Reality sucks! That's what fifteen-year-old Judith Ellis thinks, anyway. Reality is her former best friend not talking to her. Reality is her dad living three thousand miles away. Reality is what happened outside 158 West Seventy-first Street. As far as Judith is concerned, fantasy rules! Especially in the Game.

In the gaming world it's strictly alternative identities, strangers known only as the Witch, the Drunken Warrior and Irgan the Head Case. No one knows who you are. No one gets too close. But that's about to change. Judith discovers that one player in the Game is coming after her - and he's a lot closer that she realises. Close enough to see her, close enough to talk with her. Close enough to like her...