“The Oracle?” Saffie whispered. “What do you know about it?”

“If you let me in, I’ll tell you,” said Nate.

Saffie crossed her arms. Seeing Nate perched there on her windowsill was making her feel uncomfortable. What if he had lied to her in the park about being a new player? What if it was actually him that had cast the spell on Dax? Had he put Dax into a coma specifically so he could steal the scroll?

“How do you know where I live?” she said suspiciously.

“I looked you up online,” said Nate. “Saffie Sparkes. Your address came up right away.”

“Really?” said Saffie. She made a mental note to sort that out when all this was over. She narrowed her eyes. “You know, the person who put my uncle into the coma climbed Oakley just like you did.”

“Oakley?” said Nate.

“The tree.”

“Wait - you think I cast the spell on your uncle? That’s ridicul- look, if I did, why would I be here trying to help you get him out of it?”

Saffie didn’t have an answer to that question.

Nate suddenly screwed up his face and groaned.

“What’s the matter?” Saffie asked him.

“I kinda wasn’t expecting you to not let me in. This position is really taking its toll on my calf muscles.”

Saffie took a deep breath and glanced at her bedroom door. She couldn’t hear any movement from her parents.

“Okay,” she said. “But you have to be super quiet, you hear?”

Nate dropped to her carpet with a thud that made Saffie cringe.

“Are you okay?” she said as he grimaced.

“Perfect,” he replied, doing a couple of squats to stretch his legs. It was the second time Saffie had noticed him saying ‘perfect’ in reply to her asking him if he was okay.

“Why do you always say ‘Perfect?’” she asked curiously. “Why don’t you just say ‘Yeah,’ like everyone else?”

Nate shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’ve always said it. I guess it’s because I’m alive. And that’s perfect.”

Saffie knew it was probably just because of the whole situation with the scroll in the park, but she found it quite irritating.

“Okay, the Oracle,” Saffie pressed, brushing it aside. “What do you know?”

“Well, when I left the park I learned about the guilds and I went and became a member of the Warrior’s Guild. Have you heard of the guilds?”

“Yeah, I got an invite to the Mage’s guild and I went and joined earlier today.”

“You got an invite?” Nate said, cocking his head back.

“Yeah, didn’t you get one from the Warrior’s Guild?”

“No, I just turned up and asked to join.”

“Oh,” said Saffie. “That’s… kind of awkward.”

Nate looked mightily offended. “I destroyed that growlem’s gemstone with my dagger! You’d think that would be impressive enough to get me an invite. Anyway,” he continued, looking a little dejected, “I overheard this guy in the guild tavern saying something about an Oracle being on Tusker Rock.”

“Tusker Rock?” said Saffie. “What’s that?”

“Apparently this little island off the coast of South Wales.”

“The coach ticket…” Saffie said to herself.

“What coach ticket?” said Nate.

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“Just… talking to myself,” Saffie replied. “Did you hear anything else?”

“No, but I asked the guy about it, and he gave me this.”

Nate pulled a scrawny piece of lined paper from his pocket with an illustration on it of an angelic looking woman holding her arms out, her hands cupped as if waiting to receive a gift.

“The Oracle is a statue,” he said. “It stands in the centre of this island, and even though it’s difficult to get there, players from all over the world make the trip. It’s said that if you place a weapon in the Oracle’s hands, she imbues it with energy. That Onyx thing that your uncle mentioned - I think it’s a weapon. And I think he wanted you to give it extra power.”

Saffie tried to process the information as quickly as she could.

“Do you have the Onyx?” Nate asked.

“No,” Saffie admitted. “It was stolen from his apartment.”

“Oh man,” said Nate.

“Yeah…” Saffie mumbled, trying to ignore her rising anxiety. “Okay, well… thanks. Now you’d better go before my parents hear us talking and barge on in here. They won’t let me have a lock on my room. And I’m sure your parents aren’t happy about you being out this late at night. Where do you even live?”

“Camden,” said Nate. “And my parents think I’m tucked up in bed right now.”

Saffie didn’t know whether to be impressed or concerned that Nate had snuck out of his house and walked all the way from Camden, which would have taken him at least forty minutes, just to give her this information, but she had to admit she was grateful for it. “Can you let me know if you hear anything else?” she said, reaching for her mobile phone. “A text will do.”

