Page 53 of Shadows of Nightshade
There was no ounce of recognition on their faces, so I pressed on. “Outside of that, you’re only allowed to resort to a dare three times—and they’re pre-established, so you know what they are ahead of time.” I held up three fingers to count off the dares. “For the first dare, you have to hold hands with the questioner until your next turn. The second time, you must sit on his or her lap. But, for the last, the questioner wins a massage from the loser.”
All four boys were staring at me with looks of disbelief.
“What?” I lowered my hand. That’s why it’s called Seven Minutes in Heaven. The massage is supposed to be seven minutes at the end of the game. They call it a happy ending.”
Titus choked. At the same time, Julian opened his mouth to say something, but Damen rose to his feet and smacked him on the back of the head.
I was so confused…
Damen turned back to me, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Where did you hear this?”
Was it possible that I was wrong?
The thought didn’t comfort me. I picked at my sleeve while answering. “Finn asked me to find some games for us to play. I found out about Seven Minutes in Heaven. I wanted to be ready in case I lost, but when I researched how to give massages, it mentioned happy endings. I asked Finn, and he explained it all…”
“You’ve played this version of Seven Minutes in Heaven with Finn?” Damen asked, his eyes still closed. “You sat on his lap?”
“No.” My voice was quiet. Their questions were putting me on edge. “He said it was dumb and wouldn’t play with me.”
The four of them exchanged wary looks.
“Am I wrong?” I asked. I had no idea there was another version of the game.
“Never mind.” Damen sighed. “We’ll play your Seven Minutes in Heaven, baby girl. It sounds… interesting.”
Miles was still bright red, and Titus looked at the ceiling, his expression closed. Julian glared at Damen with a disapproving frown.
“At least he didn’t take advantage,” Damen told him.
What in the world was he talking about?
This was not acceptable.
Their attention snapped to me as I pulled out my new phone and unlocked the screen.
“What are you doing?” Titus asked warily.
“Researching,” I replied, pulling up the browser and opening a new search.
“No!” Julian leaned across the table and snatched the phone out of my hand. I could only stare at him—my hand still outstretched—in complete shock. “It’s not safe right now,” his voice was strained as he held the phone out of my reach.
Damen sat back down. “How often do you use your phone for research? Do you have your own computer?”
Why did that matter? “I don’t have a computer. I’ve just used Finn’s laptop for school assignments because we did homework together anyway. But I look up things all the time. I like to be informed.”
He rested his chin on his fist. “And you asked Finn to explain these things instead of looking them up yourself?”
Why were they asking me these questions? Why were they acting so weird?
“Of course I searched first! The Internet says it doesn’t have enough information yet.” The Internet did not have all the answers—otherwise, why would I waste time going to the library when I could become educated from the comfort of my bed? “Are you saying that I’ve broken the World Wide Web?”
Damen held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Absolutely not,” he stated.
“Hey, princess?” Titus reached back into his pocket. The nickname startled me, and I stared at him. “Do you mind if I looked through your old phone?”
My blood turned cold at the somber nature of his voice. Why did he look so serious? In fact, Miles wasn’t even blushing anymore, and Julian’s annoyed expression turned pensive. At some point, the light atmosphere had turned into something darker.
Alarm bells rang in my head. Something wasseriouslynot adding up here.
