But we can’t celebrate any one victory too long because this feels like an endless test, room after room of baffling puzzles. As of yet, we have not met any of the Gigantaurs, which, on one hand, is very encouraging, but on the other hand, it worries me. Have we really escaped their notice, or are they simply biding their time? I'm not sure I want to find out.
For now, Jezreel and Takka seem like they’re happy catching up, so I have to do much of the planning and leading myself. I don't mind so much, but it does feel make me feel a bit lonely. I often think of the real family I left behind and curse myself for staying so long in this trap. I only hope they will forgive me for being so foolish. Day after day, room after room, I think of them, and the thought of being reunited helps me launch into solving one more puzzle, to unlock another door, in hopes that each one will bring me a little closer to them.
* * *
Rich waited nervously on Angela’s front porch, fidgeting in his dark suit. True, this wasn’t prom or anything, but Aunt Laura had insisted he look extra nice. She and the girls had put all sorts of stuff in his hair, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. It seemed kind of silly compared to all the other things he had on his mind. He hadn’t seen any sign of Mallory for a while, but that probably meant she was lying in wait.
The door opened. Angela had obviously spent a long time getting ready too. She usually just wore her hair down, but now it was up in a fancy hairdo. Rich didn’t think she usually wore much makeup, but now she had on plenty, and her dress was unlike anything else he had ever seen her wear. It was a sleek lavender and blue, and she wore a tropical flower next to her ear. She looked like a completely different girl.
His jaw hung open while he tried to take it all in. Angela chuckled and placed a hand on her hip. "You’d think you’d never see me before," she said.
"Not like this," Rich replied before he could think better of it. "You look really… beautiful."
A little color filled her cheeks, and she grinned. “I wanted the no-glasses thing to be a surprise," she said. "The parents got me contacts. What do you think?"
Rich chuckled nervously. He actually hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t wearing her glasses. "I think the other guys are gonna be jealous of me for once," he said. "I hope you don't mind our ride. It's not exactly a limo."
Aunt Laura sat in her pickup truck, smiling from the driver seat. "Hi, Angela!" she called through the open window. "Come make yourself comfortable. And Rich, be sure to open the door for her. At least in my family, we know that chivalry is not dead."
Rich wished he could tell the others why he laughed at his aunt’s very true statement. Luckily, the truck had an extended cab, and they both fit comfortably into the backseat.
Angela sat pretty close, and Rich could smell her fruity perfume. He’d never been to Hawaii, but he’d like to go if it smelled like that. After a minute of silence, she turned and smiled at him, and Rich found his heart beating. She really was beautiful. "Nadia told me what you did the community center. Thank you. That took a lot of guts."
"She did? I’m surprised. Seems like telling you could get Trent in trouble. She really likes him."
Angela nodded and brushed back a stray lock of hair. "Yeah, she's liked him for a long time. I had noticed the stuff going missing, but it really wasn't all that much, so I didn’t make a big deal about it. He gave it all back, so I'm gonna let it drop." She reached over and patted the back of Rich’s hand. "Anyway, you’re doing a great job. You’re doing really well with the kids and stuff. I can tell they really like you."
Rich didn’t know what to say. He’d had no idea if he been doing okay or not. "Thanks," he managed. “Sure beats history tests and algebra class.”
"Oh, yeah."
They chatted all the way to the dance, and Aunt Laura let them out by the front doors of the school. "Now, you all behave!" she called. "I expect you to dance till the cows come home!"
Rich watched her drive away, a slight grin on his face at the thought of dancing cows. He almost made a joke about a "milk shake," but he wanted to start the night off right.
Angela offered her arm and Rich took it, leading her into the auditorium. The whole place was decked out with fake palm trees, coconuts, flower leis, and teachers sporting Hawaiian shirts. The DJ was playing something with a nice relaxing ukulele sound, and there was a huge table for the punch and snacks on the far wall.
Some people were in the middle the floor dancing, but it was the kind of song that was more of a hang-out-and-wander-around song. He hadn’t gone ten steps before Nadia's voice rose above the music.
"Hey, Richie!"
He turned and saw Nadia and Trent off to his left. They wore matching Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts. He suddenly felt a little overdressed. Trent raised a hand. "Aloha!"
"Aloha," Rich replied. That's what you're supposed to do when someone says “Aloha,” right? "So, is this dance any good?"
Trent shrugged. "It's all right. They got a pretty cool DJ. He’s Tongan or Samoan or something."
Rich glanced over to see a large dark-skinned man at the sound system in one corner, wearing way too many leis.
"Hey, guys," Angela said. "Like your shirts. Where'd you get them?" Before either of them could answer, the song ended. The DJ stood up, speaking into a handheld microphone.
"Everybody having a good time?"
Most people cheered, but Rich hadn’t been there long enough to tell. Seeing Trent and Nadia together first thing in their matching shirts only made him feel a little jealous.
The cheering died down, and the DJ kept talking. "All right! We're gonna need everybody on the floor. Guys, start with the girl you came with and whenever I blow the air horn, switch to somebody else. Who knows—you might make a new friend!"
