The Princes of Tangleforest by Dorlana Vann

path. 
    Tanner rang the doorbell, wondering what he would encounter. He kind of hoped it would be like a college fraternity initiation of some sort, like the ones he had watched in movies where they all wore black hooded capes. The way Julia talked about the Princes one would think that they did some really scary stuff. He thought maybe he should brace himself for sacrifices and under-the-breath chanting. Yeah, right.He’d amused himself so much that by the time someone actually opened the door, he was laughing out-loud. 
    The pre-teen boy at the door said, “They’re upstairs, dork.” He walked away, leaving Tanner to shut the door.
    “Great,” Tanner said. “Nerd by association.”
    He actually started to feel a little anxious as he walked up the stairs, and then landed in a spacious, open room. A few feet in front of him a double doorway led to another room, its darkness broken by an occasional blast of light and accompanied by the sounds of Star Wars . To the left of the stairs were three closed doors, and to his right sat two round tables, some straight-backed chairs, and a bar that stretched across the back wall. Zachary, Sean, and Johnny sat at one of the two tables.  
    “Howdy, Tanner,” Zachary said. “Grab a chair.”
    As Tanner neared, he saw cards lined face-up on the table as well as little rocks and dice.
    “You play Magic?” Zachary asked.
    “No, but I’ve seen it played before.”
    Zachary looked at the cards in his hand. “What about other card games? Red Dragon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon?”
    “No,” Tanner said, a little disappointed that this big scary meeting consisted of geeks sitting around playing some geeky role-playing game. He should have figured.
    “Is everyone present?” Zachary glanced around the room.
    “They are now,” Julia said as she came up the steps.
    Tanner had to look at her twice. Where her old style sent the clear message that she wasn’t to be messed with, her new fashion shouted, “I’m a girl!”  She even carried a huge, brown purse.
    “Welcome back, Jules.” Zachary stood up. “I trust you know everyone. Read any good books lately?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Just wondering if you had anything new to contribute since we last read together?”
    She shook her head and gazed at Tanner with her eyebrows high and her eyes wide. She shrugged her shoulders. Tanner turned away, trying to hide his aggravation. Zachary was going to see her sarcasm if she didn’t cool it. 
    “Is everyone ready to rock and roll?” Zachary said. “First thing on the menu tonight is to initiate Tanner and reinitiate Jules.
    “What are you talking about, Zachary?” Julia said. “We never did anything like that before.”
    “We do now,” Darla said as she walked out of the movie-room. She had her arms crossed and a smirk on her lips.
    Tanner said, “I’m ready. Tell me what silly thing I have to wear or who I have to kiss.”
    Zachary scratched his ear and smiled with his teeth slightly biting his bottom lip. “It’s a game.”
    “Nope.” Julia shook her head. “We are not playing any games.”
    “Jules,” Zachary said, “feel free to leave. The same goes for you, Tanner. If you don’t want to play a silly game with a bunch of nerds, you can leave. There’s the stairs that lead to the door.”
    “Don’t let it hit you,” Sean said.
    “I’m staying.” Tanner folded his arms across his chest.  “I’ll play.”
    “Good man.” Zachary looked at Julia.
    “Tanner,” Julia said. “You don’t understand—”
    “I can handle myself.” He knew his tone sounded perfect for the “we’re not friends anymore” act. In all honesty, he meant it and sort of hoped she would go ahead and leave before she messed everything up.
    “Fine.” She threw her arms up in the air.
    “Now that that is settled,” Zachary said, “let the games begin. Oh, and one more thing. Jules, you’ll have to go into the red room with Darla.”
    “No way! I’m not going