Crossed Worlds

Chapter 9: Hide and Seek

Jade, Luke, Anna and Hunter walked up Lily's private drive, under gorgeous blossom trees and past perfectly kept flower beds, until they arrived at her front door. It looked like a dollhouse from the outside, so large and symmetrical and every small child's dream to explore and play with. Anna rang the bell and a distant chime played before Lily pulled it open.

"Hey, guys," she smiled. "Zoe and Jack are already here in the living room. Take your shoes off and place them on the rack."

They did as they were told – it would be a night of doing a lot of that – and they made their way down the marble floored corridor into the living room. The walls were cream and decorated with abstract art in frames, whilst the floor in there was oakwood. Lily had got the fake fire burning, and fluffy blankets were dotted around on the leather sofas. She snuggled in next to Zoe, whilst Hunter and Luke took up the smaller sofa, and Jack patted a place for Anna next to him. Jade squeezed into the space next to Lily, who kindly spread the blanket across, so it covered her, too.

"Guys, I've got a really good idea for a game," Hunter blurted out excitedly.

"That's never good," Lily teased. "What is it?"

"Hide and seek..." He paused at the sound of multiple groans. "...In the dark!"

The group went quiet in consideration.

"I like that idea," Jade nodded, and everyone else's agreements came in after.

"Top floor is off bounds, that's my parents' loft room and offices. Whatever you do, be careful!" Lily was being as sensible as ever, but she threw off the blanket with clear determination to get started and win.

After a quick elimination game, it ended up that Luke and Anna would be the first seeking pair, whilst everyone else hid. Lily flicked off all the lights from a control panel in the corridor and the countdown commenced.

Lily ran up the stairs with Zoe, and Jack ran so quickly into the darkness that Jade lost him, so she decided to follow Hunter.

They found their way into one of many spare rooms, which had a small bathroom.

"Follow me!" Hunter directed in a hissed whisper and the two of them went into the bathroom, where he pulled back the glass door of the shower and they both stepped inside, closing it behind them.

It immediately became stuffy, and Jade took a deep breath and tried not to think about being in a concealed space in near complete darkness.

"Hey, J, I've been thinking about the whole truth thing we spoke about at the park. Your Gran is a genius." Jade held in a loud laugh at Hunter's words. "No, she really is. It's really helped me to realise that I'm not so sure about all this anti Wild One stuff. I didn't care before, but I dunno, maybe it's time I started caring."

Jade nodded before remembering he couldn't see her. "Yeah, that's really good, Hunter. I think now is definitely the time to start caring. Stuff is going to go down, I think, so we have to know where we stand."

A short moment of silence passed, broken by Anna and Luke shouting in the distance: "HERE WE COME!"

"I think I'm standing with you, J. And I don't just mean in this shower."

Jade was glad he couldn't see the huge smile on her face.

Lily and Zoe had gone out onto Lily's balcony and were sat there huddled together to keep warm.

"I want to win and all Lils, but I also don't want to freeze to death," Zoe whispered, and they giggled. Lily inched closer to her and linked their arms.