The Sabotage Read online

  There could be no daydreaming in this, she realized. No thinking about anything except the challenge. One moment of lost concentration and it was all over. For everyone.

  Buzz’s arm was already starting to go numb. The throbbing he had felt in the first hour had given way to a dull, heavy feeling. It seemed to center somewhere around his shoulder, though he couldn’t be sure because he couldn’t feel much of anything. But he was still in this, and right now that was all that mattered.

  Only one person had been eliminated so far. Four more to go. Most games or sports were scored by gaining points. It was simple. Whoever scored the most won the game. But points didn’t matter in this challenge. Nobody was ever really ahead. So long as you were still in it, you had the same shot as anybody else. No matter how long it took.

  Buzz adjusted his arm and told himself to settle in for the long haul.

  It must have been a good two minutes more before he began to realize the signal his brain was sending from his stomach. Or, more accurately, from his bladder.

  “Oh man, I gotta pee!” Buzz shouted. “Really bad!”

  “You have to hold it,” Vanessa said from her station.

  Buzz was already struggling, his lower half starting to squirm.

  “Buzz, don’t wiggle. You’ll break the basket!” Vanessa shouted.

  “I drank way too much water,” Buzz said, wincing from the pain. Now that he’d come fully aware of the need, it seemed as if waiting was no longer an option.

  “Buzz! You have to stop moving. Right now. Stop it!” Vanessa told him. She had her bossy-older-sister voice on. He recognized it right away and knew what she was doing. She was trying to motivate him.

  For a moment, it seemed to help. “Okay, I think it’s going away,” Buzz said.

  He straightened up his body and started to get back some composure—but not for long.

  “Oh-oh, it’s back. It’s worse. It really hurts,” he said.

  “So just pee!” Carter yelled.

  “What do you mean?” Buzz called back.

  “I peed on you when you got that stupid jellyfish sting. If I can do it, you can do it. Just pee. Right there. It doesn’t matter,” Carter said. It was strange to discuss it so openly, but nobody beyond Ani could understand them, anyway.

  For a few seconds Buzz didn’t say a word. He stood there, arm extended, trying his best to stay balanced and, at the same time, to relax enough to go in his shorts.

  Just another day on Shadow Island, he thought, not even sure whether to laugh or cry.

  “Are you doing it?” Carter asked.

  Buzz gave no response. It was all he could do to juggle everything he had going on already. And then—

  “Ahhh . . .”

  It happened. The relief was stronger than any embarrassment ever could have been. To his own surprise, he didn’t even care, now that it was done. It was like Ani had told them already. Raku Nau was to be won by any means necessary.

  “Buzz?” Vanessa called out. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” Buzz called back. “Much better.”

  “Told you so,” Carter said with a laugh.

  “Good job, Buzz!” Jane called from even farther off, as Buzz took a long, careful sigh of relief.

  Another near disaster averted. They were still in this.

  “Are we allowed to talk to you?” Carter asked Ani as he passed by. Ani was walking among the competitors, as were the other elders. They were monitoring the challenge, Carter supposed.

  “You are free to make your own choices,” Ani said.

  Carter kept his eyes straight ahead, not looking Ani in the face. He needed information, but he needed to focus, too.

  “Tell me about the eastern shore,” Carter said then. “Are the tides all the same over there? Is one part better than another?”

  “For what?” Ani asked. He stepped closer to put himself in Carter’s eye line. His stare seemed to say, Think about your answer. Ani had done this from the start, doing what he could to tell them how to get off the island. His loyalty was to the Nukula, but he knew what it meant to be an outsider here, too. And Carter realized he needed to be careful of what he said.

  “Just curious,” he answered, returning Ani’s gaze.

  “Many Nukula come to the east shore for the Raku Nau final ceremony in outrigger canoes,” Ani said. “The celebration that follows can go on for as long as two days.”

  In other words, Carter thought, there will be boats there. And, maybe, a chance to slip away at night.

  “Didn’t you say people guarded that side of the island, too?” Carter said.

  “Yes. They do,” Ani said plainly.

  In other words, this wasn’t going to be easy. The Nukula were as protective about outsiders coming in as they were about anyone leaving the island.

  “One more question . . .” Carter said. He paused, unable to ask it.

  Ani smiled ever so slightly. “Mima?” he asked.

  Carter nodded.

  “Stay focused,” Ani said, and then walked away.

  A second splashdown sounded from somewhere in the trees around them. Carter wasn’t positioned to see who it was, and his heart jumped.

  “Vanessa?” he called out. “Are you there?”

  “I’m here,” she called back. “I’m okay. Mima, too.”

  “Okay.” Carter said, as much to himself as anything. He wiggled his fingers and moved his shoulder a tiny bit back and forth, working out some of the stiffness.

  Two runners were out—three more to go before this was over. Or at least, before the next part could begin.

  Time passed slowly. Minutes bled into hours, and day gave way to night.

  As the sky dimmed, the fire in the middle of camp seemed to brighten. Vanessa wished she could feel the warmth of it. Not because it was cold—not yet, anyway. But because fire was one of the only comforts available to them out here. The light, the warmth, the security—it was a far more powerful force than she ever could have known, going about her old life in Chicago.

