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“Against all odds…” Steve began, dramatically putting his last piece into place, “I have won!” Dustin and Mike both groaned loudly, while Nancy leaned back and crossed her arms.
“Wow...” Nancy said. She had one piece left, just three spaces away from home. A single dice roll had secured Steve’s victory. Steve…that handsome boy with perfect hair, who was back in her house, despite their breakup. He bounced his eyebrows at her, then Dustin threw up his hands and started cussing.
“I didn’t rolled more than a god-damned three the whole second half of this shitty game! Assholes, this is the last fucking time I ever play this damn game with you. Son of a bitch!” Dustin roared.
“Screw it!” Mike said, waving his arms dismissively, “I’d’ve done better if somebody hadn’t kept sending my pieces back to start…” her brother glared at her, and Nancy shrugged.
“Don’t blame me…you were the one who wanted to play this game…”
“I thought it would be fun for the four of us to be together. I didn’t know you and Steve would be such jerks…”
“Alright, no need to be a sore loser…” Nancy said.
“You know, now that I think about it…” Dustin began to surmise, “It sure seemed like you and Steve were working together against us.”
“Yeah, it kind’ve did. I thought she was your ex, Steve!” Mike said, his volume increasing. Steve’s eyes grew wide, and Nancy threw out a hand.
“He is Mike. But that doesn’t mean we’re not friends! Same with Jonathan!” Nancy spat. She didn’t like to bring it up. Breaking up with either of them. But sometimes, the younger boys had to be reminded it was a sore issue.
“Ok, how about we do something else…” Steve said, standing up. Just then, the doorbell rang, and Nancy was about to get up and answer it when Mike jumped up and rushed over.
“They’re here! El and Will!” Mike flung the door open and Nancy could see the boy fling his arms around El, then do the same thing to Will. After a few moments of talking outside, Jonathan shoved the group into their main hallway.
“It’s cold guys, get inside…” Jonathan said. Mike pulled both El and Will into the main room, and the young, small boy stopped suddenly and looked at the board.
“Mike? Did you lose at Sorry?” Will looked at the board for a few moments, then his eyes grew wide, “You lost…to Steve?!?”
“I…uh…don’t worry about it. We’re going to play a better game…” Mike said, pulling the two again. Dustin followed the them, while Jonathan came into the Wheeler’s main room slowly and looked at Nancy, then at Steve.
“Hey guys…”
“Hey Jonathan…” Nancy said.
“What’s up, Byers…” Steve offered.
“Uh…so we ordered a couple pizzas on our way over here. It should be here in a hour. And Hopper says hi. And to make sure his daughter gets back in one piece by midnight…”
“He’s calling her his kid now?” Steve asked.
“Yeah…”
“Legally, she is his daughter…” Nancy said, then Mike came back into the main room, holding a big box.
“Nancy, is this your game?” Mike thrust out the box. Nancy took it, and looked at it. It was a version of Clue, but the box looked very unfamiliar to her. Across the top, it had Clue: Casino Edition, in big letters, and pictures of the traditional characters standing around a casino. A dealer was in between them, holding up cards that had blood dripping on them.
“I…no…I don’t recognize this…”
“You think it’s mom or dad’s?”
“Can you see our father playing a board game?” Nancy asked. Mike looked at it, then frowned.
“Maybe it was grandma’s. The game looks old.”
“But not that old…” Nancy said, then turned to the two older boys, “Either of you seen this before?”
“Clue Casino? No…” Steve said, “How does that work?”
“Hmph…I thought Parker Brothers made that game? Who is that?” Jonathan asked, pointing to a corner of the box. Nancy leaned in to see that stamped on the top left, where the logo of the gamemaker would go, Jumanji was written in bright, yellow-gold letters.
“Who is Jumanji? I’ve never heard of them…”
“Weird…” Mike said, shrugging and turning away, “Well, we’re going to play Dungeons and Dragons. I’m making El a character…”
“I thought part of this was for us all to hang out…” Steve asaid, “That’s what Dustin told me. We’re not getting paid for this…”
“It’s just cause you all are so cool and nice that you hang out with 9th graders…” Mike said, “Anyway, we’ll be back for the pizza! Bye!” he bounded off, and Nancy sighed and pinched her forehead. She thought this might happen, that she’d be left with Steve and Jonathan while the younger boys and El played games. Lucas and Max were road tripping with his parents, which Mike said meant they had spaces open in the group. And he wanted to hang out with Nancy like they used to. But…as was apparent to Nancy now, they couldn’t go back to how they used to be.
