“How did you do it?” Aiden nearly stumbled as the three friends jogged down the sidewalk. His gaze kept returning to the softly glowing lance in Ravi’s hands.

  “I dunno, I just acted without thinkin’. I saw Alison in trouble, I knew I needed to get to her and help, I just… I just did it.” His grip on the handle of the blue lance tightened as they ran, assurance it was still there.

  Aiden frowned but remained silent. He fell back a few steps from his friends and once again booted up Final Contingency, as he had done a dozen times since they had left Alison’s office building. He muttered the spell invocation phrase quietly, but again without success. It made no sense. Ravi’s magical abilities had come out of the game and into the real world, but Aiden’s had not?

  But then, there were literal monsters from the game world wandering the streets of downtown. Nothing made sense anymore.

  Ravi raised a hand and the three abruptly grew quiet, coming to a stop. In the street ahead a few piglets ran by, snorting and hollering guttural noises at each other. A few shouts rang out from further away, but it was unclear what was going on within the haze of smoke and dust all around them. The group held still in hiding until the piglets had disappeared down the street.

  “We’re gonna get caught out here in the open. What’s the plan?” Aiden looked between Alison and Ravi.

  “I think we should get down to Waterfront,” Alison said. “It’s just around the corner and maybe we can get on one of the sea buses.”

  “Seriously?” Aiden arched an eyebrow.

  “Do you have any better ideas?” She pursed her lips with a grimace. “If we can get out on the water, at least we’ll be away from all this. Meet up with some other people. Regroup. Whatever.”

  “It’s somethin’ at least,” Ravi said with a nod. “If nothin’ else Waterfront should be easier to defend, if we can get in and gotta stay there. It’s a big building. Lotsa high ground. Pretty secure if we need to block the entrances.”

  Aiden eyed his friend. “Suddenly you’re a tactician?”

  “Just a lotta video games.”

  The trio stayed low and tight to the wall as they approached the end of the street. A sharp retort followed by a child’s cry rang out through the air from around the corner. Aiden held motioned for them to stop and the other two paused as he leaned forward to survey the area around the next corner.

  An open field stretched across half a city block before them, nothing but packed dirt sat there, waiting for the city to approve whatever new batch of restaurants and clothing stores would have been built on the site before all this end of the world shit happened. A tall construction yard wire fence with a double-wide gate on the far side separated the empty lot from the seawall beyond. Directly across the empty lot was Waterfront Station, and beside it sat their destination—a narrow brick shelter housing the sea bus docking station.

  In the open field lay a knocked over school bus, tipped over onto its side. From within, at least a dozen children cowered behind the upturned vinyl seats, their faces streaked with tears.

  A screech of metal against metal sounded from behind the bus, then a long, black, segmented appendage rose into the air. The thing slammed into the metal siding, taloned tip digging in for purchase. Children screamed as several of the bus windows burst outward, showering the dirt with jagged chunks of plexiglass. With a body easily as large as a golf cart, an insectoid monstrosity drew itself up to the top of the bus on six of those segmented, hairy legs, each one scratching against the metal of the bus like nails scrabbling against a chalkboard. A wicked mass of eyes and teeth made up most of the thing’s elongated face, too many of each to count, and it twisted this way and that, seeming to ignore the terrified children as it scanned the area.

  The insect’s multitude of eyes fixed and dilated as it found its target. A teenage boy floating a few inches off the ground nearby, his own eyes locked on the creature. A soft purple aura shimmered around the boy, rippling through him and fading away at the edges like a heat mirage.

  Hands raised high over the boy’s head, a crackling purple ball of energy took form between them. He struggled with the energy for a moment before it exploded forward in a bolt of purple lightning, violently striking the spider-like creature, knocking it clean off the top of the bus and rolling away, out of sight behind it. The boy’s feet touched down to the ground as the surrounding aura faded away. He looked about, assessing the damage he’d caused.

  “That kid!” Alison sucked in a breath, peering around Aiden’s shoulder.

  Aiden had observed the display of power warily, then stepped out from behind the corner. He glanced back at his friends. “Stay low, let’s skirt around. If that spider thing is still alive, I don’t want to draw its attention.”

  “Maybe we should go the long way?” Ravi asked.

