 Despite Larrington’s grumblings that half the marbles in the Chinese checkers set might be missing, all of them were accounted for. Xanthia and Diana decided to be a team even though they each had mutual disagreements on strategy. They sat nearer to the fireplace because Xanthia claimed that that particular spot gave her insight into all the other players. To their left was Palwick and Larrington who were stuck together because everyone else were already paired up. “I still say there’s more serious things to think about,” said Palwick. “Just be quiet,” replied Larrington. “I’ll play for the both of us.” “You’re a terrible nephew.” The butler crossed his arms and sat back sulking. Vicker and Esther were next, with Vicker still debating where to move even though it was still Xanthia and Diana’s turn. Esther continued to lean forward in a blatant attempt to distract the opponents with her cleavage. “She should be careful or those things might pop out,” muttered Mary who was partnered with Hadrian. She had once again refilled the mint bowl. This time, Amanda remained underneath the table, sleeping. “What?” Esther said. “Nothing,” the housekeeper immediately replied. “I think it’s raining,” said Hadrian looking out the door to the den. The drapes in the den were pulled open so that one could see the wet panes. Mary tapped his arm. “Pay attention. Xanthia and Diana just moved.” “You’re really into Chinese checkers aren’t you?” Reine studied the board as Larrington triumphantly jumped a few pieces, getting closer to his destination. “Do you think we could do that?” Marcus shook his head. “We’ll be blocked by our next turn if we do that.” The Baron and Baronness were between Xanthia and Diana and Marcus and Reine. Both of them seemed to be the only players who were completely lackadaisical about whether or not they should win. Seeing Hadrian glancing outside, Tabora turned her head to peer into the den. “It’s raining quite hard. Did anyone catch the weather forecast on television today?” “You don’t need a weather forecast since you have me,” said Xanthia. “It’s going to be a fierce storm tonight.” “What makes you think you’ll have a better probability at predicting the weather than the weatherman?” said Diana. “Anyone with an ounce of common sense would know that there will be a storm. The weather today was rather rough to begin with.” “Ah, but it’s not just a fierce storm,” Xanthia glared at her cousin. “This will be a fierce electrical storm!” A clap of thunder erupted, making the window panes vibrate. Amanda gave a yelp and ran underneath the couch. Tuesday didn’t say anything, but his claws dug into Reine’s shoulder. The lights flickered as Hadrian finished his move on the board. Then the lights went out. Palwick cursed. “Don’t you dare say anything, Xanthia,” said Diana in the dark. “But…” “No. Don’t try to tell us now that you have magical powers.” “Hadrian, don’t you have a cigarette lighter with you?” “Yeah, and a pack of cigarettes, but I don’t think you want me to light up now, do you?” “I know my way around, even in the dark,” spoke up Palwick. “I’m going to the kitchen to get a flashlight and look at the emergency generator. I don’t want to waste it’s power though, so when I come back, I’ll round up some more flashlights and candles.” “I could try the fireplace,” suggested Hadrian. “All right wait a sec and let me find my way without doing permanent damage to myself.” Lightning flashed briefly, casting the entire living room in silvery and shadowed relief. Thunder erupted again from the sky outside. “All right, I think I got it.” The previous small flickering flame grew as Hadrian threw in more logs. Soon the room was bathed in an orange and red light and there was anough light to see everyone (minus Palwick who went off to find the emergency generator) and the Chinese checkers board. “That was not how we left it,” said Mary. “All of the marbles are in the wrong place.” “I did not bump the table while I was walking over here,” said Hadrian, straightening out near the fireplace. “Mary’s right,” said Tabora. “From what I remember, Xanthia and Diana’s pieces were on this side of the board. Now they’re scattered everywhere. So are Larrington’s pieces. The Friesners’ pieces seemed to have swapped places with ours and everything else is stuffed at the very center spaces.” “Coincidence,” said Larrington. “Palwick must have hit the table while he was trying to get to the kitchen.” “Maybe, but the kitchen’s over there and the quickest way to the door is not through the area with the table,” said Vicker. “Someone must have deliberately switched the pieces.” The Baron shook his head. “Impossible. There was very little time between the blackout and the building of the fire. If one of us moved, someone might have noticed. Especially with the intermittent lightning flashes.” “Maybe it was the ghost,” said Mary. Reine sat back with a huff. “Not again.” “Maybe we should reset the board and start over again,” suggested Diana. “It’s too dark,” the astrologer argued. “And it’ll take too long.” “No it won’t,” said Larrington. “That’s because you were winning!” “Why is everyone so obsessed with winning?” said Tabora. “We could play something else. Or tell scary ghost stories.” Reine was in no mood to listen to ghost stories but said instead, “I don’t know any ghost stories.” “If only we had a ouiji board,” complained Esther. “This is the right atmosphere to contact a ghost for messages from beyond.” “Or looking at seeing stones,” said Xanthia craftily. “No,” Reine replied. Her hand snuck to her pocket and clutched the pouch of stones protectively. “Damn.” Palwick trooped back into the room with an even larger frown. “I couldn’t get the emergency generator to work. We’ll just have to wait it out. The utilities services down in Monadnock are usually pretty good about fixing power outages even if it’s all the way out in the middle of nowhere. Electricity will be back tomorrow.” “And meanwhile, we can pretend we’re camping,” said Hadrian. “That’s right,” said the Baron. “Tomorrow we’re going camping. We can consider this practice.” “Let’s just hope that the weather is better tomorrow,” said Tabora dryly. “Of course, dear. The weather is always better after a storm.” “Did you say camping?” said Xanthia. “Is it just out in the surrounding woods?” “No. We’re going out to the island,” the Baron explained. “People have camped out there before. There’s some good places for campgrounds at the center of the place.” “I want to go camping,” said the astrologer. “Be serious, Xanthia,” said Diana. “You’ve never been camping in your whole life.” “And you have?” “Of course! Stan took me off into the wilds a couple times before. I could give you pointers, if you ever bother listening to me rather than telling me that I should be listening to you.” “I’m taking you up on that,” said Xanthia. “So,” she said, turning to the Baron, “What do I need to bring?” “I could give you a list tomorrow morning.” “I’m not going camping when there are perfectly good luxuries here,” said Diana. “Fine then. I’m going to come back a successful camper.” “Good luck,” her cousin said wryly. “Because your astrology training won’t be able to help you tell direction with the real stars.” © 2002, S. Y. Affolee |