There’s nothing like getting into a good fantasy, and since Giannine’s cruddy father at least has the decency to have his secretary ask her what she wants for her birthday, she can choose what she wants: a pricey half hour of the Rasmussen Gaming Center’s virtual reality game Heir Apparent. It’s cloaks, it’s daggers, it’s castles and wizards; it’s dungeons and dragons and strange tastes and weird smells and velvets and brocade more. And, best of all, it’s fantasy. It’s not thinking about her life – or her horrible parents – for what feels like a three whole days.
When Giannine gets to the gaming center, there’s a protest in progress. Citizens to Protect Our Children (CPOC) is up in arms and waving signs, but Giannine doesn’t care – she just wants to play. It’s a good place to forget that her dad hardly ever sees her, and doesn’t seem to care much about her. After all, he chucked her with her grandma, and made her mother get a paternity test to prove she was his when they got divorced. It’s better to just ignore reality for awhile, and Heir Apparent seems like a tricky enough game for Giannine to get her wish.
But that’s before something goes wrong with a game! There’s only one way out — winning. And Giannine can’t figure it out. She’s just supposed to get the magic ring, find a treasure, answer a riddle, make up a poem, escape from some ghosts and steal something from a man-eating dragon. I mean, how hard could it be? It’s only a game!
But, this time it’s more. And Giannine is running out of time…
Remember choose your own adventure novels? This is even cooler!
