Erebos (51 page)

Disbelief was written all over Jamie's face. He opened his mouth, closed it again and turned his face to the wall.

‘I can't remember the accident. Or the days before it. I'd like to know what happened.' He felt for the scar on his head. ‘Did the game have anything to do with it?'

‘Yes.'

‘Right. I'll think about it. Perhaps I'll want to know later.' He gave a crooked grin. ‘But I would like to know whether it's likely that I'll bump into that person in the schoolyard and give them half my sandwich out of the goodness of my heart?'

Nick shook his head. ‘No.'

Brynne had changed schools. She hadn't gone to the police as far as Nick knew.

‘How long do you have to stay here?' he asked.

‘It could be a while. After that I have to go into rehab with all the old ladies who've broken their hips. Can't wait to see how they like my hairdo.'

Jamie's brain, joke-centre included, was unscathed. Nick felt like bursting into song.

‘When you're back on your feet, I must introduce you to someone. You'll get along well.'

‘A girl?'

‘Not exactly. But someone with a similar sense of humour who drinks even more tea than you.'

There was a meeting scheduled in two days' time. Emily had organised it because she thought it would be good to bring some resolution to things. ‘It's hard for so many people,' she said. ‘The game ended so abruptly that it left a gaping hole.'

Nick, who still remembered the gaping hole in his own life, agreed. Besides, there was an entirely practical consideration: a plan that he could only carry out jointly with the other ex-gamers. With Mr Watson's help they'd booked the meeting room in a youth centre, and put up notices at all the schools where they knew, or at least suspected, that there were gamers.

But he still hadn't expected such a crowd. When he walked into the meeting room, all the chairs had long since been taken, and lots of people were sitting on the floor. He tried to count how many were present, but gave up before he got even halfway. At any rate it was more than one hundred and fifty. Despite the cold November evening, they were going to have to open the windows soon if they wanted to get enough air.

Nick stood up the front and waited till most of the conversations had subsided.

‘Hi,' he said. ‘I'm Nick Dunmore. Lots of you know me from school. I played Erebos, like you, and I loved it, honest. But it's a good thing that the game is over – you'll have to take my word on that for now. Before I explain to you what was actually behind it, I think I should introduce myself properly. The rules don't apply any more. So, in the game I was Sarius, a dark elf, and I was thrown out as an Eight.'

A few people laughed. ‘Sarius, hey, really? You were Sarius?'

Straightaway there were people wanting to kick off with their own stories, experiences and anecdotes – Nick had difficulty applying the brakes.

‘Hang on! First we need to discuss something important. Listen: You've probably all read about what happened. Ortolan wasn't a monster, he was an actual person. Not a nice person, but still a person. He's going to be released from hospital in a few days, and he'll probably carry on exactly as before.' They were listening to him – excellent. ‘The sole aim of Erebos was to get back at Mr Ortolan for one of his dirty tricks. It didn't work. On the one hand that's a good thing; but on the other hand he shouldn't be allowed to get off scot-free.'

A few people nodded; most just looked puzzled.

‘So here's what needs to happen,' Nick continued. ‘I know you've all carried out “real” orders. I'd like to collate them. Especially those that didn't have anything to do with people at your school. Think of the ones where you wondered why you were doing them and who was going to benefit or suffer, and write them down. If you took pictures, scans or copies that you've still got, give them to me.'

They all looked at him suspiciously.

‘No-one is going to punish you, promise. But we're going to try to use them against Ortolan if it turns out that he's got skeletons in his cupboard. Which I'm pretty sure he has. We'll meet again here in a week's time, okay? And now I'd like to know who you all were.'

It was as if the floodgates had opened. Nick tried to insist on people speaking in turn, but soon everyone was talking at once. Everybody wanted to tell their own story and find out who was behind the warriors they'd had dealings with during the game. Nick gave up trying to play the moderator, and joined in.

Little groups quickly formed, but some people were left standing alone, like Rashid. Unlike the members of the Inner Circle he hadn't been caught, but Nick could see how uneasy he was. He was still afraid that someone would dob him in.

Nick approached him and smiled. ‘I've been wondering for ages who you were. Blackspell?'

