"That douchebag just fucked me, all because he wanted to sleep with my partner. What? No cussing? Fine. That jerk just dicked over his sister and me. What? I can't say dicked on camera either? Come on." — Liam Brogan, Ireland Leg of The World Races
~~ * * * ~~
"What the fuck, Brodie?" I called, staggering to my feet.
Chip plucked the Ace from Brodie's hand, brandishing it triumphantly. "And we have our first Ace of the game in use! Yellow team is going to use it to save the black team! That makes this round a non-elimination round!"
My jaw dropped. "Wait, don't we have to vote on this?" But no one was listening to me, it seemed.
Tesla gave a small cry of happiness and jumped on Brodie, kissing his cheek and bouncing all over him as she squealed her thanks. I rolled my eyes at that, and eyed Liam, who was bent over, hands on his knees, as if he were about to hurl again.
I didn't blame him. I kind of felt like puking at this moment myself, and it had nothing to do with a bellyful of mukluk. What the hell was Brodie doing?
"But this Ace," Chip boomed, and held the envelope aloft, "has a twist!" And he tore the top off the envelope.
I groaned. Of course there was a damn twist. Nothing was ever simple in this damn game. My stomach gave an uncomfortable anxious lurch (but it might have been the mukluk).
I was going to kill Brodie for doing this to us.
Chip pulled out the bright green card inside the ace packet with a flourish and read it aloud. "Since the teams are all safe on this leg, the next leg will be double elimination. In addition, since Yellow Team saved the Black Team, there will be a mix-up of those two teams. You will swap partners."
I stared at Chip, aghast.
Liam straightened, frowning.
Tesla gave a happy giggle, and Brodie just hugged her again.
"Swap…partners?" I said slowly, then looked over at Tesla and my brother. "So I'm with Tesla?" I asked, deliberately misunderstanding.
Chip shook his head. "Since the teams were initially boy-girl, we'll keep them boy-girl. You're now with Liam, and Brodie is now with Tesla."
"Seriously?" I stared at my new partner in horror. Liam had the grim expression of someone who'd just been told he needed a root canal.
"Gee, that's a bummer," Brodie said, in a voice that didn't sound bummed at all.
I turned and gave him a scathing look. "You? Do not talk to me. At all. Ever again. I'm here on this race because of you, and you just screwed me over."
Brodie gave Tesla a look that said I was being tiresome, which just infuriated me all the more. "Quit being so dramatic, Katy," he told me. "Liam's a nice guy."
"Yeah, and I'm a nice girl who had to shovel raw whale blubber into her mouth so we could get first place! Except now I've lost my partner and I'm paired up with the dude that pushed me to the ground and can't eat whale blubber to save his life! So you'll forgive me if I'm throwing a bit of a fit here."
My new rock-star partner said nothing at my ranting, but that didn't surprise me. Heck, the guy never said anything around me.
"So which one of us is in last place, then? Huh?" I gestured at the four of us standing in front of Chip. "Who's yellow and who's black?"
"We'll draw straws," Chip announced, seemingly unruffled by my rage. An assistant rushed forward to hand him the straws, and he mixed them up in his hand and then held both of them out to us, the bottoms carefully masked. "Whichever one is tipped with black means that they will be black team…and last place. Yellow will remain in the lead."
He held the straws out to Tesla. She glanced at me. I waved a hand at Liam. "Let him do it. Doesn't matter what I say around here anyway."
Liam pulled a straw.
It was black-tipped.
I ignored Brodie's whoop of delight and shook my head. "Someone point me to my tent, because I'm done for the day."
"Igloo," Chip corrected.
I could have cheerfully pushed everyone into the icy waters of the bay in that moment.
~~ * * * ~~
It was cold in the igloo. Not a surprise, considering we were in Greenland, in a shelter made of ice. I'd more or less sulked in there for the entire afternoon. Abby had come by to try and cheer me up, but I could tell she thought I'd gotten a shit deal, too. "If Dean and I get an Ace, we'll use it to save you, I promise," she told me. "And if we have a chance to sell your brother down a river, we'll totally do it. Dean thinks he did an awful thing today."
"He did," I agreed. Hearing it from another person made me feel a bit better, at least.
"Just hang in there," Abby had told me. "You've got to move up two places in the next round or else you'll get eliminated."
Two places might as well have been impossible, since I was with Liam the Loser. But I kept that to myself and told her I'd do my best.
