Nico
I was on my way to kill the queen. My two seductresses were still in the race, teaming up with one trap and my fighter, on their way to my victory.
The queen of mine still had her guard right on her side; Simon would have to kill him first before he could hurt her.
The trick of this game was that we both had chosen a traitor - one pawn of the opponents we could choose to work for us. They would turn to our sides when they were supposed to kill their true queen - or were able to kill the one they were supposed to work for.
But I was very sure who the traitor in my rows was. Simon always had these smirks when I moved my trap: the fairy statue. The seductresses were the mermaids, the fighters the orcs - giants, Simon explained. The dragons were the guardians, and the crown was the queen.
I couldn't count how many times I had played that game with Simon, even though he just introduced it to me the last Saturday. It was Monday now, right after my shift. In half an hour, the nurse would check on Simon; and if all went well, he would be able to leave again.
While he did the next move, my mind drifted back to yesterday.
William in that bed. His tanned body, his dreamy smile, his blue eyes looking at me, full of pleasure.
I had made him that euphoric; and every last inch of my body longed to repeat that. To make it even better than before.
Well, he still had to work. And I still had to finally understand Simon, whatever that meant.
Two more moves, and Simon's queen would be dead. I never won before; he of course had mastered that game. He had warned me that one game could take five hours or more; but I broke a new record; getting defeated by Simon within two minutes.
Now, I would finally win.
Simon showed another tiny smile as I moved my trap. He would surely reveal the traitor by setting the death mark - or, how he referred to it, the red crown. In my opinion, it didn't look very crown-like: more like a big X stuck to the head of the figurines. Death mark was a way more fitting name, but who was I to judge board games? Damn, I played Mythomagic; I really shouldn't complain about weird names. And red crown definitely sounded cooler than death mark. More like someone a rebel would actually put on themselves.
Simon snapped his fingers in front of me. I flinched and moved his guardian away from the queen; the seductresses had the power to influence the opponent's pawns right next to them. A queen was invincible when one of her guardians stood next to her, but now that I moved the guardian away, she was helpless...
But I suddenly realized he fooled me again - instead of trying to save his queen, Simon took his death mark, no, his red crown and put it on my guardian.
An Italian curse escaped my mouth as he took out my queen. ”Could you go at least a little easy on me?!“, I groaned. Simon covered his mouth with his hand, trying to suppress a laughing fit. He shook his head, still shaking all over his body.
”Then at least let me choose the next song“, I demanded. ”If I have to listen to another Ariana Grande song, I'm going to lose my mind.“
Simon passed the phone over to me. I scrolled through what he had downloaded, and because he actually managed to have no Ramones songs on his phone, I went for My chemical romance. They were actually a little too wild for me sometimes, but at least they didn't feel like sleeping pills. Not that Ariana Grande was bad, but she just got boring after some time.
I wavered for a second - should I maybe take a closer look into his phone? Would that give me more information?
But then I decided against it. He shouldn't feel like he couldn't trust me. I wanted to help him, not stalk him... even if stalking would be a lot easier.
Simon prepared the board again while I prepared myself for losing another game. Luckily, the nurse came soon, releasing me from my neverending defeat.
~~~
He looked as if he was going to fall unconscious. I laid my hand on his shoulder and promised him: ”If that place is too much for you, I'm sure Will would change rooms with you.“
Simon's face looked even more tortured. His fingers moved in what I guessed was sign language; I only remembered the absolute basics: Hello. How are you? Fine. Where is the toilet? The phrases everybody should know in every language; in my opinion at least. But I could only guess what his rapid hand movements meant. ”You don't have to put yourself in such situations again“, I added. The dancer did the most effective thing to shut me up: he kissed my cheek.
Why did I always blush so hard? It was just a friendly gesture. Hades, I did that too, sometimes.
”I can see why he fawns about you that much.“
”Shut up“, I murmured angrily, trying to chase away Domenico's words. Simon raised an eyebrow at me and I fastly said: ”Not you. The voices, you know.“
He suppressed a chuckle and nodded.
