The Boarding School Experiment (19 page)

The other teams fidgeted at this, and their gazes locked onto us. Thane’s body went rigid and his blue eyes sparked with fury at the betrayal and public accusations
.
I pressed my lips together and felt my own temper rising.

The director clapped his hands, “Okay, Declan you may switch teams.” He turned back to the audience. “Would anyone like to replace Declan on Team Thane?” Hands dropped and the students shrank in their seats.

The heat built in my face, and I pressed my lips together.

Rhys put his hands on his hips and stared at Declan. “That little shit poisoned those cupcakes. We take him down first.”

Thane nodded.

I nodded too.

Kaitlin’s gaze swiveled between the three of us. “No, guys, don’t.”

I stepped around her and aimed my words at the director. “Not a problem, I can do the dive too.”

A guy laughed. “Yeah. She had to do it the first time, anyway.” His words broke the tension and I recognized him as the guy I’d pulled from the water. His wrist was in a bandage, but his cast had been removed.

I gave him a nod of thanks.

The director clapped his hands. “Okay. Screens in position.” A screen lowered behind the stage. Images of the climbing wall, the swimming pool, and the stage appeared in three divided squares. The audience clapped.

“The top ten teams will repeat round one. We’ve thrown in a few surprises to make the challenge interesting.” The director gestured to the stage, ignoring the murmurs he’d stirred up with his words. “Contestants, take your places. The dance portion begins now.”

Thane, Rhys, and I jogged toward the exit, not wanting to burn too much energy, but wanting to reach the sports arena before the dances started so we could watch them on the screens.

The dances ranged from brawny guy wince-worthy to mediocre.

Then Kaitlin appeared. “Ice warm ice, so hopeful. Lies like autumn leaves. Hope shattered.”

Oh god, she’d changed from humor about baking to dark haiku. Humor worked better, though the baking topic had been ruined, so maybe she made a good call. I flexed my fingers inside the climbing gloves.

Her dance started. Kaitlin leapt into the air, reaching a height no one else approached and whirled with a speed that made her image blur. In her movements, her poem gained meaning: sharp lies falling, impaling her. She ended with a major gymnastic flip, bowed, and dropped to the floor. Quiet, then minimal applause greeted her extreme, far superior contemporary dance.

Rhys seemed shell-shocked, and I enjoyed his fascinated expression. Kaitlin had more than training; she had a crazy, winning, professional-level talent unlike any I’d ever seen. She’d won her round, even if the score didn’t reflect it.

I clapped, and though my climbing gloves muted the sound and Kaitlin couldn’t hear me anyway, she deserved the support so I kept it up.

Thane’s mouth tightened at the lack of response from those around us and on the monitors. “Get ready. They’re not going to vote for Kaitlin. She’ll come in last.”

The spectators had keyed in anonymous scores, ranking the dancers from one to ten. The name of the winner appeared first. After a delay, the name of the next highest would pop up and so on. Names flashed.

The first dancer had no speed. She and the dancer who came in second rounded the corner at about the same time. They tagged their climbers, and I tensed, watching my competition go. It was agony waiting here while they moved on.

From above us, the climber who’d gained the most height shouted, “Look at the water, they’re dead.” He pointed at the swimming pool.

Bloated, orange koi floated on top.

Some sicko had put the koi in our swimming pool. I covered my mouth with my rough glove.

Thane muffled a curse and ran for a pool strainer. Rhys joined him along with another captain, and they began scooping the dead koi from the pool while the divers leaned over the edge, watching. One shook her head and wimped out. She backed away from the edge. “What if the water’s poisoned?” She moved toward the ramp. “I’m running instead.”

“No. We’ll get them out, it’s fine.” Her captain ran to assist Thane. “You don’t have to take the ramp.”

