Game Breaker Read online

  “So you think it’s legit?” Blake asked him.

  “Has to be,” the older boy replied. “I heard the newb even got himself into the castle at Topton later.”

  Jonny turned his stare on Breccan. Breccan lifted his shoulders in a small shrug.

  The older boy didn’t notice their wordless conversation and shook his head. “He must have a load of ECs. I wish I’d had that on my first day. I’m still working my losses off.”

  The girl on his other side gave him a teasing smile. “I thought you got your debts in the body levels.”

  He grinned at her. “I’d be rolling in ECs, not paying them off. You’ve seen my avatar.”

  She shoved him up the stairs. “Maybe you’ll learn something working in the lower levels. It serves you right.”

  She stormed away. He ran after her.

  The students around Breccan burst out laughing.

  “All I know is, whoever’s running that avatar’s going to have a lot of fans when he reaches the Edge,” the boy who had bumped into Breccan said. “The net is exploding with pictures and replays. Some are trying to find out who this Game Breaker is.”

  A chill ran down Breccan’s spine. He cleared his throat and asked, “Are they close?”

  The boy shook his head. “Not even. He’s apparently a master at leaving no trail. There are no slipups. He even spent most of his time with some shell. He’s really good at erasing his tracks.”

  “Who is?”

  Breccan glanced back to find that Murphy and Minx had caught up to them.

  “Uh, Game Breaker,” Jonny replied quickly. He gave them a silencing look. “They’re uh, trying to figure out who he is, but they can’t.”

  “Oh good,” Murphy said. “I remember when Drone Slayer was defeated. Everyone wanted to get Timeless’ autograph, and Drone wasn’t even a Battle Boss. Whoever this Game Breaker is, he’d better hope his right hand is ready.” He winked at Breccan.

  Minx elbowed Murphy in the ribs. “Let’s just hope he’s got good friends who aren’t stupid.”

  “Yeah,” Blake said. “And I’m hoping something cool happens tonight. I always miss the awesome stuff. And with the Techsecs getting more uptight, it’s harder to relax and enjoy it.”

  The bell rang. At Jonny’s motion, Breccan hung back with Minx and Murphy. As soon as the rest of the students had disappeared inside, he let out a breath.

  “Look what you’ve done!” Jonny nearly shouted. “My whole family could be in trouble if anyone finds out who you are!”

  “Nobody’s going to find out,” Minx reassured him. “You heard them. Breccan hasn’t left a trail. His avatar’s pretty inconspicuous besides the tattoo, and we can cover that up. He just won’t go against any more Battle Bosses.”

  At her look, Breccan reassured them, “I won’t. I promised the Contessa I wouldn’t anyway.”

  Jonny’s mouth dropped open.

  “You talked to the Contessa?” Murphy said in a high voice. “Why am I just hearing about this?”

  “You have to tell us what happened when you left the Hedron,” Minx pressed.

  Breccan shook his head. “Not here. I’ll tell you after school when there’s no one to overhear.”

  The students he was beginning to consider friends followed him up the hallway. They tried to press him for more details about what had happened, but the boy’s warning about people trying to track him down stayed centered in Breccan’s thoughts.

  “We’ll talk when it’s safe,” he reassured them. He paused by the door to his first class. “I’ve got to go. Catch you guys later.”

  He felt the stares of all three of them as he found his seat and turned to face the front of the classroom.

  “Did you hear about this Game Breaker?” the girl in front of him asked the student next to her.

  “Yeah, I saw him fight. And he’s cute, too,” the other girl replied.

  Their teacher, a black-haired, slender man who preferred to write in cursive on the front board even though most of the students struggled to read it, crossed to the center of the room. “Alright, students. Enough talk about the Edge. You know the rules.” He looked down the rows. “Conversations about the Edge should happen at the Edge, not in the classroom.” His severe demeanor lightened and he said, “But I watched the footage of the Hedron when Game Breaker won, and let me tell you, that was a fight for the history books.”

