The Millionaire's Wish. Abigail Strom

with her thin, pale face and the scarf she wore to hide her baldness.

      When they entered her room Julie was staring at the TV monitor in front of her with fixed intensity, holding a video game controller in her hand and manipulating buttons so fast Allison couldn’t follow the motions. She seemed completely unaware of her surroundings. Allison and Rick came up to her bedside and she didn’t even register their presence.

      Allison glanced over at Rick, and was glad to see that he looked better. He was watching what Julie was doing, and Allison remembered with a sudden shock that he had actually designed this game. She looked at the monitor they were both studying and saw several characters, all more or less medieval looking, with swords and spears and bows, facing down forty or fifty unpleasant looking lizard-like creatures who also were holding swords.

      Julie gave a cry of frustration as one of the characters on screen—a tall, blond man in chain mail—took an arrow in the neck and fell writhing to the ground.

      “Quick,” Rick said, grabbing the controls from Julie and doing something Allison couldn’t follow. “That kind of armor has a one-time healing spell woven into it. Hardly anyone under level forty knows about it, but—”

      Before their eyes Julie’s character sat up, pulled the arrow out of his miraculously healed flesh, and leapt to his feet. He uttered a bloodcurdling battle cry and hurled himself back into the fray.

      Rick paused the game and handed the controls back to Julie. “Sorry,” he said. “I get carried away sometimes. My name is—”

      “I know who you are,” Julie said. Her voice was hushed, her eyes luminous as she stared at him.

      Allison hid her smile. “Julie, this is Richard Hunter. Rick, this is Julie Pratt.”

      “Hi, Julie,” Rick said, smiling as he held out his hand. Julie looked like she was in the presence of royalty, or at least Taylor Lautner, as she shook it.

      “Is Eric your favorite?” Rick was asking, grabbing a chair and sitting down by Julie’s bed.

      “Uh-huh,” Julie said. “I like that he can use magic but he’s also a warrior. You know? And he has such a tragic past.”

      “He’s definitely the most complex character,” Rick agreed. “Do you want to play two-person? I could take Teska or Unthas if you’d like.”

      Julie made a kind of gurgling sound that Allison thought was probably an affirmative. Rick must have interpreted it the same way, because he took a spare controller from the shelf below the monitor and settled back into his chair with a look on his face that mirrored Julie’s as the two of them started pushing buttons.

      Allison pulled up a chair herself and sat quietly, fascinated by the instant bond created by this game. Rick and Julie were talking to each other about battle tactics, about something called the Gem of Fanor, and about the mind games their characters had to endure in the Labyrinth of Dreams, which could, apparently, reveal the characters’ deepest motivations and desires but could also deceive and betray. The characters all seemed to have complicated backstories that tied into their quests, which both Rick and Julie knew inside and out.

      This was a different Rick Hunter than the man she’d met two days ago. He’d been hit by a painful memory today—a memory that had the power to get past his defenses. He’d faced it, and now it was as if he’d forgotten to put his armor back on. He was talking and laughing with Julie as if they were both sixteen.

      Allison cleared her throat. “It looks like you two are busy, so I’m going to pay a few visits. See you in a bit, okay?”

      Julie didn’t even hear her, but Rick gave her a quick grin before turning back to the young girl who looked like she’d been given the best gift of her life.

      Allison visited several patients before going back to check on Rick and Julie. They were still talking about the game, although the TV was off now. Julie was sitting straight up in bed and chatting a mile a minute, like any normal teenage girl. Allison was so happy to see her like that it was a few minutes before she paid any attention to what they were saying.

      “I’ve made it inside a few times, but only to the front hallway. The spell always ends so fast. A friend of mine made it into the library once, and he actually found the Book of Hadram before the magic sent him back to the forest. He brought the book with him, too, and the spells and maps in there got him up to the seventeenth level. I suppose I shouldn’t ask you how to stay in the house longer, right? I mean, I should probably figure it out for myself. I know it’s a combination of different magics, but of course the higher level players are all cagey about the secrets they’ve figured out. I’d love to have time to explore the whole house, you know? Since Rick—I mean, oh my gosh, you