“So we can enter the tower even if it’s full?”

  Laura was leaning forward on the edge of the couch as she asked. We were all back inside the nursing home. Mrs. Kelly was walking up with a tray that had a tea kettle and several cups that precariously shook. Church popped up to help her with the tray, and she gave him a warm smile. Mr. Kelly had a bag of ginger snaps in his hands and a sour look still on his face. He looked ready to take him and his wife back to the safety of the jail at any moment.

  “Yeah, that’s what she told me. This gives us some breathing room now, which we’ve really been needing. Thank you.” I took a teacup from Mrs. Kelly, who began to fill it. “I need to figure out what these powers are that I got from eating Jessica’s hair.”

  “Sugar and cream, darling?” asked Shelley.

  “Yes, please.” She turned to the tray to grab the accouterments, and Church already had them in hand for her. I continued on talking with Laura. “While I do this, I want you to get comfortable with your potions. I think part of this bullshit is we don’t ever have enough time to get used to anything.”

  “That’s definitely part of this game,” Jay said. Her new knitting project was taking shape, and it was a multicolored sock. It was hard to tell, but I think it was my foot size?

  “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of what I can do yet. What about staying in one place too long? They’ll send… what is it again now? Mythical beefcakes?” Laura was accepting a tea from Mrs. Kelly with the warmest smile I had ever seen. I took a sip of mine before replying.

  “This is where we’re going to need the Kellys' help,” I said. Mrs. Kelly pulled herself up high with a smile, but Mr. Kelly was interrupted by tossing the ginger snaps bag on the table. We all turned to look at the old man who was visibly fuming.

  “No damn way! I’m not risking Shelley for any dumb plan you have!” Mrs. Kelly rubbed the man’s back, who relaxed slightly under her touch.

  “Now, dear, we don’t even know what the gross zombie man wants us to do yet!”

  “Mr. Kelly,” I began. “I do not plan on putting you and your wife in any danger. In fact, I want you to keep doing what you’ve been doing and still go to jail at the first sign of danger. I’d also like Church to go with you when you two go.”

  “Huh?” Church said through a mouthful of ginger snaps. He’d gotten into the bag at some point and was eating a few. He swallowed and looked at me sadly. “You don’t want me in your group anymore?”

  “It’s not that, dude. It’s that his ability to go to jail is way better than my card. I don’t want to get caught out while we’re in a cooldown. You’re still with us, don’t worry,” I said.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Don’t worry, perrito,” Laura said while smiling at him. “You’re not going anywhere.” Church smiled back at her before taking another sip of tea as Laura continued. “Max, you mentioned we were going to cheat. How are you going to do that?”

  “Ever since I ate Jessica’s hair,” I said as Mr. Kelly shot me a disgusted look, “I’ve seen a ton of wild information. I think this is what the game master sees, and there’s got to be a way to use it. They can create portals and freeze time, and who the fuck knows what else.”

  Shelley Kelly, who was now sitting next to her husband, made a little coughing noise while shooting me a disapproving look.

  “Sorry, ma’am,” I said as she nodded approvingly back at me. “My point is, I think I can do that too, I just don’t know how.”

  Laura leaned back, her eyes losing focus as she became lost in thought. “This could be huge, Max.”

  “I know,” I said. “We could wipe out any enemy and get to the top of the-” I was cut off by Laura leaning forward suddenly and smacking the coffee table.

  “Diosmio Max, you’re still thinking small! Don’t you get it? Jessica, Othryn, and whoever the hell else is not playing this stupid game. They’re outside of the game, and you want to use their rules to play in it?” Laura saw that she had scared Patti with her outburst and went to comfort my dog. I leaned back in my seat and thought about what she said. She was right. I was still thinking too small, but I didn’t even know what to do with this power.

  “Hey, Jay,” I said as I looked over at her. She had started the second sock at some point. Damn, she was getting really good at knitting. She looked over at me, tentacles paused with needles. “Are you able to help me learn?” She really seemed to think on this as she tapped a tentacle to her chin while her lips puckered and went to the corner of her mouth.

  “I think I can fill in some blanks. I don’t really have any powers like Jessica, but I think I understand how some of it works,” she said. “Hey, where’s the scarf?”

  I opened my inventory and popped it out. “I didn’t want to get it too smelly from this,” I said as I gestured to my zombie form. Jay nodded happily at that as I put the scarf back. I turned back to the group. “Okay, I think we have a pretty good plan then. Laura, you and I will fight off any enemies that appear and spend this time learning our abilities. Jay, you’re working with me on my new powers. Church, you go with the Kellys whenever there is an enemy. Do you still have your game token?”

  Church reached into his pocket to fish out the yellow coin. “Yup, right here.”

  “Okay, when you’re in jail, try to get it installed in your hand and go from there.” He nodded in the affirmative to me. “We’re taking as long as we need until we are comfortable with everything.”

  “Then what do you want to do?” Jay asked.

  “I think Laura is right, we need to work outside the game, and that’s what we’re going to do. We need to derail this shit for them. Sorry.” I said to Mrs. Kelly as soon as I cursed. She made a disapproving clicking noise. “How does this sound to everyone?” Everybody nodded, and I stood up, holding my teacup in the air. Everybody followed suit with their own teacup. Mrs. Kelly was waving at her husband to stand up, which he did reluctantly and with a grunt. We held them aloft as I said, “Here’s to messing this game up!” We all clinked our cups together. Patti let out a little happy bark that made a few of us chuckle. Then Church fell face-first into the coffee table.

  Mrs. Kelly let out a little yell, which was cut off as she and her husband popped out of existence. They had gone to jail without Church. Before I could say anything, that’s when I heard a loud goat bleating outside the nursing home.