Page 87 of Tapeworld Induction

Talia raised her eyebrows. “Exactly. I’m not letting you go alone. I know how much you’ve been craving excitement, girl. I don’t want you to lose your head in there.”

Dylan smiled, her heart warming. “You’re a good friend.”

“I’m your only friend,” Talia said, letting out a laugh.

“Let’s do this then…” They went to their individual sleeping bags, and Dylan lay down and tipped her head backward, chin pointed to the ceiling. That way, she could still see him in the same position she’d placed him in – sat back in his chair, his head tilted forward. “We’ll find you, Isaak.”

Dylan looked over at Talia, a slice of tape held ready beside her head. A quiet nervousness had settled on her face, now that she was done playing the brave one for Dylan’s sake. She really had no idea what awaited her on the other side.

Dylan played with her own roll of tape. Just touching it was enough to calm the storm raging inside her. Almost enough.

“Three… Two… One… Go!”

They both stuck the tape at the same time.

“Holy shiiii—” Talia screamed.

Dylan never heard the scream end. A barrage of colours danced in front of her eyes. She lifted her hands and could see through them, her skin translucent, bones chalky white. Rubbing her hands together reassured her they were still there, but it looked trippy. Cool.

Sacha’s smile, still visible through the rainbow, blended into the table he sat at, into the walls, the delimitation of his shape intermixing with the colours of the room.

Every shape oscillated with luminance. Colours flew past her eyes, her mind travelling through concentric tubes of light and shape, her skin ethereal like fire, her body flooded with lightness, the sensation of taking a puff of a cigarette after years without smoking.

A rush of air stole her breath. She lunged forward, and when she opened her eyes, she was there. The familiar volcanic landscape. Isaak’s home in the Tapeworld.

She grabbed her phone, still inside her pocket, and called Sacha. “We are in his tape-space. No sign of him though.”

“You know what to do next,” Sacha replied. “Keep the call open.”

“So this is the place?” Talia asked.

“Yeah,” Dylan said. “Looks a bit too much like a supervillain’s lair, doesn’t it? Mine’s much cuter than this.”

“Typical emo kid. Fire and brimstone.” The volcano was spewing hot lava. “Look at all these colours! It’s like, the colours of a giant movie screen but in real life. Everything is so brightly lit.”

Dylan smiled as Talia just stared around her, mesmerised.

“I can see why you’d want to spend the rest of your life in here,” Talia said.

“The landscape? That’s nothing. Check this out.”

Dylan summoned a plant at her fingertips, then threw it. It landed on the rocky ground of Isaak’s space, and embedded itself in the rock. A few seconds later, the stalk of the plant thickened, cracking the rock open.

Talia gaped at it. “What the fuck? You’re like a virtual witch.”

Dylan curtsied. “Thank you—”

“Or are you virtually a witch…?”

Dylan shrugged.

Talia grinned.

“Shall we?” Dylan asked her.

Talia swung one of her arms, like a stretch after exercise. “Yeah. Let’s go find your man.”

Dylan widened her eyes at Talia in warning. She didn’t want Sacha to know all about her feelings for Isaak.