“No.” Ignatius glowered at Estelle, who was whispering urgently behind her hand to Archie. “Though I don’t expect that matters.”
Tiff thrust a hand into the air. “I’ll play!”
“I guess I will too, if everyone else is,” Spencer said. “As long as no one dares me to take off my glasses.”
“Okay, then.” Leonie beamed round the circle. “Who wants to go first?”
“Hold a moment, shield-sister.” Ragvald leaned forward, his good-humored face abruptly serious. “In my homeland, this is an ancient tradition, and not one to be taken lightly. This circle is a sacred space. It is a grave offence to deliberately speak untrue, or set a challenge with intent to mock rather than aid. If you would play, you must do so with honor.”
Backlit by the fire, the wyrm could have stepped straight out of some ancient heroic saga. The kids all nodded silently, wide-eyed.
“Good.” Ragvald handed the bottle to Tiff. “Then we shall begin.”
Tiff spun the bottle with so much enthusiasm that it wobbled sideways across the packed earth. It rolled to a halt, pointing at Finley.
“Yay!” Tiff clapped her hands. “Truth or dare, Finley?”
“Um…” Finley looked like he was having second thoughts about this entire business. “Truth, I guess.”
“Aw,” Archie muttered. “Booooring.”
Tiff, on the other hand, looked delighted by Finley’s choice. “Okay. Have you ever seen a ghost? Remember, you have to answer honestly.”
Finley hesitated, his eyes swiveling as if in search of escape. Shan could guess the reason for the boy’s sudden panic. With Ragvald having made such a big thing about taking the game seriously, Finley could hardly lie and say he had—but he couldn’t tell the truth, either.
Taking pity on poor Finley, he interceded on the boy’s behalf. “I think you should rephrase that question, Tiff. It’s impossible for someone to truthfully state that they haveseen a ghost. Only that theybelievethey might have seen one.”
Finley gratefully seized the metaphorical rope he’d been thrown. “That’s right. I mean, I can’t say for sure that ghosts definitely exist. But I sometimes see… echoes. Things that happened in the past, or might have happened, rippling forward in the future. I guess some people might call them ghosts.”
Interesting.The boy wasn’t lying, though he wasn’t telling the whole truth, either. Yet Shan didn’t detect the trace of rotten fruit he’d expected. Under the surface sweetness was a richer, more complex flavor. He knew that Finley’s father had the ability to see the future, at least to some extent. It seemed the boy had inherited some variation of that talent.
“Ha!” Tiff bounced on her cushion. “So youhaveseen a ghost! I knew you guys were holding out on me. Where did you?—”
“One question only, young hatchling,” Ragvald interrupted. “That is the rule. Your shield-brother has fulfilled your challenge. If you wish to know more, you must either wait for chance to favor you again, or question him outside the circle.”
Tiff pouted, but subsided. “Oh, I will. Count on it. Here, Archie, it’s your turn next.”
Archie spun the bottle, then quickly crossed his fingers on both hands. Firelight flashed from glass. Estelle and Beth held their breaths, watching the bottle as if it were a roulette wheel.
“Yes!” Beth exclaimed as the bottle came to a halt pointing directly at Shan. “Good job, Archie.”
Spencer gave her a suspicious look through his glasses. “Why are you congratulating him? It’s just random chance.”
“Or skill,” Archie said, preening. “Truth or dare, Shan? And don’t be a wuss.”
He had a bad feeling about this. But really, there was only one option. He was concealing far too many secrets to risk anything else.
“Dare,” he said.
Archie hesitated, glancing sidelong at Estelle. Out of the corner of his mouth, he muttered, “Do I really have to?”
“Yes.” Estelle jabbed him with an impatient finger. “Come on, Archie. We might not get another chance.”
“Okay, okay.” Archie looked like he was bracing himself to force down a heaping plate of spinach. “Shan, I dare you to—ugh—kiss Leonie.”
“Absolutely not,” Ignatius said flatly, which was the exact opposite of Shan’s own reflexive response to this proposal. “No dares that involve touching other people without their consent. You idiots all agreed.”
Leonie cleared her throat. “That’s true, Archie. You’ll need to come up with a different challenge, I’m afraid.”