I chimed into his laugh - until I saw the strangers at our room door.
Police men. Oh no.
An older police woman approached us. ”Hello, you two. Is one of you coincidentally Nico di Angelo?“
I considered lying for one sweet second. But then I decided against it; nodding slightly. ”I am. What's the matter?“
If I just played it off, manipulated the mist, I would make it out of here, and they wouldn't keep searching for me.
William always teased me with being a bad actor. I just hoped it was enough for this situation.
”Oh, we're just controlling something. The banks recognized a very strange credit card, registered on your name. One with an infinite amount of money on it.“
Simon raised both his eyebrows.
”Oh, really?“, I asked surprisedly. ”What do I have to do now?“
I could see on her face that she was trying to see if I was joking. But finally, she said: ”We'll just look up the amounts on your credit card. We have searched through your room, but didn't find them.“
”Yeah“, I said, getting my wallet out of my jacket. ”I carry them with me.“
I dared to get my hopes up. The Lotos Casino card was hidden; not only somewhere in my wardrobe, but also in the mist. She would check the credit card amount on my legal card, wish me a nice day and I would get out of it easily.
But that damn credit card had different plans.
There it was, glistening in its bright green plastic, shining directly in the police woman's eye. ”A Casino Card?“, she asked curiously. ”If the records are right, you are a little too young for gambling.“
”It's the child version“, I explained, firstly giving her the real credit card. She tugged it through a little device while I went on: ”It's kind of nostalgic for me, for personal reasons, therefore I carry it with me.“
”Give it to me, would you?“
”Yeah, sure.“
My heart ripped apart my chest like a hungry animal. The silence was too silent; Simon, observing the scene with a puzzled look on his face. Other policemen now came over to us, leaving the room door open. The thought of some strangers searching through my stuff left a bitter taste on my tongue.
And what did the card even do in my wallet?!
Anyway, I had to concentrate. Behind my back, I snapped my fingers, telling the woman: ”It's completely empty. You'll see nothing.“
She frowned and turned the device to me. ”For me, that doesn't look exactly empty.“
That couldn't be! The infinity sign stood there, mocking me with its presence.
The mist defied me. Why?!
Simon cleared his throat, his eyes widened in shock. Did he know what that card was? He didn't look surprised at all, more... guilty.
”Well take you with us“, the woman meant. ”You can go, young man.“
The dancer looked at me, asking a silent question. I could sense his misery again: definitely guilt. ”Go“, I growled. He should go out of my sight before I really shook every damn word out of him.
His lips formed two words: I'm sorry. Then, he fastly went into his room. Damn traitor.
It was a shame, getting led out of the building in handcuffs. And if everything wasn't bad enough, on the way out, we ran into Will and Celine.
My poor boyfriend immediately knew what had happened. I just had to hope the police mistook his guilty expression for shock. ”Nico...“, he breathed. Celine did the shocked part way better - gasping. ”What have you done, Neeks?!“, she asked.
”Your boyfriend?“, the police woman asked while opening the car door. ”Eww, no!“, Celine answered, her shocked expression now disgusted. She pointed at William. ”His boyfriend.“
”Oh, really?“, the woman meant, her voice suddenly sharp and cold. William's eyes widened even more, his breathing fastened. My heartbeat doubled its speed.
I wanted to get out of here. Now.
But I forced a smile on my lips. ”Don't worry, Will“, I told him. ”It's just a difficulty with the silly casino card. They will do their work and I'll be back in a few days.“
Silently, I added: Remember what you promised me.
With one last scowl at Celine - why did she have such a loose mouth?! - I got in the car.
It would be okay. It would be okay.
~~~
I can't really say much to this chapter, other than: The game is rigged! The game is rigged!! :D
Slowly, everything falls into place, and it's super satisfying to actually get that far in a story.
Thank you for everyone who comments and votes! I love all of my readers! ;D
~ Sunflower