Avatara

Qwerty dissuaded Pixel from taking them to Royal London Hospital. Going to an emergency department would put them in the situation where they would have to answer questions. 'How did you get these injuries? Where were you? What were you doing? Where are your parents?'

Instead they did as Snow Globe originally suggested; going to one of his secret locations where they could regroup, recharge and reflect.

Grace woke up in a strange large room that turned out to be an old private library. She lay on an antique oxblood c.h.e.s.terfield sofa. Pixel worried about her for every moment she slept after their arrival here. Jazz looked pensive too.

The warmth of the fireplace opposite, must have made her stir. Qwerty and Byte got it going five minutes earlier using a gas lighter they'd found on the mantelpiece above it. Waking up to find the hardened sofa difficult to lie on, she sat up. The others scuttled around her with concern; the four of them stood around her to check she was okay.

"Take it easy," said Jazz. "Gently." He took the opportunity to sit next to her with his battered and bruised body.

Grace looked worse for wear. Her skin looked pale, heavy and dry; and she had bags around her eyes. The eyes themselves were mildly bloodshot and her cracked lips proved she was completely drained of energy. She didn't say anything for a while and bowed her head down to the floor with her hands pressed down into the sofa. She shivered with goosebumps. Although the fireplace had been lit it was not warm.

"Byte, get her a blanket," said Pixel. Unperturbed by Byte's facial expression and shrug, which read as 'why always me?', she insisted that the youngest member of Escape Key do as asked. Which he did. He looked around to fetch one. Old private libraries always have blankets.

At least Grace's feet were warm from the cosy rug. She must have been comforted by the shag brown rug, quite contemporary and out of place in this antique environment.

Pixel placed a glass of water carefully on the glass coffee table in front of her. Jazz sat beside Grace and Qwerty sat on the arm of the sofa on the other side of him. Jazz picked up the glass and brought it to Grace's mouth. Grace grabbed it forcefully with her right hand and took a huge gulp and then another. She handed it back to Jazz after.

Pixel broke the silence that followed. She had to know. She had to know if Grace was really Grace.

"How you feeling?" she said.

"I've got a headache," said Grace, not making eye contact with Pixel or anyone else. The inventor of Avatara, staring at a transparent table but at this moment opaque to the world herself.

Pixel felt troubled. She felt uneasy about Grace now. She remembered what happened in the system. How Knightmare-Grimm dug his fingers into her. The others didn't know. She kept noticing the grey mark on Grace's left arm. A queasy feeling that made her wretch internally worried her. She distracted herself from her own thoughts for a second by issuing more instructions.

"Qwerty can you see if there are some aspirins or something around here?"

Qwerty nodded.

"Where am I?" said Grace quietly.

"We're in West London," replied Pixel.

"You're at a mansion in Regent's Park," said Jazz gently. "This is its private library. It belongs to…"

Pixel gestured furiously at Jazz to get him to stop talking. She stared at him as if to say, 'what are you doing?.' It seemed he was still consumed by guilt and as a result was acting subservient.

With perfect timing, right on cue, changing the direction of conversation, Byte returned with a brown blanket. He put the blanket around Grace's body. Pixel moved quickly to help but Grace insisted on wrapping it herself.

Pixel crouched down to kneel in front of Grace. She needed to look at her directly, to see into her eyes, even though she was afraid. The important questions had to be asked now that she was awake.

"Grace do you remember what happened inside the Avatara system?"

Grace's eyes met Pixel's.

"We kissed."

Pixel let out a breath of relief. Jazz looked nonplussed.

"Yep, we did but Yi did that. He took over your body because you were completely passed out in there. I think he made us kiss so that he could use the power to transport our souls out of the system."

"That doesn't even make sense," said Jazz. In any other situation, Pixel would have laughed; clearly he was jealous.

"Yi's was all about that mad magic man," said Byte. "The things he does don't make scientific sense. The boy is like God mode in a computer game."

"A lot of things haven't made sense in all of this," said Jazz. "It's been like one long bad dream and it was all my fault."

"You did not create Knightmare-Grimm Jazz. Avatara did. We were always going to have to deal with him and we did. Please don't blame yourself. Especially if you care about me."

Those words sounded like what Grace would say. Pixel's tension reduced further.

"It was like I was watching myself when we kissed, Yi was holding me up...I feel like he is still around." Grace shook her head as she spoke. "Like he's still with us, even in this room but at the same time I know he's gone. He helped us get out of there but maybe that was his final act. Like his special move." She looked at Byte momentarily with the expectation that somehow he understood.

"Everything is just so foggy. It's difficult to tell right now what is real or what is not."

"This is the real world Grace," said Pixel. "You're just very disoriented from the trauma you faced inside the system. Knightmare-Grimm grabbed you and tried to control you at one point. Do you remember that?"

