Declan's anger radiates throughout the car, making me squirm in the passenger seat.

I guess I can sympathize.

Declan is two years older than me, with natural good looks and athletic prowess.

When Dad got the promotion, it meant saying goodbye to my close circle of friends and our regular game nights.

Declan left behind his status as one of the most

popular students at school and had to start again from scratch. Christ, he seethes against the wheel.

Is this the place? I looked down at my phone and examine the maps app. I had spent the night

patrolling the internet until I found

an ad for a local Dungeons and Dragons game. It's a small town, and the house is the same as all

the other cookie cutter houses lining up both sides of the block. The only difference is the

lawn gnomes. Instead of the typical happy faces, these are posed with grim determination, some holding

swords and others paired with menacing lawn goblins.

Yeah, I'm guessing this is it.

I step out of the car and walk toward the lawn, but freeze when I hear the driver's side

door open and close.

What are you doing? The guy who posted the ad for this nerd shit is in his 20s, right?

He frowns at me.

Mom and dad want me to make sure this guy isn't some weird purve.

Mom and dad are pretty cool. They're old enough to remember the Dungeons and Dragons

Crays in the 80s, but never participated in it.

For them, it still conjures up the paranoia of Satanism and violent behavior.

So, their request for my brother to join doesn't surprise me.

...