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The wolf snarled in their direction and dropped back on its haunches as if preparing to launch through the air. If Alex hadn’t known any better, she would have thought it was about to try and attack them. But they weren’t really there; it was calledvirtualreality for a reason.

“Take your rings off!” Bear yelled. “Now!”

Hearing the panic in his voice, Alex didn’t hesitate to follow his order. Just as the landscape faded and the world turned upside-down again, she saw the wolf spring directly towards the three of them, bloodied saliva flying from its open mouth.

Back in the Rec Room once more, she stared at the screen on the wall. The enraged wolf was pacing around the castle ruins in agitation. She would have been more curious about what was going on in the ‘movie’ if she hadn’t been so freaked out by the wet, bloodied drool sliding down her arm.

“What just happened?” she whispered, staring at the drool and turning to take in her friends’ white faces.

Jordan clearly had no idea and he looked at Bear in question.

“Youreallyshouldn’t have skipped Marselle’s meeting the other day,” Bear said wearily to Jordan, as if that explained everything.

Jordan’s face cleared with understanding, but Alex was still completely in the dark.

“Excuse me, but can someone explain why I have wolf slobber on my arm?” she demanded, somewhat hysterically, as she wiped the offensive goo off using the hem of her shirt. “Were we nearly just eaten?”

“We’re okay, Alex,” Bear said soothingly. “It was a close call, but we’re okay.”

“Close call?” she repeated, incredulous. “I almost became a doggy treat!”

“You wouldn’t have been hurt,” Bear said. “There’s a security measure that pulls you out of the virtual world if you so much as get a paper cut while you’re in the system.”

She calmed slightly. “So, we wouldn’t have been eaten?”

“No, definitely not.”

“I don’t understand,” Jordan said, frowning at the wolf still pacing across the screen. “It used to be just plain virtual reality. We couldn’t interact with it or anything.”

“Upgrades,” Bear said simply. “Marselle told us that they’re still working out the glitches.” He paused for a moment and then added, “Apparently censoring appropriate viewing material is still on the to-do list.”

“You think?” Alex muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Jordan said sheepishly. “I had no idea about the upgrades.”

He sounded truly remorseful, so Alex decided to let him off the hook.

“Well, we definitely don’t have anything like that where I’m from,” she said with a shake of her head. “Let’s chalk this up to one of those ‘live and learn’ experiences and never mention it again. Agreed?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Jordan seemed grateful that she wasn’t about to go crazy at him.

“Do you want to try that again?” Bear asked. Seeing Alex’s expression, he quickly added, “On a lower setting—virtual reality without interaction?”

Jordan looked to Alex for her answer and she hesitantly nodded. It really had been awesome before they’d realised something was wrong.

“Pick a different movie, though,” Alex pleaded. “No wolves.”

“You got it,” Bear agreed.

They spent the next two hours wrapped up in an epic sci-fi adventure, travelling across the universe in spaceships and discovering life on other planets. All in all, Alex thought it was the perfect ending to such a memorable first day in her new world. But as she headed to bed that night—and was completely ignored by her moody roommate—she wondered how long she would have to wait for the headmaster’s return. Medora wasn’t her world. She couldn’t get attached. If she did, she would only be dooming herself for heartache.

Eight

The rest of Alex’s weekcontinued in much the same way as her first day. Every morning she woke up to the sound of her door slamming as D.C. left the room, and every evening she collapsed into bed, exhausted. Her classes were insane, with the Taser-wielding Finn being the least of her worries.

Well, almost.

Much to her relief, Combat didn’t cause her any more problems because when she walked into her second class, Karter immediately benched her, ordering her to sit down and not touch anything. Really, what was she—five? But when she watched her classmates proceed to attack each other with wooden staves and, later, actual swords, she couldn’t help but be relieved by her enforced time-out.