My sister and I exchanged glances. “Um, I think maybe you’re thinking of someone else?” Lilli suggested hesitantly. “We’re not famous or anything.”
“We don’t even have a YouTube channel,” I added, suddenly kind of wishing that we did.
“No,” Starr replied. Then she leaned forward, lowering her voice. “But you did beat Dragon Ops, right?”
I stared at her, too stunned to speak. “Wh-what did you just say?” I stammered.
“Dragon Ops? You’re the kids, right? The ones who got stuck in the game and fought their way out? Wow.” She gave a low whistle. “For some reason, I thought you’d be taller.”
“I’m plenty tall for my age,” I protested, then realized I had just basically admitted to being the Ian she was talking about. Which I was definitely not supposed to do, legally speaking. “I mean, if I were that Ian. Which I’m totally not saying I am.”
Starr held up her hands. “I get it. They made you sign stuff. It’s cool. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“How did you even hear about this?” Lilli asked. “It’s never been talked about online.”
“Maybe not on the public internet,” Starr agreed. “But on the Dark Carnival, you guys are practically heroes. The two kids who outwitted the Camelot’s Honor sabotage. Who fought Atreus and won.”
I felt a shudder cross over me at Atreus’s name, but I shook it away. Tried instead to concentrate on the whole “hero” thing. Take that, Josh!
“The Dark Carnival? What’s that?” Lilli asked curiously.
“It’s this message board I belong to,” Starr explained. “A lot of hackers and gaming people use it. It’s… well, you can’t google it. It’s hidden. But it’s the best place to find out cool stuff going on in the tech and gaming world.”
“Have they… been talking at all about Hiro Takanama?” Lilli asked hesitantly.
Starr frowned. “The Dragon Ops game maker? I don’t think so. I mean, I haven’t been on in a while. I’ve been in a deep dive researching for this beta competition. Why? Is something up with him? Has there been another delay in opening the Dragon Ops park? More sabotage?”
I shot Lilli a warning look. We could not be talking about this. Starr seemed cool and all, but we had no idea if we could trust her. She had a Twitch channel, for goodness’ sake! She could spread anything we told her to the world—instantly.
Lilli seemed to catch my look. “Oh. I have no idea. I was just wondering—”
Thankfully, at that moment a loud horn blew, interrupting the conversation. We all turned to the compound’s entrance, where a small stage had been set up. A young woman dressed in a futuristic metallic camouflage jumpsuit stepped up onto the podium and adjusted the microphone.
“Thank you all for coming out today,” she said into the mic after the chatter died down. “It’s always wonderful to see how much love and support Appleby Games has garnered in the gaming community. From way back in the 1980s, when we launched our very first game, to the moment last year when we announced our thirtieth title—the Mech Ops remake—your love and support has been a true honor. And today we’re inviting all of you to level up—literally.” She chuckled at her own joke. “To test-drive the future. Or should I say… fly.”
Everyone in the crowd cheered.
“Now for the bad news,” the woman continued. “As you can see, there are a lot of you here. So for most of you, this is your one-day free pass to try out this new VR experience. Have fun with it, enjoy your time inside our little world, and remember it will be on sale sometime in the first quarter of next year. Consider this your sneak peek.”
A few boos from the crowd. The woman smiled knowingly. “Don’t worry,” she assured them. “We won’t make you go home empty-handed. We have some lovely parting gifts for all of today’s participants. Including a ten-dollar-off coupon for the game when it comes out and…” She paused for dramatic effect. “A limited-edition ruby power-up. Exclusive to those who preorder the game today.”
The crowd erupted in excited chatter. Evidently ruby power-ups were a big deal. I wondered if they were some kind of real-life collectible or something you used in-game, like a cool weapon.
The woman was still talking. “But for those who really stand out from the crowd today, we have something much greater to give you. An exclusive chance to become part of our team. To sign on as an official Mech Ops beta tester. You will receive a full gaming rig—headset, sensor gloves, console… the works—to take home and try out for the next three months. You will record your gaming experiences, help us find bugs in the system, and basically make sure Mech Ops fulfills its promise to be the best VR game ever made.”
Now the crowd went super wild, cheering and whooping. Clearly everyone here wanted to be one of the lucky chosen ones. I wondered again how Lilli and I would ever be able to stand out from the pack. At least one of us had to go home with a VR rig!
The woman waited patiently for the crowd to calm down. Then she grabbed a clipboard from the podium and held it up in the air. “I need each of you to grab one of these from our volunteers,” she said. “Sign the waiver, which will serve as your NDA.”
NDA stood for “nondisclosure agreement.” Our parents had to sign one of those for us when we first went to Dragon Ops—and another after, when we received our settlement. It was basically a promise that you wouldn’t talk about the game to anyone—whether in person or especially online. Otherwise the game company could sue you for a lot of money.
The volunteers wandered the crowds, handing out clipboards. Each of them was dressed like the woman onstage—in a metallic camo jumpsuit. I wondered if this was something from the game itself. Maybe what players wore