  It was a fine line now between letting her mind wander and staying focused. The challenge had been on for at least four hours, she suspected. Maybe more. Her shoulder felt like concrete, and her hand tingled as she flexed and unflexed her fingers inside the loop over her head.

  Two more had fallen out of the competition over the past few hours. Only one more to go. Chizo was still there, unfortunately. She could see him, standing tall and proud under his tree, his face mostly shadowed now with the dimming light.

  Conversation from tree to tree had dropped down to an eerie silence. For a while Chizo had spoken to Mima, taunting her, it sounded like, from the tone of his voice. Vanessa had recognized the phrase he’d spoken with such venom after she refused to leave with him that morning. Issa mekata. She wondered what it meant, and she intended to find out.

  Meanwhile, she was in trouble, and she knew it. When she flexed her dead hand, her arm jerked. The cord descended less than an inch, but she heard the sound of the basket rustling against itself, and a fat drop of blue liquid ran down her arm.

  “No,” she said, just to herself. Every part of her wanted to put her arm down. But Jane, Carter, Buzz, and Mima had made it this far. So would she. They just had to outlast one more person.

  This was what Ani had mentioned at the start. The challenge was deceptive. Not only was her body rebelling against her, with cramps and numbness, but her mind was an obstacle as well. Every other thought had something to do with wanting this to be over. And there was no way to slow time down more than constantly wishing it would speed up. She’d learned that on Nowhere Island, too.

  The trick back there had been to keep busy. Distract herself with work. Do anything that would pass the time, hopefully without her even noticing that it was going by. There was no way of knowing how much longer this challenge w
ould continue.

  But one boy under a nearby tree had definitely caught her attention now. It was like looking at a mirror reflecting what she was feeling inside. The boy’s face contorted with the effort as he rolled his shoulder and tried to stand up taller. Vanessa could feel the tremors in her own muscles, and she could see the same thing happening to the boy.

  His basket bowed just slightly at the bottom as he readjusted himself one more time. A teammate of his called out from nearby. The boy looked up, gave a sharp intake of breath, and then very slowly came to a full stop, like a statue in the twilight. The only thing that moved now was his trembling arm.

  Vanessa watched him closely. He wasn’t going to last much longer. She could feel it. This was down to the two of them.

  “How’re you doing, Vanessa?” Carter called over. His voice had been a comfort for the first several hours. They’d stayed in touch that way, but now it was everything she could do just to keep her arm from jerking, her shoulder from spasming. The effort of speaking was more energy than she could afford.

  “Vanessa?” Carter called again.

  “Not now,” she said, in a fast gasp. If he heard her, she wasn’t sure, but he didn’t say anything else.

  Mima was watching, too. Her wide eyes, focused on the basket over Vanessa’s head, felt like a warning. Vanessa kept her own eyes on the boy across the way, waiting for his arm to give out first.

  She would have thought that this showdown was all in her imagination, but others seemed to have noticed it, too. A voice came from across the clearing, followed by two more speaking the same words. She could tell just by the tone that some of them were yelling encouragement—probably to the Nukula boy, not to her. And some were yelling taunts. The energy around the camp had suddenly risen again. Word spread from tree to tree, and more voices filled the air around her.

  Maybe this was all part of the challenge, trying to psyche out the competition. She was glad she couldn’t understand the words she was hearing. It would have only made things more difficult.

  It was hard to know how much more time passed. The sky turned to a deep blue-black, with patches of stars that showed through the clouds overhead. The sound of cicadas and other insects began to compete with the shouts that still punctuated the air. And with the bug noise came the bugs themselves. Vanessa knew she wasn’t the only one with mosquito bites up and down her arms and legs, but still, every sting made her want to reach out and slap at her skin, which was the last thing she could do right now.

  When the sound of ripping leaves and the splash of paint came out of the darkness, Vanessa’s heart leaped. She looked over, and the boy she’d been watching was still there. She’d been expecting to see him dripping wet in the firelight, but the sound hadn’t come from his tree, she saw.

  A shout echoed through camp—Ani’s voice—and all the other competitors came alive with movement and more shouting. And laughing? Yes, laughing.

  It was over, but for whom?

  Mima was there now. She was safe, that much Vanessa could tell. As she slipped her hand out of the loop and turned to find the others, her shoulder let up a silent scream of pain. It dropped her to her knees. When she tried to reach up and massage it, her other arm was dead, too. A painful feeling of pins and needles like nothing she’d ever felt before ran through her body, and she dropped back to lie flat on the ground.

  “Carter!” she yelled. “Buzz! Jane! Where are you?”

  The other competitors were moving around her, but it was hard to see in the dark. Faces flashed by. Whoops filled the air.

  Mima reached down and helped her sit up. Still, the electric feeling of restored circulation in her limbs was painful.

  “Where’s Carter?” she asked Mima. “Jane? Buzz?”

  “Jane,” Mima said, and pointed as Jane appeared out of the dark.

