Page 62 of Stops Along the Way
She hands over the microphone to a short guy wearing aTetrisT-shirt. “For each category,” he says, “we have an honorable mention, then a silver and a gold winner, both of which will get demo versions of their games produced by our local indie publisher, with crowdfunding established for production based on consumer demand. So, without further delay, for the individual category, our honorable mention is Cascading Atrium, submitted by Jian Zheng.”
I deflate, not sure Craft a Witch could’ve done better than third place, and my suspicions are confirmed as silver and gold go to other competitors, neither from Roll Again, which means Declan didn’t win either. I glance through the crowd and notice him. We lock eyes but immediately look away.
“Okay, well, let’s go,” I mutter to Amelia, but she shakes her head.
“We might as well hear about the team entries.”
I shake my head. “I’d rather not.”
“No, I’m curious,” Amelia says. “Please?”
“Fine.” At least I don’t have any skin in the game here.
The microphone is handed back to the purple-suit lady. “And now for our team submissions, our honorable mention is Plant Guardian, submitted by Kassie Everly and Adrianna Oktawiusz. The silver winner is Stops Along the Way, submitted by Iris Biagi and Declan Weber. Our gold winner is—” But I don’t register the rest.
Was thatmyname? My mouth hangs open while Ameila enthusiastically shakes my shoulders. “What is happening?”
Declan is walking over here. Did he somehow submit the game without me? But he doesn’t have the files.
“Did you—” Declan and I both ask at the same time, equally confused. Until our giddy, beside-themselves siblings make their secret endeavors known.
Grady holds out a thumbs-up. “You like the title we came up with?” He nods toward Amelia.
“It seemed fitting,” my sister agrees with a smile, tackling me with a hug.
“But it was…” I have no idea how any of this happened.
“It was mostly ready to go,” Amelia explains. “I found the files on my laptop, and Grady and I put it together. We figured we wouldn’t say anything, because if it didn’t win, no harm no foul. But—”
Grady nudges Declan and points up to the stage, where the other winners are now all gathering. “You kids got to get up there!”
“Oh,” I say, but still in shock, I can’t quite seem to find my way. Declan grabs my hand, and we walk together.
At the stage, we immediately separate again but are intrigued and head right up to the table where our board game creation is waiting, having been put together by our siblings. It’s two laptop-sized cardboard pieces, back-to-back, with our mock-up play area pasted to the horizontal piece and a design with various different stops, including a giant mustard bottle, on the viewing area.
My favorite part is the little alien tokens that you move around to designated areas on the map. Amelia must’ve made these out of clay. They’re grayish green with large eyes and wide mouths. They’re terrifyingly adorable.
I hold one of the aliens up to Declan. “Look at this!”
He chuckles. “Better than I would’ve expected.”
One of the judges walks by with their young kid, who is eager to stop by our board. “She loves it,” the judge says, “and so do I. It’s a simple round-the-board game, but with an unexpected ability to scale up the complexity. We playtested it several times and had a blast. Loved every second of it. The interplay between the cards and the dice works so well here. Congratulations.”
“Thank you so much,” I say as they move on to congratulate the other winners. I turn to Declan, and we share a genuine smile. I’m so excited I have no idea what to do with all theseemotions. This road trip game, aptly named by our siblings, is going to be turned into an actual board game. I have to pinch myself to know this is real.
Declan opens his mouth, about to say something, but the words escape him. I don’t say anything, either. Today’s not about us; it’s about our game.
Chapter Nineteen
On Monday morning, the day before my sister flies out to Europe, Amelia and I have breakfast with our parents, then clear the table to play Rivalry, dusting off our old Red Witch and Twilight Elf character kits. Amelia toys with her dice, clueless about how to set everything up. “I don’t remember most of the rules,” she warns me.
“That’s okay,” I say, shuffling my cards. “Easier for me to win.”
She narrows her eyes, holding her magnifying app over one of her action cards, then reaching out to ask to look at one of mine. “Except my witch is infinitely more powerful than your elf.” My sister finishes reading the details, then waves the card in my face. “Look at the damage this action does!”
“Only if you get the chance to use it,” I tease, sitting back and letting her familiarize herself with the deck again. It’s not goingto be the quickest of games, but I don’t mind. I’m just happy to be playing with my sister again. “Don’t worry, I’m ready whenever you are.”
I sit patiently as she finishes setting up her station. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse through the kitchen window of a plane flying across the sky.
