I smile at the memory of sticking glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling on our first date. For some reason his kept coming down, which turned into a joke about wishing on falling stars. We must’ve made two dozen wishes that night.
“That’s because they know how to use sticky tack.”
He laughs to himself as we continue down the stairs and into the next room. “So do I.”
“Says the guy whose stars kept coming down.”
“Says the guy”—he steps forward, just shy of invading my space but close enough for me to feel his intensity—“who wanted an excuse to make more wishes.”
I watch him swallow and then do the same. “And did they come true?”
His eyes lose focus over my shoulder and he’s quiet for a good five seconds. I’m about to tell him never mind when he sighs and says, “There’s no ‘they.’”
“What do you mean?”
“It was the same wish every time.” Then, quieter, he adds, “I’m not sure that it’ll ever come true.”
Something in my heart twists at the somberness in his voice. Without thinking, I reach for his hand and squeeze. “Well, whatever it is sounds important, so I hope it does one day.”
He returns his gaze to me, eyes sweeping across my face like he’s searching for an answer to a question neither of us has asked. “I do too.”
CHAPTER 16
COURT
Day 13—Egypt
It helps to have friends in high places.
Specifically, it helps to have an alliance with actual geniuses who are currently in first place.
Today’s team challenge had us choose between “Dictate” (memorizing a five-minute script and giving a museum tour) and “Translate” (decoding text from the Book of the Dead). We opted for the latter because sometimes a guy (who doesn’t have an injury) feels like sitting down.
We got to the university as the Bombshells were leaving. It’s the first time we’ve seen them since Nepal, and after taking one look at us, they had a silent conversation involving eyebrow raises and head nods and pulled us to the side to give us the answer. For context, it took them an hour and a half to translate the hieroglyphs, so this was a Very Big Deal.
The only catch? We had to do a little acting first.
And . . . scene:
I flip through our packet of hieroglyphs and decoding charts and sigh dramatically. “This is stupid.”
“Just keep trying. We’ve almost got the first word.” Hartley points to the paper we’ve written nothing on.
“But look how many words are left. At this rate, we’re gonna be here all day.”
Mitchell and Kennedy peek at us from their table across the room. The Bombshells said they got here about forty-five minutes ago and have struggled to make progress. Our goal is to get them to leave this challenge and go to the other one, thus wasting more time and increasing their odds of coming in last.
And if you’re thinking this sounds a little Operation: Elimination-ish, you’d be right—but that’s because the Bombshells learned the A Team has an alliance with the Wise Asses.
A lot, apparently, has happened since yesterday. Gianna and Alexis promised to give us the full scoop as soon as we catch up with them.
“It’s been ten minutes,” Hartley whispers.
“We’re getting nowhere. Can we please go to the other challenge?”
She frowns at the packet. “I guess memorizing English words would be a lot easier than translating Egyptian symbols.”
“That’s what I tried telling you before.” I lift my hands and let them fall to the table with a loud slap.