Page 60 of Stick Side
Ben gulped. He knew the stats, but it was never comforting to be reminded just how many professional hockey players sustained serious injuries while playing.
Perhaps Penny guessed at his internal thoughts because she turned to look at him with a thoughtful look on her face. “Luckily for you, Mr. Logan,” she observed, “you have a tactical, non-aggressive style of play that makes you far less likely to sustain a traumatic brain injury than the vast majority of players in the NHL.”
“Thank you?” He wasn’t sure what to say, but her pronouncement left him feeling surprisingly reassured considering it had been delivered by someone who hadn’t even entered high school yet.
“You’re welcome.”
“Have you ever done an escape room, Penny?” Melody asked, shifting the topic. “How about you, Angela?”
Ben wondered if Melody had guessed how little he wished to contemplate the injuries that could befall him and his colleagues.
“We’ve done a couple,” Penny explained, “but Mom says they’re expensive, so we have to save them for special occasions.”
Angela flinched. Ben knew that Learn to Skate was subsidized by the Challengers organization and made available to families who wouldn’t otherwise have the means to learn to play hockey, but he imagined Angela wanted to talk about her financial situation about as much as he wanted to discuss the probability of him sustaining serious injury while on the ice.
“Well, Penny,” Ben observed, “that still makes you our resident expert. Neither Melody nor I have ever done an escape room.”
Penny cringed. “Ah geez. Newbies. No wonder Ms. Gower”—who had wandered off to organize other groups—“teamed you with me. Okay. Let me give you a crash course on escape rooms.”
Penny’s eyes flitted from side to side in a way that made him think she was assessing and organizing data in her mind. Thoughts gathered, she explained, “All escape rooms are different, but the essentials are the same. As soon as the timer starts, we begin searching the room for clues. Once we start finding clues and solving puzzles, one puzzle will lead us to the next.”
Penny took a breath before continuing. “In theory, the games are designed for everyone. As such, we don’t want to overthink things or ignore the obvious. I only half agree with that because knowledge is power, but the puzzles are unlikely to be so esoteric that only a specialist in their field could solve them.”
“So, we start off in the room and then search for anything out of the ordinary that could represent a clue?” Melody asked.
“More or less,” Penny affirmed. “I haven’t been to Escapism before, but most escape rooms will blindfold participants before leading them into their game room. The clock will start once instructions have been given and we’re told to remove our blindfolds.”
“We’ll have sixty minutes to solve the final puzzle,” Penny continued. “Most escape rooms have an escape rate between fifteen and thirty percent, but I expect us to manage this on the first try.” She pinned first him, then Melody, and then her mom with a serious look. “So far, I’ve managed to break out of every escape room I’ve ever attempted. I will be most displeased if we ruin my unblemished record.”
Ben wasn’t sure whether to laugh or pull up his bootstraps, because he had no doubt Penny was serious.
Chapter 28
Ben
DarknessengulfedBenashe, Melody, Penny, and Angela stood in their escape room with blindfolds over their eyes. Ambiguous music, hinting at something mysterious, played in the background.
He heard some static reminiscent of the start of school announcements before a voice he didn’t recognize started to speak. “You’re in the library when the ground shudders and the lights flicker. You black out for a moment and wake up to find that nothing is quite as it seems.” Cue the dramatic music. “You may now remove your blindfolds.”
Ben was the first to remove his blindfold. Not wanting to miss a perfect opportunity, he slid a hand down to Melody’s waist and placed a quick kiss on her dewy, petal-soft lips. He kept his eyes trained on Penny and Angela to make sure they didn’t catch him in the act.
Melody inhaled sharply. Her hands dropped in surprise, so he raised his own to help her undo the knot securing her blindfold.
“Sorry,” he whispered as he slid off her blindfold, “I couldn’t resist.”
Only the barest trace of a blush colored her cheekbones. “I’m glad you didn’t,” she confessed.
That was a good thing, since he wasn’t actually sorry.
“Guys! Get a move on,” their escape room aficionado commanded once she removed her blindfold and witnessed them lolling around. “Don’t make me solve all of these clues by myself.”
He and Melody shared a smile before moving off to explore opposite ends of the room, the better not to distract each other. Penny huffed before moving to an unclaimed corner. Angela was already exploring the room in search of clues, not needing her daughter to tell her off, too.
The room was the size of a large bedroom. Bookshelves dominated the space, but there was also a blackboard, desks with drawers, a couch, and a couple of paintings on the walls. Perhaps most interestingly, there was a door that was equipped with a digital padlock. It seemed part of their escape lay in finding clues that would enable them to determine the number sequence necessary to unlock the door.
Just in case, Ben tried the handle. As predicted, it was locked.
He turned around to find Penny arching a single brow at him. “Did you really think that would be unlocked?”
