This is Episode 3-1 of a serial urban fantasy & paranormal story.

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Part 3-1: Monitor

Deluxe Prime and Dack Vines stared at each other across the table. Between them: a snakes and ladders board, dotted with chess pieces. I slurped my diet soda and made a bet with myself that Deluxe would break the silence first.

“Your move,” she said.

I made a victory fist, which earned me an odd glance from Fergus. Persimmon and the two combatants remained fixed on the game.

It was a Sunday afternoon, and the five of us were in Glenscot’s cafe, huddled around a big table in the back. The place had become our social headquarters: a quiet, public gathering spot for our tired little crew when we wanted to share a few hours of normalcy in between hunting demons and practicing world-hopping.

“I’ll roll for the knight along the ladder,” said Dack, picking up two 20-sided dice.

Well, almost normal.

His favourite game was snakes and ladders, hers was chess, so they’d invented a wacky hybrid. As far as I understood, it was played like normal chess except on the slightly bigger board, and you could move the pieces along the snakes and ladders if you rolled the right number. You had to roll less than your opponent’s number of chess points—which are apparently a real thing.

The dice clattered.

“Thirty eight?” cried Dack. “Christ, what’re the odds of that?”

“Three in four hundred,” said Deluxe. “Your move is forfeit, mister.”

Deluxe claimed the game was terribly unbalanced and in need of further refinement, but said she liked it because it was representative of our mixed up and often unpredictable situation. I think she liked it for other reasons, but kept the teasing to myself.

“Mes amies, when do we get to play?” said Fergus, perhaps keying into my wavelength.

“This playtesting phase will conclude after twelve more matches,” explained Deluxe.

“Wouldn’t you like to observe how other players interact with your rules though?” asked Persi. “I’d very much like to try.”

“We could take notes,” said Dack, smiling at my roommate.

She considered while fidgeting with a captured rook. The little castle danced between her fingers, sparking an irritating flashback of my time in the Jailer’s tower, which stands inside a circular courtyard, overlooking a fading, illusionary kingdom. To get there, you had to go through a grandfather clock and probably fight your way past a host of monsters. I don’t recommend the visit, unless you have a magic ring capable of defeating the ghouls.

I rubbed at the glittery Queen’s Band—a permanent fixture on my right middle finger—and watched Persimmon as she awaited Deluxe’s decision. It’d been a week and a day since we’d escaped from the clock, and I’d still not told anyone about what I knew about her, including her. See, the ring could alter my vision and give me access to a strange layer of the world around me, a place in which everything was a little bit grainy and all living things emitted a blue haze… except for Persi. Her haze was gold. And now, I’d waited for what felt like way too long to bring up it without being accused of holding something back. It felt kind of like being on a fifth date that should have never made it past the second, except with the whole group.

“Unorthodox, but if you’re all keen to try, we can move into user testing early I suppose,” said Deluxe.

“Sick. Me versus Persi next?” said Fergus. “Alena, you in after?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but then a fat cell phone on the table blatted. Everyone sat back and eyed it, except for Deluxe, who made her move and said, “Your go.”

“Deluxe…” said Dack.

“It is games time now, where we all enjoy a reprieve and play games,” she said.

“Probably nothing anyway,” tried Fergus.

Dack’s mouth set in a line, and his eyes darted from side to side. Deluxe glared, then the phone blatted twice.

“I can do it,” I said, as Dack made ready to say something. “One earbud, I’ll still watch,” I added, before Deluxe could object.

“Seems like a fair shake, yeah?” said Fergus.

“Yeah,” I said, serving a palm out to both Deluxe and Dack. “Games are important. But so’s the monitoring.”

“Majority rules,” she said.

“You won’t even notice,” I said, scooping up the phone and digging in my purse for my earbuds. They emerged in a knotted, tangled string.

“I’ll take a bio break, better transition, will clear my head and bladder, two for one,” said Deluxe, and shoved away from the table. We watched her disappear into the washroom.

“Stressed,” remarked Fergus.

“We’re all fucking stressed, Ferg,” said Dack, leaning his forehead onto tented fists.

“Which is why I suggested a licensed establishment,” he said.

“She’ll be okay,” I said. “Just focus on, whatever you call it. Hyperchess?”

“I prefer super-ultimate-extreme chess,” said Fergus.

“I would suggest the name Court’s Calamity,” said Persi. “For the wild edge and element of luck that’s introduced.”

“And I suggest you float that by ‘Luxe, I think she’d like it,” I said, as I sorted out my wires and plugged them in. I popped one bud into the ear furthest from Deluxe and fired up the custom app she’d coded.

My roommate returned a moment later, storm clouds gone from her eyes, and rejoined the table with fresh pep. Dack gave me a thankful wink as Deluxe shouted an order for a round of tea and éclairs. I quirked a smile with my eyebrows, then a low tone sounded in my left ear.

The monitor was live, and though I had promised to watch, I mostly listened.

 

 

Continued in Part 3-2

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