Lacey wasted no time cashing in the suite of rooms and feather bed coupons. Their control room sprouted two fully furnished hotel rooms complete with the softest, most wonderful beds Lacey had ever slept upon. The bedside lights worked, as did the toilet and shower in the jack and jill bathroom they shared between them. Ginger poked her nose into dressers and pulled out what looked like Lacey’s clothes from home. The closet was also full of clothing that was comfortingly familiar.

The best part of the suite was that when Lacey shut the door to her room, it became blessedly silent even though the party still raged in the main room. The only thing lacking was a television, but Lacey didn’t miss that at all. A gaming system would have been redundant considering that they were living the game. Lacey sat on the bed and nearly groaned. It started with just a moment to close her eyes in peace and ended with the gentle buzz of a bedside alarm clock. Lacey vaguely remembered Ginger peeling off her jeans and Colt tucking her in, so she wasn’t alarmed by the lack of clothing.

“Hey sleepyhead,” Colt grinned at her still and that was a good thing to wake up to, so Lacey smiled back and stretched languidly.

“Hey back, handsome,” Lacey drawled out, bracing herself up on her elbows.

“Handsome?” Colt gave her suspicious look, running a hand through his hair. He turned to admire himself in the mirror. He was already dressed in a freshly laundered white-button-down shirt and black slacks, and it looked like he’d had a shower. His tie was loose, but ready to tighten up as soon as his mother nagged at him to do it, which she would. Colt’s version of a hangover was Mr. Chipper-happy-guy. It wasn’t much different than Colt’s normal demeanor, but he claimed it was a deterrent to drinking. “I do have my sparkle on today, but that may have more to do with the toothbrush than the drinking I’ve done, but we shall simply have to endure my studliness until this hangover wears off.”

“Do I get a shower before your cheerfulness starts making demands on me or must I begin to admire your studliness right away, dear sir?” Lacey got up and headed for the bathroom while Colt turned this way and that to check his appearance.

“You may shower,” he sniffed twice in the air and then sneezed. “In fact, I believe you must. We must be presentable for my mother. Hopefully, my dastardly cheerfulness will wear off on the trip there or she will become suspicious.”

“You’re hopeless,” Lacey laughed and nudged the door half shut before she peeled off her clothes and got in the shower.

“I know it,” Colt called to her over the sound of the water. “Ginger has already fallen prey to my undeniable charm this morning. She worshiped me by bringing a delightful breakfast of cold pizza to the altar of my awesomeness.”

Lacey chuckled as blessedly warm water cascaded over her head and shoulders with a water pressure she’d never experienced before. She washed her hair with shampoo that smelled expensive and her body with soap that lathered like it was made of foaming silk. Was it true that it was so luxurious? Not any more than Colt’s pretense at vanity was. It just felt so much better since she hadn’t had it in so long.

“Pick out some clothes for me?” Lacey called into the bedroom as she turned off the water and reached for a fluffy towel that was probably sold by the thread count.

“K!” he called back, and she heard rummaging, followed by the presence of his hand thrusting unmentionables at her through the opening. A minute later she had a skirt and blouse that would be suitable for church. They wouldn’t get fed unless they went to church first. “I already cashed in the coupon, but I don’t know how it works exactly, so don’t dawdle.”

“I’m working on it,” she wiggled into the nylons and stepped into a pair of modest heels. There wasn’t any make-up in the bathroom, but that wasn’t surprising since there wasn’t any in Lacey’s at home either. She couldn’t stand the stuff. There was a hair dryer and curling iron, which she did use.

“Purse,” Colt stuck one of her purses through the crack of the door.

The purse had her wallet and id, a stick of cola-flavored lip balm that was as close as Lacey came to lip gloss, and girl stuff discretely tucked in a zippered pocket. If it hadn’t been for Colt’s mom, Lacey would have never learned anything about the girl stuff. Taking a chance, Lacey popped open the mirrored medicine cabinet and found a small bottle of perfume, just like the one she had at home. It was a Christmas gift from Colt’s mother. Out of respect, Lacey put a tiny dab behind each ear and swallowed past the lump in her throat.

“Ready,” Lacey emerged from the bathroom, tugging on the strap of one of her heels to get it in place.

“I found these,” Colt handed her a pair of earrings that matched her outfit better than the gold studs she currently wore, so she stood at the mirror to put them on. Colt shifted from foot to foot and his lack of banter let her know that he was nervous.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“Let’s go see how it works,” Lacey strode to the door like she knew what she was doing.

Her hand on the door, Lacey staggered to a stop. The control room wasn’t there like she’d expected. Instead, she stood holding open the door to a broom closet at the church where she and Colt met his mother every weekend. Lacey looked behind her to see the hotel room, then back into the church hallway that was currently empty of people. Colt poked his head around her and whistled.

“That’s a neat trick,” he said, pushing past her.

For a moment, Lacey had trouble letting go of the door, not wanting to lose their crazy dungeon or the game world behind them. Reality and fantasy crashed together in her mind, and she shook her head to clear it, only it wouldn’t clear.

