Page 61 of The Chosen Fae

Xena, on the other hand, was so angry that she started out fast and immediately dropped the ball. At least she was only a few feet from the beginning. She let her breath out, cooled down a bit, and started out again.

Stone hoped they wouldn't be here all day and night!

"If this continues for several more hours, we'll eat dinner out here," the Game Master said, taking a seat on a green moss-covered chair that game coordinators had brought out to her.

"Can you tell us what the next game will be?" Lolita asked.

The Game Master smiled. "We have to wait until everyone is here to continue. If this runs into the night, you can make pallets on the forest floor like you did when you stayed in the forest before."

Everyone enjoyed their snacks. Then Iris organized a yoga class, and everyone stretched and enjoyed the exercise.

Vesper was finally getting closer, about three-quarters of the way from reaching the end. Xena was at the quarter mark.

Both were moving so slowly that Stone estimated it would take them another hour or two to reach them, depending on how fast they were going and whether they dropped the ball and had to start over.

Rune shifted into her wolf, and then Stone did. They curled up under a tree and nuzzled.

The other wolves took their cue and shifted and lay down on the piled-up leaves.

Everyone napped.

Stone was certain that would really piss off Vesper if he saw them ignoring them and having a unified pack moment. When Vesper finally arrived, no one cheered him or welcomed him.

He got water and some food and turned to see how far behind Xena was. He shook his head at her as if he had done so much better and she was the one who had slowed their team down and made them lose so badly.

When Xena finally arrived another half hour later, she looked worn out.

She was allowed to get something to drink and eat, and then the Grand Master said, "We will continue with the quest."

Everyone shifted into their fae and then stood while they listened to the Grand Master speak.

"There are nine trays covered by a cloth, and each of the team members has thirty seconds to look at the random survival items, cover them up, and then write down as many items as you can remember."

"Does my team have to be penalized on how late we came in?" Vesper asked.

"No. Everyone starts at the same count on this one," the Game Master said.

Even though Stone felt they should have been penalized for their late arrival on the second game, it would create more of a challenge for everyone. Plus, Stone didn't want the others to be penalized for Xena and Vesper's slow progress on the last challenge.

"Alright. Stand in front of your box. As soon as your game coordinator removes the cover from your box, you have thirty seconds to memorize all the survival items in your box. There are thirty items, and some of your items will be the same as the other competitors’. Some will be different. You have twenty minutes after that to write everything down that you can remember. If you write something on your list that wasn't in your box, that item and one other that you named correctly won't be counted."

18

Rune hoped she could do all right with the memory game. She wondered how the Game Master would count all the challenges. Some were teamwork, and some were individual.

"Okay, you may begin," the Game Master said.

The Game Coordinators removed the covers from the boxes, and Rune's heart was already racing. Thirty seconds went by so fast as she tried to remember everything. A whistle went off. Before she was ready, the Game Coordinators covered the boxes back up.

Rune began writing as fast as she could: matches, flashlight, bug spray, poncho, emergency blanket, flare gun, cutting knife, axe, rope, can of food, package of food, water bottle, saucepan, fishing hook, fishing line.

She couldn't remember the rest. And she didn't want to say the wrong thing and have something taken away from her.

When the time was called, she remembered spices, a whistle, and hand sanitizer were included in her box. But it was too late to add it to the list.

She glanced over at Stone. "How many did you get?" she whispered to him while the Game Coordinators checked everyone's list against the items they had in their box.

"Twenty."