She stared at me, looking confused. “I need to get back to my mommy and daddy. They will reward you if you get me to them safely,” she added.
“Great. Looking forward it.” I turned to Yano. “Come on. Let’s go.”
I put an ear to the trapdoor to make sure there were no zombies wandering around immediately below me. Then I stuck my legs down into the hole and dropped into the now familiar hallway, Yano floating down behind me.
“Cheery place,” the dragon remarked, raising two bushy gray eyebrows.
“Shh,” I scolded. “We don’t need to attract any more zombies than necessary.”
Yano nodded. “I am in total agreement with that statement,” he replied, floating a little closer to me this time.
We headed down the hall, then down the stairs, trying to retrace our original steps to get back to the room where we’d left Starr. It wasn’t easy, since the layout had changed again, but after a few wrong turns, we were finally able to find the right corridor.
Unfortunately, the zombies were still outside the room, shambling and groaning about brains.
But thankfully there were fewer of them than before. Just three. The others must have gotten bored and wandered off again. Or perhaps the designer lowered the difficulty level?
Whatever it was, I’d take it.
“What are you waiting for?” Yano hissed. “Do your fighting thing already!”
Right. I raised my sword and charged toward them, using the element of surprise to my advantage. As they whirled around, I slashed sideways, cutting through two of them easily. The third, however, managed to avoid my strike, ducking low to grab me by the ankle. I flailed, losing my balance as his ragged nails dug into my skin.
“Um, a little help here, please?” I called to Yano.
“I don’t think I’m actually supposed to interfere with a player’s gaming experience,” he replied doubtfully.
Ugh. I forgot that was part of his programming. Guides weren’t supposed to help—that would be cheating. Still, we weren’t in Dragon Ops anymore. Which meant the rules had changed.
“You’re not a guide anymore!” I called out to him as I struggled to get free of the zombie on my leg. Its blackened teeth were hovering dangerously close to my flesh. One bite, I guessed, and I’d glitch out back to the beginning again. “You want to save Ikumi? You need to help!”
Yano nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose that makes sense. Different game, different rules.”
“Exactly!” I tried to crawl out of the zombie’s bite range. “And, uh, anytime now would be great!”
“All right, all right. Don’t get your knickers in a twist! Here I come!”
The pint-size dragon swooped down, his talons locking on to the zombie’s hair, yanking its head up and keeping its teeth away from my skin. Bringing my free foot back, I kicked hard, connecting with the zombie’s skull. It caved in like a rotten pumpkin, and the creature writhed for a moment, then went still. Yano let go of what remained of its head. It splatted on the hallway floor, oozing with black blood.
“Sweet,” I said, scrambling to my feet. “Nice work, Yano.”
The dragon looked surprised. “Thank you,” he said. “That was actually kind of fun.”
I shook my sore leg. “Maybe for you,” I muttered. But I was pleased all the same. With Yano and Starr on my side, maybe I didn’t need Lilli after all.
Speaking of Starr… I turned to the door. “Starr!” I cried as I pushed it open. “Are you in there?”
“Hey!” she cried, leaping to her feet. She’d been evidently hanging out reading a book she’d found. “You came back! I was beginning to think you were gone for good!”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “We glitched out and got sent back to the beginning. I came back as soon as I could.” I didn’t want to admit we’d taken a little power nap in between.
“No worries,” she assured me. “When I realized you’d disconnected, I waited for a while. When you didn’t come back, I figured I’d take a little break. I took off my helmet but left the game on so my character would be there when you got back. Then I took a nap, grabbed some food. I actually only came back online a few moments ago.”
“Yeah, well, my mom turned off the game,” I told her. “Totally blew up our progress and sent us back to the beginning. You’re lucky you stayed logged in.” Then my smile faded as I thought back to what happened after we’d been logged out. “Did, uh, anyone show up at your house while you were back in the real world?”
“Just the pizza guy,” Starr said. Then she laughed, misinterpreting my look. “I know, I know. It’s weird to order pizza for breakfast. But gaming makes me hungry.” She looked behind me. “Where’s your sister?”
“Don’t ask,” I muttered, my mind flashing back to Lilli and Josh. What had they done after I left them? Were they still playing the game, or had they gotten bored and logged off? Maybe they decided to go to soccer camp after all. Where Lilli could spill her guts to him once again. Tell her new boyfriend everything so he could run back and tattle to his grandpa.
I sighed. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
“I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” Yano piped in, flying over to Starr and stretching out his paw. “My name is Yamata-no-Orochi, the three-headed dragon of legend.” He shook her hand. “But you can call me Yano for short.”
“Nice to meet you, Yano,” Starr said, looking him over with admiration. “Are you any relation to that amazing huge dragon Ian was riding earlier?”
“I am that amazing huge dragon,” Yano replied, puffing out his chest with pride. “Well, at least when it’s practical to be.”
“Nice,” Starr said. Then she turned to me. “Where do you get this guy,