Rashid gave an embarrassed shrug. ‘I still think it's weird when we talk about our player characters. It doesn't feel right.'

‘Oh stop it. Come on, tell me. Blackspell?'

A tiny smile stole across Rashid's lips. ‘Nope! I was Nurax.'

‘The werewolf! I wouldn't have guessed that. How was it playing as a werewolf? Cool?'

They chatted about the advantages of the different species, about the adventures they'd shared and the ones they'd had by themselves. Others joined them, talked about their player characters and experiences – the meeting room buzzed like a beehive.

Nick was working his way through the crowd, looking for the players that he'd met most often. He wanted to know who Sapujapu and Xohoo were, and Galaris, whose name had been written on the wooden box. At some stage Aisha tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

‘Hi, Sarius. You know you totally surprised me ? I thought you were LordNick. That's what most people thought.'

‘I know,' he sighed. ‘I'd like to meet him and ask him what he was thinking. Let me know if you find him, huh?'

She gave him an offended look. ‘And you're not interested in who I was?'

I'd be more interested in finding out whether you're going to clear up that harassment business. ‘Yes, of course I am,' he said. ‘Do we know each other?'

‘Oh yes,' she said, and smiled. ‘But we didn't like each other. You did me out of two levels in the Arena.'

‘Feniel?'

‘Exactly.'

After two hours, Nick had produced an impressive number of equations, and this time all of them were correct. Jerome had been behind Blackspell, and the quiet boy, Greg, had been disguised as LaCor, another vampire. Xohoo had turned out to be Martin Garibaldi, whom Nick had seen pleading with a friend on the day after his elimination. Nick swallowed his disappointment. He'd hoped that Xohoo might become a mate in real life.

Later, he also found Sapujapu, who didn't bear the slightest resemblance to a dwarf. He was a tall, lanky guy named Eliott, who was doing his last year at school and wanted to study English Lit after that. They exchanged phone numbers, talked about films and music, and he discovered that Eliott was also a fan of Hell Froze Over.

‘I haven't got my fan shirt any more, unfortunately,' he sighed. ‘I sacrificed it for an Erebos level. No idea what for.'

Nick could hardly breathe, he was laughing so hard. Hence it took a while to enlighten Eliott.

‘Hey, good excuse to get together and do some axe-grinding,' Eliott joked, and added that Nick bore an astonishing resemblance to LordNick.

‘I know,' Nick said, fed up. ‘I'd like to know who borrowed my face.'

Someone behind him cleared his throat. ‘I think I may be able to help there.'

He turned around. Dan, Girl Guide number one.

‘Aha. And who was it?'

Dan looked at the ground, embarrassed. ‘Don't spread it round, okay? I'm pretty sure it was Alex. He . . . admires you. Has done for the last couple of years. For a while he was trying to imitate you, didn't you notice? No? Well, anyway, I did.' Dan scratched his rear. ‘When a Nick Dunmore clone turned up right after I gave Alex the game, I thought of him at once.'

Who says it wasn't actually you? ‘Why are you telling me this?' Dan scratched himself harder. ‘Well, Alex is my best mate. And it upsets him, the way you always call him a Girl Guide. I thought that if I told you he was a fan of yours then you'd be nicer to him. He didn't want to come himself. He was too embarrassed, which also supports my theory.'

Nick found Dan's revelations oddly moving. He'd imagined all sorts of motives for LordNick's existence, but admiration hadn't been one of them.

‘And you?' he asked Dan. ‘Who were you?'

‘Uh-oh,' Dan grinned. ‘This isn't exactly going to win me bonus points. I was Lelant, and I'm sorry, but I can't give your wish crystal back to you.'

Lots of things were cleared up, but not all. Nick didn't find out who Aurora had been, the cat woman who had died in the labyrinth in the fight with the scorpion. But a thin, pale girl with glasses in the Upper Sixth was Galaris. She hadn't had any more idea about the contents of the box than Nick; she'd just taken it from one place to another. Tyrania, the barbarian with the extra-short skirt, had been the shy girl, Michelle. She'd supplied the pills that Nick was supposed to poison Mr Watson with. Michelle had nicked them out of her grandfather's medicine cupboard. She didn't get caught, because Grandpa always hoarded extra bottles at home. Just in case. Henry Scott, Nick's own novice, had transformed himself into Bracco, the lizard man.

