A blanket lay half kicked off the putrid green sofa as if Mom rushed up from a nap. Her headset dangled off the desk next to a full bowl of ramen.

“M-mom?” Sadie’s voice shook, and her legs felt like jello. She scrutinized the room, looking it over at least ten times. No one else was there. “Where are you?” she whispered.

She had to be here. How could she not? Where could she have gone?

Locked steel filing cabinets filled one corner. An Ikea desk with a laptop filled the far wall underneath the window. Dusty nerve gear hung on the wall. Weights sat off the rack in one corner, and Sadie still didn’t understand why her parents became weirdly obsessed with fitness a year ago. Sadie checked the floorboards for any marks showing sliding furniture or walls, like in the spy movies. Clean, clean, and claim. She snorted at herself. Just a stupid, normal office.

So why was her totally normal mom in their boring corn surrounded town getting creepy phone calls before up and disappearing somehow?

Maybe she took a walk. Yeah, that had to be it. Just a walk.

She picked up a framed pic of her, Mom, and Dad throwing up peace signs in front of the Lincoln Memorial and rubbed her thumb across it. Dad took that photo when she was nine. He wore a Totoro shirt she still had in her dresser.

Sighing, she went to watch TV to wait for Mom to return from her highly suspicious walk, at which time she would have a dozen questions to answer.

The glow of the tablet in the kitchen caught her eye. A new message icon showed over the email app.

Should she open it? Oh my god. Was it the creepy guy?

Technically, it was immoral, possibly illegal, to open up someone else’s mail, but more seriously, Mom would kill her dead. On second thought, if Mom didn’t watch private messages to be opened, it shouldn’t be going to the family tablet. She tapped on the mail icon and opened the message.

Sender: [email protected]

Subject: Request regarding BRINK

Body: Please find the documents requested regarding Evarus VR. A link followed.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

What? Why was Mom requesting that? Did the guy she hung up on work for Evarus VR? She clicked the link, but nothing happened.

“Good evening,” a voice from her TV said.

Sadie nearly jumped out of her shorts, but she kept from yelping. Ben, the creator of Evarus VR, smiled at her from the TV. He looked just like his interviews: deep-set brown eyes, brown hair styled with a bit too much gel, gangly limbs, and remarkably dorky. But he looked paler, nearing ghost-white levels.

“You must be the youngest Wall, Sadie,” Ben said.

Sadie frowned. “How are you on my TV?”

Ben looked down at his phone. “Ah, Iowa. I was wondering where Rachel ran off to.”

Oh my god. The link. She let this guy hack into their home. Don’t click on suspicious links is, like, the most basic of internet rules, and she fell for it.

“That would never work forever. How is your mother in the organic world?”

A chill ran down her spine. Is this the real reason they abruptly moved to Iowa? The creator of Evarus VR was after Mom for something?

“I see you’re just as chatty as Rachel. That’s okay. I had planned to speak with her directly, but plans went better than expected.”

“What plans?” The worked squeaked out as she feared the worst.

“She speaks!” He smiled and dimples formed. They didn’t fit the chills running through her body. “The plans to return what Edward stole from me.”

Edward. Her father. “What could he have stolen? He’s just a teacher, and he’s never even been to Canada.” As far as she knew, Evarus VR’s company only had an office in Toronto.

Ben waved his finger, and she realized the answer before he spoke. “The former top player in the pirate guild is not just a teacher.”

PittPeng. The player who dropped off the face of the Earth months ago. Around the same time when Dad left without a word or a goodbye. When they abruptly moved to Iowa. Her mind spun. She needed to sit down and instead grabbed the counter for support.

What was going on? What happened to Dad? And did he seriously name his avatar after a hockey team?

“Why are you here?” She asked instead.

“Ah, yes. A message. The Wall family is responsible for stealing a key from me.”

“A… key?”

“A very special key in Evarus. Your mother failed to tell me where Edward Wall is or the key. It is somewhere within Evarus,, so you will return what he stole from the Sky Fortress.”

This guy did not sound like a nineteen-year-old. He spoke like a dramatic movie villain. She opened her mouth to speak, and he held up his hand. Which only pissed her off. She spoke anyway. “If it’s a game item, just making a copy and leave my family alone.”

“Ah. I see your parents haven’t told you much. I cannot simply make a copy. Think of the key like an important singular line of code holding together a gigantic program. You remove the key, and the program stops working.”

“Meaning…?”

“The deterioration event has begun. The Glitch event is intended to hide this fact from average players, but I’m sure by now BRINK has figured it out. If the key is not returned, Evarus will collapse on itself. Your parents will have caused its end. The fate that befell your father will befall all brink members currently in the game, including those missing. You have one week.”

The TV clicked off. A second later, it clicked back on.

“Oh, one more thing,” Ben said. A smarmy smile smeared his face. “While BRINK are aware of the deterioration, if you tell any other players about our little chat, you’ll never see your mom again.” He waved. “Have a nice day.”

The TV shut off again.