Page 88 of May: Bloom & Bane

He looks at me between his arms, the corner of his mouth twitching.

“Do you want me to make it harder for myself?”

“Well, it’s about time you asked.”

He studies the mat, then moves his left hand to the absolute farthest rose on the whole board.

He’s now completely sprawled, covering approximately the entire surface area of the board.

“Better?” he asks.

“I should have picked Monopoly.”

CHAPTER 28

i don’t sound like that

—SAGE

Ihave never wanted to laugh so badly. She’s sitting on the edge of the moss mat with her arms crossed, staring at me with utter disgust.

“I should have picked Monopoly.”

“What’s Monopoly?”

She opens her mouth, thinks better of telling me, and closes it. “You know what. It doesn’t matter because you would probably just grow the whole board and win immediately because you’re made of everything.”

I think The Sun doesn’t like you very much right now, Droot chirps.

“Maybe we should get you in bed.”

“MaYBe We SHoUlD gET yOu In BEd.”

My wings give a confused twitch. “I do not sound like that.”

“i dOn’T sOuNd likE tHaT,” she shoots back.

I sit up slowly.

“Do you want to play something else instead?”

I can practically see her mind working.

“Twenty questions,” she decides, crawling onto the couch. “I’ll go first.”

“You always go first.”

“Because I have the best questions.”

I sit down on the couch and pull her onto my lap.

“Okay,” she says seriously. “If you were one of the bugs in our grass. Which one would you be?”

I try to remember what types there were. I think there was a beetle and a ladybug.

“Fred, Steve, Mark, or Kyle? And, before you answer, remember Mark has a bad thorax.”

She cannot be serious.