While Bart began writing down a list of possible things to do with the estate's various staff in regards to the "transform or dare", Jensen turned Jenny and Kevin who were seated at the computer looking at something on the Internet. As he came around the table, Marcy followed and quickly saw what they were doing.
"Battleship!" Marcy pointed with a giggle.
Jensen glanced down at the reddish brown female and then to the computer screen. He found that the Kevin had found the game "battleship" on the Internet and was busy trying to hunt down an opposing fleet's ships on the screen.
"What are you doing?" Jensen asked.
"Playing," Kevin answered simply.
"I'm watching him," Jenny answered, "Making sure he doesn't look at anything naughty..."
"I don't think that..." Jensen began.
"Why would I look at icky looking humans?!" Kevin questioned, "They're icky enough with clothes on."
Jensen wondered where that came from, as to a certain extent, Bart had told him that humans would be essential to preserving the pack. Although he was certain that some of the lawn care men wouldn't be as needed. He did have to admit that Kaylee's idea to let the grounds "go wild" was a descent idea. Deer would know when the trees would put out new buds for flowers and future branches, and they would come to eat the flowers or branch buds. Jensen wondered if they would actually eat the fruit, but that wasn't important if they came to eat the branches. The pack could then hunt the deer as they came onto the estate, and with their teeth and claws and strength, they wouldn't have to worry about city laws about firearms being fired inside the city limits.
But the potential food problem wouldn't be an issue for awhile, even with four wolf pups and then himself and three she-wolves. The Smith family had maintained a large private food stock, which included a fair amount of meat for the pack to enjoy. The rest of the food could be given to the staff members that didn't choose "transform" as snacks or side dishes to go with whatever lunches they brought with them to work.
"What were you doing?" Jensen asked, managing to maintain his patience.
"Giving your former high school a legitimate reason why Jennifer and Kyle won't go there," Jenny answered with a wave of her hand, "Unless you want to go there, master."
"Which would be bad," Kevin spoke up, "bad, bad, bad, bad."
Jensen turned his attention solely to the male wolf-pup seated at the computer. Kevin was fairly quick to catch on that Jensen was confused about something.
"Kaylee, when she was Kyle went out once with a girl named Kathy," Kevin began.
"Freaky cat girl!" Marcy shuddered from behind Jensen.
Kevin, however continued.
"She showed up at school one day with cat ears and a tail," Kevin spoke, drawing on his memories of Karen dealing with a depressed and embarrassed Kyle after he had been suspended from school for period of time.
Jensen, himself, gave a disgusted shudder at that. He remembered hearing his friends comment on seeing a girl with cat ears and a cat's tail come into school one day. Some either thought it was an elaborate costume, or thought it was completely normal.
"Kyle, having broke it off with her, decided to taunt her over being sent to the principal's office for it," Kevin continued, "and she used the "transform or dare" on him. He chose dare to that one."
Jensen found himself chuckling at that. So that was why Kyle Perkins danced around the school with no pants or underwear. He managed to calm himself when remembered that Kyle was now Kaylee, and neither of them was wearing anything in the way of clothing, and had no problem with it.
"Anyway the school wouldn't let wolves on their grounds, despite our human-like features, such as the fingers, or the female's breasts," Jenny added, "so we took "you" out of school."
"Ah-ha," Jensen nodded and then shrugged. He didn't really want to attend school anymore, anyway. His only use for it would be to recruit his former friends, all of whom were female, to join the pack, but that could wait.
As he watched Kevin continue to play the game, he then remembered what Kaylee had said about the game being mentioned on the town's website.
"Kevin, take us to Glendale's website," Jensen ordered.
"Of course, father," Kevin answered and began typing to change the website to the town's official site.
"Take us to wherever it discusses the game "transform or dare"," Jensen ordered, "Kaylee said it was added as an afterthought..."
Kevin nodded and made a few clicks. Marcy and Jenny quickly came up behind Kevin while Jensen stood over them. Jensen, meanwhile looked on as Kevin scrolled onto the game's rules.
The site read:
"Transform or Dare, a game mirrored on the innocent game of "Truth or Dare", but this game is dangerous and carries with it real power. The game's origins date to a coven of witches during America's colonial period. Although evil, necessarily, the witches did enjoy spreading chaos wherever they went. They were eventually caught by witch hunters shortly before the famous Salem Witch Trials and killed on the spot, in what is now the Glendale mayor's office. The witches, however, didn't take to being executed very well and cast the "transform or dare curse" on Glendale."
"So that's how it began," Jensen mumbled and kept reading.
"At first the curse was thought to be only superstition, but young children, and some adults were drawn into the game, which then proved how dangerous it was. The city government has thus taken over the management of the game to insure that it doesn't destroy the town or stop the town's tourism industry which is vital to Glendale's survival."
That made Jensen pause for a moment. If the town government actually believed the game was real, it was quite possible the the police investigation of the Perkins home or of Frank and Daryl's leaving the police could turn toward him... but then, as Darla had said earlier, it was unlikely that they would come looking on their estate.
"Current estimates have approximately 2,345 turns of "transform or dare" currently in play with exactly 39 of them actually being used. For those wishing to play the game, the city has laid down these guidelines for how it is to be used, and an explanation of the game's range..."
Jensen blinked as Kevin scrolled down.
"The game is currently limited only to the town of Glendale, and within a five mile radius of the edge of town. Any turn user who goes beyond that point will find that the game's power will not work, however, that turn user will also find out that while the power doesn't work, because he or she has asked the question, their turn has been used and they do not regain it upon returning to Glendale. Approximately 3/4 of the present turn holders currently live outside of Glendale and may have used their turns, which would be powerless outside of Glendale."
Jensen nodded, recognizing some of that from rumors and myths girls at school had told Jennifer.
"Playing the game is extremely dangerous and is only recommended for those who understand the rules of the game and have willingness to restore each player to their original form. A turn holder may ask up to five people at once the question. How a person responds to the question is up to the person being asked, but once an answer is given, the power resides in the asker.
A person who choses "dare" must do exactly as he/she is told. Although most dare's have a set limit, it is not uncommon for dares to last a lifetime. One of Glendale's mayors was held by a dare to love his horse as much as his wife, which resulted in his death in 1890 when his horse kicked him through a barn door."
Jensen blinked at that tidbit of Glendale history.
"A person who choses transform must become whatever the asker wishes. What the asker wishes can be anything from animal transformations, or mythical type transformations such as dragons, griffins, vampires, werewolves, etcetera to changing the age, gender, physical attributes, overall size, or mental attitude. One prominent police chief in 1935 was turned into an antique teapot to help one member of the Smith family survive the Great Depression. The Smith family member then took over the police chief's position, and these details were not discovered until after his death in 1978."
"So that's how Great Uncle Jesse got into police work," Jensen almost laughed.
Kevin kept scrolling down.
"If the askee doesn't answer definitively within one minute, they are to receive both the transform and dare. This fate has usually befallen new residents of Glendale, as most of Glendale's residents know of Transform or Dare on some level and will choose one or the other quickly.
When asking some one, or a group of people, the askee must be able to respond clearly. If not, the asker will needlessly spend his/her turn. The game is also limited on a person to person basis requiring one asker asking the question to at least one askee. The only possible way to get around this would be for the asker or askee to be a practicing sorcerer."
And with that, the line ended.
"That's a lot of rules," Kevin spoke.
"Yes," Jensen nodded, "but not one that could likely answer all the potential questions."