My shift started five minutes late. Jeff came and opened up without a word. I tried to start a conversation a few times, but his mind was elsewhere. The only thing I managed to do was get him upset as the rest of the early shifters came. Usually there were five of us, but since holiday season was starting, the store owner had had the genius idea to cut us down to four. I'd also heard that one of our temps had gotten an offer from a farming guild, so it was only a matter of time before he left. I was probably going to apply to guilds as well next semester. It wasn't as glamorous as everyone made it out to be, but the money was better than the service industry.

I finished cleaning all the gear belts and went to my work station. The first customer of the day had just arrived, but Jeff had assigned someone else to clean her phone. At five, the trickle of the morning crowd would start. Until then, I could only sit and wait. It would have been nice to use my phone, but work policy discouraged it, and I didn't want to upset Jeff even more. I stretched and glanced out of the window. Kyle was still sitting there, waiting patiently on the curb. Whoever had played the trick on him had gone well overboard. The only silver lining was that Kyle’s bosses might take notice, if they ever bothered to watch through the security footage of the night.

My thoughts went back to the quest. Two days in, and I had seen more money change hands than while I was back at my parents’ place. In the world of professional gaming, such amounts were considered peanuts, which begged the question of why hadn’t any game celebrities bought my info to join in on the action. Such a spectacle would lead to massive exposure, setting the net on fire. The Vesperia marketing team should have been all over this as well; instead they were doing their best to ignore it. Even the bug report I’d sent had been ignored. Or maybe that was the idea? It was possible that they were maintaining an information blackout until the right moment. If a massive update patch was being developed, it made sense that they'd want to hide the existence of the new level cap.

“You're drifting,” Jeff whispered.

“Sorry.” I straightened up. “Was thinking about my exams,” I lied. “Next few days will be annoying. Three exams with a seventy percent fail rate. If I don't make it, I’ll have to pay for an additional semester.”

“Sure.” He looked away.

“Look, I didn't mean to cause complications, but—“

“Jenna, take over for a moment,” Jeff ordered, cutting me short. “It won't be long.”

The girl looked at Jeff, then at me. I could tell exactly what was going in her mind. She didn't dare say it, of course, just as I didn't refuse to leave my station and follow Jeff to the back entrance. He rarely pulled rank at work, but when he did, it meant things were bad.

We went through the service corridor to the inner yard. It was a small square space, entirely of concrete, where deliveries were made. Right now, there was only one truck delivering food concentrate to one of the fast food joints nearby. When Jeff closed the door behind us, I already was concerned.

“Look, Jeff,” I began. “I didn't—“

“Just shut up for a moment!” he shouted. “You make things so difficult, you can't even imagine!” He started pacing back and forth. “The hundred level quest, the urban legend… Have you any idea how many people have come asking for that? Dozens. It's all fun and games in the normie world, but in the deep people are actively hunting for it.”

“You're deep web?” The edges of my lips curved into a smile. I always suspected he hadn't left his hacker past. Why else would he remain in such a crappy job when he could easily get five times the pay elsewhere?

“Don't act surprised!” He glared at me. “Shit, Sarah, half the people who’ve gone searching for the Vesperia quest have ended up missing, and you flaunt your clips all over the net. Do you have any idea what I had to do to keep you hidden?”

“You bought my videos?”

“I tried. Someone had beaten me to it.” He stopped. His eyes were blood red. “Why did you have to get involved with the Vesperia quest, Sarah?” He whispered. “If you needed cash, I would have loaned you some. Given it to you! I know this job is shitty, and I only use it as a front, but…”

“Hey.” I grabbed him into a hug. It was weird. In my fantasies I'd always imagined me breaking down in the arms of a deep web hacker. Instead, I ended up consoling Jeff. Fate had a twisted way of making dreams come true. “It's okay. Everything is okay,” I whispered patting his back.

“Once you complete the quest, you’ll be gone,” he whimpered. “Who would stay in such a dump? You'll collect your money, get your degree and…”

“Shhh.” That was the problem with hackers—they tended to get too emotional. I still couldn't tell if he had a crush on me, or just was going to miss me. Knowing him, possibly a bit of both. “I’m not going anywhere.” That much was true. It would take more than a few thousand for me to outright leave. Once I had my degree and a better job offer, though, I wouldn't give it a moment's thought. “For the next two years, you're stuck with me.”

Jeff nodded, then pulled away. I knew he was wiping his eyes, but pretended not to notice. The universal rule held true: good stuff at home, shit at work. No doubt the rest of the shift were gossiping about us. Not that I cared; most of them would be gone in six months. I had no idea what to do with Jeff, however.

“Sorry, I didn't…” He turned around, wiping his nose in his sleeve. “It's just that I don't want to see you gone.”

