Author's Note: Brace yourself for a lot of dialogue and not much action until the laater part of the chapter. This is probably the most character-driven chapter of the story (as the title suggests), which was fun to do. Before you make fun of me, know that I am not good at all at making up rhymes; I would ask Constance's Poetry Podium, but that would give away the surprises coming out of the game. Read and review, and I'll see you next chapter!


Disclaimer: See chapter three's disclaimer.


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Sticky knelt and put his arm around Kate's shoulders, wiping tears from his own eyes. Reynie limped his way over to comfort them as well, but Constance stayed where she was, dumbstruck by the events of the last five minutes. It was far more than a four-year-old should have to bear.

They crouched there for a minute, or maybe it was an hour, and then Sticky said, "I was wrong. We can't just put away the game. We have to get rid of it—we have to destroy it."

Kate looked at him. "Wh-what?" she said through her sobs.

"Don't tell me you don't realize what's just happened. That snake"—he jerked his thumb at the sleeping python—"came from there." He jerked his thumb at the game, which sat there innocently. "Remember? 'She sneaks on her prey in the dark of the night, she'll strike you hard and squeeze you tight.' It can't be coincidence."

"Sticky's right," said Reynie sadly. "I don't see how it can be possible, but it's obviously true."

Kate could only rock back and forth and cry.

There came a furious banging from the next room. Thinking it was another snake, the children ran to the door; but it was only Constance, who had heard them talking and was attempting to break the game by beating it against the floor.

Reynie smiled. "I don't think it'll be quite that easy, Constance," he said. "It probably can't be hurt at all."

"Then we'll have to close it up," said Sticky, "and put it back where we found it—we'll tie it to some cinderblocks and throw it in the Stonetown River."

"It's t-t-t-too late," said Kate, trying to control herself. "The damage is done. Milligan's already d-d…"

"You don't have to say it, Kate," said Reynie compassionately, though he was on the verge of tears himself. He groaned and clutched his side.

"We have to call the others," said Constance.

"First things first," said Reynie. "We can't just sit here and wait for it to wake up."

Everyone knew who he meant by it.

So the three older ones hoisted the thick snake's limp body and rolled it out into the hallway. "Where can we put it that we won't need to go until the adults come back?" said Sticky.

"A bathroom," Reynie replied. "Mr. Benedict has got loads."

They moved the thing into the nearest bathroom, where it covered the floor looking larger than life. Kate locked the door from the inside and pulled it closed from the outside. Then the three of them went back to Kate's room, where Constance was sitting on her bed and staring fearfully at the little board game called Jumanji.

They all glared at it. "Close it, and never open it again," said Sticky darkly.

"No, wait," Kate said and put out a hand to stop Reynie. "It said… Oh, what did it say, Sticky? Something like, 'Once you have started, the exciting consequences won't vanish until—'"

"Do not begin unless you intend to finish," Sticky recited effortlessly. "The exciting consequences of the game will vanish only when a player has reached Jumanji and called out its name."

"D'you think," said Kate, feeling unimaginably foolish and awkward, "Well…does that mean that if we finish the game, it'll bring Milligan back, maybe?"

They looked at her sympathetically. "Kate…"

"I know it sounds crazy, but so would all of this if we told it to someone else," she said defiantly. "It's my only hope," she added with a note of desperation. "Anyway, how do we know the snake can even be destroyed? The game wouldn't let us off the hook that easily." Her face suddenly became even more fearful. "What if it can summon scary things even when we don't roll? What if it conjures up a tiger after we stop playing?"

"I hadn't thought of that," said Reynie.

"Will you stop talking like that game can think, and do things?" said Sticky in distress. "For crying out loud, it's a board game! We must be crazy!" he shouted hysterically.

"Calm down, Sticky," said Reynie again. "There's no use in denying it. That game is powerful, and it's evil. It's a predator—and we're its prey."

"Then let's be rid of it!" said Sticky. "We can take it somewhere far away and never go back, and it won't be able to get us."

"But…" said Reynie, biting his lip, "The game told us—sorry, I mean, the instructions said—" he amended when Sticky opened his mouth, "that we wouldn't be able to quit once we started. I think that, somehow, it would rope us back in. 'Adventurers beware,' remember?"

