“It was fine! Until you spilled your guts to Starr!” Lilli shot back.
“What was I supposed to do? You were too busy with your new boyfriend! I needed help!”
“He’s not my boyfriend, Ian.”
“Really? Is that your only response?”
“Enough!” Starr broke in. “Seriously. You guys need to focus. It doesn’t matter who’s to blame. What matters is Josh has gone to tell his grandfather what we’re doing. And they’re going to kick us out of the game. So if you want to rescue your friend, you’d better do it fast.”
Lilli and I glared at each other. Still fuming. But deep down, we knew Starr was right. We could fight about who was to blame later. Right now, Ikumi was running out of time.
“So what do we do?” Lilli asked. “Keep looking for the key? We’ll never find it without Josh.”
“We have no choice. We have to open that gate. Yano can’t do it. He’s not powerful enough to—”
Suddenly, I heard a screech echo through the air. My gaze shot up into the sky. Oh no. Not again! My heart plummeted as my eyes fell on the all-too-familiar dragon-shaped silhouette flying in circles above us.
“Whoa!” Lilli cried. “This game has an Atreus, too? Someone really did copy someone else. I just wish I knew who was first.”
“Wait,” I said. “You can see him?”
“Of course I can see him. What are you talking about? He’s right there.”
“Starr?” I turned to our friend. “Can you see him, too?”
“Definitely,” she said. “He’s kind of hard to miss.”
My knees felt weak, and I had to lean against a nearby building to stay upright. I didn’t know whether to be relieved—or more freaked out. At least I knew this Atreus was not part of my imagination.
But what about the other one? Was this the same creature that had been following me? Or another rendition—a second Atreus who may or may not have been the original? (This was all so confusing!)
The dragon swooped down, skimming the rooftops of Dragonshire until he landed on the top of the Dragon’s Yawn Inn. And, well, yawned. Go figure.
“Do you think we should, like, run or something?” Lilli suggested. “I mean, fire-breathing bad guy? Standing in his path and all that?”
“Or we could fight him,” Starr said excitedly. “Imagine the cred you’d get for taking down Atreus.”
“No way!” my sister cried. “We wouldn’t stand a chance.” She turned to me. “Ian?” she asked. “Are… you okay?”
But I wasn’t okay. I wasn’t even close to being okay. The dragon was looking straight at me. His lips curled into a smile, revealing his razor-sharp teeth.
Well, hello, tiny human. Welcome to Dragon Ops.
“Go away,” I whimpered, my voice so low I could barely hear it myself. “Just please go away.”
The dragon’s smile faded. He looked almost disappointed. Now, now! I just want to play a game…
“Why won’t you just leave me alone?”
“Ian?” I could hear my sister, but she sounded a million miles away. Barely audible over the hammer of my heartbeat. The dragon’s amber eyes seemed to pierce through me. A now deeper voice rumbling from inside.
Don’t you want to play a game?
DON’T YOU WANT TO PLAY A GAME?
“NO!” I shouted, finally finding my voice. “I do not want to freaking play!”
And with that, I took off running in the direction we came from. Somehow I managed to find the exit, and I yanked the door open. The illusion shattered behind me, hopefully taking Atreus with it. I dove out the door and back onto the island where Yano was waiting for us. Collapsing, I dug my hands into the sand, wanting to feel something real. Even though all of it was still an illusion.
“Are you all right?” Yano asked, sounding extremely concerned. “What happened in there? I told you it wasn’t safe!” He paused, then added, “Did you get the key at least?”
Before I could respond, Lilli and Starr burst from the building, running up beside me. Lilli dropped to her knees, her face pale with worry. “What happened?” she demanded. “Are you okay?”
I tried to suck in a breath, but my game lungs refused to work. I started gasping, clawing at the sand, trying not to choke. Starr put a hand on my back, lowering her face so it was inches from mine.
“Breathe in,” she whispered. “Slowly.”
I did as she said. Barely.
“Now hold that breath for three seconds,” she instructed. “Then let it out. Then take another breath and hold.”
I followed her instructions exactly, even though at first it was nearly impossible to hold the breath. The second time was easier. By the third, I’d gotten it back under control. I collapsed onto the sand, looking up at Starr in gratitude. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Lilli looked from me to Starr. “What’s going on?” she demanded. “What happened in there?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“Well, I am, okay?” My face burned with embarrassment. I didn’t want her to know how pathetic I was. My sister, who was so strong…
Though…
Suddenly Lilli’s earlier words came rushing back to me.
Josh found me under the bleachers during gym class, crying…
I’d been so mad at the time that she’d been talking to Josh, I hadn’t taken a moment to consider why she’d been talking to him.
That she’d been suffering, too. But never letting on.
I looked up at Lilli. “Why don’t we ever talk about what happened in Dragon Ops?” I whispered, then added, “With each other, I mean.”
Her cheeks turned bright pink. “I—I don’t know,” she stammered. “We signed those papers and—”
“If the papers meant anything to you, you wouldn’t have told Josh,” I said accusingly. “So why don’t you want to talk about it with me?” My voice cracked on the words. “I mean, I was the one who was there with you! We went through it together!”
“I know. It’s just…” She trailed off, looking