  Alison nodded. “Hop the fence?”

  “No, I mean, uh, go back,” he replied, tilting his head back the way they had come. “The other side of that fence is a twenty-foot drop. Rocks.”

  Aiden shook his head and motioned the others to follow. “We’ve come this far,” he said.

  Ravi and Alison exchanged a grim look, but nodded. The trio moved together, quick but cautious. The parking lot was quite large, but empty besides the bus. Aiden hoped the creature was dead, but he wasn’t banking on it.

  Unfortunately, the world wasn’t fair anymore. The creature, Aiden now recognized it from the game as a snizik, or a snik’zt? Without the game overlay to show nametags, he couldn’t remember exactly what it was called, but they averaged around level 15 and all their bodily fluids were acid. It couldn’t spit the fluid very far, but contact would cause continuous damage over time.

  The group made it halfway through the lot when the creature launched itself from behind the bus, directly in the path of where the trio had been stealthily moving along. The insect monster spotted them immediately and roared, mouth splitting open into five sections, revealing rows of dagger-like teeth. A revolting stench of blood and meat filled the air.

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  The kid’s purple aura flared up again, and he yelled out to them, “Get over here, I’ll protect you!” He fired off a quick blast of violet lightning at the monster. An instant spell, much weaker than the last, but just as effective in getting its attention. The thing howled and hissed at him, spittle dripping from its unhinged jaw and sizzling as it hit the ground, the trio behind it forgotten.

  Ravi gripped the lance tighter and stepped forward in front of his friends. He glanced back, “Try to get over to the kid.”

  “Ravi no, that thing will kill you!” Aiden pleaded.

  Alison bent down and grabbed a busted piece of rebar off the ground. She hefted it for weight and glared, her eyes never leaving the giant insect. “I’ve got your back, Ravi.”

  The monster crouched, shifting its weight to its rear legs, and launched forward. Purple aura kid dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the slashing limbs. The insectoid slid through the space the boy had been standing, its legs splayed out in all directions as it scrambled, but failed, to course correct. Startled sobs came from inside the bus as the thing slammed headfirst into the side of it, the impact shaking the vehicle.

  The kid nodded toward Ravi’s lance. “You figured it out too, eh? Thought maybe I was the only genius around.” He glanced at Aiden and Alison. “What’s your guys’ powers?”

  “I... what? I don’t know what’s—” Aiden started, hesitating.

  The kid snorted and rolled his eyes. “Nevermind. Newbies.” He spread his feet into a combat stance, the purple aura pulsing around him and levitating his feet a few inches off the ground once again.

  “It’s like Peter Pan!” he called out, voice raised to carry over the crackling energy now gathering between his outstretched hands. “Remember the faeries? The magic only works if you believe?” He lifted his hands over his head as the energy continued to gather between his fingers, readying another powerful blast as the creature rose unsteadily to its many feet across from them, dazed and wobbling. “I’ve always believed.”

  “I don’t think Peter Pan had a belief-based magic system,” Alison said, squinting at him. She took a cautious step back.

  The kid tracked the spider monster, its confusion fading, then let loose with that purple ball lightning, once more ripping into the giant insect and throwing it back hard against the school bus. The impact blasted the bus completely over, the strained metal groaning as it settled back onto its wheels.

  “Look, whatever. I don’t know if we’re dealing with Tinkerbell or old gods waking up from the oceans or whatever, but something happened. Maybe everyone just believed in the game too much. Whatever it is, it’s real now. I found out the hard way that if you believe, it works. And how can you not believe when you can literally see it?” He summoned a tiny, bouncing ball of purple energy in his hand to emphasize the point. “It’s right in front of you.” He closed his hand into a fist, and the light snuffed out.

  “Now, if you don’t mind,” the kid said, narrowing his eyes at the monster trying to kill them. “I’ve got a bug to squash for you guys.”

  Ravi closed his eyes, brow knitted with concentration. A moment later his signature blue armour appeared in place over his body. He grinned and stepped up next to the kid. “Let’s do this.”

  Ravi charged in front with his spear held forward at the ready, while the kid moved in slightly behind, already pulling in more of the purple energy for his lightning strikes. The kid only had one move, but it was certainly effective.

