Chapter 38 Time Loop
Time Loop
The comedy of watching Yumi turn bright red at every child who points at her while we race through the streets of Venice almost cancels out the terror of what’s to come.
The clue plays on a loop in my mind, and it’s like a neon sign blinking Surprise Double Elimination!
Call it superfan intuition. Knowing that we were a full hour behind KC and Gabriel puts me ill at ease, especially since the margin of error continues to shrink and we haven’t seen a single other team since we got off the cable car in Mürren.
My suspicions are all but confirmed as Yumi and I round Santa Lucia, returning to the cobblestone square where we met Doge Pietro II Orseolo. The Doge is still there, but now he stands beside JSP atop the iconic Adventureverse mat.
Jonathan’s mouth is trained into a straight line, looking on with utter indifference as Yumi and I sprint up. “Yumi, Noelle, welcome back to Santa Lucia station.”
“Thank you,” Yumi murmurs, nodding to the Doge, too.
JSP tilts his head, examining each of us closely. “As you might have guessed, this is an elimination point in today’s surprise Grand Adventure.”
I feel like face-palming. Of course it’s a Grand Adventure.
We’re getting down to the wire, two eliminations from the final three, and the season hasn’t done any weird twists apart from a single non-elimination leg.
It was always going to be a Grand Adventure—two challenges without a true rest between them, usually in two different locations—or something like it.
Taking a deep breath, I comfort myself with the knowledge that we’ll get to relax at the pool when we get eliminated.
“What place do you girls think you’re in?” Jonathan asks us, too gleefully.
Yumi folds her hands in front of her mouth. “Hopefully not last?” she hedges.
“You are team…number…one!” JSP exclaims, grinning.
My mouth drops open in shock as Yumi squeals with joy, bouncing beside me. She pulls me into a hug, her body vibrating with excitement.
“Really?” I ask, not trusting this man as far as Yumi could row him in a gondola without tipping it.
“Really. Congratulations, girls, your adventure continues right now.” He holds out a clue envelope, gesturing at the train station behind him. “Let’s get out there.”
If ever there were a real-life time loop, I suspect you would find it in Siena, the medieval city Jonathan’s clue sends us to.
Siena is one of those places that you understand the moment you see it.
The history of it is right there, in front of you: the sturdy buildings and narrow, uneven streets essentially the same as they were thousands of years ago.
I feel like I can see where people died of the plague.
Like in Mürren and Burano, there’s a complete absence of cars, but this time it’s due to the winding streets, barely wide enough to fit the family of four that meanders in front of us like they don’t know we have two million dollars to win.
I can’t believe how many carless towns we’ve visited. The US could never.
“Clue box,” Yumi says, pointing past people sprawled out on blankets, tanning and picnicking like they’re at the beach.
Across the piazza, I catch the unmistakable flash of Tall that signals the arrival of KC and Gabriel.
They must have been on our train, too. Grabbing Yumi’s hand, I tug her forward, but Team Football is closer and we aren’t professional athletes—former or otherwise.
The second they spot the clue box, it’s over.
We reach it just after them, pulling down the handle in frustration to retrieve our clue.
Yumi faces the camera.
Mandatory Team Challenge—DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE: At 88 meters, or 289 feet, Siena’s iconic Torre del Mangia is one of the three tallest historical towers in Italy.
It was built to match the exact height of the Siena Cathedral’s bell tower (which is ten meters shorter due to being on higher ground), to show Siena’s equal reverence for church and state.
For this group challenge, teams will locate the town hall building and proceed to the interior courtyard. Once all teams are present, they will be called in order of arrival to climb the Torre’s 400 steps and receive their next clue.
So, there’s a slim chance for us to pull ahead of KC and Gabriel if we find the town hall before them.
Of course, then we look up and see that the town hall is so obviously the town hall—even if it weren’t for the dramatic architecture and informational banners, it’s one of the few buildings in the plaza that isn’t a restaurant.
The professional athletes are nothing more than a blur of purple disappearing beyond the facade’s largest stone archway.
“Their legs are so long,” Yumi grumbles. “Where’s the justice?”
We follow them into the shady courtyard beyond the opening. The square of sky over us looks like a postage stamp, framed by tall crenelated walls that provide a welcome respite from the Tuscan sun but do nothing to help with the humidity.
I nod toward a wrought iron bench in one of the far corners and we head over. Ignoring a moment of déjà vu to Taylor Norris’s party, I nod to the tower and ask, “What do you think this is?”
“I don’t know.” She bites her lower lip, scanning the area. “Halfway through the season. Mid-Adventure elimination. Is it family visits? Do you think it could be family visits?”
A flash of silver-blond hair in the sun signals the arrival of Bee and Logan. They ignore us, of course, and I turn my attention back to Yumi.
“It could be family visits.” It’s hard to say if the show will even do family visits. They don’t always; they didn’t last season. I’m closer to suspecting it’s a double elimination, but I don’t want to bring down the mood.
“I hope so,” Yumi says wistfully. “It would be a nice break. Would your dad…?”
I try not to let hope settle in me too strongly, but still I stumble over my answer. “I—I’m not—it…Maybe. It depends on how he’s doing.”
Her face falls. “Right. Sorry.”
“My mom gets to be here, though,” I say, lifting the little globe. “So, even if it’s not family visits, I have her with me.”
Yumi reaches over and spins my mom on her axis. “I wonder who her favorite would be this season. Us excluded, of course.”
I bite my thumb, thinking. “KC and Gabriel, probably.” I glance over to where they sit in the grass, stretching their legs out and looking remarkably composed despite the heat. “But I don’t know. I mean, I thought you would have picked Zelda and Willard last season, so.” I shrug.
Yumi snorts. “I did pick Zelda and Willard.”
“What?”
“I thought you knew that.”
“I did! But you said you picked the Beauty Queens.”
She narrows her eyes, giving me a look that implies I’m incredibly dense. “Yeah, because you were right and I didn’t want you to be right.”
“Why not?”
“Noelle.” She gasps, throwing her hands up. “Because I was mad at you! I had to watch Zelda and Willard lose, and you weren’t there.” The last few words are staccato as she jabs a finger at me in playful accusation.
“They were always going to lose,” I say, shaking my head. “You knew that. I knew that. They probably knew that.”
“I thought they were the ones,” she says, pouting.
“No, you didn’t. You hoped they were the ones.”
Yumi sighs and says, “It’s never the winner you want it to be.”
“Except us.”
“Except us,” she repeats.
A few minutes later, Clyde and Cora huff and puff their way into the courtyard, officially declaring Team Kendycane’s elimination. Before the Ball-and-Chain can even sit down, a production assistant pops their head out of the tower and beckons over KC and Gabriel.
A slightly shorter eternity after that, they finally call, “Noelle and Yumi?”