My brother Brodie had swung by at some point to try and explain himself, too. "It's nothing to do with you, Katy," he told me in a patient voice, after I'd thrown snow in his face. "You know I want a TV career out of this. I have to make big moves in this game to get on the producers' radar, and I'll do whatever it takes."
I'd said nothing. Abby's earlier advice of make good TV rang in my ears. Hell, I hadn't even shared that with Brodie and he'd already known what to do. I felt a little less angry at him after hearing him say that. He had been totally honest with me about what he wanted out of this. He wanted a career. Me, I wanted a check for twenty grand to kick-start my business and a vacation in Acapulco at the Loser Lodge.
But even as I told myself that, it felt untrue. I might have wanted to come into this race for the consolation prize, but now that I was here? The competitive spirit was catching up to me and I was in it to win it.
So I laid in the sleeping bag provided by The World Races people, huddled in the icy darkness, and hated everyone. Well, except Abby. I hated my brother most of all for selling me out so he could make good TV.
And I hated that I was stuck at the back of the pack. The only thing good about me probably getting kicked off next was that Liam wouldn't be getting the prize money either. Then again, I'd be stuck at the Loser Lodge with him for the next three weeks, so that didn't sound like fun either. I was screwed either way.
A shadow moved across the entrance of the igloo, and I stifled a groan of irritation as I heard the rustle of Liam's thick parka as he came into the igloo. This team switch was awful - not only had my brother sold me out, but I had to bunk with Liam the Girl Shover.
I said nothing as I heard him rustling around in his bunk. It got quiet, and I assumed he was laying down to sleep. Long moments passed, and neither of us said anything. I stared up at the darkness, practically vibrating with resentment.
"I tripped," he said, in a voice that was so low I almost didn't catch it.
"Huh?" I turned to look in his direction.
"I tripped and fell on top of you. I wasn't trying to. I just tripped." His voice was low and even, the words so slow to emerge that they were almost hesitant. "I didn't push you."
Oh. Some of my rage deflated. I thought about the scene with the footballs. It had been pretty chaotic. Horrifically chaotic, even. I could see someone tripping in that mess. And I remembered him offering me a hand after the fact. "You still stole my football," I told him.
"You dropped it."
"You could have given it back."
"I could have, but it's a game."
That wasn't the answer I wanted to hear. I rolled over and tried to go to sleep, but I was too angry and cold to do more than stare into the darkness.
~~ * * * ~~
The next morning, I woke up and began to shove my gear back into my backpack. We had twelve hour rest periods between race legs, and the time was dependent on when we finished the last leg. Since black team was in the back, I had at least an extra hour before I had to get going.
Which was fine, because I was pretty wrecked physically, due to sleeping in an igloo. I was also wrecked mentally, due to my brother, the selfish jerk. The only good thing about being so wrecked was that I was pretty sure my new partner was, too. He looked like he had a mukluk hangover, and his shaggy black hair hung in his face.
Tesla, meanwhile, looked fresh as a spring rose as she giggled and cooed and hung on my brother as they paraded to the starting mat. That ratfink. I narrowed my eyes as the cameras moved in close to Brodie and Tesla to film their take-off. One of the Inuit appeared and handed them their next disk.
I watched as Tesla grabbed the disk before Brodie could and flipped it over to read. This time? Brodie was forced to peer over her shoulder. Glad to see someone was turning the tables on my brother, at least. They glanced at each other and immediately shrugged on their packs and headed back toward Kulusuk, the small town on the shoreline that held the airport. Made sense, considering that was the only real town I'd seen so far. My eyes narrowed as Tesla twined her fingers with my brother's and they held hands as they raced off. I glanced over at my teammate, but he was looking anywhere except at me. That was fine. I was pretty cranky as it was.
After what seemed like eternity, Liam and I were the only team left. I huddled in my black jacket - better than yellow, at least - and headed toward the starting mat as the cameras zoomed in close. When the Inuit guide offered the disk to us, Liam gestured that I should take it.
I did, grudgingly, and flipped it over.
"Your next clue is at Blarney Castle in Ireland. The charter planes will take you back to Reykjavik, Iceland, and from there you may select your flight to Ireland. One hundred dollars has been provided for food, drink, and necessities." The hundred dollar bill was inside an envelope fitted to the back of the disk. "Have this disk - along with the others you receive - when you cross the finish line." I held it out to Liam to read.
