"How can you get used to all this walking?!" groaned Maddie as they were still following after Ollie to who knows where.
She finally knew one of the downsides of living in such a huge Castle like this, getting around was a pain, her legs were starting to ache, not from laziness, but from overexertion.
"Well you get used to it the more you do it, and it's healthy to walk a lot." replied Ollie with a smile.
"Well I won't get used to it and I don't need it, I'm already healthy enough as it is!" said Maddie.
"That may be true, but you can never be too healthy." said Ollie as he quickened his pace knowing fully well that Maddie would attempt to knock him on the head and that she did.
"Oh come back over here blondie!" said Maddie in anger, she couldn't believe that Ollie had managed to dodge her attack.
"No I'm not, and we're here." said Ollie as he smiled and stopped in front of a wooden door that had beautiful intricate carvings on it.
Ollie opened the door as they followed in behind him. He clapped his hands as the lights switched on in the room revealing a small cozy little room that instantly gave a feeling of warmth and tranquility.
Annie looked around and noticed a large green rug on the ground and she noticed a little vintage bookshelf in the corner. Both sides of the bookshelf had been intricately carved with eye catching patterns.
"And where exactly is here?" said Maddie as she was the first to ask.
"This is my old nursery." said Ollie as he smiled and Maddie immediately let out a mocking laugh.
"Gosh blondie, I knew that you were immature but who knew that you are still a baby?" she asked as Annie resisted the urge to give Maddie a taste of her own medicine by smacking her on the head.
"What exactly are we going to do here? Do you plan to sing us nursery rhymes as well?" she asked as she laughed.
"Maddie, that's enough." said Matt, his tone far from pleased. They had not even spent ten hours here and Maddie had not ceased to take every chance she got to ridicule Ollie unnecessarily.
"Well no, I don't intend to sing any nursery rhymes. Although if you wish for me to do that for you, that can be arranged." said Ollie as he smiled and both Matt and Annie chuckled, Maddie did indeed deserve that.
"Whatever." said Maddie as she scoffed.
"We are here because this is where I keep all my board games." said Ollie as he walked to the bookshelf and opened one of the drawers.
"Feel free to sit anywhere you want." he said as he shuffled through the drawer.
Annie and Matt sat down on the brown couch while Maddie sat down on the green rug simply as an act of defiance and disrespect causing Matt and Annie to shake their heads.
"Aha found it!" declared Ollie proudly as the drawer closed itself and he turned around and walked to the rug and sat down on it.
"Nice choice Maddie." he said beaming at Maddie as she felt like she needed to look away or else she might go blind from how bright his smile was.
Maddie scoffed as she muttered under her breath, she had thought that sitting here would annoy him, who was to know that he wanted to sit here as well?
"You guys can come sit here as well, it's going to be a bit difficult playing while you are all the way over there." said Ollie as Matt and Annie moved to sit down on the rug.
Maddie and Annie were on one side of the rug together while Matt and Ollie were on the other side.
"This is the game I was talking about." he said as he opened the box and a bunch of cards, game pieces and the board flew out of the box and arranged itself in the middle of the rug.
"And what exactly is the game about?" asked Maddie, her tone sceptical.
"Well it's a fun little game that children play while they are bored, it's called snowfall." Ollie explained.
"Oh just great, you want us to play games for babies." said Maddie with a scoff.
"I said for children, not for babies Maddie, and just because I mentioned that it was designed for children does not mean that it's not fun." said Ollie.
"Yes Maddie, Ollie's right, besides, we are still children, no matter what you say." said Annie as Maddie scoffed.
"Whatever." said Maddie as Matt shook his head in disappointment at her.
"Anyway, how do we play?" he asked as he looked at Ollie.
"The aim of the game is to reach the finish line before any of the other players, but it's not as easy as it seems. The game kind of has a mind of its own and it likes switching things up. It will make is difficult for any one of us to make it to the finish line." said Ollie as he smiled.
"Difficult how?" asked Annie as Ollie smiled mischievously.
"The game decides what type of obstacles it throws our way, we can never know what it decides to do." replied Ollie.
"Alright... that sounds really creepy, but you did say that it's a children's game." said Annie.
"It is, and that's what makes it completely safe." Ollie replied.
"Why is the game called Snowfall?" asked Maddie.
"Good question, there is a great big storm that randomly appears at any time whenever you play the same, and it happens to be a snowstorm, and hence the name." said Ollie as he explained cheerfully.
"That sounds odd but whatever, let's get this over and done with, how do we play?" she asked with an uninterested sigh.
"First, you need to choose your piece." said Ollie as he smiled and eight game pieces were laid out in front of them to choose from.
One was a tiny red crab, the other was a pretty little flower, one was a seahorse, one was a bat, one was a tiny little silver wolf, one was a beautiful figurine of a little girl holding a broom signifying that she was sweeping. The last two pieces were a tiny silver book and tiny red shaped heart.
"I choose the flower." said Annie as she picked out the little flower.
"These are terrible pieces, they are all so ugly." said Maddie as she could not decide what to choose.
"Just pick one Maddie." replied Matt as he picked up the bat and Ollie picked out the tiny silver book.
"This is my favourite piece." he said as Annie and matt laughed.
"Maddie, just pick one." said Annie as they were all waiting for Maddie.
"*Ugh*, Okay fine, I choose this one." said Maddie as she picked the seahorse, at least it was less ugly than the other pieces in her eyes.
"Wonderful, now we just throw the die and whatever number it lands on, our pieces move that number of spaces on the board." said Ollie as he smiled and placed his piece at the starting line of the board as the others did the same.
The board was irregularly shaped, it was so weird to Annie, Maddie and Matt that had never seen a board like this before.
"So, who wants to go first?" asked Ollie.
"How about you go first Ollie, since we have no idea how to play the game." said Annie.
"Alright that's reasonable, and who will go after me?" asked Ollie.
"Who wants to go second?" asked Annie.
"I'll go." said Matt as he smiled.
"And I'll go after Matt and Maddie can go last." Annie concluded seeing as Maddie was silent and it was best that she did not say anything because half of what she said was mean.
"Great, alright then, here we go." said Ollie as he smiled, he picked up the die and rolled it across the board as it landed on five.
His piece instantly moved five spaces as Annie and Matt were in awe.
"That's so cool." said Annie as Ollie chuckled.
"I know right, your turn Matt." Ollie said as the die flew into Matt's hand and he rolled it, landing on a four.
"I have to admit, your pieces moving by themselves is very cool." said Matt as his piece moved and all of them laughed except for Maddie.
"Your turn." said Matt as the die flew into Annie's hand and she rolled instantly landing on a five as well.
"We landed on the same space." said Annie as she and Ollie laughed.
"Your turn Maddie." Annie said happily as the die flew to Maddie and Maddie sighed as if she was a babysitter forced to supervise three annoying children.
Maddie did not even put any effort into her throw, she lazily dropped the die as it landed on six and her piece moved ahead of everyone.
"I'm ahead hehe!!" she excitedly announced as Matt snickered, Maddie could be so...unbelievable sometimes.
"That you are, you almost got the highest roll." said Ollie as he smiled.
"What's the highest roll?" she asked.
"It's nine." he replied as he rolled again.