Sue rolled her dice, coming up double-sixes. "Yes!" she screamed in surprised relief. "It's over! I won the game!"
"Finally," Dave growled. "So are we going to change back now?" he asked impatiently.
"We'll know once I roll my own dice and allow Sue's token to get to the lamp," Tom said. He rolled the red dice and, as expected, did not beat Sue's twelve. "Three," he said as he drew the top card. As his eyes scanned over it, his ape brow furrowed.
"What's wrong?" Terry asked.
"We made a mistake," Tom said. "I was supposed to take my turn before Sue."
"But you couldn't," Sue insisted. "Your piece is right in front of that locked door, and this time there's no alternate path you can take. Rolling would have been pointless."
"All the same," Terry sighed. "Rules are rules. So what's going to happen, Tom?"
Tom read his card for everyone to hear.
You skipped your turn so Sue could win.
Logical, yes, but still a sin.
Follow the rules or else you'll see
Just how much worse this game can be.
Tom, you may receive Sue's number
As this game pays back her blunder.
"So you'll get her twelve, which you can't do anything with," Hannah deduced. "And she'll have to take her turn again?"
"Looks like it," Sue said. She rolled her dice once again, but unfortunately, this time they came up 1 and 3. "Darn it," she pouted.
Tom rolled the red dice and turned up six. "There's one bullet dodged."
"For you," Sue said nervously. She advanced her piece to a draw-a-card square. Only three spaces were left between her and the lamp. She picked up her card, scared but somewhat curious as to what kind of penalty the game was about to bestow.
You like to skip? You like to hop?
You can do both, and also flop.
So when you lose, you'll be quite green.
But no one's kiss can make you queen.
"I really don't like what I just heard," Terry said.
"Me neither," Sue responded. "But here it comes." A damp chill came over her. She saw her skin change to a light green. Small black spots formed all over her body as she began to secrete a thin layer of translucent slime. Her hips widened and her feet burst out of her shoes. They grew very long, and webbing formed between her large toes.
As her pants ripped apart, she screamed from the constricting pain. It sounded odd; very deep-throated and gargley. A long pink tongue lashed out of her mouth several feet, then quickly retracted. Her neck expanded to merge her head and body into one unified form. With thin arms, she explored the changes to her body. Bulbous fingertips discovered her large horns had disappeared and her eyes had emerged from her skull and were now planted firmly on top of it. She had completely turned into a gigantic frog. Terry's sweatshirt still clung to her, but its collar had been torn much wider due to the expansion of her neck. A sack in her throat grew and shrank with each breath Sue took.
"Sue?" Terry approached the frog cautiously. It looked like it could swallow half his body. "Are you still in there? Can you talk?"
The only noise that escaped the mammoth creature was a deep "Ribbit." Terry jumped back on instinct, his wings folding in front of him for a shield.
"I think it's an improvement," Dave joked.
Terry turned to the lion, letting out a furious screech. "Shut up! Just don't...DON'T." He sat back down on the floor and snatched the dice in his claw. "Just play the game and win."