"You are probably wondering why you have been called here today," the young lawyer said, looking into each of the seven faces around the table. They were all different, those faces, but there was a common element in them, though he wasn't quite sure what it was. Surely the half Asian girl sitting quietly at the end of the table looked nothing like the blond, blue eyed beauty who sat smacking her gum and grinning widely.

"Wondering's an understatement," another blond, this one a man, growled. "It's an awfully inconvenient time for a family reunion."

"Oh, stop complaining William." A dark haired woman told him. "You'll be back to your old relics soon enough."

William scowled but didn't reply. The lawyer waited to see if anyone else would speak, still wondering about that common quality. Certainly William's dark scowl had nothing in common with the soft smile the dark haired woman was giving him.

When no one spoke, the lawyer continued, "You are here because of a stipulation in your grandmother's will." He saw surprise go over the faces of the three men and four women. "I know she has been dead for five years but that was part of the conditions. You see, she wanted all of you to be old enough to participate." The lawyer glanced at the youngest of the group, a brown haired, freckled girl who had just turned seventeen.

"Participate?" Richard raised an eyebrow. "What is this? A Game?"

"Of sorts."

"What kind of game?" Mary, the gum smacker, asked.

"Well, it's very simple." The lawyer paused for dramatic effect before dropping his bombshell. He let himself feel excitement and a little fear. The expectation in the room rose higher. He waited patiently until he was sure someone would burst with impatience...and then he told them.

"You just have to live together for awhile. The length of time will depend on how quickly the... 'game's'... goal is accomplished."

He was met with blank stares all around the table. Even Linh, the quiet half-Asian woman, seemed less than impressed.

"So what's the goal?" asked Richard. He seemed to be the only one showing any interest in the proceedings at all.

The lawyer launched into what he liked to call the sales pitch. In the will, instructions were left to secure a rather large home just outside the city. This home was remodeled and rigged with certain special effects. Once they arrived in their temporary residence, they would meet some people hired to perform a little show for them. "Think of it as an extended murder mystery weekend," he concluded. "First one to solve whatever needs solving will be declared the winner, and you never have to see one another again for as long as you live."

Jill, the woman who had laughed at William earlier, snickered a little. "Granny's name wouldn't happen to have been Westing, was it?"

"No," he replied, suppressing a smile of his own. "And to answer your question, Mary, it's no joke." Mary's eyes bugged a little at the prediction.

"This is insipid," William spit. "You pulled me away from a very important convention for this?" He stood and headed for the door. "Count me out!"

The lawyer stopped him in his tracks with the next sentence: "The winner gets three hundred million dollars."

Silence landed in the room with a seemingly audible thud as William returned slowly to his seat. If they had been cartoons, the lawyer was pretty sure their jaws would have been on the floor.

The youngest male in the room was the first to break the palpable tension. "What's the catch?" He seemed to be having trouble speaking.

"No catch, Dane. Just one very rich grandchild and six that have to make do with the stipend already given you."

Katherine, the young freckled girl, spoke up next: "What if we think that's enough, and don't want to play?"

The lawyer looked around the room at each of the young people in turn, stopping when he reached Katie. "That would be unfortunate. The game's instructions explicitly state participation by each of you. If any one of you refuses to participate, you will all lose your monthly stipend, and the entire estate will be given to a charity designated in the will. As your lawyer, I would have to advise you to play along."

Dane draped his arm over Katherine's shoulder. How quaint, the lawyer thought. He's trying to protect his younger sister.

"And what's in it for you?" Dane accused.

"Nothing more than I've already been paid. As I said, this was part of her will. I'm just the messenger, so to speak." He turned his expression to one of serious determination. "So I leave it to you. Who wants to play your grandmother's little game?"

Slowly, hands went up: First Mary's, then Linh's. Dane and Katherine raised theirs at the same time, then Jill and Richard. All heads turned to William, who seemed to still be mulling it over.

"Come on, Antique Guy," urged Jill. "It's all or none, you know."

