The difference between success and elimination wasn’t strength or speed.
It was patience.
“Look at you,” I murmur quietly. “Actually paying attention.”
I skip ahead to the puzzle-climb challenge from two days ago. The footage captures the moment Tilda explained the lock sequence while I followed instructions instead of trying to outsmart the mechanism.
That moment won us the round.
Which is an oddly humbling realization.
Footsteps approach behind me.
“You studying?” a voice asks.
I glance over my shoulder.
Zack stands there holding a protein bar and looking amused.
“Something like that,” I reply.
He leans against the console beside me.
“You know,” he says, “a week ago I watched you jump off a rotating platform because you thought the camera angle would look cool.”
“That was tactical.”
“That was idiotic.”
“Agree to disagree.”
He watches the footage for a moment.
“New strategy?”
“Something like that.”
Zack tilts his head.
“You’re taking this a lot more seriously lately.”
I shrug.
“People change.”
“Uh-huh.”
He unwraps the protein bar.
“Something happen?”
The question hangs there longer than I’d like.
I look back at the tablet screen.
“Let’s just say I’ve got a reason to start making better decisions.”
Zack studies me for a moment.
