Was it normal for people to just barge their way into other people's houses?

  Still, this guy looked rich and important, so I swallowed my initial response. "Hello, sir. You know of the Talking Bird?"

  Oddly, his eyes left Peach and raked me. It was an appraising look, but not the kind I had received occasionally before, the kind of look a predatory man would turn on me, but one of immense curiosity.

  "You live alone here, girl? That's dangerous."

  You're dangerous.

  "My brothers will be home soon." The lie rolled off my tongue easily. I learnt these lies early.

  "Brothers?"

  "I have two older brothers."

  If anything, the man's gaze intensified. "How old are you?"

  How old was I? The Encyclopaedia y nearby, and I casually drifted over to it, thumbing through the pages as if in thought.

  "Tell him," Peach whispered urgently. Her eyes were fixed on bnk space, so she must have been reading a dialogue box. I had been about to lie again, but, puzzled, I complied.

  The man's swarthy brows furrowed. "Nineteen... nineteen..."

  "Is there a problem, sir?"

  He seemed to have lost all interest in Peach, simply staring at me as if trying to decipher some complicated riddle. It was so awkward that I suggested that I get some snacks from the kitchen just to get away. Peach followed me.

  "Cut open a persimmon and put your pearls in it."

  "What?"

  "I know what I'm saying. Sneak over to your jewellery box and get some pearls."

  I tiptoed from the kitchen to my bedroom, where a sandalwood box sat by my bed. The pearls were retrieved and dutifully stuffed into a persimmon, although Peach still refused to expin what she was on about.

  "Peach-"

  "Give them to him."

  I set the pte of persimmon down on the table, before the stranger who had now sunk down on the sofa. He took one absently, and almost bit into it before he noticed the pearls peeking through the orange flesh.

  "What... What is this?"

  The hell if I know. I looked at Peach for an answer.

  "Why would you stuff these fruits with pearls?"

  "Why would a woman give birth to a dog, a cat, and a piece of wood?" Peach recited. She was staring into space, which probably made it look as though she were in a trance to the stranger, but I knew she was reading a dialogue box.

  The man stood suddenly. "Speak again, I dare you."

  I felt for the dagger I now kept hidden in my dress as I rushed to Peach's side, armed by the sudden change in the stranger's voice, but Peach said, "You think it strange to find pearls in fruit, but not that your wife birthed a dog, a cat, and a piece of wood?"

  "She was cursed," the man said.

  "By her sisters," Peach said. Her eyes scanned the invisible dialogue box. "They stole her children and threw them away, but they survived. This girl is your youngest child."

  Excuse me? Fairytale logic be damned, what the heck was going on here?

  "Your arm, girl." The man's voice shook. Mystified, I held out my left arm, but he gestured to the other. Raising it, my short sleeve slid to my shoulder and his gaze fixed on something on my upper arm, out of my view.

  "That birthmark... The tiger..."

  I twisted my arm. There was indeed a birthmark there, a blob that looked almost like the silhouette of a cat's head. The man rolled his own right sleeve up, the reveal the same mark on his own upper arm. Then he knelt.

  "My child... My daughter... Do you know who I am?"

  "Uh... Dad?" I asked awkwardly. What was I supposed to do?

  "Yes. But I am also the sultan of this region."

  Of course. Of course he was the... Red was right.

  "We have to find my brothers!" I blurted out. "They-"

  

  

  

  

  

  The scene before me was already beginning to fade. I grabbed Peach's hand, but she was feeling less and less tangible within seconds.

  "You'll be okay," she said desperately. "Mik Tsaam, you'll be okay."

  "I'll see you in another scenario," I replied. I saw her smile before everything turned dark.

  

  

  <1 Health Point>

  <1 Strength Point>

  <1 Perception Point>

  <3 Experience Points>

  

  

  

  

  I impatiently jabbed at N, have already made up my mind long ago. "Stats."

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  "Inventory."

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  <1 ham sandwich (restores heath points to current max)>

  <2 fsks of water (restores 1 health point each)>

  

  <5 Experience Points>

  I y down on the fgstones.

  Nothing changed.

