Knight Moves

by Julie Moffett

  “Why didn’t I think of that?” Wally said, lifting his hands.

  Bo went across below her, and they made it across at about the same time.

  Bo helped her down, and I gave her a hug. “You’re brilliant, Frankie. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

  She whispered in my ear, “I actually thought about it before you went off with Jax, but I bet you enjoyed your way a lot more than mine. You’re welcome.”

  I rolled my eyes but was so happy I’d actually made it across that I didn’t say a thing.

  “Guys, that ate up seventeen minutes,” Bo said. “Let’s move to the next obstacle.”

  We jogged as a group to the next setup.

  “It’s called the Zombie Mud Crawl,” Bo read. “The instructions say the wire is live. It won’t shock you if you touch it, but red light and siren will go off and you must crawl out sideways and start over again. We don’t have time to play around, people. Do it right the first time.”

  “I’m small, so this should be easy for me,” Hala said. “I’ll go first.” She stopped at the edge of the obstacle. “Whoa, what’s that in the mud?”

  Frankie peered over her shoulder. “Worms. Oh, no.”

  “Frankie, worms are good for the environment,” I said. “They don’t bite.”

  “Nope. Not doing it,” she said.

  “We don’t have time to argue,” Bo said. “Hala, go.”

  Hala inhaled a deep breath and crawled under the wire. She was small and fast, but when she popped out the other side, she was dripping in mud and slime.

  “Ewwww…” she said, shaking her hands.

  “Mike, you’re next,” Bo said. “Kira, you’re after him, and then Wally and Jax.”

  When Mike started, Bo turned to face us. “Frankie, you’re going to get under that wire.”

  “I don’t like worms.”

  “I don’t like losing.” He frowned at her. “You’re going to do it.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Frankie, I’ll go first,” I offered. “I don’t like bugs, either, but I am going to hold my breath, squint my eyes, and just do it. You have to stay calm, because if you jerk up, you’ll set off the wire alarm.

  “I don’t think I can be calm.”

  “You can. You’re always calm about everything.”

  “Except bugs and worms. Will you do it with me?”

  I glanced at Bo. “Is there any reason we can’t do it together?”

  He shrugged. “None I can think of. But you run the risk of kicking or flicking mud into each other’s face as you squirm. Plus, if the wire lights up, you both must start over. Time is ticking.”

  “I’m not going without Angel,” Frankie said.

  “Well, that settles it,” I said. “We’re doing it together.”

  We walked to the edge of the pit. Frankie, Bo, and I were the last three. So far, everyone else had made it across without tripping the alarm. Even Wally looked triumphant as he dripped disgusting stuff.

  I took Frankie’s hand and knelt at the edge of the pit. “Ready?” I gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.

  She looked at me uncertainly but nodded. “I’m ready.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  ANGEL SINCLAIR

  “You’re going to wiggle on your stomach, kind of like a snake,” I explained. “Not that there are any snakes in here. Just don’t jerk your head up or you’ll set off the wire.”

  She looked alarmed by the snake comment, so I decided it was time to shut my mouth. I got on my stomach and tugged her down. She joined me on the ground.

  “It smells,” she complained.

  “Of course it smells, Frankie. It’s mud. Come on. Breathe through your mouth and let’s do it.”

  As quickly as we dared, we crawled through the mud. Frankie was hyperventilating the entire time. I was scared she would pass out. Everyone was cheering us on, and somehow that helped. At last, we made it to the other side without setting off the alarm.

  Jax helped her up and slapped her on the back a couple of times, causing mud to fly and hit Mike in the nose. Mike wiped it off with a good-natured grin.

  Frankie was so happy she’d made it, her eyes filled with tears. “I did it. Oh, thank you, Angel.”

  “You did all the work. I was just moral support.” Although, even as I said it, I marveled that I’d done it. I’d never been anyone’s moral support before.

  Bo waited until we finished, but he started the second we were through. He was almost done when his large form set off the alarm. “Crap.” He scooted out sideways and jogged back to the beginning.

