"I'll make Emily older," she said. "I can't risk the other option. It's too vague."
Suddenly the dice moved on their own, bouncing up into the air, spinning haphazardly. They all stared for a moment, until Samantha reached out and grabbed them. She shook them him in her hand, but almost paused when Tracy put a hand on her knee and muttered, "Good luck." He was decent looking, but she forced her own thoughts back down.
I'll probably end up too young to care with my luck, she thought. She let the dice go. A one and a three came up.
Instantly she felt her body shrink about seven inches as the weight of Emily grew. Leaning over she careful put the growing child down. The alterations felt disturbing and uncomfortable, but the worst part was a sense of light-headedness. Soon that eased, and she looked over to Emily.
Without much to cover herself with, a young girl of four and a half sat there with a disturbed expression on her face. "Uh..." she said after a moment, "Thanks for the milk."
Samantha's face grew flush. After a moment, she looked at Emily again. She didn't look like a four or five-year old version of Emily. In fact, some of her facial features almost reminded Samantha of herself when she was younger.
I guess I really did give you some of my years, she thought.
"Well," said Sandra to Samantha, "You look to be in your mid-teens."
"Or maybe a year or two younger," said Tracy. "But unfortunately, it is now your turn."
Samantha nodded and rolled again. Double fours. Her piece moved forward from the starting spot. She was still behind everyone else, but the gap between her and Sandra had narrowed. If the starting spot was zero, she was on 8 while Emily was on 24, Tracy on 20, and Sandra on 11. The end was still a long ways off. She drew her card.
"You chose to help a friend, how very kind. Now choose one of the others to leave some of their humanity behind."
"Shit," said the four-year old.