Sticky was shaking his head frantically. "Have you both gone insane? Milligan is dead because of that game! It's killed someone, and you want to keep playing—!"

"Exactly!" said Kate, her voice rising. "The reason my father… the reason there is a man lying dead in that room,"—she pointed at Milligan's room—"is because we were foolish enough to play. I brought the game here; this is my fault, and I owe it to Milligan to try anything that might save him!"

It wasn't until no one was speaking that they all realized how loudly they'd been arguing.

"She's right, Sticky," said Reynie. "We asked for this. And I think we have to keep playing—for Milligan."

"For Milligan," Kate punctuated forcefully.

"For Milligan," said Constance, sneezing.

But Sticky was backing away. "No," he said. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to play that deathtrap of a board game. You can't make me. If you guys want to gamble with death, I can't stop you—but I'm going to find Rhonda and the others."

With that, Sticky ran out of the room and up the stairs, hiding the tears on his face. Kate and Reynie listened sadly to his footsteps.

"I thought he was braver than that," said Kate, sounding dumbstruck.

"Hey," said Reynie. "Don't be too hard on him. None of us can blame him for it."

"Well," said Kate, running her hands together, "time to resume play."

Reynie picked up the dice in his shaking fingers. But before he had rolled them, Kate suddenly exclaimed "Hey!"

"I've just remembered," she said when Reynie jumped, "Constance rolled before Sticky did; what was the first rhyme? Something like, An enemy who can't be seen…"

Suddenly Reynie, dice still in hand, jumped back, flipping the board upside-down in his haste. He was staring at Constance with a fear almost as strong as the way he had looked at the python. "What is it?" said Kate in alarm, jumping up and backing up to the wall as well, though she had no idea what she ought to be afraid of. "What's happened?"

"A foe from which you cannot flee… Yes, I suppose that would fit…. An enemy you cannot see… My God… I think… I think it gave Constance some kind of… of jungle disease."

Kate was staring at her too, now. Both of them looked fearful, but neither of them as fearful as Constance herself. As understanding dawned on the frightened toddler, tears welled up in her eyes and her lip began to quiver. "Does that mean," she said in a quaking voice, "I'm going to…to…"

"Will you tone it down?" Kate hissed at Reynie through the corner of her mouth. "You're scaring the pants off of her!"

"If it's contagious—"

"Then we've all caught it by now anyway," said Kate. "We're in this together." She looked straight into Constance's eyes and said in a firm, clear voice, "You listen to me, Connie-girl. Everything is going to be fine. No one else is going to die—I won't let it happen." She placed a hand on each of the girl's trembling shoulders.

Constance gulped and nodded feverishly, not altogether reassured.

"Now," said Kate. "Are we all ready for the next move? Reynie, you ready?"

Reynie nodded, his jaw set tight.

"Constance?"

Constance hesitated, and then she nodded too.

"All right," said Reynie. He stood above the game and held the dice in the air. He turned his hand slowly, until the dice tumbled from it. They landed on the left wing: a two, and a one. The elephant piece moved forward three spaces and stopped. The green mist formed again in the stone, and the children bent to read it….

From the deepest jungle he's come out to play—this giant is not so gentle today.

"Well, that doesn't sound good," said Kate.

They both stood protectively around Constance and peered fearfully into the corners of the room, not knowing what to expect. Just then, from the only spot that none of the three children were looking, there came a deafening roar.

Kate and Reynie whirled around, and nearly fainted at what they saw. Chipped yellow teeth bared, head brushing the ceiling, a gargantuan black gorilla stood facing them with murder in its eyes. It beat its huge grey fists against its chest, roared again, and charged.

Kate and Reynie screamed and dived out of its way; it stepped completely over the screaming Constance and struck the opposite wall face-first. It shook its head and turned around, disoriented. Reynie took the opportunity to grab Constance out of harm's way. Kate was fumbling with her bucket, trying to get something out.

The enraged gorilla beat its chest repeatedly again and advanced on Reynie, who backed into the wall. But it stopped in its tracks, roaring with pain and rage, and Reynie saw something shiny protruding from its right shoulder; it whipped its head around and snapped at the spot where Kate's head had just been. She ran towards the spot where the tranquilizer gun was lying uselessly on the floor and snatched it up just as the gorilla overtook her.