  Breccan’s smile refused to fade when Mr. Chantle transitioned into a lesson on the chemical composition of DNA.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “What did that boy mean when he said I was hanging out with a shell most of the time?” Breccan asked as they walked home.

  Minx and Jonny shared a look, but it was Murphy who replied in a know-it-all-tone, “A shell is an avatar without someone plugged into it.”

  Breccan’s steps slowed. “Wait. How is that possible?”

  “It’s the Edge,” Murphy replied. “Anything is possible.”

  Breccan looked at Jonny. “So you’re saying the girl….” He was unable to finish the sentence and let the words die away.

  “I’m afraid so,” Jonny replied.

  “Someone had to be plugged into her,” Breccan argued. “She was too real. She was funny, and smart, and…and….” His voice failed him at the expressions on their faces. “It’s impossible,” he concluded quietly. “You’re wrong.”

  Silence hung awkwardly in the air between them as the four made their way home. Minx broke it just as the Catlan apartment came into view.

  “There are a few ways to tell if she was a shell.”

  Breccan grabbed onto her words as if they were a lifeline. “Tell me, please.” He hated how desperate his voice sounded, but the thought that Jorie wasn’t real ate away at him. His experience with her was the most real he had felt since Garrick died. To tell himself it was all just some act within the Edge was too hard to accept.

  “Well, you said she was funny. It’s pretty hard for shells to pull off real humor,” Minx began.

  “That’s true,” Jonny seconded. “Shells are usually monotone and don’t attempt to hold conversations very often.”

  “Okay, good,” Breccan said, encouraged. “She definitely held full conversations, and I’m not the only one who felt like she was real. Everyone with us treated her like she was normal.”

  A warning note sounded in the back of his mind at his last words. Had the other avatars held conversations with her, or were they only talking to him with her there? But they had helped her find a dress and shoes, they had done her hair, and made her feel special. But was it because she was an avatar or because of Breccan’s ECs? He shoved the thought away and held onto the thread of hope Minx was trying to give. “What else?”

  “Shells typically just hang out in the background,” Minx continued. “They’re usually avatars that have been forgotten or abandoned. The Edge reanimates them as a way to people the levels and help them stay interesting and new. But they keep to themselves and generally repeat the same activities over and over like they’re following a script. Did you notice anything like that?”

  Breccan shook his head quickly. “No, she approached me.”

  “What were you doing?” Murphy asked.

  Breccan thought of how he had broken down when he couldn’t find Garrick. Embarrassment filled him at the thought of Jorie finding him sobbing against the impenetrable wall. He cleared his throat and said, “It doesn’t matter. But she was engaging and funny. She showed me around the Edge and taught me about the different levels.”

  “That’s definitely not a shell thing to do,” Minx said.

  Breccan’s spirits were beginning to lift. “Good,” he replied. “What else?”

  She fell silent, thinking.

  Murphy broke in and said, “Shells don’t have an LP. Did she have an LP?”

  “What’s an LP?” Breccan asked.

  Jonny held up his arm and pointed. “The levels panel that shows your ECs and stuff. Did she have one?”
/>   A knot formed in Breccan’s stomach.

  Minx looked at his face and forced a smile. “Hey, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes, it does,” Murphy insisted. “Shells don’t have an LP because they don’t have ECs and can’t level up. Shells are just empty, like ghosts. They’re nothing, really.”

  The lack of a panel on Jorie’s arm was something Breccan couldn’t deny. Murphy’s last words, “They’re nothing, really,” repeated over and over in his mind. He walked in a numb haze the rest of the way to the apartment. Whatever the others talked about failed to penetrate. He was surprised when he found himself looking up at the apartment building they shared with the Catlan family.

  “Catch you guys at Building Seven,” Jonny said.

  Murphy waved and continued on his way.

  Minx grabbed Breccan’s arm before he could follow his cousin up the stairs.

  “Hey,” she said.

  When he didn’t look at her, she gave his arm a hard shake.