  “You’ve got too many muscles,” Wally called out, and we all laughed.

  Finally Bo made it across. A quick glance at the time indicated another nineteen minutes had passed. We were exhausted and muddy and smelled rank, but we had to hurry.

  We ran to the next obstacle, and when we got there, we stopped in amazement. A single beam had been stretched across another mud pit.

  “This shouldn’t be too hard,” Kira said.

  “What?” Frankie said in astonishment. “We’re completely covered in mud and slippery. How is that not hard?”

  “If we take off our shoes, our bare feet will give us better grip.” Hala started untying her shoes.

  “She’s right,” Bo said. “Everyone get barefoot.”

  We started taking off our shoes and socks. Mike finished first, so he started across with Kira following close behind. They were both acing these challenges. They would have left all of us in the dust if it hadn’t been a group effort.

  “When you’re ready, go,” Bo instructed the rest of us as he pushed his shoes aside. “Don’t wait.”

  I was ready, so I went after Kira. Hala came behind me, but she yelped and slipped off about the halfway point, falling into the mud pit with a thump. It startled me so much, I almost slipped off with her. Somehow I managed to straighten myself and continue. Hala stood up in the mud pit, furious with herself.

  “I just took a wrong step,” she yelled. “And I’ve done the balance beam a million times without slipping. This is so frustrating!”

  I made it across, and Mike stretched out a hand to help me off the beam. “Thank God,” I said as my feet hit the ground. I’d actually completed a challenge on my own.

  “Wally, go,” Bo yelled as he reached down to pull Hala out of the pit. Wally still stood on one end of the beam, looking at it.

  “Okay. Sure. I’m on it.”

  Wally climbed up and started his way across, but he was unsteady. He was moving so slowly, at the rate he was going, it was going to take him an hour to cross. There was also a ninety-nine-percent chance he was going to fall simply from shaking so much.

  “Wally, you can do it,” I shouted. “Imagine you’re crossing the Imogen Bridge in Hidden Realm. You’ve done it a hundred times. Just keep moving. Step by step.”

  Bo told Frankie to go next. She climbed up on the beam and started walking. She was surprisingly sure-footed and caught up to Wally before he knew it.

  She held out a hand, and he used it to steady himself. “You’ve got this,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m right behind you. If you fall, I’ll jump in after you.”

  Whether he was bolstered by her presence, terrified she’d knock him off the beam, or afraid she really would jump in after him, he started moving faster. Soon, they were both across. I hugged him, Frankie slapped him on the back, and Wally collapsed to the ground, kissing it.

  Hala got up on the beam to cross again, but this time she did it much more carefully. Bo and Jax crossed without a problem, making it look so easy we all frowned at them.

  “We’ve got sixty-two minutes left, people,” Jax said.

  “Move it,” Bo urged us as he jogged past toward the next obstacle. Mike offered a hand and helped Wally off the ground, and we followed, running to catch up.

  The next obstacle was a curved cement wall about twelve feet high. According to the instructions, we were supposed to get up
to the top ledge and slide down the other side.

  “Oh, crap,” Wally said, looking up it. “I’ll never get up that.”

  “I don’t suppose there’s a rope ladder hanging around somewhere,” Mike said.

  Kira walked around to the other side and then came back. “Nothing.”

  We were silent staring at the wall.

  “It’s pretty obvious we’ll never get up that without a ladder or a rope to help us,” Kira finally said.

  “We have to,” I said. “Every problem has a solution. We just have to think of it.”

  We looked at each other, our brains working furiously, but nothing leaped to mind.

  I turned hopefully to Jax. “Can you snap your fingers and a rope will magically appear?”

  My words must have triggered a thought, because he suddenly smiled. “Not exactly. Take off your shirt, Red.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  ANGEL SINCLAIR

  “Excuse me?” I looked at him incredulously.