Kate whipped the gun around and pointed it at the gorilla, but the great beast knocked it out of her hand with a backhand sweep of its long arm. It spun through the air and struck the floor, firing accidentally and embedding a feathered dart in the wall above the doorway. The gorilla grunted and advanced, and behind its back Reynie dashed over to the tranquilizer gun and picked it up, trying to figure out how to work it. He fumbled with it for a moment, and then a small blurry dart shot from the tube. It punctured the gorilla's neck and the gorilla stopped, surprised. It felt confusedly for whatever had pierced its flesh, but then the bestial hand fell limply to the gorilla's side and it keeled over backwards, breathing steadily.

Kate and Reynie stayed in place, numb with shock, panting. Constance was whimpering and rocking back and forth, hair and eyes wild. Finally Kate said in a shaking voice, "Q-q-quick thinking, Reynie—thanks."

"I d-don't even know what I did," Reynie replied. "It just went off by chance. Oh, that was too close!"

"But we can't stop," said Kate firmly. "There's a sleeping gorilla and a sleeping python in this house, and Constance has been infected with some kind of germ." She didn't need to mention Milligan. "We have to go on."

"I know," said Reynie, "but let's take a breather first."


Sticky walked up the stairs and wiped his eyes. He felt ashamed of himself, but he knew they would never survive playing that game. He crossed the foyer in a hurry and stepped outside, planning to run to the grocery store and find the Perumals. None of them had cell phones, so Sticky would have to go on foot. He could only hope that they'd get back in time to stop Kate and Reynie from rolling the dice again.

He jumped the front steps and ran over the yard to the gate, opening it creakily and running out onto the sidewalk. It was a nice day; the sky was cloudy, but the temperature was pleasant enough. A cool breeze swished over the neighborhood. A neighbor was out watering the grass on his lawn a few houses away. From out here, no one would ever guess that such extraordinary events had been unfolding so close by.

In the street, Sticky slowed down. Was he imagining those screams and bumps from inside the house? He turned back to look at the house. There was definitely a ruckus going on inside…. Sticky stamped the ground in frustration. Who was he kidding? If he left, his friends would surely die. But he was so afraid—oh, how afraid he was!

He gritted his teeth. Was he really such a coward? Yes, if he was honest with himself, he wasn't half so brave as his friends. But they needed him….

Sticky ran forward, opened the door, and sprinted inside.


There was no hope of moving the gorilla's massive body, so the three Society members locked it in Kate's bedroom and moved to an upstairs tapestry room. They didn't have much hope that the lock would contain the gorilla, but it felt safer all the same. At least no one could walk in on it accidentally.

They put Constance and the game on the carpet, and Kate took up the dice. None of them mentioned Sticky.

"You ready?" said Kate, holding the dice. Her army knife was on a table beside her; she had pulled it out of the gorilla's shoulder and wiped the metallic-smelling blood away, and now she was keeping it at the ready along with the gun.

"Yeah," Reynie lied. Constance was silent.

"Okay. Here goes," said Kate. "I'm gonna do it." Her hand shook. "One…"

"…Two…" said Reynie, and both of them shouted "Three!"

The dice tumbled from Kate's outstretched hand and landed on the floor—a six and a three. The token meant to look like a zebra slid smoothly down its winding path, coming to a halt nine spaces along. Reynie knew that the words would appear, but nothing could have prepared him for it. It took all his willpower to stop himself from running outside to join Sticky, or seizing the game and hurling it out of the room.

Adders and apes are the least of your worries, when below something far worse scuttles and scurries.

Kate and Reynie frowned. "'Below?'" said Kate in puzzlement. They looked down at the floorboards, expecting to see some kind of insect or small mammal flitting between their feet. Constance, for her part, was hoping that she wasn't going to suddenly transform into a hideous little monster.

There was a horrible, bloodcurdling scream from downstairs. Kate, Reynie, and Constance whirled around. An eerie clicking sound made their skin crawl. Reynie grabbed Constance and the three of them ran downstairs to see what this new danger was. Kate had to sprint back up for the gun.

