines of green pixels scattered along the floor, a padlock symbol above the only exit, and a dot on the table in front of me. What was peculiar about the dot was that it had a string of text attached to it, containing my player name and id number.

So you weren't bluffing. Somehow, they had created an anchor point and linked me to this area, keeping my avatar in an invisible virtual cage. Very thorough, and also incredibly difficult to pull off. Not even most of the gamedevs would have the ability to do so. I glanced at Max. There was no way she was just a info broker.

“I haven't seen him,” I said to test the waters. Firestarter leaned forward. “I don't even know him. He's some guy who got in touch with me after I joined the ghost forum.” Assuming it's a he.

“What else?”

“You already have a hacker on your team.” I glanced at Max. “She was supposed to dig up something about him... and you.” Little good that had done me. I had made the mistake of relying on Max because Claire was her mentor. After all the years I'd spent in online guilds, I should have known better. “What's so special about a chat? You're on the forum.”

“Legion doesn't talk to anyone,” Firestarter began. As she was about to continue, an archangel appeared with a tray of desserts, making her stop.

I would have given so much to know how Firestarter would have continued. It was like having the wrapper removed during an unboxing video, only to then have the streamer say he would only be showing it to higher tier patrons.

Damn it! I clenched my fist under the table.

“With compliments from the Alliance,” the archangel said, placing a dish of amorphous chocolate in front of Firestarter. Naturally, Max and myself didn't get anything. The Gaming Alliance took care of its own, making up for the over-expensive membership fees with useless freebies and legal representation. “Anything else you would like?”

“No,” the nymph said through clenched teeth. The archangel got the hint and quickly stepped back. “What did Legion tell you?”

“He said he didn't want me to become part of the game.” There was no point in lying. "What is the game?”

“Only that?” Firestarter narrowed her eyes.

“Only that. He's been trying to keep me quiet ever since...” My mind froze for a second. A memory of my egg trial flashed through my eyes. That was the first time I had seen his name, on the list of victors. Only five people had completed the trial, the elf princess had said. Was Legion one of them? “Ever since I got the Sylvan Forest clue. That's all I know.”

Firestarter leaned back. The chocolate continued to change shape on the dish in front of her. I glanced at Max. She was staring at it intently. Firestarter apparently noticed too, for she pushed it towards Max.

I took advantage of the calm. “Who is he, anyway?”

“No one,” Firestarter said curtly.

“Okay.” Where the hell are you, Claire? He was supposed to be protecting me. The last few days, I had seen none of that. People were calling me out of the blue, weird things were going on in-game, and all the time, no word from my information broker. “Why do you want me to fail the quest?”

“You'll have a hundred k when you get the fail message.” The nymph's lips were moving, but her mind was elsewhere. I got the sense that whatever she was worried about, it wasn't me. As far as she was concerned, I was out of the picture. Any normal person would have accepted defeat; she had every possible advantage, while I didn't even know how to put the clues together. A faint voice appeared in the back of my mind, screaming at me to fight back.

“What if I complete the quest?” My entire body felt like I'd been in the front row of a tesla coil concert. “What happens then?”

“You want to fight?” There was an edge in Firestarter's voice.

“I'm a wildcard,” I repeated the word I had heard in my dream. “Who knows what I can do?”

Fierestarter's expression remained unchanged, as if she were at a tournament. Her fingers went still, like a cat about to pounce. I checked my game menu. All Vesperia functionality was blocked, though I still had access to Twinkle. Manually, I instructed him to do a search on Firestarter's tournament. It took less than a second for him to display the results: originally, Firestarter was to participate in three tournaments, yet she had postponed her appearance, resulting in a point penalty and an outright participation forfeit.

So, I'm important enough for you to risk your standing.

“I'm also protected,” I added another bit of info I had heard in my dream.

This time, the reaction was instant. Firestarter stood up, the eyes of her avatar glowing red with hatred. I had seen the effect thousands of times in game tournaments. Corporations and media conglomerates had spent insane amounts of money to develop technology that displayed the emotional state of their stars. Why settle for a simple combat event, when they had the technology to display every instance of fear, rage, or joy through avatar graphics? The greater the intensity of the glow, the greater the anger. Right now, Firestarter's eyes were burning.

“Not completely protected,” the pro gamer said. A sword appeared in her hand. So much for the weapon restrictions in the room. Taking into account that Max was helping her out, I couldn't be surprised. “You never should have been chosen.”

The sword swung towards me. The attack was so fast, I didn't even see it. One moment, the tip of her sword was across the table, the next it was an inch from my eye, frozen in mid air. Slowly, my mind caught up to what had happened, making me jump back way too late. Firestarter, however, didn't follow.

“That's not for you to decide, don't you think?” a voice asked. It was the archangel.

So far, he had remained silent, to the point I had completely forgotten he was there. Now, for some reason, he had chosen to step in. The avatar seemed identical to the many others who had been about Crystal Spires: bouncers, waiters, valets, and all sorts of other staff. His behavior, though, was different; there was an unmistakable air of aggressiveness about him.

“Huh?” Firestarter reached out in the air. A new weapon started forming, but before it fully materialised, the model exploded into pixels.