“Colt!” came the voice of someone he knew from church. Colt blocked the open door behind Lacey, waving a hand behind his back for her to close it. “It’s good to see you. Is your mother here this early. I thought I saw her driving up and I need to ask her about the potluck next month. You wouldn’t happen to know if she’s bringing dessert or main course?”

“I’m not sure,” Colt was saying as the nosy person tried to peer around him. “Did you get the cleaner, Lacey?”

“There wasn’t any in there,” Lacey professed, letting the door go and praying that she hadn’t just lost it all because some busybody was pushy. The door clicked shut and her stomach lurched. Was this it? Was this the catch? Would they laugh about their delusions one day over a beer and pizza?

“What cleaner?” the woman asked, her smirk saying that she thought they’d been up to no good rather than cleaner.

“I scuffed my shoe, and Colt told me to go look for something like glass cleaner in the closet,” Lacey improvised. “I told him it’s nothing, but he likes things tidy.”

The biddies at the church had long since decided that Lacey and Colt were courting and would eventually get married, but that Colt was too shy to pull the trigger and ask her yet. The story varied, with only Colt’s family knowing the truth, that she and Colt would never feel that way about each other. Colt let the stories fly because Lacey didn’t care, and it kept the younger gals from sniffing around him as an eligible bachelor and supposedly upstanding church member. It also kept the older gals from endlessly trying to play matchmaker with every eligible young female in their families.

“Colt?” and Lacey sighed with a bit of relief at the sound of Colt’s mother’s voice.

“Mom!” Colt skirted around the nosy woman and hugged his mother like he hadn’t seen her in a year.

“Always good to see you and Lacey at church,” she smiled around Colt at Lacey. “Hello, sweetheart. Have you two had a good week?”

Week? Lacey resisted the urge to look behind her at the door. She wanted to open it back up and see if their rooms in the dungeon were still there. “It’s been an eventful week,” Lacey hedged with a smile. Everybody smiled at church, but Lacey’s smile for Colt’s mom was always sincere.

“I can’t wait to hear all about it over dinner,” Colt’s mom let go of him and wrapped Lacey up in a side hug that led everyone in the hallway to the chapel where they belonged. “You look lovely, as always, Lacey.”

Church was uneventful. The programs said that they hadn’t even missed a single weekend of service. How that happened was anyone’s guess, but Lacey was voting for it being really powerful magic that still wanted them to come back. Her paranoia was peppered with asylum horror films. Colt might have been a tad shaky when he saw the date, but he was smiling again by the time they left for his childhood home.

“Tell me I’m not crazy,” Colt muttered to her as his father hung up his jacket in the hall closet. The smell of a pot roast straight from heaven wafted out of the kitchen down the hallway and straight into Lacey’s saliva glands.

“If you’re crazy then I’m crazy too,” Lacey stared a little too wide-eyed at him.

“It happened? With the tournament and everything afterward?” Colt returned her stare as Colt’s dad patted him in passing.

“Don’t keep your mother waiting, son,” Colt’s dad said in a low tone.

“Never,” Colt smiled at his dad and then turned wild eyes back to Lacey. “Goblins?”

“Ginger?” she replied in a short-cut she hoped was vague enough but not.

“Holy – “

“Yep,” she cut him off before he invoked the mom scolding, because if he had sworn in his mom’s house, even as quietly as a mouse, she’d have heard it.

“Are you two going to stay in the hall all afternoon?” his mom’s voice broke them out of their staring match as they tried to tell each other they weren’t crazy using only their eyes.

“Coming,” Colt shook himself and turned to enter the dining room.

Was the dinner amazing? Yes. Did they tell his parents about their tournament? Yes. Did they say anything about being transported to a game world where they killed people? Hell no!

Colt looked a little pale as he pulled at the tie he was still wearing, the door to the street behind them.

“You’re sure you don’t want a ride home?” his mom was asking.

“Is your car in the shop?” his dad put in.

“We’re good,” Lacey answered for both of them, stepping out onto the porch. “We’ll just walk to the church and catch the bus from there.”

“The car’s fine,” Colt told his dad’s creased brows.

“Do you need money?” his father stepped out onto the porch, pulling a wallet out of his back pocket. Colt’s parents didn’t have a lot, but they often helped out their children when they got in a little financial bind, like car repairs or doctor bills.

“I,” Colt paused, then finished with, “think we have it covered. I’ll call you later this week if that changes, but if you don’t hear from me, it’s all good. We’ll see you soon. Okay, Pops?”

“We might have won the tournament,” Lacey admitted, reluctantly. “If we did, then we’re all good.”

“Yeah, we’re still waiting to find out,” Colt frowned.

“Call if you need,” Colt’s dad looked confused, but ended up with hugs and smiles as they left.

“I will, dad,” Colt waved behind them. “I love you.”

“Love you too, kid,” his dad was still waving as they smilingly turned the corner of the house and broke into a run.