“I don’t need your mobile number,” said Nate. “Come here.”

“What?”

“Trust me,” he assured her, and positioned himself in the centre of the bedroom. “I need you to stand right in front of me.”

With one eyebrow raised, Saffie stepped towards Nate, who extended an arm and placed his hand behind her head. It seemed like he was about to go in for a kiss.

“What are you doing?” Saffie snapped.

“Shhh,” he said softly, and applied gentle pressure to bring their foreheads together. As their skin connected, a blue glow emanated at the point of contact, and a sensation like nothing Saffie had ever felt before travelled all the way down her neck and into her chest, then through her arms and legs until it reached the tips of her fingers and her toes, making them tingle slightly.

Nate released the pressure and they stood there looking at each other.

“What did that do?” Saffie asked.

A smile crept up the right side of Nate’s mouth as two lines of text suddenly appeared in the top left of Saffie’s vision.

You are now connected to NATE via Overworld Messaging.

NATE: Pretty cool, huh?

Despite being unimpressed by Nate grabbing her head, Saffie had to admit it was pretty cool.

“How do I send a message back?” she asked.

“Just think of the words ‘Message Nate’ and then think whatever you want to say to me.”

Saffie closed her eyes and concentrated. A moment later, a new line popped up underneath Nate’s.

SAFFIE: Please don’t ever do that again.

“Don’t need to,” Nate said out loud. “We’re connected forever.”

“Oh,” said Saffie. “Well, let me know as soon as you hear-”

She cut her sentence short as a sharp voice on the other side of her bedroom door interrupted her.

“Saffie, who are you talking to in there?”

Saffie slapped her hand over her mouth and said through her fingers, “It’s my mum!”

Nate’s eyes widened and locked on the window.

“There’s no time!” Saffie said, knowing he’d never be able to clamber out before her mum entered. In a panic, she opened her wardrobe, and shoved Nate inside, with Talia swooping in after him.

“Ouch!” came a muffled cry as she slammed the doors shut on them both.

Holly opened the bedroom door and eyed Saffie up and down.

“Darling, it’s almost midnight. What in heaven’s name are you doing?”

“I was… I was…” she couldn’t think of a logical excuse. She had to play full crazy. “Dancing.”

“Dancing?” her mum said.

Saffie put her arms around an imaginary dancing partner and began waltzing around the room.

“Honey,” said Holly. “You’re not starting the… imaginary friend thing again, are you?”

Saffie immediately began saying “What? No, of course n-” then realised this would be the perfect excuse.

“You know what? Ya got me,” she said, holding up her hands as if she was about to be arrested. “Guilty as charged. Yep, just playing with my old buddies.”

Her mum gave a long and exasperated sigh, and Saffie noticed that a bit of Nate’s jacket was poking out of the bottom of the wardrobe. If her mum saw it, she’d know there was someone hiding in there.

Saffie reacted before she’d thought about it logically by extending her left leg and stamping on the fabric. She realised it would have looked to her mum like she had suddenly decided to lunge.

“What on earth are you doing now?” said Holly.

“I’m… um… stretching,” said Saffie, maintaining her position.

“Saffie,” Holly said, her eyes glowering, “Beatrix and the other girls in your year have finally accepted you. If they see you acting all… weird, they’re not going to like you any more and you’ll be cast out of their group. This oddness HAS to stop, okay?”

“No more weirdness from me,” Saffie smiled, slowly sliding her other leg towards the wardrobe, so she was standing upright again. She leaned back against the wardrobe doors and gulped when there was the creak of wood as Nate shifted his weight.

Luckily her mum was too distracted by lamenting for Saffie’s social status to have noticed it.

“Go to bed,” Holly said eventually, and left the room muttering something under her breath about where she’d gone wrong.

Saffie exhaled and opened the wardrobe doors.

“Imaginary friends, huh?” said Nate, getting up from the base and clambering out.

“Just get out of here before my mum comes back!” Saffie hissed. She slid the window up and Nate hopped through, Talia close behind. She watched as he shimmied down Oakley, jumped the fence, and disappeared into the darkness of the street, then she collapsed onto her bed and closed her eyes, feeling Acorn pounce onto her chest and curl up into a ball.

She really needed to get some sleep.

She had a big day ahead of her.