Chapter 43
Needle in a Haystack
“Today is the Seventh Adventure,”Yumi says, looking between me and the camera. “And we’re leaving in first place.”
I nod, smiling. “No better time than the semifinals.”
“As superfans, would you say that this is the most important time in the game to have an advantage?” Aliona asks as she swats away a dragonfly.
“As superfans, we’d have to say that, beside the final three, this is the most important challenge to have an advantage on.” The semifinal has an individual challenge and a team challenge, but the final has two team challenges, and they’re usually significantly more demanding. “But we’re hoping to have a first place advantage going into the final three, as well,” I declare cockily.
“Tell me your reads on the other three teams going into this Adventure. What advantages do you think you have over them?”
I let Yumi field this, the most boring of all possible lines of questioning. She’ll dodge badmouthing Clyde and Cora and Bee and Logan better than I ever could. While she talks for the millionth time about what a threat KC and Gabriel are, I take in the view behind Aliona.
Anyone watching us from home might be forgiven forthinking we’re in a tropical rainforest. A giant waterfall cascades down a fern-coated sheer drop, lush greenery fracturing it into hundreds of airy, glittering streams that land in a deep pool. Tall, full trees drape over the pool’s edge. Shifting light shines through the breaks in the canopy above us, illuminating the mossy rocks that ring the water.
There’s a mantle of mist over the area, making each inhale crisp and sweet. It’s enchanting, but it’s fake. Not fake like pretending to be sick to miss a test you forgot to study for, but fake likeThe Adventureverse.Fake likeHeavyweights. Fake like me and Yumi. The thunder of the waterfall, the Venus flytraps in the globe-shaped terrariums, the miniature rainbows arcing through the water—these things are all happening.
But they’re contrived. They were created, and planned, and put here to be looked at.
The Cloud Forest is essentially a greenhouse. For all of its grandeur, it could not exist outside this place.
Mandatory Individual Challenge: The beautiful island nation of Singapore is famous for its cleanliness, which is maintained by strict anti-littering laws that task criminals with cleaning up garbage.
Today, Adventurers will proceed by car to Siloso Beach, where they will see a marked-off section of beach with trash littering the sand. Four pieces of garbage have anAdventureverselogo emblazoned on the bottom, one for each team. Once a team member finds a logo, they may present it to the Ministry of Environment officer to receive their next clue.
NOTE: This challenge must be performed by the team member who has not yet performed a second Individual Challenge. No exceptions.
All the blood drains from my face.
I don’t know how we managed to get this entire show so wrong. We were so focused on keeping Yumi away from heights that we neglected to keep me away from the Needle in the Haystack. I thought the lupines were close enough that they’d have mercy on us.
I should’ve knownThe Adventureversewould never choose mercy over Good TV.
There are easily hundreds of pieces of debris scattered across the sand. The marked section is so large that I can’t even see the boundary on the other side. Yumi looks helpless as I stare at her in abject horror. We were wrong. We were so game-endingly wrong for putting me on this challenge.
At least we’re the first ones here, so I’m three times more likely to find the logo first, right? If that’s incorrect, I don’t want to know.
I try to move in a grid pattern, but the garbage is unending. Milk jugs and shoe soles and coolers blend together as I examine them and place them back in the sand. Despite each piece of litter being different, it’s impossible to keep track of what I’ve actually picked up and what I’ve just seen out of the corner of my eye. With each item of trash, each passing minute, my heart sinks further.
After about thirty minutes in hell, KC crashes through the trees, ducking under the neon tape cordon. “Ayo! They’re still here,” he whoops.
Behind him, Gabriel hollers in acknowledgment and joins Yumi on the sit-out bench in the shade. I mouthSorryto her, and she waves it off.
Having squandered our lead, I close my eyes and pray that I contract a terminal case of patience. There’s nothing I can do besides put my head down and keep going.
“I don’t suppose you’ll want to tell me what area you’ve already covered?” KC asks, not looking up as he examines a crushed soda can.
Shaking my head, I admit, “I couldn’t if I wanted to, dude.”
I watch him read the hopelessness in my expression, his downturned eyes wrinkling with pity. “Buck up, Noelle. We got this.” He pats me on the back, then returns to his search.
The sun is merciless, but the humidity is worse. Sweat drenches my hair, drips into my eyes, pours down my back to the point that I feel like I’ve been dipped in the ocean. But I tell myself to push through. I pick up garbage. I put it down. I tell myself this is luck. It’s not skill. I just have to keep going until I get lucky.
Bee arrives, looking fresh and perky, her (dry, for now) silvery blond hair shining in the sun. “Thought you guys would’ve been long gone by now,” Logan says when I walk dejectedly to the bench for my water bottle.
Yumi uncaps it and hands it to me. The water is past warm, hot enough to steep tea in, but at least she’s managed to refill it somehow. I nod my thanks without acknowledging Logan. Let Gabriel and Yumi explain this torture—I have garbage to look at.