The DJ laughed as if he’d said something really funny. Rich exchanged a look with Angela, giving her a nervous smile. "Let's do it," she said.
The DJ started a fast song, and most of the kids in the room went onto the dance floor. Rich took Angela’s hand, which felt kind of weird, and led her out to a place kind of in the back where there wouldn’t be a whole lot of people watching. He wished that his paladin abilities could help him out here. Part of him wanted to turn into a statue, but once again, that would be a bit hard to explain.
At first, he put his hands in the air and moved back and forth, but as he watched other people, he tried spinning around and a few other steps, though not as well as anyone else. Angela probably could have given him a hard time about it, but she didn't.
She had a big smile on her face the whole time, and as he gripped her hand, his powers told him that she really was having fun. Just as he was starting to get the hang of things, the DJ sounded the air horn for the first time. Angela gave him a little wave and started looking around.
"Hey, you guys want to trade?" Trent asked. In fact, Rich did. Angela and Trent started dancing together, and he got Nadia.
The music changed to a song with different kind of beat. A knowing look crossed Nadia’s face. "Hey, Rich, have you ever been swing dancing?"
Rich laughed, thinking it was kind of ridiculous to swing dance at a Hawaiian-themed party. “Uh, no.”
Nadia took both of his hands firmly in hers. "Then let me show you." She led, flinging Rich around nearly as fast as his feet could keep up with her. It felt a bit like holding on to the side of a speeding train—one part really exciting, and the other part really terrifying.
He caught glimpses of her expression as they whirled around. He saw someone completely confident in what she was doing, and really enjoying getting to show it off. It seemed like only a few seconds before the air horn sounded again, and the music switched to a slow song. Nadia spun him out one last ti
me and then nodded, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Not bad for a first time, Richie. You kept up with me."
Rich nodded, trying to catch his breath. He stooped over with his hands on his knees. "Go…go ahead and find a new partner. And…thanks. That was fun." She smiled a last time and found a new dance partner in a few seconds, a tall guy Rich thought was on the basketball team or something.
He watched them for a minute and found himself thinking how good they looked together. Familiar jealousy snuck into his heart, and he shook his head, trying to clear it. He couldn’t let himself feel that way. Just a stupid dance, right?
Rich felt someone tap him on the shoulder, probably someone wanting to dance with him. He whirled around and froze, all the sweat on his body suddenly turning cold.
"Hello, Heinrich," Mallory said, holding out a hand. "May I have this dance?"
Chapter 14: The Duel of Sixty-four
Rich stood still, not sure what to do. If she wanted to, Mallory could crash this party in a serious way…something that ended with ambulances and fire trucks. Or was this something else?" She took a step forward, and he took a step back. "No, I'm feeling a little dizzy. Think I'll pass on this one."
She cocked her head to the side and stuck out her lip in a pout. "Oh, come on, Richie. It's just a dance.”
Rich was glad he hadn’t been drinking anything because he was sure it would have shot out his nose. "You think I'm gonna dance with you? After everything you've done to me, I’d rather dance with a porcupine.”
Mallory didn’t drop her sweet smile. "Well, my shape shifting is getting pretty good, so I could probably pull that off if you really want. But maybe I went about this the wrong way. What I meant is that I will start hurting your friends if you don’t dance with me. Now, who should I start with?”
Rich glanced from side to side, catching glimpses of Angela, Nadia, and many other people he knew from school. The room was crowded. If she turned into some sort of monster again, people wouldn’t just get hurt—they’d get killed. This was one dance he couldn't turn down.
He offered his hand, but he didn't look her in the eye. "All right, I’ll dance. But don't try anything. I’ve learned a few tricks since last time we fought. I beat you once, and I’ll beat you again."
Mallory grinned wickedly and took Rich’s hand. “Don’t worry. I’ve learned a few tricks of my own." She took his hand and spun him around. Suddenly, they were extremely close, her grip around him much tighter than it should have been.
"You know, Rich, we make a cute couple. Look, they’re both staring."
Rich looked over his shoulder and saw that he’d caught the attention of both Angela and Nadia. Nadia had a grumpy look on her face, which for her, was nothing new, but he didn’t get the look on Angela’s face. Was it jealousy? Annoyance? He couldn't be sure.
Before Rich could do anything else, Malory continued. "So, Rich, word is that Arlenen has already been to visit you. Does that ever make you wonder just a little bit who the lucky girl is? Could be one of them, but then again, he did start visiting you right around the time you met me."
Rich clutched Mallory a little tighter, hoping his fingernails dug in. “That's crazy, and you know it. You’re not on the list and you never will be."
Mallory chuckled again and tossed her long hair to one side. "You can hope, Richie. You really think one of those other girls is worthy of you? When you get in trouble, what's Nadia going to do? Spell your opponent to death? Maybe she could throw water balloons at them. And don’t get me started about Angela."
Rich looked nervously over at Nadia, who had stopped dancing for a minute and taken out her inhaler. This dance seemed to be lasting a whole lot longer than the other ones. "What you want, Mallory?" Rich whispered. “If you want to fight, let’s fight, but you can keep my friends out of it. This is just a me-and-you thing."