“Hey, it’s cute you worry about me.” I smiled, saying exactly what he needed to hear.

“Thanks.”

“It's not really dangerous as you made it out, is it?” I stepped beside him.

“No. I don't think so.” He snuffled again. “Truth?” He looked me in the eyes.

“Truth.”

“The truth is I have no idea. No one knows. There are lots of rumors. Every few months, something new appears then vanishes again. There's always some new explanation, some new lead, and then someone falls off the grid for good. I knew someone who said he had found the answer and was going to tell everyone about it. He vanished before he could post anything.” Jeff took a tissue from his pocket and blew his nose. “Of course, three corporations were on his back for something else. The Vesperia level is just a game myth. There are others as well. People have been asking about you on the forums, though.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to disappear.” I wished I could laugh it off.

The moment he avoided my glance, I knew he was hiding something. I could have pressed him to tell me—a flirt and vague promise on my part, and he would have. That wasn't something I wanted to put him through. As much as I wanted to complete the quest, I wasn't going to stoop to that level. Not until I became desperate.

“Jeff, do you think it might all be a PR stunt by the gamedev?”

“I don't know. I can find out.”

“Please do.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “It would mean a lot. Either way, in five days all this will be over. Win or lose, I'll still be here and we'll keep on working this shitty job.”

Jeff gave a weak smile, then went back inside. I stayed a few seconds more. A moment ago, I thought my life had become slightly more complicated. Right now, I was standing a step away from the deep end of chaos. Having a deep hacker reveal himself was almost the same as signing a contract. The fact that he trusted me to this extent made me uneasy.

“In what way are you interested?” I whispered under my breath. At this point, I had no idea if it was love or lust. Until I did, I’d have to be on my guard. Taking a deep breath, I went back to work.

The remainder of the morning passed in awkward quiet. Customers came and went, often complaining about the service. None of the staff said a word to each other the entire time. I kept my distance from Jeff, and the rest kept their distance from the both of us. When lunch break came, I instantly rushed out to make use of my fifteen minutes. Normally, I’d get in line to grab something to eat. Today, I went to nearest dumpster alley and grabbed my phone.

“Twinkle,” I said, looking over my logs. “Anything new?”

“You have seven new messages,” Twinkle’s annoyingly cheerful voice rang in my ear. “Three are spam, two are demo codes, one is from the university informing you of a schedule change, and one is from FlickerFlacker.”

“What?” I opened my inbox. “Why didn't you tell me earlier?!”

“Sorry, Sarah. You told me to notify you if you had messages from Vesperia. The message was sent to your personal email address.”

Shit! He knew my email. That meant he knew other things about me as well. I had isolated my email from my real life persona, so if the rich kid had managed to find that, he could have found much more. Furious at my AI, I opened the message.

Quote:

Let's meet at Bent Cliff 77 after you finish work.

I'll be there waiting for an hour. If you don't show up you’ll never get the same offer!

FlickerFlackeer

I could tell he was bluffing from a mile away. If the circumstances were different, I would have let him sweat for a few days until he was forced to send a second message. However, time was ticking away for me just as it was for him. I quickly typed OK in response, then deleted the message.

“Twinkle, has anyone tried to access you lately?” I asked.

“Yes, Sarah!” My AI said proudly. “Fourteen attempts were made when you were in Kalifax. None of them were successful.”

“Was it before or after I entered the library?”

“All were before. Would you like me to perform a reverse trace?”

“No, Twinkle, I don't.” I sighed. If there was such a thing as an AI ego, Twinkle had managed to acquire it. He didn't have the software to perform an adequate trace. “Just keep tracking my feeds and inform me if there are ANY new messages that aren't spam. Also, block any attachments.”

“Sure thing, Sarah! Also, you have six minutes until the end of your break. If you don't leave now, you'll be late.”

“Great that you're here to let me know,” I grumbled. I did a quick check of my Vesperia character inventory, to make sure the dragon egg was still there, then ran back to work.

Jeff hardly gave me a glance as I arrived. I took advantage of the fact and returned to my work station. The minutes dragged on. Customers kept on pouring in—three phone cleanings, one bracelet, and an earring model that was probably five years old. Standard tools didn't work on it, so I had to get the specialized gear. I was just about to start working on it, when Jeff intervened.

“I'll take care of this,” he said firmly, taking the earring. “You check out.”

“Letting me go early?” I arched a brow. First time this ever happened.

“Yep, now go.” He put on the magnifying glasses and concentrated on the device. “Just be here on time tomorrow. No excuses.”

“Will do.” I glanced at the time display on the wall. Twenty three minutes before the end of my shift? I knew there would be a catch, but under the circumstances, I couldn't refuse