More than half of the jumpers joined her, planning to run instead of leap. Several pointed fingers at Rhys, Thane, and me in accusation, but no one said anything. The remaining climbers moved as far away from me as they could get without losing proximity to the start of the wall. I did a deep knee bend and tried to maintain a hold on my temper.

A loud curse came from the first climber. In his speed, he’d lost his grip. He swung out from the side of the mountain by his safety straps.

I wrapped my arms around my waist and tried to breathe, my eyes glued to the drama.

His arms and legs kicked, but he couldn’t regain his hold. After giving him a second, the managers of the safety ropes retracted the slack and lowered him to the ground to start over.

I breathed out a shaky breath when his feet touched the floor. We’d seen a lot of slips in practice and in round one, with all the inexperienced climbers. Each fall had bit at me. I hadn’t expected to see it in the top ten.

His fall jolted the next climber back into the game. He reached for the higher set of anchors, ready to take on the lead. His hand slipped off and he yelled out, flying free. The coordinator working the safety harnesses guided him back to the floor.

I swung my arms in front of me, looking away from the climbers. I had to focus on my own climb, not on the dead koi, not on the guy ahead of me, and not on the climbers who’d slipped.

Kaitlin had scored last place, but she outran number nine and rounded the corner at the same time as dancer number eight. She held her side and shouted, “Go.”

I’d gotten two anchors up, ahead of the last two climbers, when I heard screams from the guys ahead of me. I took my eyes off the anchor.

The climber had reached the spot where the first two had fallen. He reached out a gloved hand and swiped at an anchor. “Someone did something to them.” He turned and stared down at me. “They’re oily. Slick.”

I met his gaze straight on. I would never do anything to make a climber fall. If he knew me at all, he’d know that. I don’t know who was screwing with us but it wasn’t my team.

The climber maneuvered under his straps and yanked his shirt off. He began the slow process of wiping each anchor before grabbing it. The fourth climber hung in right behind him, slow and steady.

I could catch them, but I’d be stuck behind them. My fingers brushed one of the natural nooks in the granite. We had to reach the top, but I didn’t have to use the anchors. The grooves and crevices would work. I swung a hand up. The challenge of the climb, of conquering the path rushed over me, and I headed straight up the steepest part of the natural slope.

“Hey, you can’t do that,” one of the jumpers said.

Thane shouted from the pool, “Ignore them. Climb.”

At the start of the race, this reward meant a week home with my family. Now winning meant not letting the saboteurs beat us.

With my new route, I beat the other climbers to the top. I yanked off my gloves, un-clicked my safety harness, and ran to the edge. I stopped four feet out and kicked off my shoes, ready to take the leap at a dead run. I sucked in a breath.

The lights went out, leaving the mountain in total darkness.

I froze.

Chapter Twelve

I blew out a breath, and tried not to panic. It wasn’t truly dark. I could see the underwater lights inside the pool. The aqua water was free of fish.

“Hey, turn the lights back on,” someone shouted.

The scraping sounds of the climbers had stopped. They froze to the side of the mountain, waiting. No one could climb in the dark. A cold sweat broke out over my skin and my knees shook. I searched for Thane, feeling detached from my body. He turned from the pool and ran to the ramp.

“Elena. Elena.” I recognized Rhys’s voice. He stood by the pool. “Dive. It’s lit.” He waved his arms. “Or run.”

I swallowed, frozen.

The sound of running steps, then measured breathing reached me. Thane. His arms wrapped around me and he towed me to the edge. “Hold your breath.” He jumped over the side, with me tight in his arms. Weightless. Falling. Cold.

The water rushed over me. My clothes drew me to the bottom of the pool, while Thane fought to propel us to the surface. The lights flickered on as we broke free of the water and I sucked in a breath of air.

Thane had one arm around me and was treading water with the other. I swiped a hand over my face. “Thane, I’m okay. Let go. I can swim.” His arm tightened for a second but then he released me, and we swam to the side. After pulling myself over the edge, I lay there, panting, my eyes on the glowing aqua water.