‘Who were the people in the Inner Circle?' a plump Asian girl asked Nick as most people were getting ready to leave.

‘Helen was BloodWork,' Nick said. ‘She's doing it tough at the moment. Mr Watson says she's having psychiatric treatment.'

‘What about Wyrdana and Drizzel?'

Nick didn't know Wyrdana's real name. He thought of her as Gollum. She was from another school, as were
Scream
and the alien. One of those two must have been the person who tried to push Nick in front of the train – but it didn't matter any more which one. He felt the same way as Jamie did about the person who'd sabotaged his brakes.

‘Drizzel was probably Colin,' Nick said. ‘Do you know him? Tall, dark, plays basketball.'

And was once a friend of mine.

CHAPTER 34

It was the first weekend for ages when Nick simply wanted to relax. In peace and quiet. Sleep. Go to a film with Emily.

Unfortunately Victor didn't think much of that idea at all. He'd had an idea he couldn't be talked out of. They argued for almost half an hour on the phone.

‘That's stupid.'

‘Absolutely not. It's the right thing to do.'

‘You'll really mess Adrian up.'

‘I don't think so.'

Nick struggled for words. ‘Besides, it won't work.'

‘Yes it will. I've tested it already.'

‘Well go right ahead then. But I don't want to be part of it.'

Victor obviously hadn't expected that. ‘Oh come on. We should all be there; I think we owe it to Adrian. Emily says she's coming.' In the end Nick gave in. Mainly because of Emily, if he was honest. But he didn't have a good feeling about it. At all.

Victor had outdone himself. Three sorts of tea in three different teapots, biscuits and pizza. They lounged around in the sofa room, talking and eating. Emily had visited Colin in hospital. He was facing charges, as were Helen and the other members of the Inner Circle.

‘We may be summoned as witnesses,' Emily said. ‘The problem is that the game's not running any more. It will be hard for the judge to figure out what really happened.'

‘On the other hand,' Nick said, ‘hundreds of people can tell him. They all experienced it.'

‘Except for me,' Adrian said quietly.

Victor couldn't have asked for a better cue. ‘That's true. The whole multi-player extravaganza is over. I'm sorry about that, but I don't actually think you would have liked a lot of things about it. However there is something you should see.'

He pulled Adrian off the sofa and led him into the computer room. He'd placed the best office chair in front of the biggest screen.

‘Have a seat.'

Adrian's face was a question mark.

‘The beginning still works fine,' Victor said, pulling up a stool and sitting down next to Adrian.

Nick and Emily followed suit; they made a little semi-circle around Adrian, as if to protect him.

Victor turned on the screen.

The forest clearing. Pale moonlight. The nameless figure in the middle, huddled on the ground.

As if in a trance, Adrian took the mouse and rotated the viewpoint. ‘I know that place. It's near the Wye Valley,' he said. ‘Look, behind there, the tree with the fork near the ground. We always wedged the hike pack in there when we went for picnics.'

He led his nameless figure over there, stopped him. Made him bend down and pick up something that looked like a blue-painted stick. Nick saw a single tear run down Adrian's face.

‘What's that?'

‘My pocketknife. I lost it up there when I was seven, and I howled for the rest of the day.'

Nick and Emily exchanged a look. This could be tougher than they had imagined. Emily laid her hand on Adrian's shoulder.

Nameless located a path that led away from the clearing – more like a track that kept petering out between the trees. But Adrian knew where he was going, Nick realised. He stopped only occasionally to orient himself, but was conserving his stamina intuitively. After a short time he came to a small stream, where he made Nameless pause again.

‘This is where we once . . . There it is,' Adrian whispered. At first Nick didn't know what he meant, then he spotted two glowing dots in the dark, and shortly thereafter the whole animal.

‘You saw a fox here?'

Adrian nodded. It wasn't long before the fox slipped away, disappearing between the bushes.