A heavy sigh of relief escaped the lawyer's chest as William's hand rose to join those of his cousins, brother, and sister.

"Wow! This place is huge!" Richard remarked to Mary as the young woman stumbled beside him with her luggage. She was trying to juggle four pieces at once. Richard would have helped her with one of them, but he was already carrying his own two bags and one of hers.

His sister grunted in answer, though her eyes were more on the floor than on the foyer they were in.

Behind him, Richard could hear William grumbling to someone about his loss of business and Katie and Linh giggling about something they had seen on the drive over.

He knew the rest of them were back there as well. Despite Mary's stumbling, the two of them were the first to enter what would be their domicile for the next...well, who knew how long.

The lawyer had said that the house was big enough to house all seven, plus the extra players in the game, but he didn't say they would be living in a three story mansion.

Richard's eyes were still travelling over the cavernous entryway when someone clearing his throat nearby made Richard jump. Mary must have jumped too because there was a crash as all of her luggage hit the floor.

"Good morning, sir, ma'am. My name is Ruggles."

The voice had come from an older man in a suit. He had dark hair and droopy eyes, and his face had an expression of haughty servility.

"Richard and Mary."

Ruggles clapped his hand and seven children came from a nearby door. They looked to range in age from 7 to 14, and there were both girls and boys. All of them were dressed in their Sunday best.

"These children will help you settle into your rooms." He motioned to two of them. "Kris, Charles."

The ones named were a skinny girl of about nine and a smaller boy of about the same age. The girl came forward and took his hand.

"Come with us."

Charles grinned at Mary before picking one of her bags off of the floor. "You look like you could use some help. The stairs are through here."

Richard allowed himself to be led by the young girl, his eyes drinking in the interior the entire time. He heard Mary and Charles ahead, talking about this and that, and behind, William yelling at poor Ruggles. One of these days his older brother was going to yell at the wrong person.

The staircase was as grand as the foyer had been, carpeted in a lush royal blue. Two separate sets of stairs on either side of -- what, the "stair room"? -- met in the middle and journeyed to the second story together, where one could either continue up to the third floor on two more sets of stair, or take one of the two corridors heading in opposite directions. Mary and Charles took the hall to the left, and Kris pulled Richard to the stairs.

"Why aren't we all roomed in the same area?" he asked the girl, but she merely shrugged.

The third floor had a similar corridor set-up, and she pulled him along down the right-hand corridor, stopping only when they reached the far end of the hall, to the door in the exact center.

Kris pulled out an old-fashioned silver key and unlocked the door for him. "This is your room," she said, and handed the key to him. The key was on a silver chain, which was in turn attached to a small black plastic square with a flashing red light in the middle.

"What's this?" he asked.

"If you need me for anything, just press the red lighted button, and I will be here."

"You can't be serious," he protested. "You're only a kid."

"True," she conceded with a mischeivous smile, "but I like games."

"I do too, usually," he said, and opened the door a little more, getting the first glimpse of what looked to be a very spacious suite. "Not so sure about this one, though."

"Give it a chance, Mr. Thornton," Kris said. "You might just surprise yourself. I will leave you now so you can get settled in. I will come get you when it's time."

With a little half-bow, she turned and skipped down the hallway.

Katherine stared in incredulity at the boy who'd just been assigned to her. Bradley was only three years her junior. William -- by far the oldest member of the family -- had gotten the 7-year-old girl (and Katie was very sympathetic toward the poor thing). This whole set-up was just too weird, but having someone so close to her own age as her chaperone, or whatever Brad was supposed to be, was going beyond weird into uncomfortable.

He was very cute, though, and smiled a smile that probably broke hearts in his school.

Her room was on the second floor, halfway down the right-hand corridor. Bradley opened her door with a blue metallic key hooked up to what looked like a car alarm remote, then handed it to her, telling her to push the button if she wanted him.

She watched him retreat back toward the stairs, thinking as he went, What have you gotten into here, girl?

Indeed, what had they all gotten into?