“Well…so…how’s your mom?” Steve asked. Jonathan shrugged.
“She’s fine. A little calmer now. How are your parents?”
“Out of town. Like always. Dad’s supposed to be training me for work next week, but we’ll see if he ever gets back…”
“Didn’t you get deferred to Purdue for next year? You could still get in right?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t think so, Nancy. I’m not smart enough…”
“Maybe if you work a while, you’ll become smart enough…” Jonathan said.
“You weren’t really supposed to agree…”
“You know what guys…why don’t we play another game? Let’s try this one…” Nancy said, pointing to the Clue box.
“Are you sure?”
“I thought us and the munchkins were hanging out?”
“They left us already. Besides, we’ll probably be able to finish two or three games before they’re done with Dungeons and Dragons…” Nancy leaned over, grabbed the box, and put it down on the table. Steve sat down on the carpet next to the game and Jonathan sat down next to him, both opposite Nancy. She carefully pulled off the top and revealed what seemed to be mostly an ordinary game of Clue. There were nine rooms, and even though they were different casino rooms (i. e. north card room, roulette room) they were still connected by the red hallways and surrounded a staircase. The staircase was elevated somehow though; almost like a button, with a dim green hue Nancy found somewhat disturbing.
“Okay, well, it looks like Clue…” Steve said.
“Where are the instructions?” Jonathan asked. Nancy looked in the box and found a thin booklet which she handed to the younger boy. He glanced at the cover a moment, then read it.
“A game for those who seek to find…a way to leave their world behind…Detectives beware: do not begin….unless you intend to find the end. The exciting consequences of the game…will vanish quickly, like a flame, when a player has found the truth, the room, the weapon and the name.”
“What?” Steve asked, leaning over to look at the instructions. Jonathan shrugged and held it up to the older boy.
“That’s what this says on the front. I’m not making this up…” Jonathan said, then flipped through the booklet, “It seems like Clue…mostly. You’re trying to use fact finding and the odds to make an accusation and solve the murder…” Jonathan flipped to one page, then looked back at the board, “This says you have to place your choice of character on the stair space at the same time to begin…”
“Why at the same time?”
“I don’t know…maybe it’s part of getting into the game…”
“Or maybe it’s just a dumb rule…”
“We don’t have to do it…”
“No, we’ll do it. I’ll be…” Nancy reached in the box and picked up the figure of a woman in a fancy red dress, “Miss Scarlett…sensual and seductive detective…” Nancy knew how wrong it was to say that to both her exes, but while Jonathan turned red, Steve burst out laughing.
“Whoa, watch out, Miss Scarlett, be careful you don’t seduce any of the suspects…” Steve glanced at the box, then picked up a figure of a large man in a green suit, “I’ll be Mr. Green, buisnessman and all around right guy…”
“I’ll be Professor Plum…I always…wished I was as smart as him…” Jonathan said.
“As a board game piece?” Steve said, giving Jonathan a wicked grin, “Eh…I don’t see you ever being that smart…”
“Okay, so we put the pieces on the stairs, and we get our notepads…we have the die on the table…and, we can begin…” Nancy held up the red dressed woman and on three, Steve and Jonathan put down their characters with hers. As the piece landed though, Nancy heard what sounded like an eerie wind blowing, and the sound of drums building in the background.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know…” Steve said. Then, the room started to shimmer to Nancy as the staircase space lit up bright green.
“What…how…” Nancy started, then she saw a trail of black coming out of Jonathan’s hand. He looked down at his hand, then to his figurine on the staircase space, where the trail was leading too.
“Nance…”
“Jonathan!” Suddenly, the boy’s features and form were pulled into the black lines and sucked down to the staircase. Nancy looked in horror, then saw Steve, who was trying to draw back from the game, was being pulled in too.
“Ah! Stop! No!” Like Jonathan, Steve’s body was suddenly broken down into thin lines and disappeared into the staircase. Nancy watched in horror, then looked down at her hands. Three lines of black were tracing from her fingers to the board game. She gulped hard, then looked down at the board in front of her.