  Shakily raising back to its feet, the creature shook off the dazed effect. It seemed injured but still more than competent. It crouched into a ready position and waited for them to get within range of its serrated legs. Ravi lunged forward with an impressive burst of speed, piercing between the armoured segments of a front leg. It screeched in pain and a splash of thick, dark blood sprayed out in an arc from the wound.

  Ravi jumped back, neatly avoiding the acidic blood, but the kid wasn’t as fast. The purple aura around the teenager winked out in an instant as he cried out, losing his focus. Sizzling steam rose from the kid’s arm as the acid burned through his clothes and into flesh.

  “Hey, y’alright?” Ravi called, circling around the insect and waving his spear at it wildly, trying to draw its attention away from the kid and the children on the bus.

  “I can’t cast without my hands,” he cried, clutching at his arm. He had torn his jacket off and was frantically trying to wipe the burning insect blood away with the heavy material.

  “Aiden!” Ravi yelled over his shoulder. “This would be a great time for an assist my man.”

  “Just do it for chrissake!” the teen spat out, his cheeks wet from the pain. “You’ve seen us doing it, you know it’s real. Fucking do something!”

  Aiden took a deep breath, trying in vain to steady himself, to focus. His pulse quickened and his breath came in quick gasps. Nails dug into his palms and panic welled in his chest, threatening to overflow. The monster stalking slowly toward his best friend was all I could see, his vision tunnelling. He desperately cast out, trying to feel the surrounding energy, to feel the magic, to feel anything they had talked about.

  It was all real. It had to be. An impossible creature stood before him, a stone’s throw away. A creature that shouldn’t exist, but did. Trying to kill his friend. No amount of denial should be able to overpower what was right in front of him. He concentrated on that feeling. There was no denying the reality of what he had seen. He could do this.

  The incantation for a simple Fire Bolt left his lips recited by instinct, and a small sliver of fire spluttered to life and rocketed into the armoured side of the monster’s body. The fire splattered against its body and popped out of existence.

  The attack was so weak that the creature didn’t even seem to notice. A talon-tipped appendage lashed out, knocking Ravi down with a spray of blood, then the monster turned and took a few skittering steps back.

  Aiden took a deep, steadying breath and tried again. There was no time for a long cast, so instead he said the words for Fire Bolt once more, and another small arrow of fire blasted out from his hand and connected with the insect. Aiden felt the pull of magic around him, flowing through the air, through the ground, through himself. A switch had flipped, and he suddenly felt connected to the surrounding energy with a dull hum, like touching a live wire on a wet electric fence. It permeated into and through him, gathering inside, filling him up.

  Yet the energy gathering in Aiden felt sluggish. If he had a few minutes to let it build up, maybe he could let loose powerful blasts of fire and magma, like he used to in the game. But there was no time for that. The monster skittered left and right, focused on him now, drawing closer. His weak Fire Bolts wouldn’t be enough. The magic was finally at his fingertips, but there was no time and not enough energy for a larger cast. He closed his eyes and waited for the death blow.

  “DIE, YOU FUCK!” A low, resonant hum. A wet squelch, like a rubber boot sinking deep into muck. Something heavy hit the ground. Silence.

  Aiden opened his eyes to see Alison standing in front of him, over the creature’s head, panting. The section of rebar she’d been carrying now glowed with a brilliant orange light and protruded from the top of the monster’s head, through one of its many eye sockets.

  “Alison,” Aiden exhaled. “Oh, thank God.”

  She yanked the rebar out of the monster and jumped down from the creature to offer him a hand up. “Come on, let’s get those two up and get the hell out of here.”

  They skirted around the enormous dead insect and found Ravi on the ground. He offered Alison a weak smile as she hauled him up to his feet and got under an arm to keep him steady. Battered and bruised, with a large gash on his back, he was hurting, but well enough to limp to safety.

  “I thought we were goners,” Aiden said. He pulled Ravi’s arm up and over his own shoulder on the other side, and the three made their way across the parking lot.

  “Can’t get rid a’ me that easy,” Ravi said. His smile showed a strong front, but the anxiety was still clear in his eyes. Justifiably, none of them had ever been in mortal danger before.

  “Yeah, I’m fine too by the way.” The kid followed along behind them, still nursing his acid-burned hand. “No need to offer me any help.”