Chapter 3

Fox was avoiding looking at Karl again when he noticed it. At first, he thought it was just the after-effect of looking near Karl for too long, or that he was too tired from his last plane trip IRL. But the more he stared at it, the more the bricks in the closest stone wall blurred together.

“King,” he said, pointing. “Is that supposed to be disintegrating like that?”

It was more apparent now: the huge fireplace in the background wavered and melted into one blob of colour. This had never happened to Fox before, and he fought down the rising panic as the floor beneath his feet faded away in patches.

“We must be discovered!” Joanne cried, jumping to her feet, eyes sweeping the room.

“Impossible!” Karl proclaimed, doing the same. “Our security is double-encrypted! The Mindwall can’t be collapsing like this!”

King tried to stand, but stumbled as if dizzy. “There’s something wrong,” he said, his voice sounding distorted. “I can’t…”