  Jax spread his hands to include the entire group. “Everyone take off your shirt and give it to me. We don’t have a rope, but we can make a rope out of our shirts. I’ll get up there first. If Bo gives me a boost, I should be able to pull myself up. Throw me the rope made of our shirts and I’ll be the anchor at the top. Among us, we should be able to get everyone up.”

  All of the girls had sports bras on, so it was kind of like wearing a crop top, not that I’d ever worn a crop top in my life. Regardless, all the essentials were covered, and there was no time for modesty.

  “I’m an Eagle Scout,” Wally offered. “I’ll tie the knots.”

  “Hurry,” Kira said.

  Bo was already standing at the wall. He bent down and Jax climbed on his shoulders, steadying himself against the wall. He was still shy of reaching the ledge, so he warned Bo he would have to jump to make it. Bo nodded and braced himself with one hand against the wall. Several of us stood behind Bo, bracing him from the back.

  We held one collective breath as Jax bent and jumped up, his fingers barely gripping the edge. With a grunt, he pulled himself up onto the wall and rested. We cheered as Bo rotated his shoulders.

  “Throw me the shirt rope,” Jax shouted.

  Wally was frantically tying the last of the knots, and Kira had been helping by handing him the shirts. When Wally was done, Kira threw it up to Jax. It took four tries, but Jax finally caught it.

  Kira went first, bracing against the wall and using the shirt rope to pull herself up. Once she was up, the two of them helped the rest of us get up. We slid down the other side, pumping a fist when we finished.

  “Keep going,” Bo said as soon as Jax met us at the bottom. He slapped Jax on the back. “Good thinking.”

  We followed him, but the truth was we were beyond exhausted, and we had no idea how many more obstacles we had. We left our T-shirts behind, as it would take too much time to untie them, and ran to the next obstacle. We had to go around the KIT building before we came to an area with a flagpole about twenty feet high, surrounded by air-filled, bouncy exercise mats.

  “What’s this?” Hala said in astonishment.

  We all exchanged puzzled glances with each other.

  Bo picked up the instruction card. “It’s the final obstacle.” He glanced at his watch. “We have thirty-four minutes to complete it. The goal is to get whatever is at the top of the pole. The only thing we get to help us is, apparently, this coil of rope and those bouncy mats, presumably in case we fall off while trying.”

  “Where was the rope when we needed it for the last obstacle?” Mike grumbled.

  “Let’s go,” Wally said, clapping his hands. “Let’s shimmy up the pole and get the thing. It looks like an oversize hockey puck.”

  Jax grinned at him. “Slow down, cowboy. Let’s see if we can knock it off first.”

  “Oh.” Wally paused. “That’s a good idea.”

  “Everyone find a rock and try to dislodge it,” Jax said. “The instructions didn’t say how we had to get it, just that we get it.”

  “What if it’s something dangerous inside like a bomb or something?” Frankie asked.

  “I would think the instructions would have told us to be careful with it.”

  We glanced over at Mr. Donovan who stood in the shade, watching us.

  “I’m with Jax,” I finally said. “Let’s see if we can knock it off.”

  We scattered, looking for some rocks. I carried back several, as did everyone else. We all stood to one side and threw the rocks at the object, hoping to dislodge it.

  Jax was the first to make a direct hit. It didn’t budge. “It must be attached.”

  “Attached?” Kira said. “How?”

  “I don’t know.” Bo shrugged.

  “So, we have to climb to get it?” Kira looked agitated.

  “No, not climb.” Mike now stood next to the pole examining it. “It’s too big around for one person to shimmy. Even if it wasn’t, it’s greased.”

  “Greased? Ah, come on.” Jax blew out a frustrated breath and walked next to Mike, rubbing his fingers on the pole. “Mike’s right. We’d slide like a greased pig trying to shimmy this thing.”

  “Even with the rope?” I asked.

  “Even with the rope,” Jax confirmed. “It’ll slide, just like my feet would if I tried to climb by bracing my feet against the pole.”

  Bo was silent as he circled the pole, considering.

  “Maybe we could wipe the grease off,” Frankie offered.

  “No time or materials to do that,” Bo said. “We’re going to have to stack.”

