Page 86 of Tapeworld Induction

Isaak tried summoning an object. It didn’t work. She had him locked up. And whatever she’d done had blocked his Tapeworld creative capacity. Astrid must have cracked the tape. She’d been modifying it. And now she was using it as a prison. Was he the first prisoner, or just the latest in a long line of stupid, easily manipulated idiots?

Why was Astrid making him relive these memories? Not just the Lazarus and his knee, but playing games while his parents argued… It made him think about his dad, and how much he missed hanging out with him – when he was in a good mood, which wasn’t often. His dad’s drinking and Isaak’s disappointment in him had eventually led Isaak to leave home and break contact. He hadn’t heard from him in more than five years now.

He tried to pull himself up from the floor. A jolt of pain shot through him, taking his breath away. He collapsed.

31

Puff

Dylan

Sacha opened his backpack, spreading the contents over the table. His supply run had brought back several rolls of multicoloured tape and, bizarrely, a lobster phone. Not a phone with a lobster painted on it. A lobster turned into a phone…

Talia raised her eyebrows. “Fan of Salvador Dalí?”

“This is our secret weapon!”

“What does it do?” Dylan asked.

“With luck, we’ll be able to wake Isaak with it. Let me worry about that part. You just need to find him in the Tapeworld.”

With luck. This didn’t sound like a great plan.

“Where did you get it?” she asked.

“Did Isaak tell you about Elodie?”

“A little.”

“When we stopped using the tape, she handed me that. Said it might be useful sometime. Come on, let’s get it set up.”

Under Sacha’s direction, they wired the lobster phone to the device stuck over Isaak’s eyes. The arrangement looked like the kind of hacking she’d seen in movies from decades even before the Dark Year.

Talia’s silver rings clinked as she fidgeted with a roll of tape. “Are you sure this is gonna work?” she asked.

“I’m not,” Sacha said. “But it’s worth a shot.”

Talia was beginning to look nervous. Dylan didn’t think she’d ever seen her like this before. She was usually so fearless. Always knew where the exits were, the least drunk of the group, but she could fake it well. But not the girl you’d want on your side during a spontaneous beach brawl – that’d be Dylan herself. No boys messed with Talia unless they wanted their shins kicked by Dylan.

Her friend was now examining the lobster phone. “Holy shit, is this one of the actual Dalí lobster telephones? He only made eleven…”

Sacha answered Talia’s incredulous face with a nod. “I know. I couldn’t believe it either. Elodie just had it lying around. A pre-Dark Year relic.”

“The Tate Modern museum is still fucked because of that,” Dylan said. “All the art people looted. That’s where your Elodie got that phone from.” She wanted him to know she hated the thought of art being sold on the black market like that.

“Hey, I’d give it back, but…”

She shook her head. “No, I know, we need it.”

“Shall we then?” Sacha motioned to the sleeping bags on the floor. “You two can lie down and get taped up. Make sure the tape is connected to the lobster.”

Dylan frowned and looked at Talia. “You’re coming too?”

Talia smiled. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I’ve heard a lot about this Tapeworld, and this boy of yours. I want to see them for myself. And I don’t want you in there on your own. Especially if it’s dangerous.”

It felt like a really bad idea. Dylan herself had only been in the Tapeworld for a week.

“It is dangerous. We’ve been chased by fucked-up mechanical wolves, and by black spheres that sucked up everything in their path.”