Page 65 of The Chosen Fae

"We loved that. We didn't laugh as much as we wanted to, just in case he hadn't done it on purpose."

"He did it on purpose. None of us tried to drop our balls while balancing them on the plate because Vesper and Xena were having so much trouble. That way it didn’t look like we were sabotaging the other challenges."

“Well, we appreciate it. Hopefully, we can beat them tomorrow on the last of the challenges.”

19

The next morning, Rune and Stone headed out to the game board and saw that they were supposed to go to the forest, retrieve a flag, and return it to the game. Lolita soon met up with them.

Stone frowned. "This doesn't look quite right."

Rune agreed.

"It's not their usual detailed work," Lolita said, reading the board’s message.

"Or writing style," Rune said. "Where is everyone?"

"Gone," Lolita said. "My roommate, Xena, was already gone when I got up."

“The same with Iris. I never even heard her leave,” Rune said.

“Yeah, Silas sneaked out too,” Stone said. “And the Game Master isn’t here either.”

“Let’s check with the Game Master,” Rune said.

They went to the Game Master's office, and Stone knocked on the door.

"Come in," the Game Master called out.

They all went inside, and Stone said, "We were looking for the next challenge in the woods, but we didn't find any scent of anyone who should be there." Though he couldn’t understand why the Game Master wouldn’t have noticed that three of the competitors were missing, especially since they were down to nine now. That meant only six had shown up for the mission.

"We figured our competitors changed the game board, making us go someplace else," Rune said.

The Game Master looked at Lolita.

"The handwriting and details were way off," Lolita said.

"You're right. The rest of your competitors went to Crystal Lake. Take a boat to one of the buoys, dive down, and retrieve a clue to your next mission."

"How do we get there?" Lolita asked.

"You'll run. And you're way behind time." The Game Master smiled. "But you might make up for it if you take a bike or drive a car sitting outside the gates."

"The keys are inside?" Stone asked.

The Game master gave an almost impossible nod, her eyes smiling.

"You've only driven a car once before," Rune said to Stone.

They looked at Lolita.

"No way. I couldn’t even find a car when we were doing the changeling challenge. All the other fae had taken them in the area."

"If you go to the west entrance to the lake, you'll find a couple of special boats. You need to each get a clue, and it will take you in different directions for the final challenge," the Game Master said.

They waited for her to say more. She wrinkled her brow. "Go! Or you won't stand a chance." She sounded hopeful that they would still be in the competition.

"Thanks!" Stone said.