  “Stack?” I repeated.

  “Climb on each other’s shoulders until we reach the top,” Jax explained. “I bet that’s what the mats are for.”

  “What?” Frankie said in horror. “Stand on each other’s shoulders?”

  “Yes. Bo and I will anchor at the bottom, standing side by side in order to better distribute the weight. There will two people on top of us and then two more on top of them. Then one person will stand single and the lightest person will stand on that person’s shoulders to reach the object at the top. We can do this.” He turned to me. “Red, can you calculate our heights against the length of the pole? Are we tall enough together to reach it if we do it that way?”

  I looked up at the pole and then asked everyone for their heights, reminding them not to lie. “It’ll be close,” I said when I finished the calculations in my head. “I could be off by a foot, and that would be a problem. It’s all estimation at this point.”

  “We don’t have another choice,” said Bo. He looked between Hala and me. “Between the two of you, who weighs less?”

  I gave my specs first followed by Hala. She outweighed me by a measly two pounds.

  “Angel is on top, then,” Bo said. “Wally and Mike, you stand on top of Jax and me. Frankie and Kira, you’re to stand on them.”

  “I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Frankie said.

  “It’s the only idea, and we’re short on time,” Bo countered. “Hala, you stand single on Kira’s shoulders. Angel, it’s up to you to climb onto Hala’s shoulders and retrieve whatever’s at the top. You’ll have to climb over most of us to get up there.”

  “Right.” I gulped. “No pressure.”

  “Take the rope in case you need it,” Bo said, tossing the rope to me. “Just don’t drop it.”

  I caught it and wound it around my neck and shoulders. “Okay, but before we stack, I would suggest asking Mr. Donovan the one question we’ve been permitted.”

  For a moment, everyone just stared at me. I guess between exhaustion and stress, the question thing had slipped their minds.

  “What do you have in mind, Red?” Jax said.

  “We need to know how whatever is up there is attached. If I’m tasked with getting it off, I need to know exactly what I need to do to remove it. I don’t want to be standing precariously on all of your shoulders trying to figure it out.”

  “Good thinking,�
�� Wally said. “She’s right.”

  I glanced at Bo and he looked at the group. “Are we in agreement that Angel should ask the question?”

  Everyone nodded, so he swept out his hand toward Mr. Donovan. “Ask away.”

  I walked over to Mr. Donovan, who was watching us from the shade of a tree, his arms crossed against his chest.

  “Mr. Donovan?” I said. “We have our one question ready.”

  “Go ahead, Ms. Sinclair.”

  “How is the object we’re supposed to retrieve from atop the pole attached?”

  Mr. Donovan smiled. “It’s snapped in and rotated once.”

  “Okay, thank you.”

  “Satisfied?” Bo asked me.

  “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  One by one, we climbed up on top of each other, a human pyramid of sorts. Those of us who were climbing last helped get everyone below us in place. Climbing last had its advantages, as I could watch how everyone else did it before me. When it was my turn, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Still, I watched where I stepped and didn’t look down even once.

  Climbing up Hala was the hardest, because she was so small. She crouched the best she could, and I carefully put each of my feet on her shoulders. She steadied my ankles with her hands as I stretched myself up. I was trembling. My fingers nearly touched the top, but I was still a few inches too short.

  “I’m just shy of reaching it,” I announced.

  A collective groan came from below me. I inadvertently glanced down and saw a crew had blown up and arranged the mats closer around us, presumably to protect us if we fell. I looked straight ahead as my stomach flipped in anxiety.

  I leaned slightly against the pole to steady myself, but it was greased, even up this high up. I had to be careful not to put too much of my weight against the pole for fear of slipping off.

  “Don’t worry. I have an idea.” I carefully removed the rope from my shoulder and began forming a knot. “I’m going to tie a noose with the rope and slip it over the object. I’m close enough to do that. I think. Then I’ll tighten it and pull. Hopefully, it will pop off.”

  “Hurry up,” Mike called up. “We have eleven minutes.”