Round 2. Part 1.

Lucy stopped walking.

Now that was new! She was certain it hadn't been there the day before. Lost Worlds Book Store. It must be one of those pop-ups that were so popular these days.

The narrow shop looked interesting, if slightly old-fashioned.

The sign in the window said they stocked both new and second-hand items and she hoped they might have some old comics. Lucy pushed open the door and stepped inside.

She walked past all the graphic novels displayed on one wall, heading eagerly to the back where she could see the word 'Comics' written in large print. She flicked impatiently through the Disney selection, hoping to find something more to her taste, preferably something from Marvel but she supposed some early DC Comics would do in a pinch.

She frowned. Someone had stuck a graphic novel in the box, in amongst the comics. She plucked it out, about to put the book to one side before she returned it to the shop owner to reshelve, when the title caught her attention.

Lucy and the Witch World. Story and graphics by A. Wych. If you loved Narnia, you'll love this!

Well, to be honest she thought she was a little old for Narnia, plus she'd got rather fed up with having the same name as the lead character in that series. Her brother had been a real pain about it.

Still...it wouldn't hurt to have a look. She flicked over the first couple of pages to check the story. Weird. She could have sworn the page was blank, but now she could see a boy and a black dog, walking through a snowy forest toward a castle. The image flickered again. Now she could see a girl struggling her way through a patch of fog... or was it steam? She peered closer. The image was definitely flickering. In and out. There and not there.

A small voice spoke from down near the floor. "What do you think? Do you want it?"

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Lucy, startled.

"I am Groot," replied the creature, turning suddenly into a tiny replica of one of her favourite characters.

"Wow!" said Lucy, smiling. "That's amazing. How did you do that?" She looked around for the owner, ready to share her appreciation of the special effects, but there was no one in sight.

"I am Groot!" insisted the creature, sounding annoyed that it had lost her attention. "Do you want the book or not? It's free."

"Well then, I suppose so, thank-"

Before she'd finished speaking, without any more warning than a pop and a burst of white light, Lucy disappeared. The book dropped to the floor, falling open at a page which was completely blank.

~~

Lucy stood up and brushed her hands on her jeans. She stared at the snowy forest and the path leading toward a castle and shook her head in annoyance. Dammit! If she was going to be plunged into a virtual world without her consent she was going to pick the setting. She didn't want Narnia, she wanted a spaceship!

She looked around for some sort of console device to change the game, but saw nothing except for snow... and a small figure trotting toward her. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. It looked for all the world like a raccoon, but one wearing a jaunty purple hat and a dagger around its waist, secured by a leather belt. It was also walking upright. It beamed at her.

"Hi there! My name is Procyonlotorminor, but you can call me Min."

Cool! Thought Lucy. Min reminded her strongly of Rocket, her absolutely favourite character from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

"This is some weird game, right?"

"Er... well... not exactly." Min looked bashful, if that was possible on a furry face. "I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun though. What should I call you?"

"I'm Lucy." She stared disparagingly at the snowy forest. "Can we change this? I'd rather have a spaceship or an alien planet."

Min chewed his bottom lip. "Er... well... I'm not sure about that."

Lucy screwed up her eyes and concentrated on picturing the bridge from the Milano, complete with her sitting at one set of controls and Min at the other, just like she had seen in pictures from the film.

Thunk! Her bottom connected with the seat of a chair and she quickly opened her eyes. Ah! That was better! She was in the command chair of the Milano, with all the galaxy lying in front of her.

Min sat in the next chair, his paws clutching the arms and his eyes wide with shock.

"How did you do that?" he managed.

Lucy shrugged, pleased with herself. "I don't know, exactly, but this will be much more fun, won't it?"

"I g-guess so." Min was staring out the viewscreen at thousands of stars, glowing in the inky blackness.

Lucy moved the joystick and the craft swooped left, then right. Stars whizzed past. Lucy grinned.

"How do you know how to drive this thing?" asked Min, looking nervously at the controls in front of his chair.

"Well, it's all in my imagination, isn't it? I made it pretty simple."

Min chewed his bottom lip again. Nothing like this had ever happened before. He had absolutely no idea what to do about it. Gingerly, he tapped the second joystick with one claw. What the hell!

"Can I have a go?"

"Sure," said Lucy, sitting back in her chair.

Min clasped the joystick, then, tentatively to begin with, began to steer the spaceship. His mouth opened in a wide grin.

"This is fun, isn't it? Where shall we go first?"

~~

Ann Wych stared at the image on the page. What the actual fuck? Where was her beautiful snowy forest? Who had dared to interfere with her story? Sure, once they were in the book, her children had a certain say in what happened, how to battle shape-shifters, fight dragons, and rescue princesses for example, but none of them had been able to change the story setting. Not until now.

She gritted her teeth. Spaceships? What next? Mechanical robots? She wasn't going to put up with that. She was a high fantasy writer, not a sci-fi nerd.

She concentrated on her favourite forest image, frowning intensely, and in a flash, the spaceship disappeared and Lucy and Min were back in the forest where they belonged.

"And stay there," she muttered.

"Bother!" exclaimed Lucy. "I must have lost concentration for a moment. Let's try again, shall we?"

"There we go," said Lucy in satisfied tones as they reappeared in their spaceship.

What the-? Her finger shaking with rage, Ann pressed a fingernail to the page and let her avatar flow into the story.

A wispy creature with huge wings appeared in the back of the spaceship radiating fury and before Lucy could blink, she and Min were back in the snowy forest.

The winged creature hovered in the air in front of them, its face contorted like something out of a horror film.

"This is your final warning!" hissed the creature.

"Or what?" Lucy crossed her arms defiantly. This was her game. What right did this creature have to interfere? Obviously, some sort of AI bot embedded in the program. How annoying.

"Or... I'll eliminate you!"

"You can't do that," protested Lucy. "It's my game." She tried to bring back the spaceship and the forest flickered.

The creature screamed in outrage. "No, it's my story, mine!" Her furious gaze pinned Lucy to the spot and suddenly Lucy couldn't move a muscle. Then she felt her energy draining away, being sucked out of her body.

She tried to protest, to call Min for help but she couldn't make a sound. This no longer felt like a game, it all felt too horribly real. She didn't want to die! She was only thirteen, she still had so much living to do. She sobbed inside.

A deep voice boomed from right behind her, so loud it knocked snow off the branches and sent the creature's wings streaming backwards. A dark purple light filled the grove.

"STOP!"

The draining sensation halted. The creature gaped, open-mouthed in shock at whatever was behind her.

"But-"

"Leave us alone! Go back where you came from!" ordered the voice.

And to Lucy's amazement, the creature vanished. She fell to the ground.

"Just take it easy, you'll be fine in a minute or two," said Min, peering down at her.

"That was scary," admitted Lucy, once she got her breath back. "Who was it who came to help us?" she added, looking around in all directions.

Min dropped his gaze and studied his paws, thoughtfully. "It must have been one of those Guardians you talked about. Now, let's get back to our spaceship, shall we?"

Back at her desk, Ann's heart was still thumping. That had been totally unexpected. Who knew her creations had become so powerful? Now that she was safely home, she felt a twinge of pride.

And maybe a sci-fi book with lots of adventures could sell just as well as high fantasy.