They threw the door open and a terrifying scene met them in the foyer. Sticky was lying in front of the door, which was ajar—and something was dreadfully wrong with him. He was on his back, trembling convulsively, and his mouth was foaming. Much smaller, but instantly visible, was a scorpion the size of Kate's bucket. Its exoskeleton was a dark, intimidating maroon, and its eyes glittered as black as the stone in the board.

As soon as it saw them, the scorpion gave a rattling squeal and scuttled towards them, away from its victim. Constance screamed, and Kate raised the tranquilizer gun. But the scorpion was moving too fast; one, two, three darts appeared in the floor behind it, but not one of them met its mark. The great arachnid advanced, its claws clicking, on Reynie, and then it lunged forward. Reynie jumped, and it flew between his legs. He couldn't see it, but he forcefully threw his foot back and kicked the scorpion onto the wall. Constance fell to the floor with an outraged grunt.

The scorpion climbed like a spider over the vertical surface of the foyer wall, and when it reached an appropriate height it leaped at Kate. Kate reacted like a cat: she brought up the gun and shot another dart, and this time it hit the scorpion squarely on its belly. The dart did not puncture the tissue through its brittle exoskeleton, but it was powerful enough to knock the scorpion off course, and it hit the floor and scrambled back onto its feet. It scuttled closer and closer, the dart still in its stomach, and just as it was about to lunge again Reynie stamped as hard as he could on its back.

There was a high squeak and a sickly crunching noise, and when Reynie lifted his foot it was covered in thick goop. "Yuck!" said Constance. Reynie wrinkled his nose and wiped the sole of his shoe on the floor. The three of them rushed to Sticky's side.

"He's having some kind of seizure!" cried Kate as Sticky continued to jerk and foam gushed from his lips. His eyes were bloodshot, and they rolled backwards into his head as they watched. There was a gash in his jeans, and a huge welt where the scorpion had stung him was visible through it.

"Should I get the first-aid kit?" asked Kate anxiously.

"I don't see what good it would do against poison," said Reynie.

"Then what do I do?" she wailed.

"I… I don't know," Reynie said hopelessly, running his fingers through his sweaty hair as he stared helplessly at his dying friend. Neither he nor Kate noticed Constance, thinking clearer than either of her shaken friends, snatch up the dice and toss them onto the board.

Sticky's movements were becoming more and more feeble now. At last, with a final convulsive twitch, he fell still.

Kate caught her breath. "Is he…?"

Reynie put his hand to Sticky's chest. He could feel a steady beat. "He's still alive," he said.

Suddenly, Sticky gave a huge, shuddering gasp. His eyelids fluttered open, and he blinked at them. Reynie and Kate stared, amazed, and then Reynie began to laugh with delight and Kate hugged Sticky so tightly that he groaned. "Sorry!" she said gingerly, quickly releasing him.

"What happened?" said Reynie in amazement.

Sticky pried apart the ripped stitching of his jeans and exposed the small red dot where the scorpion's venom had entered his body. It was still there, but it was no longer swollen and white. Sticky shrugged, looking no less bewildered than Reynie felt.

"Constance," said Kate, turning around, "what did you do?"

Constance held up her hands. "I just rolled! Look."

They bent and peered at the board. Constance's token was three spaces farther along, and Reynie saw the message swimming in the black stone for an instant before it dissolved: Be free from affliction, at least for a bit. Rest carefree, and gather your wits.

Reynie stared in amazement. Constance's role had caused her infection—and apparently the scorpion's poison—to freeze.

"But why… why would the game help us?" said Kate incredulously.

"I suppose it wants to keep us playing," Reynie said thoughtfully.

Kate looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well…If Sticky had died just now, the game would've been over. But the game likes it when people play. It didn't want it to end so soon. It's toying with us."

"That's a comforting thought," said Kate, edging away from the innocent-looking board game.

Sticky sat up. "I'm so—" he began, but Reynie interrupted him.

"You don't have to say it. You came back, and that's what matters."

Sticky nodded, smiling humbly.

Kate thumped his back. "You've got some guts, kiddo!"

Constance said nothing, which was better than anybody expected.

"Thanks for not abandoning us," Reynie said softly.

"But I did abandon you," he whispered. "I walked out on you! I left you to—"

"No, you didn't. You came back."

"I'm such a coward..."

"You're the bravest of all of us," Reynie said firmly. "Now c'mon, let's go upstairs; it's your turn."