He declined with a wave of his hand, glancing at the distant horizon. "I suppose we should head back to the airport, then. I'm guessing we're going to be on the last charter flight again."
"I'd say that's an accurate guess," I replied sourly. I shrugged on my backpack. "Might as well get it over with, then."
One trip to Acapulco, coming right up.
~~ * * * ~~
It wasn't surprising to me that when we arrived at the airport in Reykjavik, all the other teams were still there. A travel agent had suggested that we fly in to Cork, the next flight to leave, and sure enough, all the other teams were waiting at the terminal.
They didn't look happy to see me and Liam, either. I supposed that if we hadn't caught the same flight, they would have been assured that we were one of the teams sure to go. This way, it was a toss-up all over again. I had a hunch that the producers were deliberately shoving all of us together just to see how the two new teams – mine and Brodie's – reacted to each other.
Too bad for them. I was still in a bad mood, so I took my water bottle and headed to a seat away from all the others, not feeling particularly social at the moment. I didn't care about getting to know the others or 'hanging out' with them, since they didn't seem to want to get to know me, either. No one had made any effort but Abby, and she was cuddled up next to Dean, her eyes closed as if trying to take a nap before the plane got here.
Brodie was sitting in the center of the group with Tesla at his side, looking for all the world as if she'd always been his partner. His arm was loosely around the back of her chair, and she leaned into him, laughing at everything he said. I rolled my eyes and ignored them. Sitting down, I pulled my legs up into my chair and rested my arms on my knees.
Liam glanced at me, and set his backpack down next to me. Then, he went to chat with Tesla, likely to talk strategy or to bitch about his partner. I didn't care. This wasn't fun anymore. If we were the first ones kicked off? I'd be just fine with that. I'd gone from being genuinely excited about being in first place and thinking we had a shot at the money to feeling abandoned.
"Oh, don't worry about her." Brodie's voice rose above the crowd, and I could hear it from where I sat. "She's just in one of her Cranky Katy moods. She'll get over it soon enough."
The teams around him tittered. I narrowed my eyes as a camera zoomed in on my brother, who didn't seem to give a shit that I was miserable.
"Maybe she's cranky because her brother abandoned her to hook up with a hot girl." The voice was deep and smooth and held just a hint of reproach. "I imagine that anyone would be in a bad mood if that happened to them. She got sold out by her partner."
I looked up in surprise. Liam's back was to me, so I couldn't see his expression. But that voice had been his. Was he defending me?
The crowd went quiet. Tesla wriggled in her seat, as if uncomfortable, and Brodie scowled at Liam.
I glanced away, pretending not to notice that Liam abandoned their little crowd and came to sit next to me in the empty seat. He didn't look over, just grabbed his pack, put his headphones on, and began to drum a beat on his backpack, acting as if nothing in the world bothered him.
Me, I was full of confused thoughts. I'd been nothing but nasty to the guy and he'd defended me. Meanwhile, my brother, who was supposed to have my back? Had been calling me by the childhood nickname that he knew drove me crazy – Cranky Katy. Brodie and I argued - that was just how siblings were - but on TV? It was kind of embarrassing.
And yet Liam hadn't sat around and laughed at Brodie's words. He hadn't joined in the little party that was trying to make me feel bad for being unhappy. He'd chided Brodie to his face and then turned and left.
At least someone had my back.
~~ * * * ~~
"Blarney Castle, just up ahead," I told Liam, folding up the map I'd been reading. I was in the back seat of the small car with the cameraman, given the task of navigating while he'd drove, since Liam was better with a stick shift than me.
We'd more or less reached an uneasy truce since getting off the flight at Cork. While we weren't exactly friendly with each other, we'd fallen into a working relationship of a sort. We were polite and efficient as we'd gotten into the car rented for us, bought a map, and found our way to the next location. Liam was a rather quiet sort, so I didn't know what he was thinking.
Not that it mattered, I supposed, since it was still looking as if we'd be the first ones kicked off of the race anyhow. We'd had the bad luck to have seats in the very back of the airplane since we'd arrived last at the ticket counter, and Liam wasn't the type to shove his way to the front of the plane in a hurry to get off. He'd simply sat in his seat and waited for his turn, and I'd followed his lead. By the time we'd gotten off the plane and found the rental cars marked for the racers, we were the last ones to leave the airport.
"There," I said quickly, pointing as we drove over a tiny bridge. "Parking is in that direction." The castle was a fair distance away, the tower of it on the horizon. "Looks like we hike it from here."