“We’re being pulled in…we’re leaving our world behind…” Nancy said as she felt herself fade into the lines and disappear.
*****
Nancy walked down the stairs into the corner of the central room. She looked great, her long scarlet dress, beautiful, curly hair, lipstick and makeup that had men swooning. But, she knew something had gone wrong. A murder. Nancy flipped her hair back, then stepped out onto the casino floor before she drew back in horror at her own thought.
Murder? Casino? Lipstick? What the shit was happening?
“Where am I?” Nancy asked, looking around the casino. She’d never been in a real one, only ever seen them in movies or on TV. But, those images weren’t far off. The casino was nosy, busy, with numerous patrons, players and people moving back and forth. She could hear what sounded like cards flipping nearby, a ball spinning on a roulette wheel and gamblers cheering and booing as their luck flowed between success and failure. It stunk of cigarettes, liquor and sweat. The lights were bright and the air was freezing, and it was at that moment that Nancy remembered that she’d been pulled into a game.
“Oh my god…oh my god…” Nancy moved through the hallway toward a door, but found her dress kept her from moving very quickly. What’s more, as she tried to approach one doorway, it seemed like it was suddenly miles away, while the casino’s ruckus was louder than ever. Nancy turned back to see that one set of tables was much closer. She swallowed, then took a few steps and was suddenly in front of a thin, dark-skinned dealer in a gaudy, red and gold uniform. He flashed a toothy white smile, and held his hands up over the central table of the casino. Nancy looked him for a few moments, then turned around and saw two other men approaching the table. One was a plump, bald man in a tight black suit with a bright green tie. To his right was an older, thin man, with a receding hairline, thick, purple glasses and a violet tie on his suit.
“Welcome to the casino…” The dealer said to the three as they approached, “Where you must face against the odds…”
“Welcome to the…” the plump man said in a low, deep voice, his face twisted up in a sneer, “How the hell did I get in a Casino? And where is this place? Where the hell are we?” Nancy looked at him, then tapped her chin. Something was familiar about the way he was getting irritated.
“You three, are at the Clue Casino…where you all have been brought together, because you were here, in this building, when a murder occurred. The murder, of John W. Boddy…” the dealer held out a hand, and the three turned to see a body lying on the ground near them.
“Oh my god! Does anyone care that there is a dead man lying right here?” the older professor exclaimed in a higher and faulting tone, looking around. There was no response, and he sighed and touched his big spectacles, “I’m actually in the game…I don’t know what to do…” He scratched his head and sighed, “This is it…I’ve snapped or I’m crazy…”
“You’re crazy! How do you think I feel? I’ve picked up a hundred and fifty pounds, aged about thirty years and lost my hair!” the plump man grabbed at his bald scalp in anguish, “That’s my defining feature! And it’s gone!”
“Steve?” Nancy asked, stepping toward him slowly. The plump man looked at her, and raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, I’m Steve! What, is this some other character here to talk at me about murder?”
“No…” the older man said, rubbing his chin, “Steve…this is Miss Scarlet. Which means…Nancy!”
“Then…Jonathan…” Nancy said. The older man nodded. Plump Steve glanced between the two, and let out a harrumph.
“No way. This is a trick! Jonathan and Nancy aren’t here, dressed as their…as the…”
“We were sucked into the game, Steve…that explains our physical changes. And why I feel like I’m barely holding on to control of my bladder…” Elderly Jonathan said, taking off his glasses for a moment, “Jesus, I can’t see a thing without these…needing glasses must be terrible…”
“Excuse you!” Plump Steve roared, his hands on his hips, “I need glasses and I wear contacts, just to inform you…or I did, when I was eighteen and 180 pounds!”
“Guys, enough…” Nancy said. She touched her face and tried to imagine what kind of woman she looked like. She briefly considered how it might have made the two boys feel, then shook the thought away and pointed at the dealer, “We need to figure out how to get out of here…”
“This is a place…to escape our world…but…” Elderly Jonathan turned around and considered the casino, then looked back at Nancy, “the consequences will end…if we find our who committed the murder, where and with what…”
“I don’t think that was what the poem said…” Steve muttered.
“But it was the gist of it. So, to get out of this game of Clue, we have to play it…” Nancy surmised.
“Yeah…I think so…”
“We can go ahead and give up then. I already won a game today. I’m not likely to win another…” Steve said.
