Board games part two
Luz rolled a G and the game started
Hunter was happy the captain hadn’t protested. Surprised, but happy.
He found the list
“4 letter word”? Gape.
“Gifts/presents”? Getting to pick shifts (it would work for Willow for plant-watching shifts.
"Excuses for being late"? One of the only ones that worked was getting badly hurt.
“Words associated with money”? Gold.
“Costume”? Golden guard outfit. Luz always said his uniform was a costume so that would make her happy.
“Bodies of water"? Gullet lake.
“Weapons”? Glass shard.
“Things found in the ocean”? Grunion was the least common one he could think of.
Chores? What would be one for Willow? Probably Grooming rude plants.
Musical instrument? Gland piano.
Furniture? Grandfather clock.
Round items? Gloomberries.
Good, he was done. He was pretty sure he couldn’t take anyone other than Willow's paper.
Luz wouldn’t let him and he wanted to help Willow almost as much as he wanted to help Luz! Anyway, the owl lady might not hurt Luz. He reached over and Willow let him grab her sheet again
Four-letter word? She had written goes.
Gifts/ presents was blank so he wrote gloves. A gift Luz gave him.
Excuses for being late? She had written got up late.
Words associated with Money was filled with gratefulness.
Costume was filled with goddess. Willow would look pretty in a goddess costume she could use living plants and have them trail after- no he had to focus
Bodies of water he couldn’t think of anything else
Weapons was filled with garden. He added tools.
Items found in the ocean was blank he left it blank since he couldn't think of anything.
Under chores, he put guard duty when you think you're going to have free time.
Instruments had gong written under it
Furniture had gardening knee pads which was very smart
Round items had garland
The timer went off right after he went back to ocean items.
“Hunter this time do you want to start?” Luz smiled
“Sure. a four letter word is goes.
Gloves are a gift” Luz and Hunter locked eyes for a second and he knew she remembered, he went on quickly so he wouldn’t get tackle-hugged.
“ An excuse is got up late and Money association was gratefulness” Everyone looked impressed at that one. It was pretty impressive that Willow had thought of it
“ Costume is a goddess costume and I don’t have a body of water, garden tools are a weapon and I don’t have any items found in the ocean.
A chore is guard duty when you think you have free time and an instrument is a gong. Furniture is gardening knee pads.”
Gus raised a hand “Is that furniture.” Hunter glared at him it was very smart of Willow to say that. How dare he challenge the legitimacy of the answer?
Luz held up a hand I googled furniture and it seems mostly valid”
“Okay,” Gus sulked:
“Lastly a round item is a garland. That leaves me with ten points.”
"Okay, Willow you next."
“Gape is a four-letter word.
Getting to pick shifts is a gift. Being forced to take the night shifts is so frustrating. One excuse is Getting badly injured and gold is a word associated with money.
Guard costumes are decently popular costume, and a body of water is Gullet Lake a weapon is a glass shard and an item found in the ocean is a grunion,
A chore is grooming rude plants an instrument is a gland piano a piece of furniture is a grandfather clock and a round item is a gloomberry.”
“12 for 12 again Willow! Your turn Amity”
Willow looked at Hunter but he couldn't read her look. He looked away from her. He hoped she wasn't angry at him for switching lists with her.
Amity started her list. “the four-letter word I put the word gave and I don’t have a gift on the list I don’t have an excuse idea and I have greed as my money association and the costume is good witch Azura”
“Noooo!” Luz yelled “ I didn’t think about her title or I would have put that.
”I know” Amity reached over and patted her on the shoulder. Hunter made sure her hands went back to her personal bubble after the shoulder pat.
“ I have no body of water, no weapon, no ocean item, no chores”. She had a weird expression on her face after that “Most of our chores aren’t done by us. Anyway an instrument is the gui-scar”
"I have that Gus" Amity admitted
"Does guitar count"? Luz asked
"That's the human world equivalent, right?” Gus asked
“ I think so.”
“Then yes.” Luz’s shoulders slumped “Go on Amity.”
“Lastly for round items, I have glass crystal ball. That's four”
Hunter tensed he didn’t like Blight but he didn’t want her in trouble for not doing good enough.
“That's okay Amity you’ll do better next time. Gus?”
For my four-letter word, I have glow, and for gift, I have gardening shears” Willow smiled at Gus. Hunter guessed he had probably gotten her those at some point.
“An excuse is I got lost. For money association, I have giving and for costume, I have ghoul.
For bodies water of have nothing for weapons I have nothing for ocean items I have garbage”
“So do I “Luz raised her hand”.
“Okay, I also have garbage duty for chores you know what I have for instruments I have nothing for furniture for round items I have grapefruit. That’s seven. "Luz, your turn”
Okay, for my four letter word, I put glad I had nothing on gift but for an excuse, I put got stuck in traffic for money association I put green since money where I’m from is green.