"Looks like," he agreed, and then gestured at the line of identical silver hatchbacks already in the parking lot. "All the others are already here."
"Not surprising," I said. We'd known we were in last place and nothing had happened to change that.
We parked our vehicle and grabbed our backpacks out of the trunk. To my surprise, he grabbed my pack and swung it onto his back next to his own, doubling up.
I gave him an odd look. "I can carry my own bag."
"I know," he said easily. "But it's a long walk to the castle and we can make up time if I carry it."
I hesitated. "I'm not helpless."
Those dark eyes lit on my face. "Never said you were."
Okay, then. I nodded and we sprinted up the winding path toward the castle.
Ireland was really, really green. I'd expected that, but I was still surprised at how brilliantly pretty the grounds of the castle were. Abundant plant-life was everywhere, and flowers were blooming - a wild contrast from the cold snow of Greenland. As we arrived at the front of the castle, The World Races mat and flag came into view. A man in a black jacket and a short green kilt with white socks was there to greet us. He held out a disk as we approached.
Liam gestured that I should take it, so I did, and flipped it over. "Blarney Castle is known for two things - its remarkable gardens and the Blarney Stone," I read. "As a team, your task is to plant an appropriate item in each of the four main gardens of the Blarney Castle gardens. Only plant in the marked sections. Once you have planted all four items in the correct spots, a gardener will give you your next task." I flipped over the disk to make sure I hadn't missed anything else, then looked up at my partner. "Ten bucks says that someone has to kiss the Blarney Stone while we're here."
"I'm not taking that bet," he told me, and his mouth curled on one side in a hint of a smile. He really did look like a rock star just then, especially with the lip piercing.
I found myself smiling back, and I tucked the disk under my arm. "Well, let's find these gardens, shall we?"
We followed the marked path, and there was a spot with another World Games flag flying overhead. There were rows of potted plants lined up, guarded by a pair of gardeners in the same green kilts that our greeter had worn. We set down our backpacks next to the pile of the others, and I tucked the disk into mine, then we each grabbed a potted plant to start the task.
I stared down at my pot. Mine looked…well, like weed. I giggled and showed it to Liam.
"Pretty sure that's illegal in most states," he murmured to me as we walked to the nearest garden. His was a plain fern of some kind. "Hope there's not an Irish cop around to watch us plant that."
There were signs all over the extensive grounds, and from what I could tell, there were four main gardens - the Fern Gardens, the Poison Gardens, the Irish Garden, and the Bog Garden.
"No smoke garden," I joked. "Maybe we should plant yours first. It's obviously the one that goes in the Fern Gardens."
We headed for the Fern Gardens and found a pair of shovels, the marked area, and two other teams still digging away at their marked plots. I got excited at the sight of that, especially when I realized that one team had no clue what they were doing, since they were planting their cannabis in the Fern Garden.
I set my pot of, well, pot down next to Liam's fern and grabbed a shovel. "Come on," I told him in a low voice. "We can catch up right here." I pushed ahead and began to shovel dirt. It was soft and loose, not hard packed, and already wet. This wouldn't be hard to dig at all. I tossed the shovel full of dirt to the side and stuck my shovel in again.
"I should be the one digging," Liam told me.
"Why's that?" I asked, even as I hopped on the edge of my shovel to dig it into the ground even deeper.
"Because I'm…bigger than you."
"You were going to say 'because you're a guy,' weren't you?"
He said nothing.
As if sensing an argument, a cameraman zoomed in on us working.
"Admit it," I told him. "You think I'm weak because I'm a girl and that's why you're being all weird."
"I never said you were weak or girly. You're just…short."
I tossed the shovel-full of dirt on Liam's buckle-covered, expensive boots.
He snorted. "Fair enough. I deserved that."
"You did," I said in a cheerful voice. "And you can dig the next one. Now, hand me your plant."
"Yes, ma'am," he told me, and he sounded almost amused at my bossiness.
We planted our first two quickly, electing the Poison Garden for the cannabis, and then heading back for the last two. We planted something that looked like a water lily in the bog garden, and the last plant, I had no idea what it was, but we just guessed at that point, and then flagged over a gardener.
Apparently we'd guessed right, because the gardener immediately handed over a disk. "Congratulations."
