"Did someone break the link?" Sarah asked, annoyed. "Who was it? I told you..."

"Wait, look! It was him!" Mica exclaimed, pointing to the center of the room, where there was nothing anymore.

"Who? What are you talking about?" Dragoon asked.

"The boy... The boy was someone who..." he frowned in frustration. "I swear he looked like someone I remember, but... I don't know how to explain it."

The boy they knew as Rogue in the game let out a groan of pain.

"What's wrong, Jacob? Are you okay?" the chubby boy asked, hurrying over to him.

"My ankles suddenly hurt."

He pointed at his feet, which looked perfectly fine. As he raised his arm, he groaned again.

"Ugh... My wrist too."

"Were you sitting in a weird position? Are they numb?"

"No, no. They just started hurting."

Mica pressed a hand against his chest. Now that he noticed, his ribs hurt too, as though someone had hit him with a soccer ball.

He was about to mention it when he looked up and found Cat staring back at him, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Are you hurt too?" he ask.

"No. Not me. It's just... the boy..."

"You recognized him?"

"Yes. It was... It was..."

Mica watched in frustration as his friend ran into the same inexplicable block.

It felt strange. They had just seen him.

Or maybe they hadn't.

In the end, everything they had just experienced was only a game. It had simply felt so vivid because Sarah was an incredible storyteller.

Even so...

Mica wasn't nearly as convinced anymore that it was only that.

"I need to make sure," Cat said.

She jumped to her feet, sprinted up the stairs, and disappeared through the door.

It took Mica a second to react.

When he did, he ignored both the pain in his chest and whatever was happening to everyone else and ran after her.

As soon as he stepped out into the alley, he spotted her a block ahead, running toward the bus stop.

Only then did he realize it was already night. Not just night. Late enough that the streets were almost deserted, save for two men who had just stepped out of the bar and were watching him with worried expressions.

Mica paid them no mind and kept running.

By the time he caught up, Cat was sitting on the bench at the bus stop, staring at a sheet of paper with a portrait on it. It was one of the missing-person posters.

The moment he saw it, a thought returned to him, as though someone had pulled a sheet away from it. The face staring back at him belonged to the young man they had just watched Master consume with black flames. The young man who had disappeared several weeks ago. The same face hanging from posters all over the city. James Howard.

"What do you think this means?" Cat asked, never taking her eyes off the paper.

"I think..." Mica hesitated "...it has to be something subconscious. Until a moment ago, I couldn't clearly remember the face we saw. Or... thought we saw."

"I saw him, Mica. I'm sure of it."

"But... how? I mean... everything was just our imagination. We were only rolling dice and listening to Sarah tell us a story."

"I don't think that's it." Cat finally looked up at him. "I think it's all real. I think we're somehow being transported to that world."

"Don't you think that's a little..." Mica searched for the word. "...far-fetched?"

Deep down, though... he felt she was right.

"Then how do you explain the pain? You said your chest hurts, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but..."

"In that world, the golem kicked you into a wall. Cleric had to heal you. You broke several ribs."

"But..."

Mica instinctively placed a hand over the spot again. It really did hurt.

"Look at Rogue. Jacob. His ankles and wrist suddenly started hurting. The golem trapped exactly those parts of his body, and Dragoon injured them pulling him free."

Mica didn't know what to say.

"And Hugo? Yesterday he limped the whole way home. In that world, he broke his leg when he landed badly." Cat rose from the bench. "Something very strange is happening, Mica. Something

very

strange."

"I understand, but... It doesn't make sense, Cat. It's..."

"You don't believe me."

Mica touched his chest again. One part of him—the logical part—insisted the theory was absurd. Things like that simply didn't happen.

The other part, the one that spent its days dreaming about fantasy worlds and stories of rogue samurai... thought it was possible.

Not real. But possible.

"I do. Or at least... I want to."

Against all expectations, Cat smiled.

It was as though her face suddenly lit up, leaving behind the fear and worry that had shadowed it moments before.

Mica felt a warmth spread through his chest that had nothing to do with his injuries.

"Thank you." Cat blushed.

Mica searched for something to say, but nothing came to mind. Nothing that fit the moment. Nothing except the words he'd wanted to say for a long time... and had always been certain would be rejected.

The irony was that, for the first time, he felt he might have been wrong. But this wasn't the moment. They were talking about the possibility that a girl they'd barely met was somehow sending them into an imaginary world where the dangers were real.

No. This definitely wasn't the moment.

"What is it?" Cat tilted her head. "You suddenly went quiet."

"I was just..." Mica stopped himself. "We should go back. Let's ask Sarah about all this. If we confront her, she'll have no choice but to tell us the truth."

"Yeah..." A hint of disappointment crept into Cat's voice. "...Let's go back."

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Man... I was about ready to give up. Or call the police. Or worse... your parents." Hugo threw his hands up as soon as they reached him a block later. "I've walked around this block like five times already. Good thing I caught you out of the corner of my eye, because I was just about to start a sixth. Where the hell were you?"

"We had to check something," Mica replied. "We think..."

He glanced at Cat, who puffed out her cheeks at his hesitation.

"...we saw James Howard during the session."

"Saw him?" Hugo frowned. "What are you talking about? The only people in that basement were us."

As they explained what had happened, they realized Hugo not only had no memory of seeing James Howard, but was completely convinced they were either joking or losing their minds. To Hugo—and, to some extent, Mica as well—the last few hours had been nothing more than sitting around a table playing a tabletop game.

"Besides, I don't think we can go back anyway," Hugo said after arguing with them for a while and laughing off the idea. "After you two disappeared, Tomás had to carry Jacob upstairs because of that weird pain that suddenly hit him. He complained and screamed with every step, so it didn't take Mr. No long to realize we were there. Apparently Sarah wasn't supposed to invite us back, and... well... He wasn't exactly happy. Mr. No practically carried me all the way to the exit. Just like in the movies."

"What if we wait for Sarah to come out?" Cat suggested. "She'll have to go home eventually."

"Impossible." Mica finally stopped to think. "What time is it?"

"I don't know..." Hugo shrugged. "Midnight, maybe?"

"One twenty-five in the morning," Cat answered after checking her state-of-the-art cellphone.

"My mom is going to kill me!" Mica almost broke into a run toward home. Then he thought better of it. He was already going to be in trouble no matter what. The least he could do was make sure Cat didn't have to walk home alone.

Frightened, nervous and, strangely enough... excited, The three friends headed home, hoping they would be able to unravel the mystery at school the following day.