Chapter 19
The next morning, Rune and Stone headed out to the game board and saw that they were supposed to go to the forest, retrieve a flag, and return it to the game. Lolita soon met up with them.
Stone frowned. "This doesn't look quite right."
Rune agreed.
"It's not their usual detailed work," Lolita said, reading the board’s message.
"Or writing style," Rune said. "Where is everyone?"
"Gone," Lolita said. "My roommate, Xena, was already gone when I got up."
“The same with Iris. I never even heard her leave,” Rune said.
“Yeah, Silas sneaked out too,” Stone said. “And the Game Master isn’t here either.”
“Let’s check with the Game Master,” Rune said.
They went to the Game Master's office, and Stone knocked on the door.
"Come in," the Game Master called out.
They all went inside, and Stone said, "We were looking for the next challenge in the woods, but we didn't find any scent of anyone who should be there." Though he couldn’t understand why the Game Master wouldn’t have noticed that three of the competitors were missing, especially since they were down to nine now.
That meant only six had shown up for the mission.
"We figured our competitors changed the game board, making us go someplace else," Rune said.
The Game Master looked at Lolita.
"The handwriting and details were way off," Lolita said.
"You're right. The rest of your competitors went to Crystal Lake. Take a boat to one of the buoys, dive down, and retrieve a clue to your next mission."
"How do we get there?" Lolita asked.
"You'll run. And you're way behind time." The Game Master smiled. "But you might make up for it if you take a bike or drive a car sitting outside the gates."
"The keys are inside?" Stone asked.
The Game master gave an almost impossible nod, her eyes smiling.
"You've only driven a car once before," Rune said to Stone.
They looked at Lolita.
"No way. I couldn’t even find a car when we were doing the changeling challenge. All the other fae had taken them in the area."
"If you go to the west entrance to the lake, you'll find a couple of special boats. You need to each get a clue, and it will take you in different directions for the final challenge," the Game Master said.
They waited for her to say more. She wrinkled her brow. "Go! Or you won't stand a chance." She sounded hopeful that they would still be in the competition.
"Thanks!" Stone said.
Rune said, "Thanks!"
Lolita quickly thanked her as they ran out of the office, headed out of the building, and raced straight toward the gate. They hurried out through the open gate and saw a red Ford Escape.
They climbed in, and Stone found the keys after a brief search in the console.
"I can't believe they gave us a way to try and catch up to the other competitors," Stone said.
"I can't believe the Game Master said nothing about us missing from the commons to go on the challenge," Rune said.
"I think it's part of the challenge," Lolita reasoned. "If we make up the time and win the challenge, we beat them at their game."
"True," Stone said, though he still couldn't believe Silas had slipped out of their room without Stone hearing him leave.
And for sure, Silas and Iris and the others had to have lied about being on their side, at least this time.
Maybe they had changed their minds. Or maybe Vesper and Xena had changed them for them.
"It's a competition between fae kind, and they're being fae, even though we don't play that way.
The people in charge are probably getting a kick out of it to see if we can even make it at all," Rune said, enjoying the feel of the leather seats.
"They might even be tired of us winning all the time and hoped the other faes' deceitfulness would change the outcome. "
"Possibly," Stone said. “But I thought Silas and the others were supposed to help us with the last few challenges.”
“Agreed,” Rune said.
"Wow, I can't believe you can drive the car," Lolita said, changing the subject.
"He can't. He's faking it." Rune smiled at him.
"Hey, I managed to drive to that house during the challenge to turn the baby into a changeling." He was driving faster than the speed limit.
"That's true." Rune had to agree. She thought she might not be able to drive as well, since she had never driven a real car before. A simulator wasn't anything like the real thing.
"We have to take a right up here to the lake," Rune said.
Then he slowed down.
Once he made the turn, Lolita shouted when she saw the sign for the west entrance to the lake.
Stone hit the brakes and turned right.
Rune was holding onto the overhead grab handle in the car for dear life, as best she could. "Slow down!"
"Sorry, we're in a competition." Stone didn’t seem sorry at all; rather, he was focused and determined.
"And we need to get there in one piece," Rune said.
Lolita agreed.
Stone found a gravel spot to park in front of the lake, jammed on the brakes, and turned off the car. They jumped out of the car all at once.
"Jet skis, a motorboat, and canoes are over there," Stone said, motioning to them as they raced to the water’s edge.
As soon as they reached the boats, Rune was already swinging a leg over a jet ski.
"We each have to get our own clue. We need to take three separate jet skis.
They should be the fastest." She didn't ask if Lolita could handle one; Rune wouldn't insult her by implying she couldn't. And she figured it would take Lolita too long to reach a buoy going by canoe.
Or if they took the motorboat and had to stop at each buoy.
"Yeah, let's go," Lolita said.
Lolita and Stone mounted their jet skis and shot across the lake toward the buoys where the other fae were already diving for clues, their canoes floating next to the buoys. Lolita handled her jet ski well.
Immediately, Rune had an idea of how to slow down their competitors, since they had tried to keep them from participating in the challenge. She veered toward the competitors' canoes, snatching the ropes of two and towing them swiftly to shore.
Stone laughed and went for three of the others, snagging their tow ropes and moving them to the beach.
Lolita claimed the last one, sped toward the shore, and beached it beside the other canoes.
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.