  I y there, counting my heartbeats. I passed two hundred, and nothing had happened. I sat up again. The inventory still remained open before me. I reached out and selected Gabriel's Ring.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  I put it back and selected Uriel's Encyclopaedia.

  

  

  

  .

  

  

  I put the book back. There was one st thing to check.

  "Abilities."

  

  

  < All party members receive a temporary boost (3 points to any random attribute) for 5 minutes!>

  

  

  

  

  Why were these abilities all over the pce? Was this something else the developers were still working on?

  I wished I had something to write with, and on. Thoughts were slipping around my head like fish, and I struggled to catch them. I thought about Rohan and Red and Peach. I thought about Poppy and Calvin and Lee Wai Meng. I thought about Jesse and even that jerk from the tutorial.

  I thought about the error messages I had received after each scenario. Clues to what? What was an Error Code 500?

  But nothing would stay still.

  I had completed Scenario 1 at 70%. What had I missed? And Scenario 2, frustratingly, at 60%?

  What was I missing?

  I opened the Skill Tree and examined it. One path had lit up, the nodes glowing.

  

  

  From the Level 3 node branched five options.

  

  

  They were all greyed out except for

  . I'd made my choice, after all.

  From

  branched more nodes.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  I purchased both, and watched as another node led from .

  

  

  

  Since I was out of XP, I closed the Skill Tree. Then I crawled to my feet and looked at Doorways 1 and 2 again.

  I couldn't go back.

  Probably for the better.

  "You cannot save everyone," said the dervish.

  I closed my eyes.

  Did I fall asleep? Did it matter? Everything was still the same when I opened my eyes.

  Doorway 3 waited for me, unchained.

  I stared at it.

  I knew that wasn't very helpful. Still, I kept staring.

  Would the next scenario start without me?

  I got up walked through the third doorway.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Now that I thought about it, a lot of fairytales that I knew involved dead parents.

  That suited me.

  I opened my eyes to the bare cross-beams of a ceiling.

  Bee-Bee. Poppy was here. Which character would she be inhabiting? I was gd we were back together again. No-one knew fairytales better than Poppy.

  The usernames Excellent Ruthless Woods and Han Sung-hyuk both looked familiar. Jesse? And the guy from the tutorial?

  Your Father... That was Lee Wai Meng. I sighed in my heart, gd that I would finally see him. He was an annoying idiot, but he was alive, and so was Poppy. I would be gd to see Jesse too.

  As for Han Sung-hyuk... Well, I wouldn't wish anyone to be dead. He was rude but not a vilin.

  But all those other names... I suddenly wondered how many pyers were testing this beta version of the game. There were so many pyers here this time around. Hopefully we would be able to pass easily with such numbers.

  And once again, no sign of Tommy. None of the handles sounded like something he would use. I pressed the palms of my hands to my eyes until I saw stars. I hope he's okay.

  In any case, I knew this fairytale. A girl treated like a servant by her stepfamily, a big party, a triumphant escape from that family... it had to be Cinderel. I'd never heard of 'Catskin' before, but I assumed it was a variation on the same story.

  I climbed out of the bed with a deep sigh and looked around.

  Having watched many historical court dramas with Poppy, I knew at once that I was in the servants' quarters of a vil. Chinese History had been one of my worst subjects in school; I would have to dredge whatever I could from the fanciful TV shows I'd seen.

  First things first, I had to find Poppy.

  I was the only one in my tiny room. The bed was practically a box filled with straw. The cosy space felt somewhat comforting. I changed from my sleepwear into some worn robes in a small trunk, fumbling on the unfamiliar bindings. I could hear others stirring through the thin walls.

  Hurry.

  Voices raised in surprise, or arm, could be heard further away. I listened intently as I knotted the st tie.

  "Young Miss, what's wrong?"

  "Young Miss, wait –"

  I rushed to the door and slid it open, almost colliding with the beautiful woman who was about to enter.

  She was only half-dressed, but her attire was far higher quality than mine, and her long, silky hair was loose. Neither of us looked like ourselves, but we recognised each other immediately.

  "Mik Tsaam!"

  "Poppy!"