Finally, Silver leans closer to Niall and points to something on the pamphlet, ordering their sabotage off the menu.
Niall nods and goes to select one of the six boxes on the pedestals that are no bigger than a shoe box. Inside that box will be whatever method of sabotage Team Fuchsia has chosen.
Silver’s conniving eyes cut in our direction, her mouth twisting into a satisfied smirk, reminding me of the threat she believes me and Missy to be, no thanks to Shannon’s comments on us being the dream team we’re not.
Niall pauses, looking at each contestant before announcing which team Legend and Silver have chosen to sabotage. “Team Teal. Please take your place beside me and reveal to all of America how you will be sabotaged.”
Of course Team Fuchsia has chosen us. Missy glances in my direction, and I can tell by the way she purses her lips that she’dlike to give Silver a tutorial on how to tie a bandana around her neck.
Reluctantly, Missy and I step to the right side of Niall, mirroring Team Fuchsia on his left. Niall hands me the metal box, which is surprisingly light. I don’t even know if I want to guess what’s inside. I grip its base and turn to Missy. She swallows, hesitant, before placing her fingers on either side of the lid, pausing for the briefest of moments before lifting the top.
Too eager to wait, we both lean forward, spying what’s lying haphazardly at the bottom of the box.
When I finally make out what it is, my stomach drops, dread flooding my senses.
Missy is utterly silent, but the way her hands hold the lid frozen in midair tells me all I need to know.
Too soon, Niall steps in front of us, reaching into the box and pulling out the one item that has the potential to bring our team to a swift demise.
Dangling from Niall’s hand is a bungee cord with two Velcro fasteners. He holds it high for everyone to see. “In the next Mayday Challenge, Team Teal will be fastened together. Team Teal, you have once again been sabotaged.”
Chapter 10
MISSY
· DAY 5 ·
Life can take you to a lot of unexpected places, but never once did I think it would take me here—to the tropics, lugging a bag full of coconuts through the jungle, while simultaneously being bungee cuffed to Colton Downing. Life has a dark sense of humor, or asSunsets and Sabotagewould call it, Mayday Challenge Two.
“Okay, that’s not going to work. Let’s try this,” Colton says. He turns his back so he’s flat against the trunk of the palm tree and motions me forward with his hand—the hand that’s not currently strapped to my right wrist by a foot-long bungee cord. “Come on, up you go.”
“Says the man who’s not about to be hoisted up a tree trunk.” I squint through the harsh sunlight, staring at the top of the tree where three painted coconuts hang in a fishnet bag. I guess I have no choice. Well, I do, but the other choice includes me hoisting Colton up a tree, so I’ll take my chances.
I drop my backpack, as well as my net bag filled with coconuts, on the ground next to Colton’s. Preparing for my impact, he bends his knees so he’s doing a wall sit against the tree trunk, making it easier for me to get up on his shoulders.
“Here goes nothing.” I back up to get the tiniest bit of a running start. And thanks to our bungee buddy, I’m propelled forward, allowing me just enough speed to get the job done. I’m surprised by how sturdy Colton’s legs are as my muddy shoes launch onto his quads, then onto his shoulders like he’s a human staircase.
It takes all the abs I have to grip the tree trunk with one arm while the other stays attached to Colton’s wrist, keeping me at a lopsided angle. I start to wobble and my shoes begin to slip off Colton’s shoulders, but in the next moment, Colton’s strong hand wraps around my ankle. “I’ve got you.”
The reassuring words combined with his steadying touch make my face flush. I’m not used to Colton supporting me in any sense of the word. I suddenly feel more unbalanced than before.
I don’t dwell on the feeling; instead, I lean my sternum against the tree for balance and press onto my tippy-toes. The higher I get, the more my bungee arm is stretched in the opposite direction, making me feel like I’m on one of those medieval torture devices. But then my left hand grazes the knot at the top of the fishnet bag, and I’m one step closer to retrieving our seventeenth teal-painted coconut.
Yes, teal-painted coconut. If I didn’t already dislike coconuts from having to choke them down for the past four days, now I really dislike them because they’ve not only become a physicalmeans of surviving on the island, but they’re also the only way we’ll survive this challenge.
I get to untying the fishnet bag one-handed; all the while, I can hear Niall’s announcer voice in my head as he tells us that, for the second Mayday Challenge, each team must collect twenty-one unhusked coconuts from the jungle that are painted in their team’s colors. And once we find them, we’ll have to haul them back to the beach, using them to spell out the letters S.O.S.
Easy, I said.
Well, throw in a mile-wide search radius, a group of people eager to sabotage, and the fact that Colton and I can’t split up to divide and conquer, and this challenge quickly became the Easter egg hunt from down under … and I’m not referring to Australia.
“Hey, Miss Mosey, any chance you want to hurry it up?” Colton says.
“I sure would, except this knot is more tied up than a cat in a yarn basket. Not to mention it’s taking all my core strength to stay upright at the moment. My abs took a beating this morning.”
“Maybe you should take it easy on the yoga,” he says, referring to the beach yoga classes I’ve been teaching in our downtime. “You should really save your strength for the challenges.”
“Or maybe you should be thanking your lucky stars that I have the abs to do this,thanksto yoga. Without them, we wouldn’t have a chance at scaling this tree.”