Katie entered the room and stopped short. Her room was beautiful, done in a very light lilac, tasteful and not too lacy. It was also humongous. Fifteen or twenty huge Queen-Sized medieval canopy beds could have fit in that room, but there was only one. It even had curtains around the outside so you could close them for privacy. There were several pieces of antique furniture and Katie felt almost like a princess. She wondered if all of them were like this.

Something on a desk near the door caught her eye, so Katie moved towards it. It turned out to be an envelope with her name on it. Underneath, in quotation marks, it said, "Isabella Warrington". Puzzled, Katie opened the envelope to find a bio listing everything she might want to know about whoever Isabella Warrington was.

Slowly, as she read, she began to clue in. What clinched it was the line that said Isabella's favorite color was lilac.

"I'm not doing this!" William hmphed to himself, as he read through the bio on Marcas Androkas, but he knew he would, "Overly cheerful and funloving my ass."

He tossed the bio card onto the dresser where he'd found it. It landed on its side, leaning slightly against the mirror. Served the stupid thing right. What the hell was this game, anyway? They were supposed to be other people now? What kind of stupid crap was that? He was missing a dealer from France -- one whose wares had brought him a fortune before -- to play some game his grandmother had contrived well over five years ago? Somehow it didn't surprise him that even in death she could make his life miserable.

After straightening his tie to the point where it started to strangle him, William picked the card up again and read the rest of the background of his new alter ego.

"Computers? Electromagnetics? What, I'm supposed to be Bill Gates now?" With a disgusted grunt, he threw the card again.

To add insult to the situation, the room he'd been given -- by an infant -- was decorated in the most grating cheery colors imaginable. The walls were bright yellow, while the bed's coverings were blazing red. The curtains of neon green held back the light of the sun -- not that the room needed any more brightness. As if the room didn't already clash enough, the dresser had been painted a ghastly shade of blue. It was as if a decorator had asked himself what other atrocities to the eye he could commit. The answer to that question was in the carpet, which was a deep purple.

If Grandmother weren't already dead, he'd have killed her himself.

Sitting beside the spot the card had landed was the shiny orange key little Bianca had handed him. He wanted to press that flickering button and demand to be taken out of here at once. He did quite well for himself in his business. He really didn't need the stipend to live.

Unfortunately, though, his sister did. Mary wasn't stupid, but never bothered to go to college. Since most companies that would take her anywhere significant always insisted on a degree, she was stuck in a thankless customer service position in a mall department store. If he left now, Mary wouldn't be able to make ends meet. He presumed the same could be said of several of the others.

And so he would wear the mask of Marcas Androkas, intolerably cheerful computer programmer for as long as it took to get through this charade of a game. He just hoped that "as long as it took" wouldn't be too terribly long. He could only pretend to love so much fun.

After taking a few hours to get settled in, the seven participants in what could only be termed a bizarre event all wandered into the media room of their vast residence. Each was led by a pint-sized chaperone. Once seated in the seven chairs that had been arranged in front of a large-screen television, the child guides left the room, and the family members began to talk among themselves, trying to figure out what was going on. Aside from the biographical data they had all found in their rooms, none of them knew anything else.

Silence descended as the lights of the room dimmed, plunging them into darkness. A figure stepped to the front of the room. At first Jill thought it was Ruggles, but as the light from the snowy television hit the figure's face, she saw it was the lawyer that had talked them into this crazy scene to begin with.

"Before the game starts," he said, taking a remote control out of his suit pocket and locating one of the buttons by touch, "your late grandmother would like to say a few words."

Even as the murmurs began, Jill smiled. Leave it to Granny to be exciting even years after her death.

The lawyer pressed the button he'd been fingering, and in seconds Granny's face appeared on the large television. The camera operator had framed a chest-up shot, but Jill recognized the light coat as being part of the powder blue pant suit that had always looked so good on Granny. The wrinkled face looked at her seven grandchildren -- at least, that was the illusion being given -- and smiled warmly. Jill half expected the image to offer up a plate of cookies.