“Look, we came into this together, I think we’ll leave if any of us wins…”
“Correct…” the dealer started, turning to Nancy, “You are a stunning detective…your beauty is something to behold, Miss Scarlet. Please, come play a hand…”
“Great…the dealer is suggesting we do something like test our luck…” Plump Steve grumbled.
“I understand your concern, Mr. Green. You’ve trusted your own ability to make money all your life. But tonight, money will not be enough to save you. Please, come play a hand.”
“Guys, I don’t think we have a choice. I think that’s how we start this…” Elderly Jonathan said, moving slowly to the table and adjusting his violet tie.
“Professor Plum, your intellect is truly awe-inspiring. I see you’ve figured out what to do without me even having to tell you…” the dealer held up his hands as the three took their places around the table. Nancy could see written across the middle was the word Jumanji, and under that was Play Against the Odds.
“Play against the odds?”
“Here, let’s start with three card poker…” the dealer said, handing out cards to each of the three. Nancy picked them up and saw a picture of a fat, gray haired man in a bright yellow uniform, a long, dangerous looking piece of lead, and a set of slots, with Eastern written on the top.
“What in the…” plump Steve started, looking at the cards.
“Okay, so…I think like in the game, this is our hand. But let’s go ahead and pool information first…” Nancy said, leaning over to the boys, “I’ve got a Colonel Mustard card and a pipe…”
“You’ve got a what?” Jonathan asked. Nancy glanced at him and frowned..
“Weren’t you listening? I said I’ve got Colonel Mustard and…” Nancy trailed off as both men just stared at her.
“Why does her voice just stop?” plump Steve asked.
“They’re controlling how I give information…” Nancy muttered, then grabbed Jonathan’s hand of cards and looked at them. Unlike the elaborate pictures on hers, his looked like white, unmarked cards.
“Are those blanks?” plump Steve asked, leaning over to the elderly Jonathan.
“No. What are talking about? I’ve got a lot of stuff here. This card…” Jonathan’s professorly voice suddenly cut off, and Nancy sighed in frustration.
“We’ve got to play the game, guys. Like really play…We can’t say what we have until you make as suggestion…”
“Like Clue…” Jonathan said, “And I assume to make a suggestion…”
“We’ve got to go around to the different rooms…”
“Correct again!” the dealer said, holding out his hands, “With detectives like these, this case will be solved in no time…so, you’ll need to find who did it, with what and where before the police arrive so that you can prove your innocence. Each of the suspect has information and there are clues around each room to help you solve this case…You must be careful though…if you make an accusation…and it is incorrect…”
“We don’t get to play anymore, right…”
“The true murderer will see an opportunity to take another victim…”
“Holy shit!” Plump Steve roared, “I don’t want to die here!”
“Well, if we get a game over, maybe we’ll get to go home…” Jonathan considered.
“Or, maybe we’ll actually die. It really could be anything at this point…” Steve muttered, then looked at the scarlet dressed Nancy, “I’m not playing anymore games with you guys ever again!”
“Let’s deal with that after we’re free…” Nancy said, turning back to the dealer, who nodded.
“Yes indeed,” the dealer said, then held up his hand to a gigantic hourglass hanging from the ceiling behind him. The top was mostly full and the sand had already begun to fall, “You’ll have one hour to before the police arrive! Good luck detectives!” the man said, then, as a robot shutting down, he put his hand on the deck of cards near him and stopped moving.
“One hour…then we lose…”
“Or we make an error in accusing and we lose…”
“Okay, split up and let’s get to work!” Nancy said, then turned and started to her right, where a roulette table was spinning and several patrons were talking and watching it go. Nancy pushed around several people and after a moment, picked out a unique figure sitting at the table. He was in a yellow military uniform, and had thick white hair protruding off his face. Nancy glanced down at her card and suspected this was Colonel Mustard. Which of course meant that he couldn’t have done it.
“Colonel…” Nancy said, pushing over a non-descript character and taking a seat next to the man.
“Miss Scarlett, what a pleasure to see you…” Mustard said. He reached up and adjusted his monocle, and Nancy tried to determine if he had any tells. Then again, this was Clue. She really just had to suggest something to get information in the game.
“So, how are your parents, Scarlett?” Mustard said as he started decorating the roulette table with chips.
