“Ifwe’re rescued,” Victoria says ominously, and an awkward silence settles over all of us.
“New game!” Henry claps his hands together. “Truth or dare?”
“No.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Pass.”
“Absolutely not.”
I sigh. “Let’s play something less likely to get us in trouble.” Truth or dare always results in the wrong people kissing, or someone getting naked, or someone doing something irredeemably stupid. Plus, there’s a couple of truths I’m currently planning to take to my grave. “Have you ever played two truths and a lie?”
Henry’s face brightens. “What’s the reward for guessing right? Or the punishment for guessing wrong?”
“The punishment is being stuck on this godforsaken island,” Victoria mutters.
“I have a better idea,” Brooke says. “Would You Rather. It’s simple and we don’t need rewards or punishments.” When no one protests, she continues. “Victoria can start, and we’ll go in a circle.”
Victoria closes her eyes and grimaces. “My question is for Wren. Would you rather move to London where you can seeComet all the time, or stay in Chicago and never hang out with him?”
“I don’t understand the question.”
“Which part?” Her face is impassive.
“The part that assumes that Comet is going to live anywhere other than with me. He’smydog.”
“It’s hypothetical,” she says evenly, but I recognize the trap. She’s trying to get me to admit that I don’t need Comet because she wants to keep him.
“I—I don’t—that’s not—”
“You have to pick one,” Brooke says.
“While I reject the premise of the question, Chicago isliterallywhere I live and where I’m going to school and it’s where all my family and friends are, so I guess I’d rather stay in my own country.”
“Without your dog?” she prompts.
“If that’s the question,” I say through gritted teeth.
She frowns like she’s disappointed by my answer, which I don’t understand at all. I thought she wanted me as far away from her family as possible.
“Your turn,” she says. She moves to the bank of the hot spring and leans against it.
I sigh, wishing I could slip fully into the water and float away. “Henry. Would you rather be able to fly or see the future?” I’m already regretting letting Brooke overrule my idea to play two truths and a lie. At least in that game I would have had control of the information I shared with this group.
“That’s an easy one, innit? Considering our circumstances, I’d fly,” Henry answers. “My turn?”
“That question is boring!” Victoria whines. “The game’s not fun if you don’t ask something hard.”
“Too late. She only gets one,” Henry says. “My question is for my brother.”
“Of course,” Theo drawls.
“Would you rather give up the throne—”
“That one,” Theo says.
Henry smiles. “I’m not finished.”
