Dimic’s smile stretched nearly across his face.

“No betting,” Cion intoned.

Dimic’s smile faltered. “Oh, come on. That neck cuff’s probably worth more money than I’ve ever seen.”

Cion looked down at him.

“Fine,” Dimic grumbled, and began setting up the board.

I didn’t like that he was leaving me here alone with the boys. Some of the looks they’d given me weren’t exactly kind. I didn’t see what choice I had though.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Cion said. He rose to leave, but he stopped to whisper in Dimic’s ear. Dimic nodded solemnly and watched his brother disappear through one of the flaps that led outside.

Something about the exchange had been so secretive, so unlike the rest of what I’d observed so far. These boys seemed so open, sharing everything they had. It made me wonder all the more about what Cion was up to.

Before I could ask, Dimic’s smile had returned, and he rubbed his palms together. “The name of the game is Skips.”

He explained that each person took a turn flicking one of their pebbles at the rows of their opponent’s pebbles, trying to knock as many as they could into the little gulley carved into the board behind the rows. This went on for several rounds, each person trying to get the most points. One point for every pebble you knocked into the gulley and ten points if you knocked them all in without any of your aimed pebbles going in as well. And you lost one point for each of your own pebbles that went into the gulley. A round was over once one player’s pebbles had all been knocked into the gulley, and whoever accomplished that first got five extra points.

It wasn’t too complicated, but I still felt unsure.

“You can go first,” Dimic said after he’d set up the pebbles in two triangular outlines on each side of the board—one made of white pebbles and the other of darker gray ones. He handed me several round white pebbles a little wider than my thumbnail.

“I think you only want me to go first so I can’t copy how you do it,” I replied.

He snorted. “I’m going to win anyway,” he said, “so it’s not like it matters.”

I rolled my eyes and then selected one pebble. I aimed toward the other end of the board, but the pebble I shot went way past the board and hit Dimic straight in the chest. It bounced harmlessly off and landed in his lap.

Dimic tossed it back to me. “You did hear the part about aiming for the board, right?” After barely glancing at the board, he flicked a dark pebble with his thumb. It crashed into the pebbles on my end and sent three of them scurrying into the gulley.

“How’d you do that?” I asked, mouth agape. He made it look so easy. I should’ve been able to do it, and I couldn’t understand how I’d missed so badly.