Sadie’s entire body shook as she slumped to the ground. Ben Gray kidnapped her mom. Probably did something to her dad. She really was missing, and now this jackass was coming after her too if she didn’t return some dumb key. She hyperventilated and clung to a drawer handle till her knuckles turned white.

Mom was gone. Dad was gone. She was alone. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t even have a license to drive somewhere. And her suspension lasted for a week. She couldn’t even get into the game to find the stupid thing. Who steals a freaking key? God, she was screwed. And Mom. What was going to happen to Mom? What actually happened to Dad?

No. He was lying. Ben was lying. He had to be. Just playing some screwed-up game because he’s rich and bored with his buy-a-country wealth. Mom wasn’t missing missing. She was just presently not anywhere to be found.

But the deterioration event. That part was true. She’d never heard it called that before, but he probably meant when the tears formed at the end of the season. Those were occurring early, and it was something only BRINK engaged with. Others tried ages ago, but it always ended badly with lost items, avatars, and game saves.

Since the deterioration event was reoccurring, she assumed this key was used to end the event every season. But what did Ben mean Evarus would collapse on itself? Like the game would self-destruct?

And if only BRINK dealt with the deterioration event, she bet the key came from the Sky Fortress. They took it from there… which is the last place anyone saw PittPeng, Dad, in-game. God, her parents really were missing.

Did Mom even know where Dad went? Even if she knew anything, she wouldn’t tell Ben. No, as soon as Dad left, no disappeared, Mom ran them to Iowa. She probably assumed Ben had something to do with it.

The idea of Dad being out there, that he didn’t leave by choice, caused a whole new wave of hyperventilation. Is that why Mom locked herself away? Looking for Dad?

Blackbeard rubbed against her leg, and Sadie’s breath hitched. She took, long deep breaths to regain control.

According to this jerk, she had a week to return this key Dad apparently stole, or the whole video game collapses. Which didn’t really seem like a life-or-death scenario to justify kidnapping her mother. The way Ben talked about it made all of this seem bigger though, like it was more than just a video game. Alternatively, he was being a dramatic little bitch.

Either way, Mom was missing, and she needed to find that key. It likely came from the Sky Fortress itself. That’s the only place BRINK raided, and the only place they could access items not currently in the game. Considering she had no idea about any of this until two seconds ago, finding Mom seemed like the more reasonable path to take. Then Mom could help her find the key. If Dad really did steal it, they could team up together to look for him and the key.

But none of that mattered if she didn’t find a way back into the game. Or maybe Ben lifted her suspension. She ran to her room and checked her nerve gear. Nope. Still suspended.

She returned to Mom’s office and sat on the couch. What did he expect her to do?

PING. Sadie nearly fell off the couch. She hadn’t even realized the laptop was on. She wiggled the mouse, and the screen turned on. The message came from Pidgeon, an encrypted messaging app.

Vidar: Did you hear back from Ragarav?

Who in the world is Ragarav? Clearly an in-game name, but why not just message Mom in-game? She checked over her shoulder half expecting Mom to pop back up and scold her for being nosy despite everything Ben just said. Nothing. And empty air wasn’t going to get her answers.

She wiggled in her fingers and sucked in a breath.

QueenofPirates: No, you?

Sadie hesitated before hitting send. She hated how much Mom kept her out, but this was still her stuff. She’d hate if Mom came barreling into her room and just chatted with anybody that came up.

Vidar: Hope he hasn’t gone missing like the others, but I fear the worst.

A hand ripped through her chest and clutched her heart, squeezing all the air out until her lungs burned. Missing? Others? So Ben wasn’t lying about that either.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Her fingers trembled as she wrote, deleted, and retyped a new message.

QueenofPirates: Same, I think something happened.

Vidar: We always suspected this could happen with travel through the Gate app, but I’m with you. I think this is something else and possibly related to the deterioration event. Something happened to cause it to start this early

Gate app? If this guy knew about the deterioration event, he must be a brink player.

QueenofPirates: possibly something with the Glitch event

Ben said she couldn’t mention their little chat, but she could help connect dots and see what this guy gives her.

Vidar: Possibly. We need more info. Ben sprung this out of nowhere, so he either knows something or caused it himself. Figures

Good to confirm Ben is shady to everyone else too.