For costume I put ghost. I have nothing on bodies of water but for weapon, I put garrote which is a wire you can use to strangle people. This one cool character uses it to cut off the main character's head.
You know what I have for ocean, and I couldn’t come up with a chore you know what I put for instrument, I didn’t have furniture but I did have a round item: a grape. That puts me at six and Willow wins again.
Hunter realized something. One more round and they’d be safe. Thank goodness.
***
Willow
***
Something tickled in the back of Willow's mind. One of the answers Hunter had put, but she was probably just imagining it.
Luz rolled the dice again this time it was an S.
The timer started and Willow checked the list
“Sticky things”
“Cosmetics/ toiletries”
“Cooking utensils”
“Leisure activities”
“A boy's name“
“Something you keep hidden”
“Footwear
“Famous females
“Things you're allergic to
“Growing things
“Things you’re afraid of
“Kinds of Candy”
Sticky things were super-luper fertilizer she couldn’t think of any cosmetics or toiletries but for a boy's name Willow put Sam
Something you kept hidden was soft spots and a type of footwear was socks. A cooking utensil was a scooper.
Leisure activity was sunbathing and a famous female was Sunflower; a lady who allegedly managed to get a mountaintop without a single seed, blossom, or root system to bloom so she could choose who to marry instead of having them chosen for her.
Willow was allergic to soy, and a growing thing was a sage.
She was afraid of showing weakness she couldn’t think of any type of candy.
What was a brand of that- wait, Hunter hadn’t grabbed her list.
She peeked over at him he looked rather troubled. She reached over to grab his list- this time she could help him but he blocked her hand. She tried to communicate with her expression that she wanted to help him this time but it didn't seem to work.
He shook his head at her. Then he went back to staring at the list.
Well, she’d tried to help.
The timer went off “Willow do you want to start?” Luz asked
“Sure for sticky things I had super-luper fertilizer” Luz laughed and Willow knew Luz was remembering the day they dealt with it
“I don’t have a cosmetics/ toiletries. For cooking utensils. I put scooper like an i-scream scooper I put sunbathing as a leisure activity
“so did I” Amity and Gus chorused at the same time
“Okay well, then I also had Sam for a boy's name, soft spots for something you keep hidden socks for footwear,
For famous females, I put sunflower- a young lady who was the namesake of a legend, and soy for things I’m allergic to
For growing things I put sage and for things I'm afraid of I put showing weakness and I couldn’t think of a kind of candy. That's nine points.
“I’ll go next” Luz yelled. “For sticky things, I put superglue for cosmetics I put shampoo” Willow sighed she should have thought of that.
“For cooking utensils, I said spatula, and for leisure activities I said swimming. For a boy's name, I said Sean, and for something you keep hidden I said screwups."
Hunter looked horrified at the idea of trying to keep mistakes a secret.
"For footwear, I said slip-ons like these” She raised a foot in the air and everyone started waving for her to put her foot down
"Okay, okay I’ll stop. Sadly that's the last one I had. I got stuck on famous females and ended up looking at it until time ran out. ‘
Amity went next “I blanked on sticky things but I came up with sweetess lotion for toiletries”
“Is that why you always smell so good?” Luz asked then she turned bright red
“Maybe” Amity started blushing too “Anyway I didn't come up with a cooking utensil. You know what I said for leisure activities.
"For a boy's name, I said Seth and for things you keep hidden I said stash.” Luz and Gus nodded"
"For footwear, I put sandals, for famous females I put snapdragon, Terra and I couldn’t think of an allergy or a growing thing."
"I put standing up to my mom as a fear even though I’ve conquered it and I couldn’t think of a kind of candy. that leaves me with six items on my list."
“I’ll go” Gus declared “I couldn’t think of a sticky thing but I could think of a toiletry: soap. A cooking utensil in a spatula you know what I had as my leisure activity and for a boy's name, I put Steve-
“So did I,” Hunter told him
“Do you mean Matt’s brother?” Gus queried.
“Yes, the Matt you mentioned is that Matt?” Hunter questioned
“Yep, he talks about Steve a lot.”
“Steve will be happy to hear that. He talks about Matt a lot too. He thinks he’s around Matt so little that Matt never thinks about him.”
“Steve is wrong,” Gus told him
“Well so is Matt” Hunter said seriously
Gus stifled a laugh “Matt’s wrong a lot but I’m genuinely happy for him that he’s wrong about this.”
“When were you around Matt?” Luz asked.
“Long story tell you later,” Gus told her
Luz squinted for a moment then shrugged “Okay."
Gus went on "I had a hidden thing- a surprise," he went on after a pause to see if Hunter had his answer. For footwear I said slipper and I blanked on a famous female and I said I’m allergic to something.”
Serious groans but Gus stated, “It’s true, we can’t figure out what but the healers do know I'm allergic to something.”
