“I just feel like I keep manipulating him,” I say quietly. “Like he’s a pawn that I keep moving to get things.”
“Like what?”
“Like this, like getting you to come on the show.”
Yumi’s eyes shift as she thinks. “Okay, but you’re his daughter. It’s your life, too. You’re just telling the truth and talking about how it feels.”
I shake my head, repeating my thoughts right before I was rudely interrupted by my body betraying me, “A better daughter w—”
Yumi cuts in sharply, “And a worse daughter wouldn’t be worried about this at all.” She gives me a reproachful look. “Let me turnon my mic pack and record you calling yourself a bad daughter. We can see what your dad has to say about that when we get home.”
When she mimes reaching for the dial, I grab her wrist, laughing. “Okay, okay. Point made.”
She puts a hand on my elbow, guiding me to the sink area to rinse out my mouth and wash my hands. As she leans against the tiled wall, legs crossed, Yumi says, “One year without me and your brain has already reverted back to being mean to you. What are you going to do without me when I leave again?”
Strangely, the question doesn’t send me into a nostalgia misery spiral. The way she says it is too jokey, like she doesn’t fully mean it. “Find someone else,” I reply with a shrug, following her down the hallway and out of the bathroom.
Over her shoulder, she calls. “Please. You’re an acquired taste, that’ll take years. What will you do in the meantime?”
I gasp in mock outrage. “Are you saying that nobody will ever love me, you jerk?”
“Not like I do.” She spins to wink at me. “Babe.”
Chapter 24
Initiation Rites
When we arrive at thegate of Quinta da Regaleira, we’re greeted by a group of several men dressed exactly the same. They wear pantaloons, their collars popped, thick bushy white beards chopped off just above their little white bow ties, wiry hair parted sharply down the center. I approach one who cradles a praying mantis in his hand.
“Are you António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro?” I ask him.
He uses one finger to pet his praying mantis gingerly. “I am.”
“Do you have a clue for us?”
“I believe I do,” he says, producing a clue envelope.
Yumi tears it open. “Team Challenge: WELL or ACTUALLY?” she asks.
I snort. Sometimes the challenge clue titles are just completely useless. “I don’t know. Do you want to do WELL? We can always switch if it’s something impossible.”
“Sure.” She shrugs.
WELL: Quinta de Regaleira is a sprawling estate, built by the eccentric businessman António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro. The grounds contain many hidden mysteries, but the greatest of these is the Initiation Well. This strange structure descendseighty-eight feet into an underground labyrinth. Many speculate Monteiro was linked to the enigmatic Knights Templar, and his Initiation Well was used for ritualistic purposes.
Today, teams must make their way through the underground cave system in total darkness. The last team to meet your Master of Ceremonies in the Quinta da Regaleira chapel may be eliminated.
I breathe a sigh of conflicted relief. Darkness doesn’t bother me or Yumi, but every momentThe Adventureversedoesn’t give us a heights challenge brings us a moment closer to them giving us one. It’s like the moon pulling the tides, the sun coming up in the morning, me panicking—inevitable. But for now, we’re fine.
In unison, we look up at the man and his mantis. “Would you like to begin the initiation?”
“Yes, please,” Yumi says cheerily.
“Then, come this way and allow me to explain the ritual.” He gestures for us to follow him through a stone arch and down a flower-lined path. “All brethren of the Knights Templar must brave the Initiation Well and the labyrinth below. Any light source is strictly forbidden. If, by God’s grace, you escape, you will find yourself in a garden oasis with a river. Cross the river stones and head to the chapel, where a saint will be waiting to initiate you.”
Garden oasis. River stones. Chapel. Got it.
Yumi cocks her head. “Is this saint Saint-Pierre-comma-Jonathan, by any chance?”
