Free Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) by James McGovern, Science Fiction, Teen Books, Paranormal, Fantasy Romance, Magic, Books on Sale, YA Fantasy, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Science Fiction Romance, aliens, cyberpunk, teen

original name
had been Citadel Mountain. However, legend tells of a mission financed by
Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1700s. In need of funds, Napoleon had sent around 300
men on a mining expedition. The men had left New Orleans and passed through
Kansas towards the Rocky Mountains. Legend says that the men found a large
amount of gold near Wolf Creek Pass. However, they were hunted by Native
Americans who wanted a share of the gold. The Frenchmen had buried all of the
gold near Treasure Mountain, which was supposed to be an easy marker to help
them find it again. However, the Native Americans unthinkingly killed all of
the Frenchmen, and so the secret of the treasure’s location died with them.
    At least,
that’s how the legend goes. Either way, Laser Wolf had designed the VDS program
with the assumption that the legend was true. That was the point of this
particular game—find the treasure and you win.
    Eventually,
Tommy and Fire Opal arrived at Treasure Mountain. They put down their packs by the
nearby trees, and Tommy pulled the map from his pocket. It was an interactive
map; an “X” marked the area where the treasure was buried, and a small blue
arrow marked their current position.
    “It’s really
close,” said Tommy, “look.”
    He rotated the
map, getting his bearings. According to the map, the treasure was buried only a
few metres away. He walked a few paces north, and stopped when the blue arrow
was right on top of the “X”.
    “It’s here,” he
said, grinning.
    “Here?”
    Tommy nodded.
“Right beneath my feet.”
    Fire Opal
pulled a pouch from her pocket. Inside were two small blue discs.
    “I have two
Tokens left,” she said. “Shall I use one?”
    “Yeah, OK.”
    Fire Opal
crushed the Token between her fingers; it crumbled into pixels, and was
transformed into some kind of glowing blue spade.
    Tommy took the
spade and pushed it into the dry earth. It was like magic; the spade slipped
through the ground as if through tissue paper. Within a few seconds, Tommy had
dug a very deep hole, and he could see a wooden box poking through the dirt. He
scraped away the earth, and pulled the box out of the hole.
    “I’ll let you
open it,” said Tommy.
    Fire Opal
smiled, and opened the wooden box. It was filled with rocks. Tommy picked up
one of the rocks. There were clearly large pieces of gold in the rock. He
smiled.
    “Looks like we
did it.”
    Suddenly, there
was a rustle from the nearby trees. A man stepped out. He had a thick beard, a
shiny belt, and leather-heeled boots.
    “What’re yah
doin’ with mah gold?” said the cowboy.
    Tommy shrugged.
“Stealing them, I suppose, if they’re yours.”
    “Yah… yah…
yah…” The man stuttered, his head jerking strangely. The game was obviously glitching
again. “What’re yah doin’ with mah gold?” he repeated.
    Tommy grinned
at Fire Opal. “He’s not very realistic.”
    “Realistic
enough to point a gun at you,” said Fire Opal.
    Tommy looked
back; sure enough, the cowboy’s pistol was pointed straight at Tommy. Quick as
a flash, Tommy whipped his gun from his holster and raised it.
    But the cowboy
was too fast; before Tommy could shoot, the man had already fired. As soon as
he heard the gunshot, the world shimmered, and was replaced by the familiar
sight of Fire Opal’s bedroom. Tommy groaned, and removed his yellow VDS helmet.
    “So close,” he
said. “Ah, well, I suppose we can give it another go some time. I need to be
quicker on the trigger. But I’ll be ready for him next time.”
    His girlfriend
smiled. “Well, it was fun.”
    “Yeah, it was.”
    They sat back.
Tommy still felt a rush of adrenaline. It was amazing how terrifying it was to
have a gun pointed at you, even in a game.
    “Sorry I didn’t
have your back,” said Fire Opal. “I’ll have to use one of the Tokens to get a
gun of my own next time.” She paused, smiling. “Do you still want to marry me
even though I let you die?”
    Tommy took both
of her hands and