Chapter Fifteen #2
And then it hit her like a lightning bolt right on her head.
“You found the advantage,” Amy shot, spinning around so fast she nearly lost her balance.
“That’s why you’re out here. That’s why you smell like you just walked out of a candy shop.
What is that?” Amy couldn’t pinpoint the smell, but her nose was a bloodhound on its best day, and she trusted her senses implicitly.
She took a sharp breath through her nose. “Is that condensed milk?”
“The advantage?” Wyn scoffed, guilt written all over her face. It couldn’t be more obvious. “Of course I didn’t find the advantage.”
Amy wasn’t buying it. Every season, a double-elimination advantage, which could send both members of a pair packing at once, was hidden somewhere deep in the forest, or buried in the sand, or, like in her season, bobbing along the waves.
And every season, it came paired with a decadent sweet treat.
Last season, Outlast Her had gone back to the rugged landscape of Australia, except that time Allegra Minder, who had gone on to win the entire game, had found a batch of fresh lamingtons tucked into a battered vintage cookie tin.
It wasn’t unbelievable that Wyn had stumbled across it. In fact, it was entirely plausible.
“I can smell something sweet,” Amy pushed. “And I can guarantee it’s not me.”
Wyn caught herself fast. She smoothed her face into something dangerously calm. But didn’t even the calmest of waters hold something? “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“What is the treat?” Amy asked. She wasn’t about to let it go, even if it was just a desperate distraction to change the subject. The last thing Amy needed now was a lecture on romance.
Wyn held eye contact for what felt like forever. She didn’t even blink. Amy, on the other hand, couldn’t hold out any longer. Her eyes were stinging, which forced her into a series of rapid, involuntary blinks. Yet she held as long as she could.
“Fine,” Wyn finally relented. She flicked her ash-blonde hair over her shoulder and sighed loudly. “It’s brigadeiro.”
“Briga what?” Amy asked.
The look on Wyn’s face was one of complete irritation.
“Brigadeiro,” she repeated, albeit slower this time, as if she were speaking to a toddler about the rules of a sandbox.
“They’re basically fudge balls made from condensed milk, cocoa, and butter.
They taste like literal heaven, Amy. And don’t you dare ask me how many I’ve eaten. ”
Amy’s mouth watered. She could imagine the sweet, chocolaty balls on her tongue and nearly closed her eyes and moaned.
But there were more important things at stake than sugar.
“Does Maya Lin know?” She even glanced over Wyn’s shoulder.
If Maya Lin were hiding somewhere out of sight, Amy wanted to find her.
But there was nothing beside the fan-shaped leaves of trees she couldn’t name.
“Are you and Savannah hooking up?” Wyn shot back, folding her arms over her chest as she cocked her head to the side. Her smile was so smug it would take a power washer to wipe off. But two could play this game.
“You first,” Amy said, literally digging her heels into the dirt. “Did you tell Maya Lin about the advantage?”
Wyn looked just about ready to pick Amy up beneath the armpits and toss her into the watering well. It wouldn’t be Amy’s first time, but it would be the most embarrassing. “No,” Wyn said, her nostrils flaring. “I only found the box this morning while I was on a walk.”
Walk, my ass, Amy thought. Wyn had obviously gone searching for the advantage. To be able to vote out both members of a pair was the ultimate power.
“And Luna and Kate?” Amy asked. She couldn’t imagine Wyn keeping a secret from them, but then again, sugar had a way of snapping even the strongest ties in half. “Do they know?”
“Uh. Uh. Uh,” Wyn said, shaking her head. “It’s your turn to answer my question.”
Amy didn’t want to. In fact, she’d rather walk on a bed of hot coals or eat the food her mother used to make. There was something about speaking your feelings out loud that made them that much more concrete.
“Fine,” Amy responded, then she walked over to the well once again and filled up another bottle. Stalling at its finest, she thought. But how long could she stall before Wyn wrung it out of her like water from a cloth?
As luck would have it, long enough. Luna walked into the clearing.
She was dressed in Kate’s spare pair of gym shorts.
Her soft legs had a shiny sunburned layer that wasn’t there yesterday.
“Oh, hi,” she said, looking surprised to see the two of them.
Then she snapped her head back over her shoulder before scanning the area.
“Where’s Savannah? I thought she came here to do the bottles.
She’s taking her sweet time. I’m absolutely parched.
What are you doing here, Wynnie? I thought you were at Moon Pit. ”
Wyn caught Amy’s eye and flared a warning.
Amy could easily ignore it. She could blurt out the word brigadeiro right now and watch Wyn’s game burn, but Wyn knew something, and wasn’t it better to keep your enemies close?
“Savannah left me with all the bottles because she had an errand to run. And I happened to see Wyn coming from Moon Pit and asked for her help.” She walked over and shoved the three remaining canteens hard against Wyn’s chest. It was a miracle she didn’t burp up brigadeiros.
Luna didn’t look completely convinced, which was why Amy picked up the bottle with her initials and handed it to her. “Here’s yours, all filled up.”
The distraction was enough. Luna tipped her head back, her eyes closing as she chugged half the bottle.
Amy caught sight of Wyn, who mouthed thank you.
But it wasn’t so much a favor as it was strategy.