  “What?” he asked quietly. He looked down into her light green eyes that were a pale shade compared to Black Jack’s glowing irises.

  “I think it’s nice you found someone to hang out with,” Minx told him.

  “Even if I fell for a shell?” Breccan replied with anger in his voice that he couldn’t hide.

  “Who says a shell is less real than an avatar?” Minx asked. “Maybe we’re all just shells.” She gave him a sad smile that reminded him of Jorie. “If she was real to you, hold onto that. If she sought you out, she probably needed you.”

  “Yeah, for my ECs,” Breccan replied. The bitterness in his tone was false. The way Jorie had acted let him know that she wasn’t after ECs. She had protested letting him buy anything for her. It was only after Sneedle jumped in and helped him argue with the salesmen and women at the Up and Ups that he was finally able to buy her a dress. He had thought it was because she owed a debt. He hadn’t even questioned her lack of LP and figured that maybe some avatars had found a way to hide their panels. He shook his head. “I’m an idiot.”

  Minx set a hand on his shoulder. The gesture surprised him. From what he had seen of the small girl, she was feisty and prickly at best, and downright scary at her worst. But the walls she carried fell, and he saw a depth to her that he hadn’t been privy to before.

  “I was duped my first time at the Edge.” She lowered her gaze, but kept her hand on his right shoulder. “I fell in love. He was cute, funny, and showed me all of the secrets at the Edge.”

  “What happened?” Breccan asked, his voice just above a whisper to match her own.

  She shook her head. “He asked me to give him my ECs. He said I wouldn’t need them. He promised to pay for everything and took me to the best entertainment the Edge has to offer.” Her voice lowered. “And then he left me there with both of our debts.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Breccan told her.

  Minx sighed. “I was stupid and gullible. We were dining at the Crystal Chandelier, and when he asked, I gave him my ECs thinking he would use them to help pay for us. Then he excused himself saying he had to take care of something.” She glared at the stairs beside them. “And he never came back. I was stuck serving others for months to pay off what we had spent.” Her cheeks blushed red when she admitted, “It was humiliating.”

  “I’m sorry that happened to you,” Breccan said.

  He could tell by her expression how much it had taken from her to tell him. He wondered if Jonny or Murphy knew. He doubted it.

  She looked up at him. “I’m not telling you my story to warn you away from this girl. I’m telling you because the moments I spent with Jagzy were some of the best of my life. Even though in the end I knew he had betrayed me, I can’t help thinking about how I felt when we were dancing in the stars, or laughing, or riding seahorses, or any of the cliché things that make up the perfect date.” She lowered her hand. “He may not have been his true self, but I experienced those moments as they came. I was swept away, I couldn’t stop smiling, and before I knew what his intentions were, I felt as if he really cared about me.” Her chin came up defiantly. “I might be foolish, but I hold onto those perfect moments in the hopes that someday I might feel that way again with someone who’s real.”

  “I don’t think you’re foolish at all,” Breccan told her. “I think you’re brave, and strong, and I want to beat Jagzy up for doing that to you.”

  Minx laughed. “Trust me, I looked for him for months to do exactly that, but he never appeared again. He must have used the avatar and thrown it away when it was useless to him. It happens all the time.”

  Breccan turned away from her. “And then they become shells.”

  Minx was quiet for a moment before she said, “I’m sorry, Breccan.”

  He nodded without looking at her. When she didn’t leave, he said the thing that had been bothering him. “But I still can’t convince myself that she was a shell. She was too real.” He thought of her smile. “She was too alive.”

  “Maybe she was something different,” Minx suggested.

  Breccan glanced at her over his shoulder. “You think so?”

  Minx shrugged. “Maybe. Strange things happen at the Edge, and that wouldn’t be the strangest. I can help you look for her tonight.”

  The thought of seeing Jorie again warmed Breccan’s heart. “But Jonny and Murphy can’t know.”

  “They wouldn’t know if you slapped them in the face with their own ignorance,” she replied.

  Breccan laughed. “What does that mean?”