Whooping with excitement, we quickly flipped over the disk and read it, heads bent. My hand brushed over Liam's as we flipped, but I didn't have time to focus on that. We read the next clue together.
"Make your way to the Blarney Stone," the disk read. "One team member will need to volunteer for the kiss, and receive the gift of gab."
He glanced over at me, and I noticed how close our faces were for the first time. "Well, you called it."
"I did," I told him, unable to stop looking at his mouth, so close to my own. "I figured they'd use every opportunity to make someone kiss in this game." Abby's comment about making good TV was permanently stuck in my head. I began to get flustered as I thought about kissing him. He was tall, and, okay, if I admitted it to myself, good looking. Sure, he had tattoos and piercings, but he was pretty hot if I was paying attention to that sort of thing.
Which I wasn't. Theoretically.
"Do you know much about the Blarney Stone?" he asked me.
"Just that it involves kissing. Maybe you have to stand on it and kiss someone for this gift of gab thing," I told him, and felt my body get all flushed again. Was I going to have to kiss him for the next clue? Why did that make me feel all weird and kind of excited instead of reluctant and unhappy?
"Only one of us is mentioned, though," he said thoughtfully. "What if we have to kiss a stranger?"
"Oh," I breathed. I hadn't considered that. I elbowed him in a playful manner. "Well, you're the one that could use the gift of gab, if you ask me."
He stared at me, eyes narrowing. "Fine. I'll do it." Then, he turned away, clearly angry.
Guess I'd ruined our easygoing mood. Way to go, Katy, I told myself. We grabbed our bags - though he insisted on carrying mine - and followed the signs back to the castle itself.
I guess when I'd pictured the whole Blarney Stone thing, I thought it would be a big rock in a field that everyone went to and kissed. To my surprise, the Blarney Stone was just a stone set in the middle of one of the castle walls, nothing particularly special about it. I watched as one of guys from another team - Derron - laid on his back and grasped a pair of ropes attached to the wall. Two men held his legs as Derron lowered himself backward and kissed the stone while upside down. As soon as he was done, someone reached down with a scrub brush and cleaned the wall.
Okay, that was…not what I had been picturing. I looked at Liam sheepishly. "I guess I was wrong about the Blarney Stone."
"Guess so," he said in a bland voice, and I frowned. I'd hurt his feelings with my comment about the gift of gab. Now I was the bad guy.
He set down his backpack against the wall and got into line behind another team. I studied him, then noticed a camera hovering nearby.
Make good TV, Abby had warned me. They'll fix stuff in your direction to keep you on.
And the silent treatment between us? Not really good TV. Plus, it bothered me that Liam and I had come to a sort of understanding earlier, and we had almost had…fun.
Except I'd gone and blown things by making a comment about how quiet he was. So I needed to fix things, and I needed to make good TV. Somehow.
I considered this as I waited with our bags. The other person finished smooching the rock, and then it was Liam's turn. They carefully lowered him backward to the stone and he kissed it, then came back up a moment later. He got to his feet in an easy, fluid motion, and someone handed him a disk. Instead of reading it, he immediately headed for me so we could read it together.
He was like night and day from Brodie, really. And for the first time, I really, really wanted to make this work. And make good TV. And I kept thinking about how I'd misinterpreted the whole Blarney Stone thing, and how I'd been a bit disappointed when I realized that we wouldn't be kissing after all. And that was a little weirdly disappointing. I mean, wouldn't a kiss make great TV? I thought so.
He came to my side and held his hand out for his backpack.
I threw my arms around his neck and planted my mouth on his.
It was impulsive and a little crazy. Okay, a lot crazy. But I didn't care. I kissed him, pressing my lips against his and feeling the bite of metal at the edges of his mouth. For some reason, that was a bit erotic, and it distracted me.
It was, however, not half as erotic as when his tongue snaked out and brushed against my lower lip.
I was so startled by that, I almost stopped kissing him. Instead, I made a small noise of surprise in my throat, and my mouth softened. His tongue dipped into my mouth, and I felt a tongue stud brush against my own smooth tongue. And oh god, that was…really good.
"Guess he's sharin' his gift o' gab," someone called out merrily behind us, accent thick.
"Sharin' somethin'," someone else commented.
I broke apart from Liam, my face flushing. "Um…good job," I told him, brushing my fingers along the edges of my lips thoughtfully.
He stared down at me, as if trying to figure me out. After a long moment, he said nothing and simply handed me the disk.
