Page 67 of The Chosen Fae

And then they sped off toward the buoys farther away that no one had targeted for clues.

When they reached them, the other fae bobbed up next to their buoys with their plastic tubes containing clues in hand, looked around for their canoes, and turned to see them beached on the shore.

They had to be fuming.

Rune, Stone, and Lolita had turned off their jet skis next to three different buoys and dove into the water around them to get their clues.

The plastic tubes were tied up deep in the lake, and Rune had to dive down to reach her clue, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't untie the rope attached to the plastic tube containing her clue before she ran out of air. Frustrated that she couldn't untie the knot no matter how much she tried, she swam up to the surface for air and saw Lolita with her clue. She climbed onto her jet ski. Rune was glad for her. "Go to shore! I'm having trouble untying my rope on the plastic tube."

Rune suspected the water had tightened the knot.

Stone surfaced with his clue. "Where's Rune?"

"She didn't have her clue and dove back down," Lolita said, pointing in the right direction. “She couldn’t untie the rope holding hers.”

Stone got on his jet ski and drove over to Rune's buoy. She came up again for air without her clue. Stone didn’t hesitate and jumped into the water and swam down to get it.

Smiling, she thought he was her hero. She could reach the clue, but she couldn't get it untangled fast enough before she had to get air again.

He came up with her clue, kissed her mouth, tickling her, and got onto his ski jet. "Hurry. We'll get to shore, read these, and go where we have to next."

Lolita was already at the shore, pulling out her clue. They quickly followed her. They still had a head start on the other fae as they swam toward shore, encumbered by the plastic cylinder containing their clue in one hand.

Once Stone, Rune, and Lolita were on shore, they looked over their clues.

"Are they all different?" Stone asked.

"I need to climb a mountain, run across the top, and grab a flag and then return it to a stand at the base," Lolita said.

"I have to go deep into a cavern and find a flag at the end of the path, return to the surface, and place it in a stand," Rune said.

"I'm supposed to go over an obstacle course, climbing over a wooden wall, ascending a tower, crossing a rope using hands and feet, reaching the other side, and getting a flag after following more directions, then returning and planting it at the beginning," Stone said. "Why don't we swap clues? Lolita, how do you feel about going deep into a cavern? If passages are narrow, you can probably navigate them better."

"Yeah, I could. I love exploring caves."

"What do you want to do?" Stone asked Rune.

"I'll do your challenge if you want me to, and you can mountain climb. You maneuvered up those rocks so fast in the Escape Room Challenge," Rune said, “And we had to get out of the way of the boar after the rope bridges. You helped me climb to the higher rocks.”

"Okay, let's go while we still have the advantage," Stone said.

They read their maps to see where they were supposed to go.

"I've got to go this way," Stone said.

"The caverns are this way." Lolita gave them both hugs. "Good luck."

"Good luck," Rune said, hugging her back.

Stone patted Lolita on the top of the head. "Go win this for us." He smiled at Rune, hugged her, and then ran off.

Lolita took off, then Rune began navigating toward the obstacle course.

The other fae were just starting to arrive at the shore. All Rune could think of was that Iris, Silas, and some others said they would help them win some of the challenges. This sure wasn’t the way she thought they would deal with it.

Rune got her bearings and then ran off toward the course again. She hoped one of the three of them would win, especially because the rest of the fae had tried to trick them into not even taking part in the mission.

She finally found where she was supposed to go and had to maneuver over a water obstacle. She walked across a log that moved in the water as she hurried to the other side. When she reached it, she faced a large wooden wall.