I think it'd be cool if I made this chapter an "interactive chapter" so to speak. You can play along with the game that comes up in the chapter and see if you can figure it out. If people decide they like this stuff, I'll make more chapters like this one. Good luck :)

"So, does anybody wanna play the Green Door game?" I asked.

I saw Riley give a faint smile in the rear view mirror. He'd taught me this game four years ago. Back then, he'd been a smart-alecky, know-it-all twelve-year-old boy with an extremely dumb (or so in his head) ten-year-old sister. I couldn't figure the game out. I begged Riley to tell me the secret rule of the game for almost two weeks before I squeezed a hint or two out of him. Then I felt even more stupid for not figuring out the rule by myself a long time ago.

"What's the Green Door game?" Jackie asked.

KC smiled. She knew this game too.

"Basically, there's a certain rule you have to follow to get to the Green Door, and I'll give you examples on what the rule is," I explained. "When you think you know the rule, come up with an original example and I'll tell you if you have it right or wrong."

"Sounds easy," Zack said.

I smiled. "It's not. KC, you wanna help me with examples?"

"Sure."

"Okay." I drummed my fingers against my chin before thinking of a couple. "You can bring yellow, but not blue. You can bring noodles, but not pasta."

"Aren't noodles and pasta the same thing?" Sam asked.

"There's a difference," I argued. "So...you can bring..." I had to think for a little longer before I came up with a good one. "You can bring Emmett but not Jasper." I grinned sheepishly, then said, "Sorry. I had to put in the Twilight reference. It was the first thing I thought of."

KC rolled her eyes. "Let me think of one." She frowned as she tried to remember an example that Riley had given her when he taught her the game. Then her eyes brightened and said, "Here's one we can relate to: you can bring an apparition, but not a ghost."

"Once again, same thing," Sam said, his eyes narrowing a bit.

"Not exactly," KC nearly sang.

"Now one that applies to me," I insisted. "You can bring reddish hair, but not red hair."

I saw Jackie stare at Sam and Zack with a this-game-makes-absolutely-no-sense-at-all-and-why-did-we-even-agree-to-play-it-in-the-first-place expression on her face.

I smiled. Confusing them was a lot of fun; now I could relate to my once-twelve-year-old brother.

The game went on like that. You can bring a princess, but not a prince. You can yell, but not shout. You can bring a command, but not an order. They just got more and more confused, and the next time I checked my watch we were at least an hour into the drive. So all KC and I had to do was think of another hours' worth of examples and everybody would be confused by the time we arrived at the asylum.

They were. I had written down all the things they were allowed to bring to the Green Door, hoping it'd help them. After all, spelling was important to this game; you had to look carefully to see the one thing they had in common. Zack figured it out, and now Jackie and Sam were arguing about what it could possibly be.

"Guys," Riley shouted over the noise, "we're here."

Amazingly, they shut up immediately and looked at the old asylum. It was creepy, but yet I couldn't wait to get inside. Then a whole pack of freaking butterflies started swarming around on the inside of my stomach as I realized I was actually going to investigate an insane asylum with Riley, Sam, Jackie, KC, and Zack. This was going to be SO awesome.

And, of course, Jackie and Sam still didn't know the rule to get to the Green Door.

If you didn't figure out the rule and you're dying to know, don't sweat it. I'll tell you the rule next chapter, I promise. No, really. I PROMISE.