Finding ELE (ELE Series #2) Written By: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels (19 page)

Sebastian leaps out of his chair jumping
around like he’s on a sugar high. “Kite, Kite, Kite,” he repeats
over and over. Other people look over from their table but just
smile in response to Sebastian’s over exuberance.

I look to my mom because obviously kite
flying will have to take place outside.

"Your dad is going to wear sunglasses and of
course I will be outside to protect him." She nudges him in the
side.

"Of course." I smile at them then I finish
my last bite of eggs in a hurry. “Ready?” I ask Alec.

He smiles and nods his head. We stand
together and he grabs our dishes up in his hands.

“
Thanks,” I say. I didn’t even ask him
too. What a gentleman I swoon. We drop them off in the bin and I
wave goodbye to my family.

On our way out I find Claire, Connor and
Candy sitting at a table with one seat vacant.

“
I just got word we have a free day!
I’ve got a little something in mind.” I say. I can’t wait to show
them the basement.

They begin gathering up their dishes.

“
Hey, where’s Tony?” I ask. They all
shrug their shoulders.

“
Haven’t seen him,” Connor
says.

“
Yeah,” Claire starts. “I went up to
his room to see if he’d like to join us, but he wasn’t
there.”

That’s odd, I think to myself. “Well, I
guess it’s just us then.” As we leave the dining hall, I notice
Sebastian’s still dancing around the room. I take a moment to
introduce him to my friends and they ooh and ah over him
appropriately.

Leaving Sabby and my dad, I grab a lantern
from one of the side tables hoping it doesn’t belong to someone. I
test it out to make sure it works before leading our pack down to
the basement. I keep looking for Tony along the way, but apparently
he’s vanished. No one’s seen him today.

We reach the door to the basement and I grab
the handle to open it. It doesn't budge. I sigh in frustration.

“
What’s wrong?” Claire asks putting
her hand on my arm.

“
The key! I totally forgot we had to
have a key!” I say resting my forehead on the door in
frustration.

All of them begin laughing at me, Connor
especially.

“
What?” I say irritated. “What could
possibly be so funny? I was so excited about this; now we can’t
go!” I say bewildered that they’re laughing at me.

They never stop laughing as they grab onto
Connor’s arm and walk right past me, through the door.

“
Oh my gosh,” I say, banging the heal
of my hand on my forehead. I join them on the other side with the
lantern in tow.

“
Glad you figured that out finally,”
Connor jests. “It was getting pretty dark in here waiting for
you.”

“
Ha. Ha.” I respond feigning
annoyance. “Let’s all laugh at Willow at her own
expense.”

Alec takes my hand in his. “We’re not
laughing at you Willow. However, we should be laughing with you!”
Alec says.

I roll my eyes. “Fine,” I relent. “It is
kind of funny.” I lead them through the labyrinth of stuff stored
down here. Giggles still erupt intermittently even though I don’t
think it’s that funny.

We reach the large cabinet and I set the
lantern down next to it. I reach up to the handles and pull open
the squeaky doors. Another bout of dust unsettles itself permeating
the air. We all cough and wave our hands trying to clear the
room.

“
What is it?” Candy is the first to
ask. She reaches in and brushes the dust off some of the boxes.
“Mono ly...What’s that?” she asks.

“
It’s Monopoly,” I say. “It’s
something called a board game.”

Claire scrunches her eyebrows. “How can a
game be a board?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I’m not sure, but
they are fun! Here, I’ll show you.” We all grab several boxes and
carefully place them on the floor. Wiping the dust carefully we
examine the titles.

“
Chutes and Ladders…Candy
Land…Twister…,” Connor mumbles.

“
Twister?” Alec questions. “That
sounds fun.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Sure, why not?”

Candy helps herself to the box and opens it
slowly. She sets the top to the side and pulls out a rubber mat
with circles on it and a square with a plastic arrow attached.
“Come on Willow, how can this be fun?” She asks.