“Head for the exit,” the archangel said calmly. It took me a few seconds to figure out he was talking to me. “Once you're in the staircase, log off. You should be fine after that.”

I didn't budge. The whole thing seemed too convenient. Firestarter wasn't known for being a good actor; if anything, she had the problem of being too emotional and reckless in streams. After everything that had happened lately, though, I didn't feel like taking any chances.

“Twinkle,” I said. “Scan the—”

“You're wasting time, Sarah!” The archangel moved between me and Firestarter. “Don't ruin my investment.”

“Claire?” I blinked.

“Yes.” He nodded. From the corner of my eye, I could see Max hide her face behind her hands. Some major drama was going to result from this, and I wasn't eager to be anywhere near when it began to unfold. “Now get out of here.”

“How do I know it's you?” I took a step back, staying clear from both him and Firestarter. There was nothing blocking my path to the exit. The lock symbol had vanished, though the code lines were still visible, flickering all over the floor.

“We don't have the time for this.” The archangel's voice remained calm, with a note of urgency.

“You have a new message from Claire!” Twinkle's cheerful voice filled the room, very much in contrast with the tenseness of the situation. Now I was certain someone was messing with his settings; ten minutes ago, he had been completely muted. “Do you want me to read it?”

I glanced at Claire, then at the exit. “Yes,” I ordered.

“I'm the archangel,” Twinkle said with the last instance of Claire's voice. It sounded very different from his present virtual incarnation. “Don't worry about the hacks, just get out of this room!” The AIs cheerful expression was in complete contrast to the message's tone. “Do you want me to send a reply?” Twinkle asked in his normal voice.

“Yes.” Eyes on Firestarter, I made my way to the exit. “Tell him that after I complete the quest, he'll get what was promised, but we're through.”

“Sure thing, Sarah!” The cat giggled, then disappeared.

I looked at Firestarter. Hey eyes were still glowing red, now focused on Claire. No doubt she knew what he represented, otherwise she'd probably make her move. Right now, I didn't care. The information broker had helped me, as promised, while also keeping tabs on me through Twinkle, and that was very much against our agreement. Being the weaker party in the negotiation, I had no choice but to go along with it, though that didn't mean I had to like it.

The moment I stepped outside the room, I logged off, then on again. The world warped around me, bringing me to the standard login location. At least that was something Claire hadn't lied about.

“Twinkle,” I said loudly. “Who ordered you to unmute?”

“You did, Sarah,” the cat giggled, appearing on my shoulder. “Right after we entered the room.”

That was a complete lie. Whatever exploit Claire had used, it was buried deep enough to remove any trace of tampering. I could bet that command log would be altered so I couldn't tell the difference. At it stood, there was no way of knowing for how long I had been spied upon.

“From now on, send me a notification of every command I issue, even when in mute.”

“Sure thing, Sarah!” Twinkle said. Simultaneously, a transparent text window appeared in front of me with an identical message. I couldn't be sure that would act as an adequate countermeasure, but at least it was something. “You have seven unanswered phone calls. All are from Kyle. Do you want me to call him back?”

Seven messages? Someone was persistent.

“Go ahead.” I checked my inventory. Nothing seemed missing. The next thing to check was my lease and bank accounts, which I was going to do first thing after I logged off. At this point, doing anything through Vesperia's game system, or Twinkle, was hazardous.

The tone rang twice. On the third, Kyle picked up.

“Sarah?” I heard him yawn. I could only assume he;d been through another long shift. “Where've you been? Been trying to get you for hours.”

“A bit busy.” I did my best not to snap at him. “What do you want?”

“Ouch. Bad time?”

Worst time, possible! “I'm just dealing with something. What's up?”

“Well... I hope it's nothing serious.” He paused for a moment, managing to infuriate me even more. “If there's anything I could help... or if you need to vent... or just talk to someone—”

“It's fine, Kyle.” Can't you stop hitting on me for one second?! “Just tell me why you called.”

“Right.” He snapped back to his usual mode. The guy seriously couldn't take a hint. “That riddle you asked me today. I think I know the answer.”

“What?” I felt as if an ice blast had hit me right in the chest, knocking the wind out of me. Of all the people, Kyle was the last I expected to help me with the quest. “How?”

“Before that, I've got a question. Are there more hints?”

“I think so.” I felt like a total newbie, not because I hadn't shared the info with him, but because he had found me out. “I only know those five.”

“That's cool. If it was only those five it would be different. Anyway, some of the riddles my mom used to work on were based on melodies. You know, the old 'whistle this and you get a prize'? They were supposed to be used in some music teaching program for six year olds. Never happened because of parental complaints. Something about a family sending a complaint that their son couldn't whistle. Anyway, the logic is simple. Every line of the riddle represents a note. All you have to do is link the riddle to the note and then perform it. Simple.”

“A melody?” I opened the world map. The locations of the five riddles were still there exactly where I had placed them. So it wasn't an X. Eight clues, eight notes-a full octave. My pulse hastened.

“At least that's my theory.” I could almost hear him shrug. “Does that help?”

“Oh, definitely.” I looked at the map. “Thanks, Kyle, you're a lifesaver.” I ended the call before he inevitably asked me out. Until I was done with the quest, I had other things on my mind.