Something about the box lid caught her eye. For just an instant the upside-down it looked as if it were printed in red foil. It had-flashed-Jenny thought. But of course it couldn't have.
Everyone was kneeling around the table.
"Okay," said Dee. "All the little dollies in the parlor? Then somebody's got to turn a card. Who wants to be first?"
Jenny, feeling that if she was going to do this she might as well do it thoroughly, reached out and took the top card. It was glossy white like the game box and felt slick between her fingers. She turned it over and read: " 'You have gathered with your friends in this room to begin the Game.'"
There was a pause. Then Summer giggled.
"Sort of an anticlimax," Audrey murmured. "Who's next?"
"Me," said Tom. He leaned over Jenny and took a card. He read, " 'Each of you has a secret you would rather die than reveal.'"
Jenny stirred uneasily. It was just coincidence, because these were pre-printed cards. But it did sound almost as if someone were answering the question she'd thought of earlier.
"My turn," Summer said eagerly. She read, " 'You hear the sound of footsteps from one of the rooms above.'" She frowned. "But there aren't any rooms above. This is a one-story house."
Tom chuckled. "You're forgetting yourself. We're not in this house. We're in that house."
Summer blinked, her large blue eyes traveling over the pastel, basket-adorned walls of the Thornton living room. Then she looked at the Victorian paper house, with the seven paper dolls neatly arranged in the parlor like a group of guests too polite to go home. "Oh!"
She was just putting the card back when they all heard the noise from above.
Footsteps.
A quick light patter, like a child running on a wooden floor.
Summer shrieked and looked in terror at the ceiling.
Dee jumped up, her dark eyes blazing. Audrey stiffened. Michael grabbed at her, and she smacked his hand away. Zach's face was turned up; even his ponytail seemed to be tense. But Tom burst into laughter.
"It's squirrels," he got out finally. "They run on the roof all the time, don't they, Jenny?"
Jenny's stomach was knotted. Her voice wavered slightly as she said, "Yes, but-"
"But nothing. Somebody else take a card," Tom said. Nobody did. "All right, I'll do it myself. This is for you, Mike." He flipped a card.
"'You go to the door to get some air, but it seems to be stuck,'" he read. He looked around at the group. "Oh, come on. It's a game. Here, look." He stood up in a fluid motion and went to the sliding glass door that looked out on Jenny's backyard. Jenny saw his fingers moving, flipping the locks on the handle. A sense of dread overwhelmed her.
"Tom, don't!" she said. Before she knew what she was doing, she jumped up and took his arm. If he didn't try the door-if he didn't try it-the card couldn't come true.
Tom was jerking at the handle, ignoring her. "There's something wrong with it-there must be another lock."
"It's stuck," Michael said. He ran a hand through his rumpled dark hair, an oddly helpless gesture.
"Don't be stupid," Audrey snapped.
Dee's sloe eyes were glittering. Her hand darted
out and she took a card. " 'None of the doors or windows in this house will open,'" she read.
Tom went on yanking furiously at the door. It wouldn't budge. Jenny caught his arm again. She was trembling all over with a sense of danger.
"Take another card," Zach said softly. There was something strange about his thin face-it was almost trancelike. Zombied out.
"No!" Jenny said.
Zachary was taking the card himself.