Inside the wrapping paper was a somewhat unassuming present: a hardcover notebook, styled to look like the outside of an old Nintenduck Whiffle Boy cartridge. Drake perched on the foot of her bed and waited for her to demolish the paper, the way she always did.

If she opened the journal to inspect it, two tickets to the Calisota Science Museum would fall out. If she insisted on not going to school before this trip, she was still going to learn. Little did she know that he didn't intend on making it torture: they had recently installed an exhibit about the history of video game technology.

He waited patiently to see her reaction, with a ghost of a smile. "I sure hope not."