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“I thought I saw a…” Her feet stopped and she brought a shaky finger up to point. “It’s a snood…”
Skeptical, I squinted through the trees. She wasn’t seeing things. Someone was out there, but as she started scaling a wall, blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, I wasn’t about to believe she was anything but a woman desperate to earn a coveted prize.
“That’s not a snood,” I told Sadie. “Not unless they can shapeshift into Gwen in her red sweater.” I nodded in that direction. “I think she’s moving the flag. Come on.”
We crept through the forest, trying to monitor Gwen’s whereabouts. “A corner of the flag should be showing. You can’t conceal it completely,” Sadie whispered, reassuring both herself and me. “That’s grounds for elimination.”
“Careful.” I glanced ahead enough to see the granite steps that led down the hill were not only dusted in snow, but the exposed, glossy pieces meant ice. We moved slowly, edging down the side of the hill, careful not to alert Gwen or lose sight of her either. Dagny’s shrieks moved closer. Even knowing the tales were nothing but folklore, I didn’t want to be around when she came into sight.
“There it is.” Sadie pointed at a rock face above us where the green flag’s corner poked out of a crevice.
Awesome. The first objective had been completed. Time to put my second plan in motion.
“Go grab it,” I told Sadie. “Then you’ll win.”
Her face paled at the thought. “I’m afraid of heights. I couldn’t.”
The wailing increased, like a circling shark; we were moments away from having our first interaction with a snood. Not that I knew what that meant.
“Fine,” I agreed, eager to get moving, “I’ll get it, but you carry it and say you found it.”
“That’d be a lie.”
“No,” I brought up a finger, “technically, you found it.”
Shuffling feet in the underbrush got my heartbeat on the rise.
“But I lack the courage,” Sadie argued.
A branch snapped behind me. I whirled and caught the tail end of a cameraman trying to get the shot.
“You don’t.” I had to convince Sadie to get the flag. “You earned this. You’re a great captain, you’re decisive and—“
Bushes rustled. I couldn’t wait around forever. Arguing no further, I started climbing. The flag wasn’t far. “It’s not that high,” I said to Sadie as I found my next hand hold and reached for the slip of fabric, “I think you’d—“
“Boo!” Eirene’s voice bounced off the wall as she peered down at us. Sadie’s scream bounced off the trees. A scream burst from me too, but not before I snagged the flag out of its spot. From the ledge above, Eirene laughed at the way I screamed. “You should see your face!”
Like a striking snake, she tore the flag from my hand and got her feet beneath her. Without warning, she started sprinting into the forest.
I jumped down, confused. “She took the flag. Can she do that?”
Wide-eyed, Sadie shrugged. “Snoods do as they please, messing things up, losing stuff, distracting people, and yeah, sometimes they steal the flag and win themselves.”
A deep groan rolled in my chest. “That’s what she’s doing! She’s going back to camp!”
I liked Eirene. She was great, but Fitz didn’t appear attracted to her. I had a moral obligation as royal wingman to kiss-block her and get the flag back to Sadie, a contender I thought had a real chance.
I took Sadie by the shoulders. “I’m going to get the flag. You run back to the start and wait for me. Okay?”
There wasn’t time to wait for her to process or complain. I took off after Eirene, moving through the forest much faster on the way back. Trees blurred as we moved. I stumbled over logs and rocks, but always caught my balance without losing sight of her for too long. Eirene was a jackrabbit, tearing through the forest, unhindered by the woods and its perils.
Desperation fueled crazy ideas. We hit the open ground outside the forest, and I couldn’t let her get any farther.
I veered right, running up a small hill that would give me an advantage. As my toes hit the edge of the short cliff, I launched myself. Arms out on either side like a flying squirrel, but likely with the grace and agility of a hippo, I flew. At least until gravity caught up to me.
Eirene glanced over her shoulder in time to watch me soar full force into her frame. Her eyes widened to saucers as a scream threatened to break free. Our bodies collided, combining our force as we tumbled through the underbrush.
When my body finally stopped moving, I stared up at the clear sky above me, the flag in my grip.