I took it in trembling hands and flipped it over to read. "Drive your way," I began, but I noticed he was leaning in close, and I could practically feel his breath on my skin. My voice was squeaky and weird, and I had to clear my throat and start again. "Drive your way to Trinity College in Dublin. Head to the College Library and you will receive your next task there."
"Shall we go, then?" Liam's voice was low, and just a bit husky.
"Sure." I didn't know what else to say, and there was the weirdest blush on my cheeks. "Sure," I repeated, and didn't protest when he grabbed my backpack again.
~~ * * * ~~
The drive to Trinity College took a few hours, and they were weird hours. Neither myself nor Liam were in a chatty mood. We'd gone back to our efficient sort of quiet, speaking only when directions needed to be given or to speculate about the race.
I didn't know what to say, so I didn't blame him for being silent. We'd gone from hating each other last night in the igloo to practically making out atop Blarney Castle this morning. He probably thought I was nuts.
Hell, I wasn't sure that I wasn't nuts.
I did keep playing with my lip as he drove, though, thinking of the feel of the metal in his mouth against mine. His lips had been soft in contrast to that. The lip ring on his lower lip had pressed into my skin, and I'd felt that tongue stud graze against my tongue in a way that had made me dazed. I'd known that he'd had it, but I just hadn't thought about it when it came to kissing.
And now I couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Almost there," Liam told me in his quiet voice, breaking my reverie. His dark gaze locked on my face via the rearview mirror.
I put my hand down, realizing with a slight flush that he'd caught me playing with my mouth. "Great."
"I see two other cars," he told me as he pulled into parking.
"Maybe we'll see Tesla and Brodie," I told him. And then a horrible thought occurred to me. What if Liam and Tesla were an item? Oh god, and I'd kissed him on national TV. No wonder he'd stiffened up like that. No wonder he was acting weird now.
But…I was also pretty sure he'd kissed me back. It was mystifying.
We grabbed our bags, and he carried mine again, despite my protests. With our gear in hand, we hiked across the campus, following The World Races signs toward the library. Several red-brick structures surrounded us, and as we headed to one massive building, I wasn't sure that it was the right place. It seemed too large to be a library.
Of course, as soon as we opened the doors, I changed my mind.
The breath escaped me. Holy cow, that was a lot of books. I stared in fascination as I walked in, surprised at just how many books were in this building. Row after row after row of bookshelves lined up as far as the eye could see, neatly cordoned off by red velvet ropes. Each aisle had a bust of someone old or famous at the end, and when I looked up, I could see that there was a second floor of even more books.
"Wow," I said.
"I hope you don't have to find a particular book," Liam told me in a quiet voice, staring around us. He looked equally impressed.
"Oh god, I hope not, too. I'm a baker, not a librarian," I told him.
"A baker, huh?" He seemed amused by that. "I'd have guessed camp counselor with the pigtails."
I rolled my eyes. "The pigtails were a casting decision."
He chuckled. "They're cute."
Cute? Was he flirting with me? I cast him a look, but he was pointing down the long alley of bookshelves. "I see our guy."
I followed his gaze and sure enough, there was The World Races flag. We picked up the pace, stepped onto the mat, and retrieved our next disk.
"This challenge is mine since you did the last one," I told Liam, and began to read the disk. "The Trinity College Library is home to the famous Book of Kells, one of the most ornately decorated manuscripts ever found. Using the materials provided to you, you will recreate the page that the book is currently open to. A judge will decide if your copy is worthy. When you are approved, you will receive directions to the finish line for this leg of the race."
"You good at painting?" Liam asked, glancing down at me. I could have sworn there was a hint of an amused sparkle in those dark eyes.
I rolled up my sleeves, grinning. "Dude, I frost cupcakes on a regular basis. I am ace at painting. Just watch me."
"Don't get cocky," he told me, but there was a teasing note in his voice.
I simply grinned and headed for the roped off area. There were three other contestants there, and as I watched, Steffi from the purple team handed her page to the judge, who laid it down on the table, scrutinized it with a magnifying glass, and then shook his head. "No."
Okay, so this wouldn't be easy. I headed to the table set up for me and peered down at the materials, taking a quick assessment of things. Paints in small pots were neatly lined up on the far end of the table, along with multiple brushes. A long piece of thick, weird paper had been laid out on the table, and as I leaned over it, I saw that a drawing had already been done on the paper. It was crazy ornate, too, with a jillion lines and swirls moving back and forth, all in black and white. Obviously our job was to color it to match the Book of Kells. I studied it for a moment, and then looked around for the book.
