“How are you feeling?” Brady asked. “Ready for the last big challenge?”
“Yep.” Even if I wasn’t ready for that, I was certainly ready to get out of this car and away from his phoniness.
“Are you nervous at all?”
“Nope.”
Brady’s grin tightened at my clipped responses. He handed me a folded map and pointed straight ahead. “Trailhead is that way. You’ll get a signal on your walkie-talkie when it’s time to start. We’ll keep in touch via that if we need to. The GPS satellite phone is only for emergencies, but it shouldn’t be necessary.”
I nodded but didn’t say anything.
Brady sighed loudly. “You don’t need to be so short with me, you know? I’m on your side.”
“Robert already gave us these instructions.” I sounded like a brat, but I didn’t care. Brady’s sickeningly sweet, fake kindness was beyond old at this point.
He mumbled something under his breath before lifting his arms in exasperation. “Fine. Make me the bad guy. I guess that’s what I signed up for.” Brady sighed dramatically before eyeing me up and down. “You know, the first few episodes have already aired and you and Eli are the early favorites. People love Trace and Danny, and sure, Rachel and Arnie have garnered some fans, but you two will probably win it all.”
My blood froze as I thought about everyone watching me from their sofas at home. How was I being perceived? What had I said? All of the days and conversations blurred together. At this point, I couldn’t even remember.
“I see your thoughts rushing across your face.” Brady reached out to adjust the small camera affixed to my chest. I forced myself not to flinch. “Don’t worry, you’re coming across as Miss All-American. Everyone loves you. The final few days will be a breeze compared to what you’ve already been through.”
“Is that all?” I asked through gritted teeth. Whether he meant it to or not, this conversation was getting into my head. These past few days I had finally started to disassociate fromthe show, but Brady had just given me a stark reminder that it was very much real.
“Fine, don’t talk to me,” he said melodramatically. “Go get yourself ready. You’ll get the signal to open your map and start in a few minutes.”
With that, he left me. The door to the van slammed closed and the sound of the engine moved farther and farther away until it was just a faint hum in the distance.
Breathing in and exhaling slowly, I turned around in a circle, relishing my first time alone outside since I had arrived in this place. I was so close to freedom I could taste it. Never again would I take for granted just going for a walk around the block, or rushing to a convenience store if I wanted to grab something in the evening.
Savoring solitude didn’t last long. Noise came from my walkie-talkie almost immediately. “All right, Calla, you’re good to start.”
I opened my map in front of my chest camera like I’d been instructed to do. Glancing at it, I found a large red X that appeared to be my first stop.
I followed the path on the map to the trailhead. I was facing west, so I had to go straight ahead and then make two left turns before making a final right. Stuffing the map into my front pocket, I took off down the trail. The clouds had covered the sun completely and trees loomed over me on all sides. I couldn’t see anything beyond the thick forest as I moved swiftly down the path.
It only took me ten minutes before I spotted a cameraman in the distance. In front of him was a wooden stake with a box on top. I opened it to retrieve my next clue. This map was drawn from a different vantage point and had no indicators of where I was. I stuck my tongue out and squinted at the new,colorful map. It was covered with beautiful drawings of trees and geographical landmarks.
“Please describe what you’re thinking.” The cameraman speaking nearly caused me to jump out of my skin with surprise. He hovered right behind me.
“Right,” I stuttered. “Sorry about that.”
He gave me an ‘okay’ sign and I went back to studying the map.
“Um, I’m just trying to orient myself with the map. I can’t quite figure out where I am on here.”
I squinted at the intricate line drawing of a tree at the bottom of the map. It had a unique shape to it as it twisted toward the sky. I snapped my gaze up and pointed to a tree that I had just walked by, at the edge of the clearing where I stood.
“There, that must be this tree,” I said, pointing to the map. I traced my finger along the path before taking off for the next clue.
Clues two and three went equally effortlessly. I received a similar map each time, but with different drawing styles and vantage points. Each time, I used my surroundings to orient myself to where I was.
Clue four took me a bit longer than the others. I stood and stared at the map for fifteen minutes before I started worrying that I might have to give up. After checking everything dozens of times in the area where I’d found the clue, I decided to trek further into the trees. Sure enough, maybe twenty feet away, I came across a small steppingstone bridge over a stream that was clearly depicted on the new map. I started running for clue five after that.
Even though we were no longer playing for rankings, it was still easy to get caught up in the competitive aspect of the game. Plus, I’d be lying if I said butterflies hadn’t takenresidence in my stomach at the thought of spending the night with Eli. Sure, we saw each other most nights, but this felt completely different. We were no longer dancing around the idea of becoming something. I had decided to stop denying my feelings, and now I was anxious to see where they’d lead.
I hurriedly opened clue five as soon as I got to it. Once I thought I had it figured out, I ran in the direction that I thought would bring me to Eli.
At the first fork in the trail, I checked the map before moving left. Then at the next one, I went right. I ran for about ten minutes before I realized that I should have been at the meeting point by now. When I arrived at a clearing, I decided to check the map again. That was when I realized I’d messed up. I should have gone right at the first fork, not left.