Luz sighed “We should take it” nods all around.
For growing things, I said strawberry for something I’m afraid of I couldn’t think of anything but for candy I said smarties.” Luz nodded at the human candy name.“
“My turn” Hunter looked nervous “ For sticky things I put situations” “Good one,” Luz told him. Willow agreed For toiletries I put single-ply toilet paper, I couldn’t think of a cooking utensil though I probably should have said spoon”.
Surprised faces all around. No one had thought of that.
I couldn’t think of a leisure activity and you know what I said for a boy's name something you keep hidden is your sickness obviously” he laughed like it was amusing.
“Subzero temp boots are footwear and I couldn’t think of a famous female that starts with S and I don’t know what an allergy is”.
“Wait wait wait Hunter you don’t know what an allergy is?”
He blinked, “No?”
“Allergies are something seasonal coming from things like pollen that make you get some combination of these symptoms: itchy eyes, watery or stuffy nose, sometimes you sneeze a lot, and sometimes your throat clogs up.
There are also allergic reactions to different things. I’m sure I've seen you with seasonal allergies before.”
“Oh, so that's what it was. I was told by Belos and the older people in the coven that I was just imagining it or that if I walked it off it’d get better. It’ll be nice to inform them of the truth.”
“I’m not going to say anything about this now but I will use this later,” Luz said threateningly “Now go on.”
“Growing things are self-doubt. I couldn’t come up with something I’m afraid of that starts with s and I definitely don’t know any types of candy since sugar is something forbidden so we can keep in shape.”
“That leaves me with five. Willow wins.” he smiled at her but she couldn’t help but stare at him.
She was far more sure of what it was now. The intelligence, the laughing at horrors, the altered sense of normality, it all sounded like Caleb.
It could just be that he was in the coven. She held onto that hope. But it all matched up. He seemed just like she’d imagined he’d be in real life. Serious most of the time but smiling a lot, suspicious but with an extensive capacity to trust given the right circumstances someone she’d love to know. She'd give up her favorite gardening gloves if she could just make it so that it wasn’t him.
Could she prove it somehow? Had he said anything so specific that it could only be him? She didn’t remember hearing anything like that but she couldn’t be sure.
She thought Caleb once mentioned getting gloves but maybe she misremembered.
It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. If it was she was screwed on so many levels. If he was the golden guard how could she pull him away from the terrible system? If Caleb was Hunter, if she knew him in real life, then how could she keep lying to herself? If Caleb was Hunter, and Hunter was Caleb all her plans would come crashing down.
If he was him then everything would be wonderful and everything would be terrible he couldn’t be him. She had to be wrong, please let her be wrong.
Luz grinned suddenly “Hunter look” She pointed to the window and when he looked his face brightened so much Willow was dazzled.
He ran to the window and pried it open.
“Flap!”
One syllable and it was all falling. She'd held out hope until she saw the palisman. A red cardinal named Flap-
“Flapjack” is here Luz singsonged this is “Hunter’s pailisman Flapjack” “See I told you he’s trustworthy”
Of course, he was trustworthy he was Caleb. She had never seen him but she trusted him. She trusted him about as much as she trusted the other people in this room. As much as she trusted Luz or Gus.
He was Caleb. Smart, dorky, sweet, Caleb.
He was Caleb. Brainwashed, insecure, coven- member Caleb - but his name wasn’t Caleb
She’d always know that but it still threw her for a loop.
It hit her like an I-scream truck.
He was Hunter. Noble, straight-laced, protective Hunter- indoctrinated, careful, golden guard Hunter.
He wasn’t her Caleb but oh he truly was. He was the same as she imagined and so many more things.
This was a disaster of epic proportions. She’d met him now, she’d met him and it changed everything; it didn’t change a thing.
How could she save him from the coven if he was the golden guard? How could she avoid her feelings if he was just as adorkable as she had always imagined?
How could she like him less, remain objective, remain strong when she knew now that he wasn’t just sweet and dorky but also a good older brother, that he was one of Luz’s closest friends, that he wasn’t smart in a way that meant he thought he was better than everyone else but instead smart in a way that didn't try and make anyone else less.
Now she knew that he wasn't faking his knowledge(though to be honest she’d always been nearly completely sure of that).
He really was possibly the smartest person she knew.
Now she knew he wasn’t going to trust nearly anyone. Now she knew how much it meant that he had trusted her from the very beginning,
Now she knew that he really had avoided her questions on his position with subject changes now she knew that he had made her a priority in a schedule even more full than she had guessed.
Now she knew he was as spectacular as she’d hoped he’d be.
Now she knew he was as stunning as she’d feared he’d be
She stared at him smiling at Flapjack his entire face lit up and bathed in the setting sun. All of her plans went tumbling down into an endless chasm. She ran.