Off in the distance, there was a roped off section. I watched as Summer got in line again, headed straight to the glass-case covered book, stared at it for a long while, her lips moving, and then raced back to her table to return to her page. So this was coloring and memorization. There had to be a smart way to do this. I stared down at the paper a moment longer. It reminded me of paint by numbers. All right then, I'd treat it like that. I raced to get in line to view the book, and when the contestant in front of me was done, I moved up to the podium.
And stared. The book was gorgeous. Illuminated by a soft light, the book was opened to a page of one of the Apostles, his head crowned by a golden glow. He held up a hand and cupped an object in it, and his robes were a heavy blue. I studied the colors for a moment, then decided to tackle it one color at a time. I'd start with gold. Crown, I told myself, then looked for other bits of gold. Sandals, sparkles in the sky, and the border. Repeating this to myself, I ran back to my page and dipped a paint brush, then blobbed the appropriate pieces.
Each object in the picture had been broken into several different sections - no doubt to try and throw us off, so I dabbed a bit of the appropriate paint color in each section, then set my brush down and returned to the painting. I'd do blue next, and then work my way through all the colors, so I'd know I was right. It'd take some time in advance, but it'd pay off when I only had to do it once. Even now, I watched another person - Myrna - call over the judge, only to be told 'no' right away. This challenge was about accuracy.
So I returned to the book and looked for blue. Then red. Then green. Then black. Then the smaller, less numerous colors. I took my time, carefully dotting each color on my page. Sometimes I had to return once or twice to the book, unsure of the block I was looking at, so I just skipped that and checked it the next time I went. By the time I had most of my picture blocked out, the three teams that had started at the challenge were still there, and the last two had arrived.
I wasn't flustered, though. I had this. I leaned over my table and began to carefully paint in the boxes I had marked, taking my time with each one. I had careful, steady hands, thanks to my practice icing and decorating delicate cupcakes and wedding cakes. I was fast, and I was steady, and I was totally rocking this challenge. When my back began to cramp up from leaning, I got up and headed to the book again, filling in the last few blanks.
At last, my picture was done. I carefully lifted it from the frame, holding it so it wouldn't smear, and shot a triumphant look at Liam. He stood with the other teammates, looking cool and casual, but as I glanced over at him, I saw him give me a subtle thumbs-up.
I brought it to the judging stand and laid it flat to be judged. The judge pulled out his magnifying glass and began to pore over my finished painting. He took so long to study it that I was sure he was going to find fault, and my stomach dropped. Had I missed something? Had I dripped into the wrong box? I watched him, holding my breath.
He straightened, looked at me, and then nodded. "Good job." And he held out my disk.
I bounced with excitement and hugged him. "Thank you! Thank you!" I grabbed the disk and dashed to Liam, and on impulse, hugged him too.
Liam seemed surprised by that, but after a moment, he hugged me back. The other teams clapped politely, but I could tell they were nervous that we had already finished.
"Let's go outside and read this," Liam told me, whispering in my ear.
We grabbed our bags and headed outside, and I flipped over the clue. "Make your way to the Shelbourne Dublin. Bring all disks with you so you may cross the finish line." I looked up at Liam. "The Shelbourne Dublin? It sounds like a hotel."
"I know where that is," Liam told me. "I've stayed there before."
"You have?"
He nodded, slinging my backpack over his shoulder. "On tour. Come on."
We made it to the Shelbourne Dublin a short time later, though we had to stop and ask for directions twice. I nearly chewed my nails off in anxiety as Liam navigated the streets of Ireland, but he didn't get lost once and listened intently to my directions.
In the front of the large building, I could see The World Races flag and the cameramen milling about. No teams waited outside - I didn't blame them. Why hang out on the street when you can take a break in the nice comfy hotel? And I was suddenly exhausted. We parked the car, and then Liam and I were racing for the finish line. The tape had been broken already, which meant we weren't first, but we didn't care.
We bounded past the finish and waited for Chip to announce our place.
"Black team," Chip said in a grave voice. "You are team….number five."
I gave a happy squeal of excitement, even though I'd known we were at least five, considering we'd left five teams back at the last challenge. And to my surprise, Liam reached down and grabbed me into a hug, lifting me into the air.
And I laughed. Today? We were safe.