Page 96 of Knight Moves

For a minute, we paused, staring stricken at each other. We looked at Hala, who lifted her chin. “I want to finish it.”

Jax nodded in agreement. “Me, too. Like Kira said, let’sallfinish this.”

We madly pulled the puzzle pieces into place. When we were done, Bo lifted Frankie up to the top of the puzzle. She heaved herself onto the top of the wall and, with a cheerful wave, disappeared down the slide. Bo lifted me next to the top of the puzzle. However, instead of going over the wall, I reached down stretched out a hand to help Mike up.

“Red, what are you doing?” Jax demanded.

“It’ll go faster with someone up here helping,” I said. “Just send everyone up quickly.”

Mike grabbed my hand, and I pulled him up the last little bit, shoving him toward the wall. “Go, go, go,” I yelled.

He disappeared over the wall as Wally came next. I pushed him toward the wall, too.

“No, you go next, Angel,” Wally said puffing.

“I’ll follow in a second. Just go.” He looked indecisive but teetered for a moment atop the wall ledge and then disappeared with an oomph.

“Red, get out of here,” Jax shouted at me.

He and Bo were holding Hala between them, carrying her toward the puzzle. My heart, already a wreck with the adrenaline, stumbled in my chest. Bo wouldn’t finish on time if he stayed behind to help Hala.

“Bo, you’re running out of time,” I warned.

“So are you. Go on, Angel. We’ll help Hala. It’s all right.”

I understood now. He didn’t intend to finish on time. Apparently, he’d made his peace with that. He was sacrificing his time to ensure they all finished. Unfortunately, I didn’t see how that would happen. Getting Hala on top of the puzzle without banging her ankle, and possibly injuring it worse, would be difficult without one more person to help them out.

Me.

A sense of calm descended. It suddenly didn’t matter if I finished or not. Sometimes, there were more important things in life than a test.

“Hand her up to me,” I said. Hala glanced up in surprise, pain and anxiety etched on her face.

“Are you crazy, Red?” Jax said, his face flushed from exertion. “Get out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said firmly. “Everyone here is taking one for the team. Why should I be the exception? Stop arguing and hand her up to me.”

Perhaps realizing he wasn’t going to change my mind, Jax finally nodded. Bo helped him get halfway up the puzzle, and Jax clung to the side of a block with one hand, while the other stayed under Hala’s injured ankle, protecting it, as Bo lifted her. I grabbed Hala by both hands when she held them up, pulling her onto the top of the puzzle just as a klaxon split the air, indicating the trial had come to an end.

We’d run out of time.

“Candidates, the time limit for this trial has been reached,” said the voice from the loudspeaker. “I will repeat that participants may continue to the finish line if they desire. If you complete the course, you’ll receive extra credit over those who don’t finish at all.”

Jax climbed the rest of the way up and joined us atop the puzzle piece. We looked down at Bo. With no one to help him, Bo decided to tackle the wall instead. He jogged backward and then took a running jump at the wall. He leaped high, his fingers curling over the side of the wall. He pulled himself up to the ledge and swung a leg over it.

“What?” he said in alarm when he saw us staring at him.

“Are you kidding me?” I said. “You could have done that at any time. The second we left the gym and you saw the wall, you could have jumped over it and finished the trial. You could have been in first place. Bo, why didn’t you go for it?”

He shifted his weight on the ledge. “For the same reason you stayed and helped the others over the wall, Jax stepped on that block to give us the information we needed to solve the puzzle, and Hala hung upside down by her ankles on a rope to open a door for the rest of us. It’s what was needed. Now, shall we finish?”

We nodded at him. I’d never been so honored to be a part of the team.

“Good.” He adjusted his position on the wall so his knees were on the ledge. “I’ll slide down first. Hala, if you’re okay with it, Jax will go down with you so he can protect your ankle from any further bumps.”

“I’m okay with it,” Hala said.

“Perfect. I’ll be there waiting at the bottom to catch you guys. See you in minute.” He crawled along the ledge until he was above the slide, saluted us, and slid down.

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