Spark(31)

Mom and Dad were also a little confused by her success. When she’d won the national sim tournament at age fifteen, they’d helped her raise the money to get to the international competition. Once there, she’d scorched her opponents and secured the VirtuMax sponsorship. It had taken some work to bring her parents around, but the salary the company offered, plus the promise of private tutoring to keep her academics up, was ultimately something they couldn’t refuse.
She hadn’t known then how unglamorous parts of her new life would be, but when her contract came up for renewal, she’d talked her parents into agreeing to one more term. They needed the money. University wasn’t cheap, even at the local schools, and Spark was determined that all three kids in her family—herself included—would get the chances her parents never had. Chances none of them would’ve had, except for her gaming skills.
The bus slowed, the plas-metal and concrete building of the gaming center coming into view. Spark glanced at the long line snaking around the corner. A bunch of national vid crews were there, too, judging from the number of satellite-topped vans parked beside the gaming center. SimCon might have been the first demo, but this event had obviously been built up as something splashy.
“I’m going to change,” she said as soon as the bus stopped.
The back part of the vehicle was a deluxe bathroom, complete with a closet and changing room. Spark pulled out her teal-blue costume, then froze in disbelief. A long rip gaped in the fabric in back, running from the plastic shoulder guards down to the built-in belt.
Dammit! She should have been paying better attention to the Terabins’ movements—but she hadn’t thought far enough ahead. Of course they’d try to sabotage her. Clearly their new tactic was to discredit her, make it seem as though she didn’t take her position seriously.
The problem was, the twins were right. Being VirtuMax’s sim star wasn’t that important, not compared to her new job as a guardian of the border between human and fey worlds. But that was hardly something she could explain.
Even though being a Feyguard was huge, so far she was still clueless about what it entailed. Whereas her job as Spark Jaxley, helping launch the FullD system, was immediate and pressing.
And she had nothing to wear. She rifled through the rest of her clothing, but her other two Spark suits were also damaged beyond use. One had a big purple stain on it, and the other one’s chest plate was scraped up. Boy, the twins didn’t mess around, but they’d done it in a way that wasn’t obvious. Her word against theirs, and with the mood Mr. Chon had been in, she didn’t like her chances.
Spark held up her ruined blue costume. She had to figure out how to salvage this.
“Vonda?” she called, sticking her head out of the bathroom.
The Terabins noticed, and Cora let out a snicker. Spark ignored them.
“Yeah?” Vonda came over. “What’s going on?”
“Wardrobe malfunction.” Spark kept her voice low. “Could you get me some duct tape?”
“Got a roll in my bag. One sec.”
Vonda did a good job of getting the silver duct tape out of her bag and tucking it under her shirt. The twins scowled, but they couldn’t quite see what was happening.
“Here.” Vonda handed her the roll. “Anything else?”
“I got it, for now. If you can get some other gaming costumes together for me, though, that would be good.”
Spark shut the door on her manager’s concerned expression and set to work. She taped up the rip in the back of the teal suit, then wriggled into it. The fabric pulled oddly, and she made a few more adjustments to the back. It wasn’t pretty, nor comfortable, but she could deal with that.
One of her other costumes had a short cloak. It was lemon yellow—not the smoothest color combo with teal—but it would cover up the mess on her back. Spark slung it on, then grabbed the yellow belt, too.
Adequately dressed, she rummaged through her makeup. At least her cosmetics were untouched, though from now on she was locking everything up. She’d have to ask Vonda for some secure containers.
Spark did her usual stage makeup, then added a few swipes of bright color to her eyelids—yellow and teal, to try and pull her look together. It wasn’t a perfect success, but at least she wouldn’t be showing up on the national gaming news in a T-shirt. Which had clearly been the Terabins’ aim.
Her mangled yellow suit was decorated with shiny crystals at the neck. Spark pried a few off and glued them down one cheek. Might as well go for the full-on treatment.
Vonda rapped at the bathroom door. “Ready?”
“As ready as I can be.” Spark stepped out. “Don’t say anything.”