Chapter 1
Alejandra Ortega launched herself with all the might her skinny, brown legs could muster.
I have to beat him this time.
The row of eight swimmers kicked underwater, then broke through the surface of the indoor pool to churn out their 200-meter backstroke.
Jackson was two lanes away. Even though they were on the same swim team, he was Alejandra’s main rival. He was also one of her two best friends. Losing to him was bittersweet.
Through her goggles, Alejandra saw that she and Jackson were even. The boy in the lane between them was well behind.
That kid must have missed his launch.
The two friends took the lead as they raced the length of the Olympic-sized pool at the Vancouver Aquatic Center. Alejandra was a half stroke behind Jackson.
It felt like the same pattern they had in every race—he would win first place, and she would win second again.
I’ve got to take him by surprise.
They reached the end of the pool and executed the first kick turn to head back to the starting deck. Alejandra strained, but Jackson stayed a little ahead, no matter how hard she swam. His speed was dependent on hers.
She slowed a tiny bit. Sure enough, he slowed too, but stayed a stroke ahead.
I’ve got to pace myself and save something big for the end. Then he won’t expect it.
Alejandra held back through the next three laps but stayed ahead of the pack behind them. By now, Jackson’s lungs had to burn for air as hers did.
At the flag, that’s where I’ll take off.
Her marker was the red and white, maple leaf Canadian flag on the wall.
Halfway down the pool on the last lap, Alejandra reached the flag, drew on her remaining strength, and swam past Jackson. She dug her hands into the water and kicked with all her might.
It worked. Alejandra was at least two strokes ahead when Jackson must have realized she was making a break for it. He slowly closed the gap between them.
Jackson barely had time to retake the lead. His hand slapped the finish wall a half second before Alejandra.
They panted for air.
“What was that?” he said.
“Ha. Made you work for it.”
She slipped off her goggles as she gasped.
“You almost had me. Six and four. That’s ten team points.”
“It would be nice to switch it up just once, so I get six, and you get four.”
“It’s not a competition between us. We’re on the same team,” Jackson said.
“I know.”
Jackson never gloated over his wins. But he was most certainly competitive. He never let her win.
“Have you seen Aiden? His freestyle is coming up,” Alejandra said between breaths.
“No. He wasn’t in the locker room.”
“Should we be worried about him?”
“What do you mean?”
“Swimmers out of the pool. Thank you,” the referee said.
The two friends headed to the team bench. Jackson was three inches taller than Alejandra and had muscled shoulders from their years in competitive swimming.
“Good job, you two,” their coach said. “I think that’s a personal best for both of you.” She leaned into Alejandra’s ear. “You almost had him. Next time, girl.”
She smiled at the coach while still breathing hard.
“Aiden is never around anymore,” Alejandra said. “He missed the last meet. And now this.”
“Um, hello. He’s homeschooling now.”
“I know. I’m just saying. I think something isn’t right.”
Their teammates, along with the parents, cheered for the students in the upcoming race.
In the middle of the commotion, Aiden came running in. The purple streak in his hair flopped outside his crooked swim cap.
“Am I up?”
Jackson laughed. “I think that was your whistle that just blew.”
Aiden tossed his towel at them and pulled off his team T-shirt.
Aiden was half Indonesian, and with his colored bangs, he looked like an anime character. ‘Anime’ was Alejandra’s nickname for him. He was the third member of their mini club. At least he used to be.
“Are you okay? What kept you?” Alejandra said.
Aiden ignored the questions and spoke over her to Jackson.
“You won’t believe what happened. I made the most awesome …”
Aiden’s words were rushed and high-pitched. He stopped, glanced at Alejandra, and broke off his sentence.
Aiden’s eyes were the only part of his face that looked Asian. At that moment, his eyes looked like he was withholding something from her.
“I’ll send you a link,” he said to Jackson. “Check it out when you get home. I almost didn’t come.”
“Is this about a video game?” Alejandra said.
“I might be the next Steve Jobs.”
“Who?” Jackson said.
“The founder of … You guys need to get out more.”
Aiden entered something on his watch, and another whistle blew.
“That’s for the freestyle,” Alejandra said. “Go.”
Aiden quickly removed his watch and passed it to Jackson. He speed-walked to his place at the starting blocks while stuffing his hair under his cap.
The whistle sounded, and the swimmers dove from the platforms.
Alejandra examined Aiden’s watch while he raced. He had sent a link to Jackson. Inside the link were some letters she recognized—http://www.izan.com. Izan Corp. was the sketchy high-tech company Aiden’s father worked for.
“Look at this,” she shouted over the cheering crowd, and showed the watch to Jackson.
He glanced and shrugged. The message was gone, and the screen was locked.
Alejandra gave her attention to the swimmers. Aiden was in last place.
I know him, and something is off. For one thing, he’s never last.
“You have to tell me what’s in that link. He’s hiding something.”
The three of them had been friends in elementary school. Until recently, they had gone to the same school, swum on the same team, and attended the same church. In fact, they shared a spiritual birthday. They all vowed to follow Jesus on the same day at the same camp.
It feels like our trio is falling apart.
Alejandra didn’t want to speak her fear aloud because it might make it more real.
Jackson slipped off his swim cap and fluffed his copper-brown hair. Together with his pale skin and dark brows, most would call him handsome. Even though he was a year younger than Alejandra and Aiden, he looked their age of fourteen.
“I’m sure it’s just another video game. He doesn’t like to tell you because you’re the mother in our club.”
He gave her shoulder a friendly shove.
“The mother? And what does that make you?”