She has a good point. This is the oddest
form of entertainment I've seen yet. “I don’t know this game so I’m
not sure. But let’s at least give it a try! I’ve played some of the
others and they’re a blast.”

Connor reaches over and grabs a piece of
paper in the box. “Ah Ha,” he says. “Directions!” He holds them in
the air like he’s won some sort of prize.

We’re all helping unfold the mat and placing
the cardboard thingy next to it when Connor starts busting up
laughing. I’m not talking about giggling, but some kind of deep
guttural laugh. We all stop and stare at him not sure what exactly
is so funny. Tears stream down his face as he tosses from side to
side unable to control himself.

I know what we’re all thinking: has he
completely lost his mind? It takes a while but he finally gets a
hold of himself.

Claire’s the first to speak up. “Connor!
What on earth could be so funny on that paper! It’s simply
directions.”

You can tell Connor is trying hard not to
bust out laughing again. “Sorry Claire Bear, it’s just…well, this
game is…different.”

Claire cocks her head to the side.
“Different, as in how?”

Connor rubs his chin. “Well, here. Let me
read the directions to you. But you have to promise me one
thing.”

“
What?” Claire asks taking the
bait.

“
You have to promise that you’ll at
least try it once. After I’ve read the directions that
is.”

Claire scratches her head in thought. “Okay,
I guess. I mean, how menacing could this game possibly be?”

Connor looks at each of us in turn making us
promise the same thing. We all agree and sit around the mat as
Connor reads the instructions aloud. “Step one,” he announces. “And
just so you know, I am going to paraphrase. Some of these things
are a bit long winded.”

He takes a deep breath. “Step one,” he
repeats. “Take off your shoes.”

We all look at each other but oblige.

“
Now, someone is going to have to sit
out, because it is made for four players.” Before Connor can finish
Candy raises her hand.

“
Okayyy, Candy will be our spinner.”
He says turning the page. “Now, basically each person needs to be
on an end of the mat facing each other. The person across from you
will be on your team. Naturally I think it goes unsaid that Claire
and I will be on a team and Alec and Willow will be on the
other.”

We agree and each claim an end, including
Connor. I face opposite Alec. “Okay, so Candy is going to spin the
spinner, which is what that thing is called that she’s holding. She
will call out what it lands on and then each of us has to place
that body part on the colored circle that the spinner lands on.”
Connor bites his lip trying not to laugh.

Everyone’s faces are unreadable; we just
stare at Connor. “So for example, if she spins a red right hand,
you would need to put your right hand on a red circle.”

I wipe my sweaty palms off on my shorts.
“Um, Connor?” I ask. “Which body parts are we talking about here?”
The question honestly weighing on my mind.

Connor looks over to the spinner. “Hands and
feet, nothing else.”

I let out a small woosh of air in relief.
That would be awkward if it was right butt cheek on blue or
something.

“
The last rule is that you cannot move
that body part unless the referee, which is Candy, tells you that
you can. Also, two people can share a single circle since it’s a
four player game.” We all look at one another not sure what to
say.

This is about to get as awkward as it gets.
“So, how do you win? Or is there a winner?” I ask.

“
Good question,” Connor says. “The
winner is the last one on the board without falling or hitting
their knee or elbow on the mat. On the bottom here it says
‘Strategy for Winning at Twister: Good strategy is to advance
toward an opponent in an attempt to keep him in his end of the
vinyl sheet. This will give him a smaller area of circles on which
to gain each position, without going under or over the advancing
player.’”

“
Under or over,” Alec replies. “Good
cow, this is crazy!”

“
Hey,” Connor states. “You guys
promised you would give it a try!”

Alec purses his lips together. “Fine,” he
relents throwing his hands up in the air. “I just don’t think I’m
looking forward to being tangled up, pretzel style, with Connor.
With Willow though, we may be able to arrange that.”

I blush from head to toe and wag my finger
playfully at Alec ready to get this show started.

“
Alrighty then,” Candy says. “Let the
game begin.” She spins the little spinning thing. “Right foot
blue.” Everyone places their right foot on a blue
circle.