  Jane dropped down and threw her arms around Vanessa’s neck. For a crazy moment, Vanessa couldn’t tell if Jane was crying or laughing, happy or sad.

  “Where are the boys?” she asked. “What happened, Jane?”

  “They’re like you,” Jane said, with a clear laugh now as she sat back on the ground next to her sister. “They can’t move! But they made it, Vanessa! We all did! We’re going to finish this thing—together. Once and for all!”

  Buzz sat alone, staring into the embers of the fire, wondering if he’d ever get to sleep that night. They’d been given a small amount of food and water after the challenge, but it was hard not to wish for more.

  The heat from the blaze had dried his shorts as well. Still, he was as filthy as everyone else, from climbing and descending all those mud-covered hillsides.

  He remembered getting caught in a downpour one day, riding bikes with Vanessa through Evanston. Her back tire had spit water and mud all over him for miles. That had seemed like getting dirty, once upon a time.

  Now, he realized, he’d barely known what tired, dirty, hungry, and thirsty really meant before all this. Nobody had even made sleeping mats for the night. It seemed that all the remaining runners were just as beat and were resting up for the final ascent. Carter, Jane, and Mima lay nearby, sleeping on nothing more than some quickly gathered dry grass.

  Vanessa was speaking with Ani quietly, as they stood off together at the edge of camp. Buzz knew they should all be asleep, but his thoughts were on Cloud Ridge. From what he’d seen so far, the ascent was going to be the toughest part of this yet. It made him nervous in an old familiar way. He was changed, for sure, but he was still the slowest on his feet. How terrible would it be if they missed out on the seccu now? And what if it was all his fault, in the end?

  The butterflies in his stomach that had started after the last challenge were still fluttering around inside like a swarm. He needed the rest. They all did. But it didn’t seem like sleep would be coming any time soon.

  Jane stared at the blank night sky, wishing for stars. There was something depressing about an empty, black sky in this place. At least when there were stars, it was something to look at—and something to wish on, too.

  She could see Buzz sitting alone by the fire. He looked as deep in thought as she felt. Vanessa was still up as well, walking slowly around the camp with Ani. Carter and Mima were both deep asleep, on either side of her.

  But for Jane, it wasn’t so easy. She was always the last to fall asleep, her mind racing with thoughts and ideas.

  This wasn’t even close to over. The end of Raku Nau, if they made it, was only the beginning of what came next. That long night of tossing on the waves before they’d landed on Shadow Island was a reminder of just how difficult it would be once they got back out on the water. And who knew how long it would take to be spotted after that? A day? Two days? A week?

  Jane shuddered, and she tried to think of something else. It wasn’t easy. The closer they got to the end of this, the more she missed being home, and seeing Mom and Dad every day. She’d written them over a dozen letters in her head, every night since they’d been gone.

  Or maybe it was more like the same letter, over and over.

  Dear Mom and Dad,

  I’ll bet anything you’re thinking about us right now. I don’t know how this will sound, but I’m not sure if I should think about you two or not. In some ways it feels harder when I do, but I also can’t help it.

  I’ve learned some amazing things out here. We all have. And I definitely feel closer to Carter, Vanessa, and Buzz. We’ve become a real family. But I’m ready to come home, and once I’m there, I’m never going to leave again.

  I wish you could see everything we’re doing. Actually, I wish you could see a lot of things out here. But most of all, I’m wishing that I’ll see you again SOON.

  There aren’t any stars tonight, so I’ll just wish that on my heart.

  Love, love, love, Jane

  “Ani, what does issa mekata mean?” Vanessa asked. Even though she didn
’t know the answer, some part of her was afraid to find out. This late, quiet moment seemed like a perfect opportunity to learn as much as she could.

  “When did you hear that?” Ani asked.

  “Chizo said it to Mima,” Vanessa answered. “And to Carter, too.”

  “It is a Nukula phrase that has no true translation,” Ani told her. “But it is meant to say, ‘You will regret this for the rest of your life.’ It is a very serious thing to tell someone.”

  “Like a curse?” Vanessa asked. The idea of it put a chill through her.

  “Not like a curse,” Ani said. “More like a prediction, but one that is based on information, not just feeling.”

  They walked in silence a bit farther, circling the camp. Almost everyone was asleep except for Buzz and a few other runners, sitting near the fire. Mima was snuggled against Jane on the ground, closer than she’d allowed herself to be with them up until now.

  “If Chizo becomes chief, can he make life harder for Mima?” Vanessa asked.

  “Her life has already been hard,” Ani said simply.

  “Does she have family?”

  He seemed to consider his answer, as always. Even though he’d been helping them since their arrival, Ani was very deliberate with the details he offered.

  “She did,” he said finally. “Her mother and father were not happy here.”

  The words landed heavily with Vanessa. “What do you mean? Did they leave her behind?”

  “It is not that,” Ani said. “They had planned to take Mima away. To leave the island. It is unusual, but it happens.”

  “And?” Vanessa asked.

  “As I’ve told you, the tides here are very difficult,” Ani said.

  “I don’t understand,” Vanessa pushed.

  “They did not make it,” Ani said.

  The message was clear. Mima’s parents were no longer alive.