Vidar: Anyone else said anything on Ragarav?

QueenofPirates: Waiting on some reports back. You?

She paused, considering what she could get away with. She wondered if Ben could monitor or hack into these kinds of chats too, despite Pidgeon’s encryption protections.

QueenofPirates: And what about the key?

Maybe Vidar had more information about it.

Vidar: As far as I know, no one has found it in a raid yet.

So it is from the Sky Fortress, and apparently other people her parents talked to also knew about it? Wait, were these guys all BRINK?

While she waited for Vidar to finish his other reply, she searched Ragarav in Pidgeon’s friends list. A UK flag showed next to an Indian man with a kind face and slightly chubby cheeks. Last online showed nine days ago. Whipping out her phone, she checked the player registry, but no one named Ragarav existed, at least no one matching this guy. Okay, so he’s a brink player. Their usernames and avatars weren’t in the registry.

She googled the name Ragarav and BRINK. A few quick clicks revealed him as a Mage Outlaw specializing in high-grade rune mods operating out of Hicto.

She checked Vidar, same result. No matches in-game, and a google search pinged him as a Mech Raider who ran part of the Colosseum. Dude’s avatar looked like a love child between Thor and Loki with tattoo sleeves. Both of these dues were confirmed BRINK, so did that make Mom…. Nooooo way. Mom in a BRINK guild? Not possible.

She understood Dad. He played video games all the time. But MOM?

Sadie checked QueenofPirates. No results in the player registry. She grabbed the nerve gear off the wall and plugged it into the laptop to check her game stats. She leaned in to skim. Stats lower than hers. Thing2Million, the name Mom always used as player 2 to Dad’s Thing1Million.

Last logged in: one year, two months

Account status: banned

Def not playing with that account. And nerve gear only allowed one neural link per gear. Evarus VR said it was because of technical limitations, but it totally seemed like greed.

Hold up. Vidar was talking to her about the game, from activities this week. A quick search of the room turned up no other nerve gear. She leaned back in Mom’s chair, perplexed. Unless her gear was locked up in the filing cabinets, there was nothing else here.

Wait a minute.

Queen of Pirates. THE PirateQueen?

Absolutely not. The player she wanted to be like more than anyone in the world did not tell her to clean the bathroom and feed chickens and then go kick ass. No freaking way. Not possible.

Okay, breathe. Mom couldn’t have been gone for more than a few hours. She made ramen for herself, intending to come back. Ben really was kidnapping people—Mom and other brink players. But how? How was some dude in Canada having random people kidnapped? Well money, that’s how, but there was no sign of a struggle or break in.

It hurt to admit it—that Mom was missing. Kidnapped. Somehow. It didn’t help denying reality any longer or question what Ben said.

Ping.

Vidar: we’ve checked his normal spots and nothing. even did a check on irl place. up and disappeared just like all the rest. my outlaw contacts haven’t heard from him, but I did some more digging today. a reg complained about doing a deal in Hicto for a banned weapon mod and then wasn’t able to contact the seller a half hour later. Sounds like Ragarav

Maybe learning about what happened to this dude would help her find Mom, or at the very least someone there who contacted him more recently could provide some answers. The Hidden Caves Trading Outpost, or Hicto as everyone called it, was pretty easy to get to if she wasn’t freaking suspended.

Stop. She couldn’t think like that. Think. Ben wouldn’t have said all that if there wasn’t a way to get back in the game. Get some more info from Vidar then figure out how to get back in the game. Simple.

QueenofPirates: Location? I’ll have one of my crew go and look around again.

Vidar: Sending you a marker in-game to pass along

Great. The marker was no help since she couldn’t actually log into Mom’s game, but she had a name and a location to investigate at least.

But that still left so many questions. Why were brink players going missing? Was Ben behind all of them or just her Mom? How are people disappearing in real life? Where was Mom’s gear?

And if Mom had no other nerve gear, how did Mom play the game?

Travel through the Gate App.

Okay, new game plan. Find the Gate App, whatever that was, get back into the game, investigate the Ragrav dude for clues on missing players, find out where Ben was keeping Mom, grill her on Dad, then find the key. Totally easy.