Feyland: The First Adventure by Anthea Sharp Read Free Book Online Page B

figure this out.
    “Your time has run, Fair Jennet. Speak your final answer.”
    She opened her eyes, to see that the Dark Queen had risen to her feet. A single candle burned between them.
    “I…”
    Panic banged through her, like a hundred doors slamming shut. The watching creatures grew still and silent. Even the wind quieted, waiting. She had to answer.
    “Is it ... a dream?” The words floated from her mouth and hovered there, just beyond her lips.
    In the silence that followed, Jennet felt shadows gathering closer. Dread crawled through her, carrying the awful sensation of failure.
    The last candle died. A high, wailing music started up, the keening cry of pipes swirling through the air. Slowly, the queen shook her head. Diamonds sparkled like frost in her dark hair.
    “No,” she said. “You have lost. Now, mortal girl, I take my due.”
    The queen held up a hollow crystal sphere in one hand. With the other, she scribed strange gestures in the air. Her fingers left glowing streaks of silver against the darkness. Then she pointed straight at Jennet.
    “Ahh!” A sharp pain speared through Jennet, as though the queen had stabbed her in the chest. She doubled over, gasping, while agony iced her blood. Oh god. It hurt.
    “Behold, Fair Jennet,” the queen said. “The answer is Life. Your essence is captured here. It will serve us well.”
    Jennet looked up, tears clouding her vision. The queen held the sphere aloft. It wasn’t empty any more. Inside was a bright swirl of color, like rainbow flames. They pulsed and danced, trapped inside their crystal prison. Wavering, calling to her.
    “How,” Jennet forced the words out through lips tight with pain, “how do I get that back?”
    Every game had a second chance, a third. You kept fighting the last battle until you finally won. Failure wasn’t permanent. Not like in real life.
    The queen laughed, and the sound carried a bitter chill. “You cannot. Without a champion, you are lost. Now go. Go! I send thee, defeated, from the Dark Realm.”
    Pain wrenched through Jennet and she screamed. Golden light blinded her senses and she swirled through a sickening vertigo. Blackness waited, merciful and dark, on the other side. She opened her arms to it, and fell.
     

     
    J ennet woke, aching, in the sim chair. Her hands were stiff inside the gaming gloves, and when she sat forward, fire exploded in her shoulder. She could barely lift her arm, but it was impossible to take off the helmet one-handed. Trying not to whimper, she gritted her teeth against the agony and pulled off her gear.
    She had lost.
    Feyland was more than just a sim game. The clues had been there all along, but she hadn’t paid enough attention until now. Now, when it was too late. And she’d done worse than lose the game.
    There was a frigid hollow in the center of her chest. The Dark Queen had taken something from her—something she feared she couldn’t live without. Bright flames trapped inside a magical sphere. Her mortal essence , the queen had said.
    She had to get it back.
    Jennet stumbled to her bedroom. She swayed at the edge of her bed, trying to pull the covers back. No use. She toppled forward onto the blue coverlet, and let the blackness of sleep take her down.
     

     
    C all an ambulance! Now!
    …unusual symptoms, Mr. Carter. No signs of external trauma…
    --still unconscious?
    …as soon as she wakes up we’ll notify you. Now get some rest…
    (sobbing)
     

     
    “D ad?” Her voice was creaky, the word sticking in her mouth like it was coated with tar.
    Jennet thought she’d heard him, his voice taut with panic. And later—crying? What was going on?
    She couldn’t open her eyes. And then she could, the lashes parting gummily. Unfamiliar white walls surrounded her, and the antiseptic smell hit her nose the same time her brain registered hospital .
    What was she doing lying in a hospital bed?
    An IV fed into her left arm, and she was dressed in a dun-colored gown. The gridded