WHOSE DEDUCTION SHOW?

11: THE BET

Chapter 11: The Bet

AMBER

I ENTERED our room with a frown. Paano ba naman kasi, sa hapunan pa talaga nila naisipang pag-usapan
ang tungkol sa bahay.

Suddenly, Jamie screamed at ilang sandali lang ay dumating ang mga lalaki rito sa kwarto namin.

“What happened?” tanong ni Al na tila ba handa agad kung sakaling may threat na mangyari.

Jamie jumped toward Loki and locked arms with him. “Loki dear! M-May . . . bakas ng semento sa mga gamit ko!”

“I-Is it the ghost of the construction worker na nahulog sa quick dry cement?” kinakabahang tanong ko.

My initial reaction was to stand behind someone as shield kung sakaling magpakita man ang multo ng namatay na construction worker. I stood behind Lorelei ngunit gaya ko ay tila natatakot din siya.

“Loki dear! He’s . . . he’s here!” natatakot na sabi ni Jamie at yumakap nang mahigpit kay Loki.

“Let me remind you that ghosts and evil spirits do not exist. This may just be a trick by the crew to test us. Stop embarrassing the name of QED Club in front of everyone else by acting scared.”

Alistair checked Jamie’s stuff. Like she claimed, tila nagalaw ang kanyang mga gamit. There were traces of quick dry cement everywhere! Hindi lang gamit niya ang ginalaw kundi pati ang mga gamit namin!

Pero paano nangyari ‘yon? The room was locked at si Lorelei ang may hawak ng susi.

“Loki’s right,” Math said, flipping her hair. “Huwag muna nating pangunahan ang balak ng staff para sa show na ‘to. What if it’s part of their charade to spice up the show?”

Well, may point din naman si Math. Maybe the story of the house was deliberately told to us during dinner as some of the staff ransacked our room and left cement marks to scare us. Uh, congratulations, Whose Deduction Show crew! You really did scare us.

Or maybe some of us.

When I looked around, Gray and Loki were already examining every part of our room. Loki checked the windows, vents, and other means na maaaring pasukan ng kung sino while Gray checked if there was any tampering on the door. These two seriously did not want to lose to each other!

“Since we were given some leisure time, why don’t we play at the Entertainment Room? The host said we can play chess and other board games there,” suhestiyon ni Alistair upang maibsan ang takot namin.

Since Gray and Loki were done checking the room, pumayag na rin sila. Sabay-sabay kaming nagtungo sa Entertainment Room. May malaking signage ang pinto nito ng mismong tawag dito. The room was cozy and filled with things to ease one’s boredom.

Jeremy gasped in surprise upon entering the room. “Whoa, this is the Entertainment Room?”

“If you know how to read, that’s what the sign on the door says—”

“It’s nice and wide,” mabilis na wika ni Lorelei, probably to shut Loki off before he could finish his sarcastic reply.

Tinulungan niya si Al na ilabas ang board games na nasa shelf.

Lorelei, Math, and I decided to play scrabble samantalang chess naman ang nilaro nina Loki at Gray. Alistair and Jeremy were just observing the two who were silent and focused on the match.

Gano’n ba talaga kapag naglalaro ng chess, masyadong seryoso? Hindi ba puwedeng magtawanan sila? Magkuwentuhan? But since there has been a clash between the two mula pa no’ng day one, I think falling into silence while playing chess was the best way they could behave. If they weren’t playing, malamang nagpalitan na naman sila ng mga salita tungkol sa kung sino ang magaling.