So the floor is lava!

"And the front walk is lava too!" Aya laughed, nudging the front pavement with a toe. "That means everything inside and the way in have to be crossed..."

"Remember mom said no using the rose trellises," Braig remarked from the window above, foot braced against the sill and a book firmly in hand. "Not after last time."

"WE REMEMBER!" Dilan and Aya chorused obediently.

"Okay, if those are lava it's my turn. Let's see. Any of Dad's clothes are armor, mom's clothing is magic and fireproof?"

Aya nodded, trying to remember all the places that they could find such. It'd be a hell of a detour to go to the laundry room, but the front closet might have some things? "We need a timer! Ever five minutes badguys come! Lava snakes and wall crawlers and stuff!"

"I have one of those! I'll go get it before the floor melts!" Dilan scrambled through the front door, laughing. Sure, it'd be a bit of a mess as they made things to cross the lava, but not too much if they did the rules right!

"Hey, am I stuck in a magic castle this time?" Braig laughed, marking his page so he could look down at the kids. "Lava, armor, and creepy crawlies?"

"Looks like!" Aya laughed. "And if we don't make it you're gonna fall into an enchanted sleep and rot away!"

"I think you mean I have to wait for my true love to kiss me," Braig corrected with a grin.

"But if we don't make it we're dead, and if heroes can't make it then you're toast!" Aya pointed out cheerfully. "Unless you're magic too. Really magic sleep where you don't need IVs and stuff."

"If I"m a princess I won't need IVs," Braig snorted. "That's part of the magic. "Plus 'rotting away' is a really bad ending. My stories have better endings."

"Says who?" Aya grinned up at him.

"Says me. I'm a genius and I know these things." He stuck his tongue out at her, naturally, then went back to his book.

"Right, right, okay...clothes..." That meant next rule was hers. Hmmm. "Hey Braig! Toss down some bouncy balls! Those'll be the badguys! We can bounce them and if we get hit or fall in the lava we're hurt!"

"You are so lucky mom moved the breakables out of the livingroom..." And that was the ONLY reason why Braig was going to duck back through his window to grab what she asked for. Honest! It wasn't that he wanted to hear them down there dodging bounces or anything...

"Yeah, I know!" Granted, Elcy was smart too, she knew which way the wind blew with so many youngsters in the house! "So that's rule three! You get hit by a ball when the timer goes off and you're hurt and have to take time to bandage or find magic!"

"Healing magic has to be different than mom magic!" Dilan noted, coming back out the door with the timer tied in a scarf to his belt loops. "Touch a potted plant and you can heal a wound!"

"Okay, that sounds good!" Because if they tore a leaf off a potted plant they'd get in SO MUCH TROUBLE! Okay, so, challenges, helping items..."Time limit! We need a time limit before Braig is in an enchanted sleep!"

"End of book, then I'm napping," Braig called down.

"Does that count as my rule?" Aya sighed.

"Nah, go ahead and figure out another." Dilan ruffled her hair and started looking around the yard for things to build a lava-proof path out of.

"Uhhh...." well, what was left? Hmmm. "If you are hurt you gotta hop or not use your arm or whatever got hurt?" she suggested with a shrug. "I think we got everything!"

"About time," Braig laughed.

"Hey, rules are important!" Aya stuck her tongue out at the window above then grinned at Dilan. "Okay, ready?"

"Yeah, I think we've got a change!" Dilan agreed cheerfully, reaching into his makeshift pouch to set the egg timer for five minutes.

"Heroes always have a chance!" Aya laughed, headed for the shed.