“Colonel, let’s cut to the chase. Where were you when Boddy was killed?” Nancy demanded. Mustard drew back from her and raised an eyebrow.
“Are you making an accusation, Scarlett?”
“No…” Nancy said, throwing her arms out. She didn’t want to die in the first seconds of them playing, “I’m suggesting something. Maybe it wasn’t you…but maybe someone else, like…” Nancy thought for a moment, then tried to recall the other characters, “Miss White, was here in this room…with a weapon…I don’t know, a wrench?” Mustard touched his beard and considered her for a moment before shaking his head.
“Well, I don’t know. But I think wrench was in the Western Slot Room, not here.”
“He’s right, it couldn’t have been there. I’ve got the Roulette Room…” Nancy heard Jonathan’s professor voice, and looked around but could not see him.
“Jonathan? Can you hear me?”
“We can all hear each other, I think. And I can sense where you’re going, vaguely. Like, when you watch someone else take their turn…”
“Wow…that’s strange…”
“You’re not making an accusation then?” Colonel Mustard asked. Nancy nodded, then suddenly, she sensed Steve, in hefty, oversized body was moving, but felt like she was almost frozen.
Steve went to the left of the group, tugging at his suit and grumbling about him hating this game, then moved into a room with three deep tables filled with people. Nancy assumed this had to be the Dice Room, and Steve moved slowly toward one table where a thin woman in a blue pantsuit was blowing on a man’s dice and seemed to be enjoying the game.
“Miss…uh…Miss…” Steve struggled. Eventually, the woman turned around and ran a hand through her long, busy hair.
“Mrs. Peacock…that’s me, Mr. Green. What can I do for you in the dice room?”
“I’m trying to figure out what happened to Boddy…”
“My, my, you wouldn’t be trying to make an accusation, would you?”
“No, Steve!” Nancy yelled. Steve turned slightly, then shook his head.
“No, I want to suggest something. Maybe it wasn’t you. Or maybe it was you. You, wielding a wrench to kill that man!” Nancy sighed deeply and pinched her forehead.
“Steve, we already knew where the wrench was…”
“It was in the Western Slots Room, Steve…I have those cards! Listen, if we’re going to win before time runs out, we’ve got to be careful and remember what we learn!”
“Well…uh…I…sorry…” Steve considered, then Mrs. Peacock smiled and leaned in toward the man.
“I couldn’t have murdered him here Steve. Because I was in the Western Slots Room…now, give me a cigarette,” Steve drew a pack out of his pocket and blew out his breath.
“Dammit, she’s clean.”
“One suspect down, Steve. Let’s go…” Nancy said, then, she began to sense Jonathan moving. He turned away from the center room, toward the back of the casino, and found his way to a breakroom for the dealers. Men and women in suits and dresses were smoking and talking to each other quietly, and one woman, an older blond woman dressed as a hotel maid was rubbing her hands together and looking over the containers around her.
“Miss White…” Jonathan considered, “I want to make a suggestion…”
“Always to the point, Plum,” the woman said without even turning around, “What, are you going to accuse me?”
“No, just imply that you might have had something to do with it, holding a weapon like a candlestick here in this room…” Miss White drew back, and shook her head.
“I was here in this room, but I didn’t do that crime! Besides, I’ve never even thought of wielding a candlestick before…”
“She’s right...” Nancy said. She felt herself turn slightly and could see pretty clearly that a small shelf where a really old and decrepit metal candelabra rested on the far side of the roulette room, “It wasn’t the candlestick. It hasn’t been used in years…” Jonathan sighed and crossed his arms, then Nancy was able to move again. She moved to the next room over, a card room, where men in heavy suits were leaning over small green tables and cursing at each other. Nancy looked around the room and couldn’t see anyone she recognized. She was about to just shout her suggestion when a thin, suave man in a grey police uniform stepped up to her with a smile. He held out a cigarette and touched his thin mustache.
“Miss Scarlett, how good to see you…”
“And you are?”
“Sargent Grey, at your service…”
“Uh…I don’t recognize him…er…I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Miss Scarlett…” Nancy grumbled, then smiled, “So…are you a…uh…”
“Suspect? Oh, but the word is so disturbing. I’m a victim of my own bad luck, my dear that I was playing cards in this very room when the event occurred…”
“Right. Well, if I were to suggest that maybe you might have been wielding…I don’t know, a rope, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about?”
