The dragon’s wage was due at four.
Brin asked about that before he asked about the wings. He was forty-one, out of theatre work, and tired of being promised that the next performance would lead to something better.
“You get the fee whether they win or not,” Lora said. “You give them an hour. You make it a good hour.”
She ran the birthday games from the booth next door. Brin’s booth held a padded chair, a headset, and two hand controls. His right thumb worked the roar button. On the wall beside him was a real exit button. He could also remove the headset whenever he wanted.
Inside the game, he was a red dragon standing at the top of a tower. A golden key hung behind him. His wings covered one blue scale on his left shoulder.
Lora spoke through the headset. “Two wall levers. While both are held down, the game opens your wings. They touch the blue scale, they get the key. You can move along the top platform. You can’t fly off with the prize.”
“And eat them?”
“Birthday games, Brin.”
He tried a roar. It came out deep enough to rattle an imaginary window. He laughed at himself, and the laugh came out in his own ordinary voice.
“Filter doesn’t catch laughter,” Lora said. “Try not to sound like their uncle.”
She sent the party roster to his screen.
Sana was fourth on the list.
His twelve-year-old daughter was at Tev’s birthday party that afternoon. Her other parent had arranged the visit while Brin was working. He had known about cake. He had not known about this studio’s game.
He sat back in the real chair.
“A problem?” Lora asked.
He could ask her to find another performer. There was still time. He imagined Sana recognizing him, telling the others her father used to stand on a real stage and now pretended to have scales.
“No,” he said. “Let’s start.”
Five small figures appeared at the bottom of the virtual tower. Sana carried a bright foam-colored spear. Tev carried a shield. Three other guests ran toward the stairs.
All five were sitting in chairs at Tev’s home. Their little figures moved by hand controls, as Brin’s dragon did. None of them had to climb anything in the real room.
Above the tower door, a mural showed two wall levers, the stairs, and a dragon with a blue mark on its shoulder.
Lora’s game voice read the opening verse:
“Hold both levers, wings spread wide. Find the blue upon his side.”
Sana was already halfway up the stairs.
“Wait,” Tev said. “Look at the picture.”
“You look. I’ll get him.”
Brin pressed the control to turn his huge head.
“Who dares climb my tower?”
“Me,” Sana said.
A year ago, she had watched him rehearse a king and insisted he sounded frightened when he should sound angry. Now she ran at his front legs and hit the red armor with her spear.
It made a harmless squeak. A message appeared: FIND THE WEAK SPOT.
Tev began reading the mural aloud. Sana backed away from the dragon’s feet.
Brin could turn his left shoulder toward her. Make the blue scale obvious. Let her win before the others took over.
But the scale stayed covered until both levers were held down. He could not change that, and she would know if the dragon simply lay down.
Lora spoke in his ear, on the channel only he heard. “They have the whole hour. Let them try.”
Tev pulled one lever. Nothing happened. Brin turned toward him, keeping his wings closed.
Sana stopped attacking. From the stairs, she could see the edge of blue beneath his folded left wing.
“There,” she said. “Tev, I can see it.”
“Both levers,” Tev said. “I told you.”
“You told everyone the picture. Come up here with your shield.”
They argued about who would stand where. One guest wanted the spear. Another wanted to pull both levers. Sana pointed out that they were on opposite walls.
At last, two guests took one lever each. The third stood below the tower and offered to watch for the dragon turning. Tev joined Sana on the upper stairs. The dragon watched them arrange their attack. Brin found himself enjoying the wait.
They were a group with a plan, and he was in its way.
“I shall roast your little shield,” he declared.
Tev lifted it. “It’s fireproof.”
“Everything is fireproof at children’s parties.”
Lora made a small warning sound in his ear.
They spent the next half hour trying approaches. Brin made them retreat twice, and once Sana reached the wrong shoulder. By the last few minutes of their hour, Tev had found a place where his shield would hold.
Sana counted. On three, the two guests pulled down the levers and held them.
The game opened Brin’s wings, leaving the blue scale bare. He walked along the platform, away from Sana. There was room to turn, but the low wall kept the dragon on the tower top.
Tev stepped into the narrow gap beside that wall. His shield blocked Brin’s path. Brin swung his head around it, roaring. Sana nearly reached the scale, then stopped when one lever rose.
The wing began to fold.
“Keep holding it!” she called.
“I thought you were there,” the guest answered.
“I’m not there yet!”
The guest pulled the lever down again. The game spread Brin’s wings. Sana moved up the last stairs while Tev held the gap. She reached her spear over his shield and touched the blue scale.
The key dropped into her virtual hand. The dragon burst into harmless red bubbles.
Brin laughed before he could stop himself.
Sana looked up at the floating bubbles.
“Did you leave the custard in the dungeon again?” she asked.
It was a family joke from a play he had once rehearsed at home. He had said dungeon instead of kitchen and she had refused to let the mistake die.
“No custard in this tower,” he said.
She grinned. “Then bow.”
Lora restored the dragon for its final bow, and Brin bowed. Tev cheered. The two lever holders argued about who had let go. The guest below the tower said nobody had listened to his warning. Sana did not tell them who had stood inside the dragon.
“Cake,” someone called from their real room.
The five figures vanished one after another. Sana waved her spear before hers went.
Lora told Brin the fee had been sent. “That last roar was good.”
“It was almost language,” he said.
He removed the headset. There was no tower or red armor. The booth was quiet.
His right thumb was still pressing the roar button. He let it go.
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