  Minx grinned in return. “I have no idea, but it’s probably true.” She turned away. “Catch you tonight, Brec.”

  “See you then,” Breccan replied.

  He jogged up the stairs feeling a bit better. By the time they plugged in from the ratty chairs in dank Building Seven, hope had returned full force. Maybe Jorie had figured out how to hide her LP. Who cared about levels anyway? Maybe she was worried the Techsecs might find out, so she avoided them. He thought of her hiding behind him when the Count and Contessa neared. Perhaps she had felt the same worry about them. They definitely held some sort of power over the Edge. It wasn’t unbelievable to think they could destroy her avatar as easily as a Techsec.

  Jonny winked at him when they reached the Ready Room. “Now you’re an old pro,” he said. “You can add assets to your character for ECs, just don’t spend them all.” He grinned. “You owe me half, remember?”

  Minx opened her door, then looked at Jonny before walking through it. “Oh, did you beat the Battle Boss?”

  Jonny rolled his eyes. “No, but I told Breccan whatever he earned on his first day he had to split with me because I brought him here.”

  “Wait, so everything you made the first day you owe half of to me?” Murphy asked from his other side.

  “No, but—” Jonny began.

  “I brought you here, remember?” Murphy said.

  “Yeah, but I lost my first battle,” Jonny replied. His eyes lit up. “Hey, so you can foot half of my ECs! That means you owe me—”

  “Now wait a minute,” Murphy hedged. “That’s not how it works.”

  Minx shook her head and went inside her room. Breccan did the same. He shut his door to Jonny saying, “If it works that way for Brec, it should be the same for you.”

  “Except we didn’t make the deal,” Murphy was protesting when the door closed.

  The sight of the Ready Room wasn’t nearly as intimidating as before. Breccan surveyed the various avatar options feeling as though he had a much better handle on the situation than last night. One part of him wanted to browse the aisles for additional ways he could make his avatar cooler, but the other side of him chose to hurry and leave with the hope that he could find Jorie somewhere. The finality of her words didn’t sit well with him, and after the adventures they’d had the night before, it didn’t feel right not to include her in whatever the others wanted to do.

  Minx had promised to help look for her. No matter what she was, Bre
ccan refused to believe she was just a shell, and he was going to find her and prove it to the others.

  Breccan put his hand to the reader beside the door.

  “Which avatar would you like to retrieve?” the voice asked in monotone.

  “Game Breaker,” Breccan said.

  “State your password.”

  Breccan cringed inwardly when he replied, “Breccan rules the world.”

  A moment later, the voice invited, “Step inside,” as the glass slid up on the box where the avatar had first been created.

  Breccan did as instructed. When the glass door slid shut, he realized he was holding his breath. He let it out while steam filled the box. Tinging ran over his skin.

  “Welcome to the Edge,” the voice said.

  Breccan didn’t bother to look in the mirror before he went out. If an avatar was merely a shell, it didn’t matter what he looked like. He just wanted to make sure Jorie would recognize him. That was all he cared about. That and how good it felt to have his right arm back. He closed and opened his hand to remind himself that it was real, or as real as things got in the Edge.

  “Whoa.”

  Breccan looked up to find his three friends watching him.

  “I thought you said you just spoke to the Contessa,” Murphy said, his whiney voice pitched higher than usual which was even more hilarious coming from Rage Machine’s huge body.

  “I did,” Breccan replied. He wasn’t sure why they were all looking at him as if he had horns sprouting from his head. “Oh,” he said. It was because he actually did have horns sprouting from his head. He put a hand to them. “You’re talking about these.”

  “Of course that’s what we’re talking about!” Rage Machine replied. “Those are standing invitations to Topton and the castle! How on earth did you get them in one night?”

  Bullshark grabbed Breccan’s arm. “And look! His level is ninety thousand! That’s not even fair! If he gets another ten thousand points, he’ll be a Fifth!” He gave Breccan a skeptical look. “What else did you do after I left?”