“No, of course not…” he said, taking a long drag of the now lit cigarette in his mouth, “Though, I have heard that this room is adorned with a different weapon than the rope. See, up here…” he turned to one wall, where a sledgehammer was leaning in the corner. Nancy eyed it, then shook her head. She didn’t remember that weapon. Or Sargent Grey.
“Guys, I think there are more characters and weapons here…”
“Yeah, I’m getting that sense…”
“I doesn’t matter,” Jonathan jumped in, “It just means we’ve got to work harder to solve the case. End your turn so Steve can go, Nancy…” And so, they tried to figure it out. Talking to each of the six other suspects. Colonel Mustard and Miss White were ruled out quickly. A petit southern woman named Miss Peach and a conning Frenchmen named Monsieur Brunette were also interrogated and eliminated as suspects. Finally, proof that Mrs. Peacock was actually the one wielding the wrench eliminated her as a suspect, and it seemed like they might be zeroing in, they could find no trace of a weapon in Sargent Grey’s room, and Nancy threw up her hands and used her turn to return to the central room, where the dealer was waiting for her.
“Miss Scarlett, how is the investigation going?”
“Terrible…” Nancy grumbled, flinging herself down in the a nearby chair. The dealer tapped his chin, then turned to see Mr. Green approach too.
“God, we’re never going to finish this game…”
“We have to, and soon…” Nancy said, signaling to the diminishing amount of sand in the hourglass above them. Steve eyed it, then looked at her again.
“But…this doesn’t make sense. We’ve disproved five. And Sargent Grey seems like the suspect. But we can’t find a weapon for the room…plus, he and those other two characters are totally made up, cause I’ve never heard of them or their weapons…”
“Well, maybe they is weapon we’re missing. We’ve only found eight. And of the six suspects, Grey had to be the most likely…”
“Six suspects?” the dealer said, suddenly coming to life, “Why, you mean nine suspects, Miss Scarlett…” Nancy looked up at him, then back at Steve.
“Oh no…” Nancy murmured, “We’ve been assuming it couldn’t have been one of us…”
“But that doesn’t make sense. Besides, as many other suspects as there were, the odds that it would have been one of us…” Steve started, then looked down at the table where Play Against the Odds was written, “Shit.”
“I’m going to make a suggestion right here…” Nancy started, then saw Jonathan step into the center room, the elderly professor huffing and panting.
“It’s hard being…whatever I am. 60 something.”
“Well, Jonathan…” Nancy muttered bitterly, “I’m going to suggest that Mr. Green over there might have committed the murder. With that sledgehammer that we don’t know where it goes!” Nancy said, glaring at him. Steve sneered at her, then shook his head.
“It wasn’t me…first, I think I’d remember committing a murder. But, more to the point, I…” Steve paused then blinked a few times, “Was wielding a vial of poison…what the f*ck, I was using poison?”
“That’s dramatic…but also intensely helpful…” Jonathan said, then rubbed his chin, “I suspect myself, Professor Plum of committing murder. With a knife…the Foyer…” Jonathan looked around, then sighed.
“I guess I was the one who did it…damn, but at least…”
“No…my dear Professor Plum…I can disprove it…” Nancy turned to see Sargent Grey step amiably into the center room, tapping his fingers together and smiling, “Seeing as you were in the Kitchen. No, I think I know exactly who committed this murder. It could not have been you two, Peach, Mustard, White, Peacock or Brunette…” Sargent Grey turned to Nancy, who’s eyes grew wide.
“Nancy, you did it?”
“Why? And why didn’t you say anything? And also, this guy can solve the crime? I thought we were supposed to…”
“You are supposed to, Mr. Green. If he does it, I doubt he’ll protect you from the police…” the dealer said. The three looked at the man in horror, then turned back at Sargent Grey.
“Nancy…come on!” Steve grumbled. Jonathan put a hand out.
“Maybe she tried to tell us…Maybe she didn’t even know….” Jonathan suggested. But Nancy did know. Somehow. Why hadn’t she said anything? She’d done it…she’d killed that man, with…with…she couldn’t remember with what. Nor where…”
“Of course…the weapon is trickier. So many have moved around and so many people wielded them…” Sargent Grey said. He glanced up at the hourglass, then back at her, “But if the knife was the professors…then you must’ve wielded the revolver…”
“But I didn’t…Jonathan started, then froze and leaned back into the plump Steve, who was patting his sweating bald head with a handkerchief.
