Chapter 51: Albie Watching
Lena and I sat on comfortable metal chairs, picking at ham and chicken sandwiches that we could, technically, afford.
Erin had suggested we meet at the Lil Coffea Shop on Downing, a couple blocks between the park and her dorm. When I searched it to make sure she hadn’t typoed, a glance at the prices made me wince. An hour ago I would’ve found some excuse to delay. The payment for my web work had been deposited in my PayPal in the morning, but I wouldn’t have chosen to spend it trying out a new cafe.
If Erin was going to tell us something about Albie, on the other hand?
Especially if the news wasn’t good?
I’d eat South Denver’s most expensive sandwich. These? Just a little out of our price range. I think they were worth it, but I’d be lying if I said I noticed the taste while we waited for Erin to speak.
I mean, I waited.
Lena leaned so far over the table, I figured it had to be bolted down to not tip over. “Are you going to tell us, or what?”
Erin picked at her salad. “I really think we ought to eat first.”
“Makes one of us.”
“I don’t think your friend is in any danger!” Erin’s fork rattled against her bowl. “I’m sorry. The more I think about it, that’s an absurd thing for me to say.”
Which really fired up my appetite, as you can imagine.
“Just tell us, Erin,” I said. “Whatever it is, we need to understand before we can try to help.”
“That’s the trouble,” Erin said. “I don’t understand it at all.”
“Start at the beginning.” I couldn’t believe how calm my voice sounded. I’d let go of the sandwich because I was afraid my fingers would crush it. Now I started to worry about the wrought iron of the table.
Erin nodded. She shuffled bread on the edge of her bowl. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
“The first thing I did was search the name Albie in connection with local schools for all the grades she could plausibly have been in. That didn’t turn up anything. So I tried with a bunch of related names, in case that was a diminutive. I think it probably is, by the way, because that’s the main way I’ve seen it used. It seems it’s often a boy’s nickname? Anyway, none of that turned anything up.”
She paused for a breath.
Lena spread her hands. “Okay, then what?”
“I tried a reverse image search,” Erin said. “She’s quite a distinctive looking little girl, but nothing that I turned up matched the photo you showed me. Her dog is, if anything, even more unusual. I couldn’t find a breed like him. Is he really as big as he looks in the picture?”
“No,” I said. “He’s even bigger. He jumped on me at one point and it was like getting in the way of a friendly bear.”
Erin smiled, briefly. “Well, in any case, the image search didn’t work, either. I tried the same roster of names on social media and none of them turned up a person who seemed like they would’ve been in that age group and in the Denver Metro area at the time.”
“You’re telling us a lot about how you didn’t find Albie,” Lena said.
Erin drew in on herself. “Just trying to start at the beginning.”
“It’s fine,” I said. It wasn’t. “Keep going.”
“Finally,” Erin said, “I thought, it sounds like there’s some connection between Albie and the developers. Since she had such advanced techniques early in the game. She might be someone’s daughter or little sister – you mentioned a brother, yes?”
I nodded.
“And I think that might be true, which on some levels makes the rest more concerning rather than less, if I’m being totally honest.” Erin tapped her chin. “Although it might mean she’s safer than I feared.”
“The rest?” Lena loomed over the table, which took some doing at her height.
If this went much longer, I’d have to pull her off Erin.
If it went much longer, I might not pull her off.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Erin met Lena’s gaze. “Once I started looking for a girl by that description in a Third Eye context, I finally got hits about her.”
That sounded great. Except for Erin’s tone, and her expression. And, you know. The entire conversation.
I didn’t relax and neither did Lena, but at least she withdrew to our side of the table.
“She’s been mentioned several times.” Erin looked down at the table. “I found four different accounts of a girl with aquamarine hair, accompanied by a huge dog.”
“Fantastic,” Lena said. “So what’s the problem?”
“Those descriptions,” Erin said, “were of someone who invaded, and crushed, players in Cleveland, Seattle, Osaka, and Melbourne.”
We stared at her.
She shifted in her chair.
Lena’s fingers drummed on the table. Finally, she said, “Osaka? Like, in Japan?”
Erin nodded.
“And Melbourne, Australia?” I asked.
Another nod.
I glanced at Lena, but she looked as bamboozled as I felt. I was pretty sure you could fly to those places within three days, but you wouldn’t get much else done. I said, “So you think Albie’s, what? Jetting around the world getting into random PVP?”
“Forget about the travel,” Lena said. “Albie wouldn’t do that. You didn’t meet her, Erin. She wasn’t like that at all. Sure, she got a kick out of trolling Cam, but who wouldn’t?”