“
Left foot green,” Candy announces. We
all abide.

“
Left hand red, right hand yellow,
right foot green.” Candy says in turns.

I struggle to get my right foot to green and
end up having to shoot it underneath Connor. After a few more
spins, grunts and groans, we are all tangled up together. Connor is
between my legs and Claire looks like a human bridge over Alec.
Jealousy tries to come to surface, but I remember its Claire we’re
talking about and relax.

“
Left hand yellow,” Candy
says.

I shake from being twisted so much trying to
get my left hand all the way over to the yellow circle. I end up
going with the one that has Connor’s hand already on it. Without
realizing it my hand goes through Connors and reappears on the
bottom.

“
Cheater!” Connor yells. “She used her
powers!”

I let out a snort. “Connor, was that in the
rule book?” I ask playfully.

Connor narrows his eyes. “Fine, two can play
at that game.”

Oh boy, I think to myself. This round of
Twister is about to get more interesting.

“
Right foot blue,” Candy
announces.

While I’m trying to figure out my next move
Alec says, “Hey, where’s Claire.”

I see her giggle above me. She must be using
her power of invisibility, so I join in on the fun and go invisible
too.

“
So not fair!” Alec
asserts.

I watch as Connor physically goes through
Alec to get his foot on the blue space.

“
Really?…” Alec complains. He’s the
only one playing like a normal human would since his gift of
healing is not useful at all here.

“
Ah!” Claire announces.

I watch her knee hit the ground.

Candy calls it before I do. “I saw that!
Claire, you’re out!”

Claire’s face turns red. “I forgot you could
see me,” she says meekly. She twists and turns back into shape and
moves off the mat.

We play a few more turns until Connor and I
are literally on top of one another with his face almost against
mine. Alec drops immediately to the floor taking him out of the
game.

He gets in Connors face and puts his first
two fingers to his eyes and then to Connor’s. “I’m watching you,”
is all he says in a joking menacing tone.

“
Hey, just playin’ the game.” Connor
states simply.

I end up the victorious champ when Connor
falls through me on a right foot yellow. I raise my hands up in the
air and pretend a crowd is cheering me on.

“
Alright, Alright,” Connor says after
a minute of my end zone dance. “What’s next?” I can tell he’s a bit
of a sore loser.

“
Oh, I know,” I say. “How about
Monopoly? I’ve played it before and it’s really fun.”

Claire gives me the once over. “Are we going
to be a piece of the game?”

“
Nope, this one is different. No
wrestling matches to be had,” I say playfully.

We put away Twister and the other boxes
before setting out Monopoly.

I grab the little car again and Alec grabs
the dog. Connor is the ship, Claire is the thimble and Candy
insists on being one of the little green houses. I try and tell her
she can’t but she won't have it any other way.

I go over the rules briefly. We decide that
this time whenever someone has to pay taxes or make a payment to
the bank, we will put all of that cash in the middle of the board
so that whoever lands on Free Parking will get it. Claire goes
first and starts the game.

Later in the game, on my turn, I eye the wad
of money piling up and look back at my little car, which is
visiting the jail. Blowing on the dice, I shake them and toss them
down hoping for a ten. "Whoot!" I jump up and start doing the
running man dance as my friends grumble. Making equally
enthusiastic oohs and ahs as I sit down, grab the money and start
counting it.

Consumed with my glorious winning spree I
don't hear the footsteps approaching until he's standing at the
edge of the room.

"Willow." Tony looks rather peeved. "I've
been looking for you for the past half an hour."

Unfortunately I notice more than his
annoyance in his gaze, there is hurt there. The high from my
winning streak fades so fast that I'm amazed at the feeling of
guilt that overwhelms me. This was the place he showed me, the
board games that we played. He never told me to keep it a secret,
but still. We shared it together. I can see that the fact that I'm
down here with my friends and with Alec hurts him but I don't know
what to say to make it better. "Oh?" Is all that comes out.