She clicked your tongue a few times. “This is no more a me-and-you thing than the Atlantic Ocean is a little puddle between continents. Soon, no one will be safe anyway. If I killed your friends today, they would be known as the ones who fell early, during the first shots of the war. Do I have your attention yet?"
Rich now squeezed Mallory’s hand as hard as he could, but she didn't even flinch. "What are you gonna do? Turn into a Hydra again? I think there’s some lemonade in the punch bowl."
"Nice try," she scoffed. “As exciting as that was, I had another sort of contest in mind. I challenge you to the Duel of Sixty-four."
That didn't sound familiar, but then again, this whole paladin thing hadn’t come with instructions.
Mallory sighed. "It's a tradition that goes back for as long as our families have been around. Other people play a version of it called chess."
Realization dawned on Rich. Sixty-four—of course. There were eight rows and eight columns on a chessboard for a total of sixty-four squares.
"Do you accept?" Mallory asked.
Rich looked deeply into Mallory's eyes, but even then, his paladin powers didn’t work on her. She had her guard up against that. He figured he had a better chance of winning a chess game than another duel with a monster. Then again, he didn't trust her not to play dirty. "You said it was like chess," he said. "How is it different?"
"Simple,” Mallory replied. “Chess is played with pieces of stone or plastic. This duel is played with people. They will obey your every command, moving just like chess pieces do. When two pieces come together, one does not simply sweep the defender away, but the two pieces will duel until a victor emerges. The greater pieces will have superior strength and skill, which makes it easier for them to overwhelm the others, but sometimes, even a pawn can surprise you." She smirked when she said this. “The game is over when the king loses his duel. Some of the pieces have additional powers, and some of the pieces gain in strength depending on the power of the king. That simple enough for you?"
Rich didn’t know what to say. This wasn't like playing some old board game. People were actually going to get hurt, and he would order it to happen. Then again, if he said no, she would probably become some horrible creature and start burning his classmates to a crisp. He couldn't let that happen.
“What happens to the pieces who are defeated?” Rich asked.
Mallory looked off to the side and sighed. “Of course you’d be worried about that. No, they won’t die. But they won’t be feeling too great afterward.”
Rich didn’t like that vague explanation, but he didn’t see any other way. "All right," he said. "I accept."
Just then, the air horn sounded for another dance. Mallory released her grip on Rich, stepped back, and snapped her fingers. Instantly, everyone around them froze in mid-motion. The music stopped, and everything was completely still.
"Now it's time to choose, Richie. Go over and tap someone, anyone, on the shoulder and tell them the part you want them to play, and they will be added to the board. Two rows of eight equals sixteen, right, Richie? Oh, and you might want to pick people you know. They will fight so much better for you, and give you a better chance of winning.”
Rich wanted to shrug this off as a trick, but he knew instinctively that it was true. He walked among the frozen students and found Trent and Angela, completely still, looking at each other. It made sense that they both should be included, but as what?
"One question," Rich said. "Can I choose myself to be the king?"
"Unless you’d like someone else to fight your battles for you, yes, but make sure you do that last."
After thinking about it for a minute, Rich chose a few people to be pawns and then settled on making Trent a knight. He might not like the guy that much, but he would be good in a fight to the death. He then found Nadia and Angela, but he wasn't sure who to make which p
iece. These were two people he knew the best, so he wanted to make them important pieces. If he was the king, who was going to be his queen?
The more he thought about it, Nadia was the obvious choice to be queen and Angela could better use her talents as a bishop, as Nadia was tougher in a fight, but Angela was better academically.
He put his hand on their shoulders and called out the parts he wanted them to play. As he chose each one, they moved automatically to their starting square on the dance floor, which had become one large chessboard with sixty-four black and white squares. Rich could see other people lining up on the other side of the dance floor to join Mallory’s army. It looked like she’d picked a pretty rough crowd, like she’d drafted people right from detention. Rich looked over and saw a familiar face. Joe Stockton, the guy who’d broken Rich’s glasses way too many times. Mallory had used him to try to make Rich jealous, so maybe she still had a soft spot for the guy.
Rich realized he really didn't know that many people very well, and finished up his roster by choosing some athletic-looking guys. Thinking Mr. Vincent would be good, he chose one of his science teachers to be the other bishop.
When he’d chosen everyone else, Rich crossed his arms over his chest and imagined himself as the king. Suddenly, he found himself on the white king square as he looked around, and things looked much different.
Now everyone wore costumes, as though they were actually the pieces they were representing. Whatever was at work here changed them to look like island warriors with long spears and shields. War paint darkened their faces, and some of them even had ceremonial tattoos. Mallory’s army looked the same, but there was a much darker color scheme to their armor.
"Think about where you want your warrior to go, and he or she will obey without question. From there, he or she will chose weapons or magic with which to attack.”
Rich took a deep breath and thought back to his chess strategy. This wouldn’t be exactly the same, but hopefully, some of the tactics would be similar. He chose one of his pawns and moved him two spaces ahead for his opening move. Mallory responded right away, sending her pawn two steps forward. If Rich knew what he was doing, this could go even faster than regular chess.
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