Crossroads-Book 1

•Chapter 20•

§Tanya§

Trevor turned to Chang.

"Hey, Chang. Can you...teleport us back home like, right now?" he asked.

"Well..." Chang looked around at all of us, "you have completed today's training. And you're probably all drained to some extent, so...sure. But we'll all meet soon."

He snapped his fingers.
Instantly, we appeared in Trevor's room.

Trevor collapsed on his bed.
I heard footsteps coming from the corridor.
I turned to Trevor.

"Quick, get out a...chess board! Yes!" I said.
"What?" he asked, sitting up wearily.

I rolled my eyes and ran to his shelf where he keeps all his board games.

My brother played so much games. Electronic, board games, whatnot.

I scanned the shelf until I found it.
I grabbed it and walked over to his bed in a hurry.
I yanked the box open.

All the contents spilled out on Trevor's bed.
The footsteps were getting closer.

I hurriedly spread the board out and started to drop pieces on it when mum walked in.

Then I flipped the board, feigning annoyance.

"Ugh, Trevor why do you win all the time?" I said, signalling him with my eyes: play along.

My brother is pretty dense so it took him a while to understand.
Thankfully, he did on time.

"Yeah, sis. I always win. That's why I'm the king of games!" he said. "Oh, hey mum."
His eyes widened in surprise, like he just saw her.

My mum stared at us wearily.
She furrowed her brows.

"I checked this room a few minutes ago," she said, blinking.

"Did you?" Trevor asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We've been playing for about an hour now."

"But how?" Mum asked. "I even called you–"

I got up from the bed.
"You know what, mom? You're always busy and you're thinking a lot. I think you should rest. We're fine and we're here. That's what matters right?" I said to her.

"I...guess?" poor mum said.
"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that we're going out today to have dinner with a family. You're dad met their father in his new job and he invited us to dinner so, get ready and meet me downstairs by six."

She walked out of the room.
At the sound of the click of the door, we both sighed in relief.
"That was close," I said.
Trevor glared at me.

"Chess?" he asked. "I don't even play that game anymore."

"Come on Trevor. You know that's the only game that mum'll believe we'd agree to play. If it was any other thing, she would get suspicious. Did you have a better idea?"

He slumped on his bed.
"Just go. Get out. Go change. We have dinner with some family."

"You're welcome." I said, getting up.

"You say it like I'm the only one who's going to be caught being a spirit of Reina." Trevor said turning over on his bed.

"Spirit of Reina." I mused, walking out the door.

***

"Steven! Nice to see you," my dad said as he shook hands with the blond, wiry guy standing at his door.

"Nice to see you too, Mr Green. Is this your lovely family?" he said beaming. "Y'all should come on in."

After the pleasantries, which I dread, we all sat in the living room, waiting.