I laugh but follow her instructions. My breathing slows, evens out, and I fall asleep.
And only once I’m asleep does she fall asleep, too.
Chapter 28
Camaraderie
There’s a sense of camaraderiethe next morning for the five teams who endured the night. Not enough camaraderie for any of us to wake up Clyde and Cora as they sleep through their watches’ alarms, but enough to exchange looks of unhelpful sympathy while we quietly pack up.
Yumi rolls up her sleeping bag, placing it beside mine for production to collect later. Her hair is disheveled, the bags under her eyes more prominent than usual, but she still gives me a soft smile. She quirks an eyebrow at me, a silent question that I can’t narrow down. Is she asking if I’m okay, or ifwe’reokay? Either way, I nod and her shoulders relax. It’s the most we say right now, with the camera back on us and producers hooking our mic packs back up.
Leaving Cora and Clyde still sleeping, the rest of us follow our crew out an exit we didn’t take yesterday. The morning light is painful after hours and hours of nothingness. I’m not the only one shielding my eyes as we emerge into a grotto where Aliona stands beside the High Elves. As we form a semicircle around Aliona, Logan makes eye contact with the ground. Bee, meanwhile, lifts her chin defiantly, watching each of us with cool disinterest. The frustration is clear in her eyes. I wonder how tense their night was.
“Good morning, Adventurers!” Aliona chirps sadistically. “I hope you all got a good night’s sleep, because we’ve got a long day ahead of us. Today—”
She’s interrupted by the unmistakable grumble of a disgruntled middle-aged man. Clyde and Cora burst out of the cave, squinting against the light.
“So, no one wanted to wake us up, huh?” Clyde growls, looking accusingly at the group.
“No one is responsible for your game but you, Clyde. You’re a grown-ass man,” Gabriel says, crossing his arms.
“Everyone sees us as competition,” Clyde says to Aliona, like she’d prompted him with an interview question. Her face remains completely passive. “That’s why they wanted us to sleep through the challenge.”
“Everyone sees you assomething, all right,” KC mutters under his breath.
“Save it,” Aliona snaps, raising a hand. Her annoyance is obvious, and I have to imagine that it comes purely from this squabble happening in a meta-game moment. If it occurred at the airport, at a challenge, or during transportation, they could use it as content. But because Aliona is talking directly to us, it would be hard to work into the edit without breaking the fourth wall. “As I was saying, first, we will have breakfast and do our confessionals. Then all the teams will travel together to our next destination.”
Everyone leans in, waiting for her to reveal the location.
“Reykjavik, Iceland.”
“Hell yeah!” KC and Gabriel say, high-fiving. I don’t know ifthey have a special connection to Iceland, or if it’s just their easily hyped inner sports bro.
I, personally, am much more hyped for the breakfast spread.
For most other meals they’ve provided, the production staff has just handed us a plastic clamshell container with a sandwich and three pieces of lettuce disguised as a salad. Today, though, Aliona points us toward a breakfast station with steaming metal trays of scrambled eggs, bacon, and oatmeal. I make a beeline for the coffee, pouring myself a cup with unsteady hands. I’m not normally a coffee person—I already take a stimulant every morning, after all—but something has to bridge the gap in my executive processing created by last night’s psychological experiment.
While I dissociate into my coffee cup, Yumi approaches carrying two plates piled high with eggs and bacon. “Eat,” she says simply, shoving one toward me.
The ease between us isn’t lost on me, especially after last year. I wish it could’ve been smoothed over this cleanly back then. We eat in comfortable silence until Aliona calls us for our talking head.
I shovel one last piece of bacon into my mouth, tossing our paper plates into the trash while Aliona beckons us over impatiently.
“C’mon, girls,” she says as we settle in front of the camera. She’s remarkably grumpy for someone who got to sleep on a mattress last night.
Today’s interview setup has us standing in front of the steps that lead up to the palace. I imagine Yumi and me on screen in our matching blue windbreakers, bright colors against the trees, Quintada Regaleira’s white and gold spires rising in the background…How many times can I say I feel like I’m dreaming?
“Yumi, rough night?”
Yumi smiles and answers, “Last night was wonderful. Best sleep I’ve ever had. Highly recommend a medium firm boulder for side sleepers, though.”
The corner of Aliona’s mouth quirks up, her eyes darting to me. “Noelle, tell us about your experience in the cave. It seemed like you were contemplating leaving briefly. What was going on there?”
It will never not be creepy to imagine the producers and interns huddled up in some back room, discussing the juiciest moments from their spy cameras. I wonder if she’s actually asking, or if she needs to know because our mic packs were off and they couldn’t make out our whispering.
“There was definitely a moment in the underground tunnels where I was contemplating giving up on the challenge,” I restate obediently. “I’m not afraid of the dark, but I’ve never been in such all-encompassing darkness before. Your eyes just don’t adjust at all, and that was very disorienting for me. Once Bee and Logan left, it kind of opened up the possibility, you know?” I glance at Yumi and she nods encouragingly. “Like, at least there’s another team taking a penalty. But Yumi helped me push through, and I’m glad we won’t be starting at a disadvantage in Iceland.”
“How exactly did Yumi help you push through?” Aliona presses, crossing her arms.
