twelfth season of my show. We were in Venice, and we were being chased by gondolas, but the situation was basically the same.”
The car accelerated and everyone was thrown back in his or her seat. Eli’s glasses flew off and as the vehicle jerked around, Dylan stepped on them and felt something crunch. Emma picked up the glasses, which looked fine, and handed them to Eli.
“Gracias,” Eli said, sliding his glasses back on. He turned to Ines. “I’ve had enough of this crap! When do we get our cash prize?”
“Adventure is the prize!” Ines declared, her black eyes blazing. “Mee Corp. has files on both of you. You’re now the best Xamaica players in the region. If you’ve seen my show, you know what I live for. It’s what we’re all about to go on. Three words: Greatest. Adventure. Ever.”
“You mean we’re going to play Xamaica again?” Dylan asked.
“No,” Ines replied. “We’re going there—for real.”
“Seriously?” Eli said. “You’re seriously serious?”
“I’m beyond serious. You’ve made it to the forty-third level. Now we’re going to the forty-fourth.”
“So you think magic . . . is real?” Eli said.
“I believe Xamaica is a real place. That’s why I think we can go there. Don’t be a hater—I need you to trust it’s true.”
“Yo, here’s what’s true: you are a total nut job,” Eli said. “No offense.”
“I believe!” Emma said to Ines. “Picasso said, Everything you can imagine is real.”
“I just don’t know,” Dylan muttered. He wondered if Ines knew about his cheat code.
Ines was unflustered. “By the end of tonight,” she said. “You. Will. Believe.”
The limo pulled into the Mee Mansion and the vast gate came down, shutting them in.
“Will that gate keep out the freaky dude with the red eyes?” Dylan asked.
“We have a pretty tight security system,” Ines answered. “Now and again a mailman or a Girl Scout gets electrocuted, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay.”
On the outside at least, the Mee Mansion looked more like an ancient castle than a modern-day home. It had stained-glass windows, gargoyles mounted on the walls, and even a couple of drawbridges. Dylan imagined it was the kind of place where a mad scientist and an evil wizard could spend some quality time together. “This is incredible.”
Ines shrugged. “Everything isn’t everything. I sent the help home for the day so we can have some privacy.”
Everyone exited the limo and Ines led them to a large stone door. She pressed a button and it slid open. The inside of the Mee Mansion was even wilder than the outside. The exterior was brooding and medieval; the interior was shadowy and futuristic, in a retro kind of way. Dylan thought it was sort of like what people imagined the future might have looked like a couple generations ago; the place felt modern and antique at the same time. There were cameras and mirrors and video screens everywhere. It was hard to tell what was a door, what was a window, and what was a hallway.
“They call this the Mee Mansion,” Ines told them. “I call it Uncanny Valley.”
“You named your home?” Eli scoffed. “We’ve got cats at my place that we haven’t gotten around to naming.”
“Doesn’t it get lonely in this big house?” Emma asked, her voice echoing a bit.
“Yes and no,” Ines said, stroking her own hair. “Me and dear old Dad spend a lot of time together, so it’s all good.”
She led them through a room with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, another with Olympic-sized pianos, and then into a spherical room with a massive dark globe in the middle.
“Is this where you plan world domination?” Eli asked.
Ines smiled. “Oh, we’re beyond that, kitten. Mee Corp. has factories on every continent—including Antarctica . . .”
“Spare us the infomercial,” Eli said.
Emma walked over to the globe.
“Don’t touch that! It’s personal . . .” Ines began.
Too late—the globe lit up. A 3-D image of a child—age seven?—appeared above the continent of Europe, somewhere near maybe Azerbaijan. “Greetings, Ines. This is Artur from Shemakha. You’ll never believe . . .” the child started to say.
Ines put her hand on the globe and the image vanished.
“What was that about?” Eli asked.
“I told you, it’s personal,” Ines said. After an awkward silence, she continued: “We have a lot of rooms—a piano room, a cheese room, a tapestry room. If I had to explain them all, we’d be here all night and never get to where we’re going.”
“A cheese room?” Eli asked. “Is that a thing?”
“Duh—to go with the cracker room,” Ines replied. “Follow me.”
After a long walk, Ines led them into a huge chamber in which the walls, ceilings, and floors were all a brilliant white. “Welcome to the game room,” Ines announced. “This is where we’ll go to the forty-fourth level.”
On one end of the vast room was mounted a black tablet, a little bit bigger than a Bible, that looked like it was made from solid rock. “What’s that?” Eli asked.
“That’s the master portal to Xamaica,” Ines explained. “The tablet was my father’s greatest invention. It’s the nexus for every Xamaica gaming experience. Once we link to it, because we’re so close, we should have the strongest possible connection to Xamaica.”
Eli snorted. “What’s in it for us?”
“Xamaica is filled with treasures. Springs of liquid silver. Mangoes filled with gold. A sorceress with a magic book that contains all the wealth of the world between its covers.”
Eli’s green eyes got even bigger than usual. “All the wealth of the world? Sweet!”
“So how do we link up to this portal?” Dylan asked.
“Well, there’s a hitch,” Ines cautioned.
Eli sighed. “There always is.”
Ines held up a sheet of yellowed parchment. Different feelings and emotions—curiosity, anticipation, anxiety—kept flashing across her face like vehicles with their high beams on zooming by on a dark highway.
“What’s that?” Eli asked.
“If I knew I wouldn’t have to ask you,” Ines said.
Emma
