Chapter 3

"Claim all the rubies and I win." Cress claimed.

She and Dmitri had been playing Mining Monarch for the past half hour. Cress did a lot of things for her kids, but letting them win games was not one of them.

"Man, you ALWAYS win." Pouted Dmitri.

"It's all right. Your dad and sister were never really any good at this game. And you are sooo much better at this game than them." Cress said, reaching out for her youngest son's hand.

Well, possibly be her youngest son.

They would find out today, wouldn't they?

"There is no WAY that...that...CAPTAIN is better than ME!" Thorne had walked by and stuck his head into Dmitri's room.

"One way to find out, Daddy!" teased Dmitri.

"Oh you are on!" Thorne turned to Cress, "As long as this pretty lady is on my team." He winked and Cress flushed.

A retching noise was coming from the hallway. Michelle walked past. "If you two are done trying to make me barf, I'll team with Dmitri."

And so they played a stupid, meaningless game for the next three hours. Over and over and over.

Cress was suddenly, overwhelmingly tired. She tried falling asleep, to no relief.

Collapsing on her bed, Cress was finally able to call it a day and sleep.