“You think I look fat in this, Byers? Because I feel like I’m so ugly right now.”
“Not in real life Steve…” Jonathan muttered, “You’re really handsome in real life. Like…something you make me question myself when I see you in the locker room…especially since we might die soon, I’ll tell you, I think about kissing you sometimes…” it sounded really weird coming from the elderly man, and Nancy was going to comment on it had Sargent Grey’s finger not thrust itself into her face.
“You did it! You killed him, right in here, in the center room with a revolver!” Sargent Grey yelled. Nancy and Jonathan drew away, terrified, but, after a few seconds, the police officer didn’t move. As though he was no longer playing.
“Uh…”
“Ah yes. I had the brandy on the rocks…” Nancy and Jonathan turned to plump Steve who was talking to a thin woman with a serving tray.
“Excuse me, Steve. Are we interrupting something?”
“No, no, I ordered this while that Sargent Grey was talking. I didn’t expect to get it this fast…” Steve said.
“Well, I thought we…were uh…going to die…” Jonathan said, swallowing really hard and starting to turn red despite his pale, elderly complexion.
“Were you at all concerned?” Nancy asked. Steve leaned back in the chair, took a long drink of the brandy, then let out a satisfied sigh and flipped one of his cards to the two. Nancy snatched it up, expecting it to be blank, but as she looked at it, she saw a revolver.
“What?”
“The Sargent must’ve been watching us somehow, but he clearly didn’t see everything. Because I found this when I was using the secret passage to the kitchens…I was going to tell you guys, since I think this is a shared information card, but before I could answer Jonathan’s suggestion about himself, the Sergeant started blathering about the revolver and I just let it go…”
“But…then, you…I…we…” Jonathan struggled to speak, but Steve held up a hand.
“Look, we’ll deal with all that…” Steve threw back the rest of his drink, then stood up and pointed at Nancy, “But first, Miss Scarlett here was the criminal, using the knife here in the center room. Which is really strange, being that my dealer friend here should have seen it…” Steve said, looking at the man across the table from him, “Against all odds, I’ve won twice in a row…” The dealer was smiling at them, and the room, then the whole casino began to applaud. And applaud. And applaud. Steve looked at Nancy and Jonathan, then back at the dealer.
“Well, we’ve finished. Can we leave yet?”
“Uh…I think…” Jonathan leaned forward and frowned, “We might have to say something else…”
“Like what? That weird word there…Jumanji or…” Steve was cut off as the three of them were suddenly propelled up, out of the casino. After a moment, they were flung back onto the couch next to the game. It took Nancy a second to catch her breath, then she looked down to see her hands were smaller and her clothes felt much looser.
“Oh god...” Steve said. And it sounded like Steve. Nancy turned and saw them both, Steve, with his long brown, perfectly refined hair and Jonathan, his black mop, thin eyes and small frown.
“We’re back! We’re alive!” Nancy yelled, flinging her arms around the boys. Jonathan flung his arms around them too, and Steve, between them, smiled, then raised a foot and kicked the Clue: Casino board off the table.
“Let’s not do that again…” Steve muttered, then leaned his head over onto Jonathan. After a few more seconds, they let go, and sat next to each other awkwardly on the couch.
“So…what now…”
“Well…almost dying does give one some perspective, doesn’t it. Maybe…maybe we could try something different than the way we had been dating each other…”
“Maybe…”
“Guys!” Mike rushed into the room, looked at the fallen Clue board, then back at the three, “It’s been a hour! Where’s the pizza guy?” Just then the doorbell rang and Dustin shoved past Mike to the door.
“I told you, your watch was ten seconds fast…”
“We had seconds to spare…” Steve said, then glanced at Jonathan and smiled, “I wonder…were you telling the truth about the kisses…”
“I…it…we…” Jonathan sputtered as Steve leaned in, and their lips nearly met before Mike came back in and pointed.
“Okay, we’re finished setting up. Now, come on downstairs so you can play.”
“I think I’m done with games for a while…” Steve muttered, looking at the boy. Nancy leaned over and put her hand where Steve and Jonathan’s were mixing beside them.
“I agree. Let’s not go against the odds again…for a little while…”