Thane knelt beside me and touched my arm.

“Thanks,” I gasped and rolled to a seated position beside him. I wiped a trembling hand over my face.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thanks, I couldn’t do it.” The race. I turned to check on Rhys. He’d reached the midpoint in the pool. Other jumpers had started their jumps, but most chose the ramp. I turned my face up to Thane, who hadn’t left me. I waved. “Get in position.”

Thane cursed, looking at me with searching eyes, and then ran to the other end of the pool. He barely got there before Rhys reached the end. Rhys swung free of the water, slapping Thane’s hand in midair. Tag.

Thane ran to the top of the ramp.

A buzz sounded overhead, as more lights kicked on and I pushed to my feet. Kaitlin ran over with a towel. The warm fabric landed on my shoulders. “Thanks.”

Kaitlin squeezed my arm. “You did great.”

We met Rhys and Kaitlin gave him a towel too. She smiled up at him with big, admiring eyes.

Rhys wiped his face with the towel and swiped it over his body. He pointed at Kaitlin. “You were robbed.”

She flushed. “Thanks.”

Rhys glanced up at the lights. “Someone’s pulling seriously messed up shit.” He turned to the top of the ramp and frowned.

I could see taillights from here. “Are those go-carts?” I felt a renewed sense of strength and wrapped the towel around my waist. “Where’s Thane?”

“On the course.” Kaitlin pointed to the monitor. “When the runner reaches the stage, he has to grab a key and run it back to the top of the ramp. Then drive a go-cart to the finish line.”

“Come on,” Rhys said and we trekked with the other contestants up to the ramp. When we got closer to the top, we could see Thane running back up. He had ridiculous stamina and speed. I felt guilty he’d had to use some of his energy to help me off the cliff.

Thane popped down inside the car marked with his name and fiddled with the key. Nothing happened.

Rhys cursed and ran toward him. Kaitlin and I hung back. The splashes of the last divers filled the room behind us. But the sound I wanted to hear, engine ignition, didn’t come.

Thane climbed out of his car and ran to the second. He bent and tested the ignition. It revved on.

Coordinator Steele’s voice came through the loud speakers. “Contestants must drive their designated cars.”

Thane shut off the second car, and ran back to the first.

Rhys reached him and removed the hood. He yanked at wires that meant nothing to me. “It’s not going to start, but I can get it in neutral.”

Thane climbed in.

Rhys got behind the car. “After I push you over the edge, try not to brake. Use the momentum from the slope to pull you around to the next ramp. We’ll meet you at the bottom.”

Thane gave a sharp nod and Rhys pushed him over the edge. The car picked up speed as its tires took the ramp.

“Come on,” Rhys said. “We have to get to the amphitheater. The plateau at the top will destroy his momentum.”

Adrenalin hit me and I ran with Kaitlin and Rhys. My clothes dripped with each step, but I ignored the discomfort and kept an eye on the race. Thane’s car hit the bottom of the first ramp with a thump. He jerked the wheel hard right. The tires screamed as they took the curve without a braking. The cart swung toward the edge.

I stopped running, glued to the spot.

The vehicle drifted sideways. Engines revved and the sound of speeding filled my ears, but I couldn’t take my gaze off Thane’s cart as it spun out of control, threatening to send him over the side.

Thane grappled with the wheel and he fought to keep the cart on the road. I held my breath until the tires caught, forcing the small car back into play. He flew toward the second ramp, seeming to go faster.

“Hurry, Elena.” Kaitlin had her arm in the doorway of the elevator, holding it open.

I picked up speed and joined her and Rhys. The elevator ride felt like it took two minutes, though it could only have been seconds before the doors opened and released us.

We ran to the upper ring of the amphitheater to wait for the go-carts. I sank against the wall, chilled and uncomfortable. I’d lost my towel somewhere along the run. The crowd of onlookers in the seats below got louder as more competitors joined us.