“Me? I’m the cool, fun brother, of course.”
“More like the mocoso,” Alejandra said.
“And what is a mocoso?”
“It’s Spanish for a spoiled brat.”
She shoved him with her shoulder.
Alejandra pulled off her swim cap and tossed her dark braid over her back.
“You’ve got to tell me what he was so fired up about. You promise?”
“Okay, Mom. Later.”
He shoved her again.
After dinner and dishes, Alejandra plopped onto the sofa beside her parents and pulled her legs against her chest. She needed a hug.
They were watching a documentary about lions hunting innocent prey. It was the last thing Alejandra wanted to see.
Has Jackson gone dark on me, too?
She’d heard nothing from him since the swim meet. There was no reply to her questions about Aiden.
Something is wrong with him. And now Jackson isn’t taking me seriously either.
As an African lioness stalked an antelope on the TV, Alejandra relocated to her bedroom.
Like the antelope, she felt the eyes of disaster watching her. Losing her best friends would destroy her.
She pulled a pillow over her face and yelled into it.
With her emotions partially spent, Alejandra started a video call to Jackson.
“Hey,” he said.
“I didn’t hear from you, so this is me asking about Aiden again.”
“Yeah, about that. I tried to text and call him, but nada. I think he’s using his VR glasses and can’t hear me. Then I tried that link he sent me, which did some stuff to my laptop. I’m not sure if it’s a virus or what.”
“It’s probably another game,” she said.
“I guess. It eventually took me to a dungeon where I found him.”
“You found Aiden? You might have led with that.”
“But when we tried to chat, the screen froze,” Jackson said.
Maybe Alejandra was like the mother. Aiden and Jackson meant so much to her. She couldn’t give up now.
“Can you send me the link? I’ll try it on my tablet,” Alejandra said.
“I don’t see what it could hurt.”
A moment later, her tablet chimed. She clicked the link, but nothing happened. A spinning color wheel appeared in the middle of the screen.
“Is it working?” Jackson said over the phone.
“It’s loading something.”
“It takes a while.”
She pressed the home button, but still nothing happened. There wasn’t anything to do but wait.
After five minutes, a banner appeared in gothic letters, reading ‘The Game.’ A smaller script below said, ‘An AI Experience by Aiden Yuwono.’
“OK, I’ve got a start screen. It’s a game made by Aiden. I have to choose an avatar or let it scan my face. Scanning.”
The screen prompted her to turn her head right and left for a three-dimensional scan.
“So I can get to know you better,” a chipper woman spoke from the tablet, “please answer some questions about yourself.”
The questions started with her favorite color, food, and movie. Soon, they moved to choose between personality traits that best described her.
The narrator’s voice returned. “Are you more like a lion, otter, golden retriever, or beaver? Let’s find out.”
Now, she had to click on the words that best describe her—fun-loving, factual, verbal. She quickly selected her choices.
“Wow, this thing is …”
“Way too personal,” Jackson said.
“Yes. Exactly.”
The spinning color wheel returned. A long wait followed.
At last, a screen appeared that read, ‘Your Quest.’
Alejandra read the storyline out loud.
“’You are a princess in disguise, looking for kidnapped village kids. You must find the evil dragon, fight his monster followers, and free the children. One more thing—many of the kids were bitten by the dragon, a sorcerer who takes on the form of a snake. They need the antidote within twenty-four hours. Are you ready, Princess Alejandra?’
“Wait a minute. I never told it my name. This is freaky. Have I been hacked?”
“What are your choices?” Jackson said over the phone.
“There’s just an empty text field.”
“Try typing, ‘find Aiden Anime.’”
The screen was rendered into a gray stone dungeon cell. A boy added parts to a giant mechanical device with wooden wheels and hemp ropes.
Alejandra typed, Aiden, is that you?
Aiden: You found me
rescue at last
He’s had me trapped in this room since the swim meet
“Jackson, I found him. He’s here,” Alejandra said over the phone.
She typed to Aiden.
Alejandra: who trapped you
Aiden: Malbane the sorcerer
Alejandra: what is that thing you are making
Aiden: it’s a battering ram
I was going to break my way out
Alejandra: you can build a battering ram?
Aiden: yep my version of The Game has something like Minecraft
Alejandra had no clue of what he meant.
“What’s he saying?” Jackson said over the video call.
Alejandra positioned the camera so Jackson could read the dialogue on her tablet. The two device screens lit her bedroom with a soft glow as the Winter sun crept away early.
Aiden: thanks for the rescue
how did you get in here
Alejandra: Jackson sent the link you gave him at the swim meet
he’s on the phone with us
Aiden: cool
I wanted you guys to see this place
Aiden’s avatar danced in place with its arms waving overhead. Jackson and Alejandra laughed.
Alejandra: we miss you
we never get to hang out anymore
Aiden: 😔 (Pensive Face Emoji)
Aiden: Jackson did you open the link too
“It didn’t work,” Jackson said over the phone.
Alejandra had to relay his message.
Aiden: try again
The Game has VoIP
Alejandra: ???
Aiden: that means we can talk and hear each other instead of this typing and pointing phones thing
“Ok. Give me a minute. I’ll try and log on again,” Jackson said.
While they waited for Jackson, Alejandra typed: why did you waste 9 hours in this dungeon when all you had to do was take off the VR headset?
Aiden didn’t reply.
Maybe I’m being too direct again.
During the silence that followed, Alejandra squirmed on her bed. Her avatar calmly blinked its lashes behind overlarge glasses.
The screen froze, and the spinning color wheel reappeared. She watched the wheel turn with maddening impatience.