Dark Realm, The Read Online Free PDF

whole pillar was probably next. She imagined Fernald thinking the same thing. Focusing the cannon on the pillar. Pulling the trigger - now!
    She rolled to the side, and kept rolling as the pillar exploded. Five seconds to go. And nowhere else to hide.
    Nika scrambled to her feet and started zigzagging across the arena. The earth around her was scored with holes as Reaper kept firing, tracking her path. He got an indirect hit, and Jennet winced as her screen flashed yellow. That was the warning that her health meter was plummeting. Three seconds. Time for a new plan.
    “Shiiineh!” Nika’s battle-cry rang through the arena.
    She changed her trajectory and ran straight at Reaper, flinging throwing-stars like glittering confetti in front of her. When she ran out of stars, she started on knives.
    “What the - ?” Fernald watched her crazy moves for the last crucial seconds. Then, with a chuckle, he raised his laser-gun. “Wow, you really are a noob.”
    Deadly red beams shot out … into empty air. Nika’s dash had carried her past Reaper. She whirled, knives flashing, and sunk a lethal blow right between his ribs.
    This time, Reaper crumpled into a heap of metal. Satisfaction swept through her like a warm tide.
    “No way!” Fernald shoved his chair back and stood. “You used some kind of cheat. I should’ve known someone like you would use exploits. That was so—”
    “Shut up, Fernald.” Marny’s voice was even. “She didn’t cheat. You lost. Deal.”
    “I should’ve known. You freak girls stick together.”
    With a last glare, the defeated gamer turned his back on them. He punched Clarc in the arm, then stomped out the door.
    “Uh. That was really prime,” the skinny boy said, rubbing his arm. The admiration in his eyes was uncomfortably close to a full-on crush.
    Jennet stood. “Well, thanks for letting me play. I sort of crashed your meeting.”
    The purple-haired girl gave her a tentative smile. “It was about time someone took Fernald down. Come back again, k?”
    “Sure. Do you think you’ll ever get some sim equip in here? That’s what I do, really.”
    The girl shook her head. “Not in the next ten years, I don’t think. Unless VirtuMax wants to donate some.” She got a thoughtful look. “Hey. Maybe I should do a project on that.”
    Clarc nodded eagerly, giving the purple-haired girl the same look he’d turned on Jennet. “Good idea, Shella. You’re so smart.”
    “Well, thanks again,” Jennet said. “It’s been… interesting.”
    She turned, to find Marny standing there.
    “More than interesting,” the other girl said. “Best afternoon I’ve had in a while. My name is—”
    “Marny. I know.”
    There was a flash of surprise in Marny’s eyes, quickly masked. Then her mouth quirked up. “Yeah. And you’re Jennet.”
    “Glad we got that sorted out.” Jennet smiled - one of the first real smiles she’d felt since coming to Crestview. “So… is Fernald really the best player here? Or was he just boasting?”
    She had wanted to defeat him - to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face. But at the same time, she’d hoped, she’d needed , to find a prime gamer here.
    Marny shrugged. “Fernald’s as good as any of them are.”
    Jennet gave her a close look. She hadn’t seen Marny play, but obviously the girl knew something about gaming.
    “What about you? Do you sim?”
    “Me? Nah.” Marny shook her head, her bobbed black hair swinging around her face.
    Too bad. Of everyone she had met so far, she liked Marny. They might have made a good team - if only the girl were a simmer. Jennet would much rather have Marny’s solid presence beside her in Feyland than that jerk Fernald.
    “Is there someplace else people go to play?” Jennet glanced around the Media Room. “I mean, someplace with sim-systems?”
    “My uncle has a sim-café. Though you don’t seem the type to go there, frankly. Don’t you have a system at home?”
    “Yes. I was just wondering,” Jennet said.