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"Lilywhite!" The open mockery in the guard's voice made Major cringe—and then sent a flush of rage through him that he dimly recognized as being not his own. He wanted to rip the guard's head off and tear his brains out of it and swallow them whole. He could almost feel the strength and power that would fill him if he did.

Clenching his hands around the bars, he held on until he could regain control of himself, looking up to see the guard staring at him in something that was a little bit past contempt and starting to edge into wariness. "Visitor, Lilywhite."

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks." He followed the guard, feeling like he was in a fog. Visitor? Liv had come earlier, or so he thought he remembered, so who was this now? His lawyer? Was he getting out, was this how that worked?

It was Ravi. Well, that made sense. Ravi was probably pissed at him for all of this. He probably deserved that. Sitting down, Major picked up the handset and watched Ravi do the same on the other side.

"So … hello," Ravi began awkwardly. "How's jail?"

Major wasn't really in the mood for their usual banter. He wasn't sure he could manage it if he tried in his current situation. "Well, the food's not quite to my taste."

"Right. Um, Liv's looking into that."

So much for hoping they might have solved the problem. Major sighed, steeling himself for hours, at least, more of this endurance test. Still, they were trying, and he appreciated the difficulties. "Thank you."

There was a moment's silence, then Ravi said, "Sooo … the reason for my visit."

This should be good.

Shifting in his seat, craning his neck in the direction of the guard who stood behind him, Ravi seemed to be having difficulty figuring out how to approach whatever he'd come to talk about. Major could imagine he would—nothing about their situation was exactly suited to being discussed in public, much less in a jail. "Um … I … uh, actually want to ask you about a, um, video game thing."

Major raised an eyebrow, completely confused. "Video game?" What game could Ravi be so stuck on that he'd need Major's help to get through it, especially under these circumstances?

"Um, um, I'm playing that … zombie … game we play, and … I'm stuck."

Anyone watching the way Ravi's face was contorting would think he had lost his mind. Major was leaning that direction, frowning at his roommate, trying to figure out why he was here talking about video games.

Ravi continued, "Uh, and I have to get to the … frozen zone." He stared at Major through the glass as though there was something about the frozen zone in some zombie game that was of actual importance. When Major couldn't figure it out, Ravi added, "Where everything's frozen," in an intense voice.

Unfortunately, Major was totally at sea. "What game is this?"

"Zombie … T-own?" Ravi suggested hesitantly.

They didn't play a game called Zombie Town— Oh. Now Major got it. Not a game. They lived in Zombie Town. Ravi and Liv were trying to find the freezers. They were trying to find Liv's boyfriend Drake, because if an undercover cop who was a Chaos Killer victim surfaced, there wouldn't be a case at all.

"Yeah. Yeah," he said, feeling stronger already just thinking there was a light at the end of this tunnel. "Zombie Town."

"Yeah," Ravi repeated with relief. "I, uh, I need to find the frozen zombies to beat the level. But I don't know how to get there."

"Right. Right. Okay, um … yeah …" Major's voice trailed off as he tried to figure out how to give Ravi directions while still sounding like he was talking about a video game. "Frozen zone." He considered for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. All right, what, what you have to do is … go to the edge … of … water. World."

"Edge of Water World?" Ravi repeated doubtfully.

"Yeah. On 15th. Level," Major added, glancing over his shoulder at the guard, who looked as stiff and unobservant as usual. Who knew what he heard. "15th level."

Ravi just sat there, and Major was worried that he would forget. His roommate was incredibly smart, but not always good with the details outside the lab.

"You might want to … jot this down?"

Hastily, Ravi reached for a pen and a notepad, pulling them out of his jacket pocket. "Edge of Water World, 15th level," he recited as he wrote them down. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, you're going to want the White Wizard companion for this one. She has the … special code-breaking skill." That is, the combination on the lock of the storage unit was the date he had proposed, which only Liv would know.

"White Wizard." Ravi smiled a little as he wrote that down, and Major couldn't help smiling, too. Liv would like that. "That it?"

"I … think so. That should be everything you need to clear—the level. And Ravi?"

"Yeah, mate?"

"Hurry."

Ravi was all clinician as he studied Major's face through the glass. "Will do. Fast as I can. You hold on."

"I'm doing my best."

There was real understanding in Ravi's look as he hung up the phone, and that helped more than Major had imagined it would.