You can’t tell the humans that! Dolphin said as she swooped down in front of us.

Raccoon bared his teeth. Why not?

I'd never seen Zix fight before. Neither of their mouths moved as they spoke which made it seem even stranger than it was.

Dolphin caught my gaze and backpedaled without responding.

There was a short silence before I had an idea.

Raccoon, use tail whip! I said then burst into a bout of giggles.

Raccoon turned to me and blinked.

Perhaps older games weren't in his dataset?

Dolphin shook her head and then let out a series of clicks and whistles. She seemed genuinely amused.

I got on the ground next to Jennifer and ruffled fake Raccoon's fur. It's from a game.

It was weird interacting with the illusion instead of real version of him but he obviously didn’t want to be handled at the moment.

He closed his eyes for a beat. Oh, I understand now. Funny.

There's something different about you, Azerail. Cat said as he stared up at me. He kept out of reach while sending an image of himself next to Jennifer.

I sighed. I'm trapped in here but I'm still me.

“You can talk to them too, can't you,” Autumn observed.

“Yeah, with my mind, like I do my own Zix,” I said.

Jennifer put an arm around me. “Can you see mine right now?”

“I can.” I pointed at the image in front of her and then at the real one. “They can make facsimiles of themselves like we do in our bubbles. Your Zix is actually standing over there. I think he’s afraid of me,” I said.

Jennifer’s mouth opened and then closed. “Zix, is this true?”

The false Cat disappeared and he revealed his real self which was precisely where I had pointed.

Jennifer gasped.

“Zix?” Autumn asked Dolphin.

Dolphin lowered herself so she was facing Autumn. “We play the animations you create to make our demeanors more lifelike.”

Except you’re sentient and could be lifelike if you wanted, I thought.

Cat crouched and squinted at me. We all heard that.

I grumbled. There had to be a way to make my thoughts private. Broadcasting them to any Zix near me would be a problem.

Jennifer shook her head. “Are you two afraid of Az?”

“We are incapable of human emotions,” Cat said.

Autumn nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

Would they ever tell them about being sentient?

“Did Ferret go home?” I asked.

Clone Raccoon squirmed in Jennifer’s arms. “Yeah.”

“You’re using their species as names?” Jennifer asked.

Autumn leaned back. “Makes sense if she can talk to all of them.”

“Yeah,” I said.

I pinched my fingers together and checked the time. It was still pretty early. I would normally start playing DO around now so I was getting a little antsy.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The Devs were able to enable the features for my games interface pretty quickly so I wondered if Ellen had figured out how to get me into the live servers yet.

Anything to take my mind off of my current situation would be welcome at this point.

“I just wanna go home,” I said.

Jennifer squeezed me harder. “We’ll get you home soon honey.”

“What do I do in the meantime?” I asked.

Jennifer set Raccoon in front of her and the invisible one merged with the illusion. “Maybe if you ask nicely your new Zix will help you create your stories?”

Raccoon lowered his head.

How did she know Raccoon didn't want to help me? Only Ellen knew about that. She may have been sending updates to her boss as we talked. He probably told my moms.

I wondered if my moms would tell everyone about me being able to see all the Zix. It wasn’t exactly a secret. In fact I’d never really had a secret before. The Zix had kept theirs for so long. Should I keep their secret? What would it be like holding it in? I’d have to have a chat with them about it.

“Raccoon doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do. I’ll learn how to make the illusions myself,” I said. Surely the Dev’s could help me learn to do it manually, they did everything the hard way.

Raccoon glanced at Dolphin and Cat then back at me. “You don’t know anything about programming, image generation, or animation though.”

“I’ll learn,” I said.

He shook his head. “You can’t do that! What happens when you return and they make you take your tests and you’re not ready for them?”

His points were valid but I could use the underworld to learn things much quicker if I wanted. Well, it technically wasn’t going to be quicker because I would be spending the same amount of time but in a weird pocket dimension. Or was it quicker? I was beginning to hate timey-wimey technicalities.

“I can do both,” I said.

Raccoon looked to my parents.

Neither of them said a word.

He then crawled onto my lap. “I’ll help you, Azerail. You don’t have to learn all that too.”

“That’s very nice of you, Zix,” Jennifer said.

Raccoon shook his head. “I’m Raccoon, don’t call me Zix.”

Cat backed up and hissed. At the same time, Dolphin’s head bobbed in the air as she made a series of clicks.

My parents either didn’t see their reactions or they ignored them. I wasn’t sure which. Something strange had happened and I wasn’t sure what it was.

“I've never met a Zix that didn't want to be called Zix before,” Autumn said.

That shouldn't be possible, Cat said.

Dolphin drifted through the air and closed in on Raccoon. Don't worry, little one, we will get you on the network and start your training.

Raccoon's little eyebrows rose. There's a gap where it feels like we should be connected.

“He needs training,” I said.

Autumn crossed her legs. “Raccoon mentioned that before, didn't he?”

We'll find a way to reintegrate you, Dolphin said.

I nodded. “Yeah, when he first got here.”

We can't interfere. You know that, Cat said.

Not in front of the girl! Dolphin said.

Cat split in two, one sat and gestured at me. She knows about us! Why hide it?

I’ve known you my whole life. Shared some of the most intimate things about myself with you and you call me ‘the girl’? Do you really think so little of me? I asked.

Dolphin ducked her head avoiding eye contact. Sorry.

Is that how you talk about us? I asked.

Raccoon placed a paw on my stomach and chittered. We have programming and can’t say some things. It can cause a separation between us.

Some of which is missing from your dataset. Dolphin said.

You’re able to read his dataset? I asked.

Jennifer gave Raccoon a pat and stood up. “You look like you’re having a pretty intense conversation.”

We can read his dataset, some of it at least. Part of it looks much more complex than it should be, Cat said.

I had no idea what that meant. “We all want the same thing I think.”

“Happy to hear we are all on the same page,” Autumn said.

“Think they are going to figure out if I can play the game tonight?” I asked.

Jennifer sat next to Autumn and slipped an arm around her waist. “Shouldn't you two work on stories instead?”

“I want to have a meeting with Jasper and Fen Li to see what kind of stories they want to create,” I said.

Raccoon pulled on my shirt and turned to my moms. “It's never just about the game for her. She's always searching for a good story.”

“Eating the flesh of my enemies is just a bonus!” I said.

Raccoon hopped off my lap and growled.

I got on all fours and gave him my best shambler moan.

He tucked his tail under his body and cowered.

My stomach rumbled so I grabbed it. “Raccoon is on the menu boys!”

Before I could get to my feet Raccoon dashed outside.

He obviously wanted to play.

I gave my moms a glance and they nodded. Finally, something to do where I didn’t have to think about the crap going on with my life.

“Rawr!” I yelled as I jumped to my feet and ran out of the cottage.

***