I gave Lena a look, but she ignored me and I couldn’t pretend to be offended.
“Apart from that,” Lena continued, “she was the sweetest little thing you’d ever meet. Kind, helpful, generous. Right?”
“Right.” My quadruple-digit HP and MP were testaments to how generous Albie had been. “Admittedly, she did beat me in Third Eye PVP.”
“It sure as hell wasn’t an invasion,” Lena snapped.
I spread my hands. “No, I agree. I don’t believe Albie would just go around attacking people. That’s nothing like how she behaved.”
“Who are these assholes claiming she did?” Lena slammed her fist on the table. Our plates rattled.
Erin and I both glanced into the interior of the cafe, where the barista had started frowning at us. I flashed a smile and he didn’t look mollified.
“Whoever they are,” Lena said, “I bet they tried to invade Albie. Then when she kicked their asses, because of course she would, they went running online to shout ‘plz nerf!’ I get my hands on ‘em they’ll find out what OP really looks like.”
I clasped Lena’s arm and squeezed. “We don’t even know if they’re really talking about Albie.”
After a moment she batted at my hands, but sank back into her chair, shoulders hunched, glaring.
“These ‘assholes,’” Erin said, “are people who were using the invasion report system I’ve set up. It’s not immune to abuse, as I’m sure you know. Aren’t you the ones who said I had to trust people, though? Or at least try to?”
“Not if they’re talking shit about Albie.” Lena sighed. She picked up her sandwich, tore a piece off and gnashed it. She muttered, “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“I completely agree,” Erin said. “But I’m not sure it makes as little sense as you think.”
I watched Lena’s eyebrow creep up. Watched very carefully. “Lena. Let’s hear her out.”
“Let’s,” Lena said, around a mouthful of ham and chicken and clenched teeth.
“The only incident that had details, beyond just the description of the invader, was the one in Melbourne,” Erin said. “The poster described the attack as terrifying, like something out of a horror movie, but it wasn’t because the girl was being aggressive or cruel. It was just creepy because she appeared suddenly and insisted on playing a game. The game of course being Third Eye, which she very definitively won.”
Lena shot a glance at me.
I took a moment and took a bite of my sandwich. I chewed, sandwich and thoughts alike. I said, “Albie did love playing with me. If she doesn’t think invasion PVP is a bad thing – which makes sense, if she’s related to one of the devs; they clearly don’t and would want to convince her – then all Erin is really describing is Albie trying to play with other people.”
“And all of them got freaked out by it?” Lena asked. “I don’t buy it. She was almost too polite to tell you that you were shit with Air, much less to attack you!”
“The only ones who got freaked out are the ones who posted about it,” I said. “Somebody who thought, ‘Sure, I’ll have a match with this girl,’ and then they lost and were impressed and went on with their day? They wouldn’t have posted on Erin’s site.”
Lena stewed on this while she took another bite. “And she’s jetting around the world doing this... why, exactly?”
“Traveling with her brother, maybe? Remember, she knew she wasn’t going to be at the park again the day after.”
“That bothers me in and of itself,” Erin said. “I know Third Eye seems to have limitless resources, but what is an indie developer doing flying around in the first place? Assuming that Albie is indeed traveling with her brother, and he’s one of the devs?”
Lena glanced at me. “What about that other theory you had, Cam?”
“I don’t think Albie’s brother is a dev,” I said. “I think he’s somebody who swept in with extra financial backing after the end of the Kickstarter. Venture capitalist, techbro type.”
“And he’s given his sister a head start on the game so she has something to do while he travels for business?” Erin asked.
“It was the best theory I could come up with,” I said. “Albie had a Potion. She gave it to me after I lost our game of catch. Or our PVP match, if you want to look at it that way. She said her brother made the Potion. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t even seen them outside of the shop before.”
“Wow.” Erin took a bite of her salad. She frowned down at it. “I suppose it’s a nice thing to do for your little sister. Certainly a nice thing for Albie to do for you! I wish this wasn’t what she thought was the right way to play, though.”
“She doesn’t,” Lena said.
Erin and I both looked at her.
She met our gazes. No anger in hers, not even annoyance. Calmly, she said, “I know she doesn’t.”
“It’s nice that you want to vouch for her,” Erin said, “but how can you be so certain?”
“Because The Magnificent Ashbird and her lovely assistant said it wasn’t the right way.” Lena grabbed the rest of her sandwich and stood up. “And Albie is our number one fan.”