Hide and seek

"Well then, I will make sure to get the highest roll hehe." said Maddie excitedly as chuckled and Annie and Matt shook their heads while Ollie just laughed in amusement.

They all played for three more turns, as their pieces slowly advanced on the board. It was at the end of the third turn that a card from the deck that was set on the middle of the board flew to Ollie.

"What's that?" asked Annie in confusion.

"It's an avowal card." said Ollie as he smiled.

"And what is that?" Annie asked still confused.

"Well it just tells us if there's something specific we need to do in order to continue the game. It's like an extra little game inside of the game, how nice is that?" asked Ollie happily.

"Ahhh I see." said Annie as she smiled.

"What does it say?" asked Matt.

"It says that each one of us have to make a sound of any animal, whoever makes the best animal sound as deemed by the game will advance five more spaces without having to roll the die." said Ollie.

"Oooh that sounds like an extremely easy way to get ahead." said Annie as she laughed looking at the board. Maddie was still ahead of all of them, for some odd reason, she kept on rolling the number six.

"But why animal sounds of all things??" asked Maddie in confusion.

"I don't know, but it's very fun and random." said Ollie as he chuckled.

"And that's why it's a children's game..." said Maddie as she shook her head.

"Alright, so who's going to go first?" asked Annie as she smiled.

"I will, and I will go with the most simple and yet important of animals, the humble chicken." said Matt proudly.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo" said Matt as he was met with a praise of applause from Annie and Ollie.

"I am going to go with the most common human animal." said Ollie as he smiled.

"Mooo, that's what a cow sounds like right?" asked Ollie carefully as Annie and Matt nodded.

"Yes, that's what a cow sounds like." said Annie as she laughed in amusement.

"Your turn Annie." said Matt as he smiled.

"Alright, oh my goodness, this is so hard, you guys took the best sounds." said Annie as she started to overthink.

"Just think of an animal, any animal." said Ollie as Matt nodded.

"Woof, woof, a dog." said Annie as she thought of the first animal that came to mind.

"Alright, nice one." said Matt as Ollie agreed.

"Thank you, Maddie your turn." said Matt as he looked at Maddie.

"All you guys chose rustic animals, meanwhile, I am going to choose a regal animal, one that is majestic and better than all the others." Maddie said smugly.

"Meow." said Maddie proudly as Annie and Matt laughed.

"Of course, I should have known that you would choose a cat." said Annie as she laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, they are the best animals in the world." declared Maddie happily.

"Whatever, who wins the extra moves?" asked Matt as Ollie looked at the card.

"Well believe it or not, Maddie wins." said Ollie in surprise.

"Awww what?? There's no way." said Matt in disbelief.

"Hehe yessss." said Maddie as she reveled in her victory.

"I'm sorry to say that it's the truth, look the cards says Maddie." said Ollie as he showed the card to Annie and Matt who both scoffed.

"If not that this game is yours, I would have been sure that it was rigged." said Annie as she sighed.

"Oh relax everyone, it's only a game." said Maddie happily as her piece advanced six spaces.

"Right, you say that now until you start losing and you call it a stupid game." said Matt with a scoff.

"Guys, let's just relax and continue playing." said Ollie as he smiled and he rolled.

They continued playing for three more turns. Maddie surprisingly remained in the lead while Ollie was in second place, Annie was in third and Matt came in last.

To Maddie's relief, none of the avowal cards had asked them to do something unreasonable like that making animal noises thing. As if the cards had heard her train of thought, a card suddenly jumped at Ollie as he caught it.

"What does it say?" asked Annie.

"It says that we have done well playing so far, and we are almost at the finish line, but the game can never be easy, and for that reason, before we can declare the winner, we will have to catch our pieces first." said Ollie as he read.

"What does it mean catch our pieces?" asked Maddie as Annie looked down and one moment their pieces were there on the board and the next they were gone.

"Our pieces are gone!" said Annie in shock as Matt and Maddie looked down.

"Wait a minute, what sort of twist is this? Where did they go?" asked Maddie as she turned around.

"The card says we have to catch our pieces." said Ollie as three cards jumped into Annie, Maddie and Matt's hands as they read it out loud.

"Your pieces have decided to play hide and seek with you. In order to win the game, you must first find your pieces. Whoever finds their hidden pieces first will be able to return and complete the game. The first person to find their piece and return to the game and roll their final turn will be declared the winner. Good luck." 

"This is such a joke, I'm not about to start running around like a headless chicken looking for a tiny game piece." declared Maddie as she scoffed, if she had to do this much work just to win a silly game, she would rather quit.

"I mean, where do we even start?" asked Maddie as Ollie chuckled.

"Guys, relax, the avowal cards you are holding serve as maps, it will lead you to wherever your piece is hiding." said Ollie as he stood up.

"I'll see you guys later." Ollie laughed as he left the room in search of his piece.

"Well I guess that we better start searching for our pieces as well." said Matt as he stood up.

"You're right, see you later Matt." said Annie as she smiled and Matt smiled at her as he left the room.

"Maddie are you coming?" she asked as she looked at Maddie who scoffed.

"I didn't come here to play a stupid game of hide and seek with inanimate objects!" she refuted.

"Oh well alright then, suite yourself, see you later." said Annie indifferently as she stood up and left the room, leaving Maddie shocked.

"Did she just leave me just like that?!" Maddie asked herself in disbelief as she could not believe that Annie would act like she didn't care about her at all.

Maddie just grunted as she stood up holding the card in her hand and she left the room.

"Stupid game, stupid card, why do you want me to lose weight by walking unnecessarily?!!" she muttered to herself realizing that she had no idea where she was going.

"Where the heck am I even going?!!" she shouted to herself in the empty hall. The others were already who knows where by now in search of their own pieces.

Maddie sighed in annoyance as she looked down at her card and a bright red arrow formed on the card pointing ahead.

"So I guess that I continue going straight ahead huh?" she said to no one in particular other than herself.

"Stupid game, stupid card, trying to make me lose weight unnecessarily, what did I ever do to you? Who the heck wants to do exercise after they've just eaten dinner?" muttered Maddie out loud as she continued walking in the same direction.

"Curse that blondie, who the heck thought that it was a good idea to play a stupid game like this?" she asked, feeling utterly irritated.

"No, no it's all my fault for trusting that stupid blondie to find us acceptable entertainment." she said.

"Why couldn't he allow us do something simple like watch tv? Oh wait, do they even have tv in this realm, gosh, this is so annoying." she said as she continued walking and looked down at the card only to see that the bright red arrow had turned to the right.

"Right it is." she said as she continued walking through the empty halls. She only hoped that she would not run into some maids that would not know how to keep their mouths shut, or else she would gladly do it for them.

Maddie sighed, she was just tired and annoyed that she would have to burn all the calories she had saved while eating dinner. At this rate, she would be hungry again by the time they had to go to sleep. She blamed the blondie for that, he just could not do anything right.

"I wonder if the others have had any luck finding their stupid pieces?" Maddie asked herself while she continued walking with a deep sigh.