Page 66 of Knight Moves

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 inHidden 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.

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