The weeks flew past, and Jennet felt as though she was living two lives—the depressingly mundane one of Jennet Carter, and the rich, lively adventures of Fair Jennet in Feyland. She’d faced off against ogres, fought basilisks, spoken with ethereally beautiful faerie maidens, and completed some of the strangest quests. Things like sorting out a big pile of lentils and rice, or falling down a well and talking to animals.

There was one creature who kept showing up, a Non-Player-Character with ratty hair and a tattered dress who tried to get Jennet to do pointless quests. The creature reminded Jennet too uncomfortably of the ’shipper girl at school, so she tried to avoid the NPC whenever possible. Easy enough to do—the world of Feyland was full of levels and layers. Completing the Deep Forest had taken her most of a week, and that was with hours a day in-game.

When Jennet wasn’t playing Feyland, she was thinking about it. She spent the evenings poring over Tales of Folk and Faerie, so much that Dad even noticed.

Thomas came over for dinner a few times, and Jennet couldn’t help asking him questions about the book; trying to find out what she could about Feyland without being obvious. He gave her searching looks, but answered. Sometimes the answer made no sense, but she didn’t want to push it. Thomas was suspicious enough as it was.

Weekends were the worst. Barred from her secret FullD playing, she wasted time on Screenie games and counted the hours until Dad left for work again. Once, she messaged Taree, but her ex-friend didn’t bother responding. So much for that.

The only other thing for her to do was take her g-board out. Their neighborhood had a local park with half-pipes and ramps. She wasn’t the best boarder, but she knew some tricks—which put her in the uncomfortable, solitary ground between the newbies and the prime riders.

When she arrived at the park, she made a quick scan for Kenzer. Her heart gave a crazy bump when she saw him at the far side, doing half-flips with ease. The afternoon light gleamed off his helmet, and she squinted, trying to see his face.

This time she’d talk to him.

But by the time she worked up her nerve to go over, he’d merged with a group of his friends and they were already heading out, talking and laughing as they left the concrete half-pipes and ramps behind. Jennet clutched her g-board, the edges digging into her hands, and watched as Kenzer and the others piled into a new-model grav-car. The car lifted smoothly and pulled away.

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So much for that. At least the park was quieter now, with fewer kids to notice as she tried out some new moves. An hour later, the sun was low enough to make her squint every time she turned around. Still, it hadn’t been a total waste. She’d figured out the board-flip move, even if she had a few bruises to show for it.

When she got home, she stowed her board and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. After that, she needed a shower to wash the faint stickiness of sweat off her skin and hair.

“Jennet?” her dad called as she passed the open study door, “could you come in here, please?”

Apprehension zinged through her, drying her throat. Had he found out she’d been sneaking onto the FullD?

“Sure.” She tried to keep her voice nonchalant.

She stepped into the room and perched on one of the blue upholstered chairs facing the desk. Lacing her hands together, she gave her dad a smile meant to look innocent.

“I have some news.” He paused and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Something jagged and bright flashed through her. Had he actually heard from her mother, after all these years? She leaned forward. Sunlight sliced through the slatted blinds at the window, falling like promises across the disheveled papers on his desk.

“VirtuMax wants to relocate all the senior employees,” he said, and Jennet sat back, swallowing disappointment. Not her mother. Never her mother.

“Relocate? To where?”

Maybe it would be a big city, or somewhere with beaches. Middland was all right, as far as medium-sized cities went, but there were more exciting places to live in the world.

“Crestview,” he said.

Jennet felt her brows pull together. “Crestview? Where’s that? I’ve never even heard of it.”

“Not many people have.” He steepled his fingers and gave her a weary smile. “It’s in the middle of the country, a smallish city compared to here. But the backbone of the ‘net runs right through, making it ideal for VirtuMax.”

Probably the podunk little town had offered bribes and incentives, too. After all, VirtuMax was the biggest gaming company in the world.

“I don’t really want to move.” Not that she had a lot going on here, but Prep was a great school, and she loved singing in the concert youth choir. Eventually she and Taree would start speaking again. And how would Kenzer ever notice her if she left?

“I don’t want to be separated from you, Jennet, but I don’t want to uproot you, either. Prep has a boarding option.”

“Wait, you’d just leave me here? Alone?” The thought rose up to choke her. She’d already had one parent abandon her.

“Honey. I only want what’s best for you. I’d miss you a lot, but Crestview doesn’t have much to recommend it. VirtuMax is building an intentional neighborhood for the staff—but right now very few of the amenities are in place. Until the VirtuMax school is built, you’d have to attend the local high school. There’s no choir, none of the kind of cultural activities you’re used to.”

Great. Accept abandonment, or go with Dad to the backside of nowhere. Neither choice appealed.

“I’ll think about it.”

He nodded. “It’s still a few months out. We’ll figure it out.”

She didn’t want to figure it out. She wanted to crawl back inside the game, where winning was practically guaranteed, and where troubles didn’t cling to her like viscous shadows, darkening everything.

“All right,” she said. Though it wasn’t.