Free The Demon's Game by Rain Oxford Page B

*          *
     
    My uncle stood facing my father with blood across his
chest and dragon claws exposed. I felt cold and lonely and the worst part was
that I couldn’t sense Hail with me. This was Hail’s vision, so he should have
at least been in it with me. I couldn’t understand why it was so dark or cold
or why I felt a deep, bone-chilling sense of despair. Something was
inconceivably wrong. I had to stop it.
     
    *          *          *
     
    I woke up to Hail gasping in blind panic. The
nightlight was flickering from the Iadnah energy flooding the room. While his
visions did not use god energy, his fear made his energy go nuts. I flipped on
the light beside my bed and scooted over to the wall just in time for him to
get up, run to my bed, and dive under my covers. This was the routine every
time Hail had a bad vision.
    He hugged me, shaking, for the next hour. We didn’t
speak about the vision because there was nothing to say. We didn’t know what it
meant. My only suggestion was to ask Vretial for help, and my brother hated
Vretial looking into our minds. After he finally relaxed and fell back to
sleep, I got up to make breakfast.
    Mordon was asleep on the couch in the living room,
which suggested either he was too tired to make it to his room, or he felt like
he needed to guard Dad for some reason. I turned on the kitchen light, pulled
out my pans, and got to work. I had learned how long it took for Dad’s coffee
to brew so it was ready when the food was. Everybody seemed to have impeccable
timing whenever I made breakfast. My little family piled into the kitchen and
all took seats around the kitchen table.
    Mom wore a red plaid shirt that was snug around the
waist and loose on the shoulders and short jean shorts with tall leather boots.
She tried to braid her hair at the table, obviously still half asleep, but Dad
reached over and undid her work every couple of minutes. Mom didn’t seem to get
the hint.
    Dad’s clothes gave us no clue as to what was in store
for us today. He wore a dark green t-shirt with black jeans and a black leather
jacket. Mordon wore a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans, which he seemed to
be getting used to.
    “So, what are we doing today?” Hail asked.
Unfortunately, my brother was wearing a gaudy orange and green Hulk shirt with
grape-purple jogging shorts. If he thought I was letting him out of the house
like that, he had another thing coming.
    “It’s a surprise, honey.” That knowing grin told me
more than anything we weren’t going swimming. “I’m taking the kids for a day
out. Do you want to come?” Dad asked Mom.
    She shook her head with regret. “I have something I
need to take care of. Sort of a missing person. Nothing to panic about, but I
definitely need to get it sorted out.”
    “There’s a national park a few hours from here, I’m
going to see if I can…” Mordon started before Dad shot him a glare. “I mean…
I’m going with you and the boys?”
    “That’s great, Mordon; the more the merrier,” Dad
said.
    Mom laughed as Mordon grumbled something under his
breath. The subtle silence between Dad and Mordon hinted that they were talking
to each other, probably about Dad’s plans for the day. If it was anything like
his normal plans, it would sound absolutely dreadful until we actually did it,
and then it would turn out to be really fun.
     
    *          *          *
     
    An hour later, we were suiting up for laser tag.
“Friend or foe?” Dad asked.
    “Friend,” Mordon and Hail said simultaneously.
    “No,” I argued. “If we can split Mordon and Dad
up, we can take them out.”
    “But we would be split up, too.”
    “We can’t beat Mordon and Dad together.”
    “If we go foe, I call Ron,” Dad said, surprising us.
    “Why? Hail’s a better shot,” I argued.
    “Yes, but Hell would never risk shooting you, so I
can use you as a shield.”
    “You can’t use your son as a shield!” Mordon