"I remember Yi helping me," said Grace. "He was also within me at one point but I can't feel him now."

"What about Grimm?" said Pixel.

Grace did not reply. She looked dizzy and confused.

"Grace?" Pixel repeated.

But Grace had trouble paying attention and focusing on Pixel; opening and closing her eyes as if she was about to fall back asleep.

"Jazz," Grace said.

"Yes Grace?" he replied.

Grace swayed in her seated position on the sofa, leaning forwards and backwards.

"I feel sick," she said. Grace's body jolted and she covered her mouth.

"Oh no, fetch a bowl," said Pixel. "Where's a bowl? She's gonna vomit."

"Damn," said Byte. They frantically searched around the room with their eyes to look for one. Byte conceded on that and decided to go to another room to find one.

However, Grace could not hold back. She vomited in a long, prolonged contraction. But instead of fluid, a copious amount of thick gas emanated from her mouth, freezing everyone in a state of shock. Jazz held her to support her but he must have been frightened as well.

Pixel had seen nothing like it before. Grace's mouth was wide open and lots of smoke left her body and rose into the air above them in front of the fireplace. After the full quantity of smoke left her, Grace fell back onto the sofa in a sleepy state, thrown back with a small amount of force.

"Grace!" said Jazz alarmed.

The smoke in front of them coalesced into a large gaseous form. A human form, dressed in robes, with a large bulbous head. It looked like a child.

"Yi?" said Pixel.

Byte also stared in disbelief. The sound of glass crashed on the floor behind them. Pixel turned to check for a second. It was Qwerty, back with the aspirin. This mouth was agape in shock at what he saw in front of them and dropped the glass of water he carried.

The smoke concentrated deeper to make a tight form.

"Hi guys," said the form. "It is me, Yi."

Pixel felt overwhelmed with emotion and teared up immediately, while shaking like a leaf. She knew he was not gone.

"I cannot stay like this for long but while you are all here, I felt I should give you a message."

Qwerty came closer and all of them looked in awe at the dense cloud.

"We thought you were dead," said Pixel.

"We are not the body, we are not mind," said Yi. "Listen carefully. Jazz do not be alarmed. Grace is sleeping, she is physically fine. It's important she does not hear this. She is not ready to."

Jazz turned from Grace to listen to Yi.

"Grace's body is containing my spirit. It has done since I conjoined her in Avatara. I was going to leave her and go to the next dimension but it seems I cannot."

"Why not?" said Pixel.

"She is facing a deep disturbance within. Knightmare-Grimm dug his claws into her within Avatara and it seems he has left a trace of himself inside her soul."

"No," whimpered Pixel.

Qwerty shook his head, Jazz looked incredulous and Byte just said what he usually said in response to disarray.

"Damn."

"I think it is him," said Yi. "Or at least a trace of him but I can't see it directly. It also appears to be very powerful, so I cannot confront it yet, only monitor it. I don't think it has detected my presence, as I haven't spoken to Grace."

"If you're in there and Knightmare-Grimm is in there. How much Grace is in there?" said Jazz.

"She's all there," said Yi. "She's trying to get herself straight in the head and she is strong but she needs support. Rest assured I will look out for her."

"It's not over," said Jazz.

"It's just beginning," said Yi. "And I need you all to work with Snow Globe to protect Byzantium."

"Protect Byzantium?" said Pixel.

"In due course, you will out how deep this situation is. The fully virtual world is here and the chaos is only going to get worse. The controlled stack system of Byzantium is the only answer that I can see to its control. Snow Globe will be expecting you. He's in danger and you guys will be the only ones he can trust."

"We all have to go to Japan," said Qwerty.

"I'm not going anywhere," said Jazz. "I'm staying with Grace."

"You will have to go as well Jazz," said Yi. "There's nothing for you in London. Your job is gone and you will be found unemployable. There's also little you can do for Grace. You can't fix her internal psyche and your presence in her life will only make her confused."

Jazz looked resigned. Pixel realised Yi was right. There was little that could be done for Grace by them, only Yi could help with that. But she felt confused by what Yi was saying. They had stopped Avatara, so it did not make sense to her why the situation was more complicated now.

"Don't look so glum," said Yi to them. "You have all done well. There is just more work to be done."

"We just thought it was all over," said Pixel.

"It's a new task for Escape Key," said Yi. "It's important that Grace does not know about this conversation. Don't tell her that I still exist inside her soul. While she has this deep dark energy inside her, she cannot be completely trusted and I need to be sure I can defeat the darkness within. At least that is what I think. I must go now."

"Wait," said Pixel. "I still have more questions."

But the gas cloud collapsed and started to re-enter Grace's body. Within a few seconds Yi was gone. Grace continued to lie there on the sofa, sleeping softly.