Page 55 of Protected By Monsters (Everwood Demons 1)

“What do you want to be?” Diane asked, yanking me from my thoughts.

Everyone else had claimed their pieces for the board, and I inspected the remaining pieces.

I settled on the dog, and the game began.

We ended up laughing, and there was small conversation while we played. I found Paris, once she got to know you, was quite nice, rather soft-spoken at times and didn’t talk a whole lot if she didn’t think she’d contribute to the conversation.

Diane and Hadley spoke the most, and I enjoyed their cheerful banter as we started adding houses to our lots.

Hours slipped by, and my hellhounds had wandered over, watching us play.

Apparently they’d never played the game really, not being fans of long, drawn-out games. But they watched us, asking the odd question about game rules before Jack just picked up the instructions and rules and began reading.

“Well, we might have to call it quits, it’s just a bit past ten now,” Paris spoke up as it came to her turn and she checked her watch. “We’ve got training early,” she added as she looked to Wayne, who let out a sigh and stretched.

“Right, we’ve all got training in the morning, but these two love to get their own training in before our scheduled session,” Hadley explained with an eye roll.

“Gotta keep on top of everything,” Wayne smirked, and Hadley blew a raspberry.

“You guys are pros, it’s a part of your abilities, I doubt you need to do the extra training,” Diane groaned.

“We enjoy it too,” Paris said softly as she rose.

“Fine, I guess we should all call it a night, it’s going to be a big one for you,” Hadley said as she turned to me. “We can pack this up if you want to try to get some sleep beforehand?”

“Right, sure,” I murmured as my stomach knotted. I’d done well at pretending tonight was not going to be a huge thing, but now it was back at the forefront of my mind.

I rose and farewelled them all before heading back to my room with my hellhounds in tow.

“I can go to my room on my own, you know,” I said as I stifled a yawn.

“Yeah, but Dezikiel said he wants us to go with you tonight at midnight,” Chumley stated.

“That’s in two hours, and I’m tired. Let me just close my eyes for a bit and you guys can grab me when I need to go,” I said, another yawn escaping.

“Okay, we’ll do that,” Jack interrupted Chumley as he began to disagree.

Chum sighed but didn’t argue any further, and they split off, heading in different directions as I headed down the hall to my room.

I did want to close my eyes, even if only for an hour or so.

Tonight was going to be a big one.

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