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Asher smiled toward Darren. “It’s fine. I have a couple backup characters.” He got up and ran out of the room.

I sat there with my hands folded in my lap and gave Kamala a wide-eyed look, wondering if it was too late to run out of thehouse. I had thought I could wing it, figure this game out in context, but I was totally wrong. She covered her mouth as though stifling a laugh.

Clint raised his hand a little. “I’m a tiefling artificer.”

What was happening? Was that English or did he just start speaking a made-up D&D language?“Cool,” I squeaked out.

“Don’t get him started on his Tinkertoys,” Dale said.

“Definitely won’t do that,” I said.

Asher came back, breathless and holding several pieces of paper. “Who do you want to be? A gnome wizard or a half-elf bard?” As he held up the papers, I saw staples in the top corners, which meant there was more than one page of explanations. I was in way over my head. “The elf,” I said. At least I’d heard of that before.

“Going with the chaotic-evil alignment. Interesting,” Asher said with a smirk, handing me the papers reverently, along with my own velvet bag of dice.

I scanned the first page. At the top was a shield with the number fourteen on it. The rest of the page was a series of boxes, each of which contained words likestrength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence,andhealthand with a corresponding number.

The game proceeded after my pick. I knew that wasn’t the extent of my participation. I was going to have to do something, not just exist. I was screwed.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I hoped it was Kamala giving me an excuse to flee. But it wasn’t. It was my mom. I’d forgotten I unblocked her, and seeing her name on the screen made my tense body that much tenser.

“Did you get bad news?” Asher whispered as Clint talked aboutwanting to investigate the wooden sign at the fork in the road. “You look like you got bad news.”

“No.” I turned my phone to face him when I realizedIhadn’t even read the text. My eyes quickly scanned it.Your sister is coming and I hope you will too, Bird.

It didn’t surprise me that Zoey had decided to visit Mom. She liked to pretend her leaving seven years ago was a normal part of every mom’s journey. I didn’t like to pretend. I clenched my jaw thinking about what I was doing this very moment.Never date someone you have to pretend for, Wren.

“Bird?” Asher asked, his hand brushing my arm.

A shiver went down my back. “Wren. It’s a bird.”

“Oh yeah, it is. That’s cute.”

It had always been my dad’s nickname for me. I hated it when my mother started using it.

“Or not,” he said, reading my expression. “She should use your real name or nothing at all.”

I smiled. Even though I knew he was joking, it was nice to have someone back me up.

Clint rolled one of his dice—a sparkling gold one with lots of sides. Everyone groaned.

The dungeon master said, “The wooden sign was just a wooden sign. It gave no hints on what lay ahead.”

This led to an in-depth discussion on who thought they were better suited for what environment. Clint affected an odd accent that he hadn’t used until that moment. Asher used his own voice, and I wondered if he was doing that for me. If he normally gave his dragonborn thingy a deep dragon voice, like inLord of the Rings.

“I think I’m a swamp girl,” I said, pretending to study my paper.

Asher gave me a sideways glance. “You think so, huh?”

“Swamps are cool,” Kamala said.

Darren and his serious eyes stared her down.

Asher laughed. “To the swamp!”

Rule:Never date someone too nice. You might blow them up.

Apparently, I wasn’t a swamp girl or I sucked at rolling dice or I knew nothing about the game I was playing or the strengths of my character because I died. The ghost of a goblin murdered me and my death-save rolls were worthless. The crushing disappointment I felt at my death surprised me. I wanted to do better at the game. To be a natural, or something.