"Hello, my dears," Granny said to the gathered people. "This has to be at least a little confusing to you all, but there is a purpose to your being here. I hope Ruggles has been treating you well."

Jill found herself surprised to realize that she really missed the old face on the screen. Emotions she hadn't felt since the funeral began to well up in her chest, and she fought hard to keep them inside. She didn't want to miss a second of the message.

"You see, children, my favorite times with all of you were the games we used to play. William, I remember how much you loved Chess. Katie, you and Candy Land always brought me such joy. Linh and Pick-up sticks, or sometimes Tiddlywinks, made my day every time. With Richard it was Hide and Seek. Every last one of you had a special game to play with me.

"And now I have an opportunity to pay you back for all those hours of happiness with a game of my own. Of course, I knew that you wouldn't play unless there was a reward involved. After all, you're all grown up now. That's why the huge sum of money is to be awarded the winner. Believe it or not, it was Jill who gave me the idea for this particular game. I remember that she loved to play Clue, and one day... do you remember, Jill? One day she said to me, 'Granny, I wish I could go to one of those hotels where they play Clue for real.' Well, my dear, you are about to get your wish."

All eyes turned to Jill at Granny's revelation, but with the room as dark as it was, she wasn't sure whether the looks were good or bad.

"So without further ado, if Mister Llewellyn will please put in the other tape, we can begin. Good luck to all of you." The twinkle in Granny's eyes was unmistakable. Then the television's snowy static replaced her face.

It only took a few more seconds for the lawyer to switch out the tapes. Jill's excitement grew even more in anticipation. When the picture resumed, it was another image of Granny, only this time she was wearing an old fashioned dress. It was red and tied at the waist with a sash that had a bow in back. Her usually bare neck had a three-strand pearl necklace, and she stared at them all with an air of superiority.

"Welcome to the manor, ingrates!" she spat. Linh jumped a little at the acid tone of Granny's voice. "Obviously, if you're seeing this recording, I have died. It's just as well. I couldn't live much longer anyway, knowing how you all felt about me. Oh don't try to hide it with your perky demeanor, Marcas. I'm nothing but an inheritance to you. To all of you. Even you, Isabella. The youngest. The one I had hoped would turn out differently than the rest. Alas, it was not to be. You are just as warped as the rest of them.

"To business, then. Someone in this room is guilty. Yes, I know you're all guilty of something. However, I'm referring to something specific in this case. You see, I didn't die of natural causes as I'm sure the coroner reported. He was paid to say that. I was murdered, and it was one of you who killed me!"

Linh jumped again at Granny's emphasis, this time letting out a little shriek. Jill had to admit that it was a pretty convincing performance. She didn't like this side of Granny -- even if it was just an act.

"Don't worry, though, my little kittens. You won't get away with it. Not only did you leave clues behind... not only are you siblings or cousins going to find out who you are... but I'm still around. I'll be haunting you until you confess your crime. If you're not careful, you won't even live to confess."

A sudden flash of lighting and clap of thunder made the entirety of Granny's descendants yelp in startlement. The timing of the thing was creepy, Jill thought.

"I would give you a time limit, but it's really more fun to do it without one, don't you think? The longer it takes you to solve my murder, the more fun I can have tormenting you. Scaring you. Making your lives as miserable as you made mine."

More lightning, more thunder. The screen began to fade to black, Granny's horrendous laugh echoing throughout the entire room.

The lights came back up, and Jill trembled with relief that the eerie encounter was over. Linh still looked shaken herself. Mary had her arm around Richard's shoulder, trying to comfort him. Unlike the others, he had broken down. Whether it was seeing Granny again or the evil persona she had played, Jill couldn't guess.

"You have got to be kidding me!" William seethed. He was over at the window and had pulled the curtain back. Looking back at the family, he said, "There's not a cloud in the sky! It's as clear a night as you can get."

"Well the lawyer did say the house was rigged with special effects," Dane offered in explanation. It made sense. The timing of the lightning was too perfect to be anything else.

Speaking of the lawyer.... Jill looked around the room. Only the seven of them were present. The lawyer had vanished.