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“For the longest time I just wanted to come back and win this thing,” Sarah sighed. “You know? For all those years, it was all I could think about.”
“And now?”
Thoughtfully she pulled a piece of errant crimson hair back over one ear. “Now I just want to go home.”
Silence descended again, as the wind picked up. For a moment I could almost see the city in its ancient state. The beautiful pillars, the smooth stone columns. The vaulted domes of—
“Brooke!?”
The sound of footsteps came shuffling up behind us. Devin’s voice was all but frantic.
“What are you doing?” he demanded. “Why the hell are you sitting? And wha—”
“What’sshedoing here?” Reese cried.
“We’re done,” said Sarah, matter-of-factly. “The Banshees are out.”
“WHAT?”
“Medical elimination,” she said without looking up. “It’s all up to you guys, now.”
It took a half-second for the ramifications of what she’d just said to fully hit home. But only a half-second.
“That’s it, then!” cried Hayden. He pointed to the nearby top of the hill. “Let’s go! We’re in first place!”
“No,” Sarah sighed plainly. “You’re not.”
Her words struck the four of us together like a thunderclap. They made no sense. With the Banshees gone, that would make us—
“Need for Speed is ahead of you by about fifteen minutes,” said Sarah.
“Impossible,” Devin argued.
“Not impossible,” Sarah shook her head. “They had a Skip Task they’ve been saving since Belgium. They used it a few challenges ago. Leapfrogged ahead of us both.”
The guys glanced at each other first, than at me in a sudden panic. The emotional roller-coaster was just too much! In the span of only a few sentences we’d gone from the highest of highs to the most squeamish, nauseating of lows.
“That’s the last clue box,” said Sarah, rolling a finger upward. “Right now they’re already jogging to the finish line.”
It was the ultimate tease, the ultimate taunt. Whether she knew it or not.
“But you could still win,” Sarah said numbly. Her tired eyes shifted to me. “You could catch them.”
“No way,” said Hayden. “Not as fast as they are. And not with that big of a head start.”
“Not on foot, no,” Sarah agreed. Reaching down, she pulled something small and shiny from her pocket. “But you could withthis.”
She held something up for a moment before slipping it into my hand: a small silver token.
“I found it this morning,” she explained blankly, “when they were making us search the fountain for coins. It’s a wild card Fast Pass. Use it, and you can substitute any mode of transportation for any other.”
I opened my palm as we all stared down at the little metal disc. Devin and Reese gasped, as a sudden surge of adrenaline rushed through me.
“So you’re saying…”
“The clue up there specifically says ‘on foot’,” said Sarah, “which means the fighter pilots have to walk to the finish line.”
At long last she showed some expression, as her mouth finally curled into a knowing smirk.
“You guys don’t.”
