I get back to the tree suite after Ander and find the rest of our team waiting by the front steps.
“Where were you guys?” asks Jillian. “We were just checking your location on our watches and going to look for you.”
Ander points behind us. “We walked that way to find a place to write the script. It didn’t work though.” He looks at me, and I’m not sure if he wants me to tell them or not.
“Well, it’s my fault actually because I’m having trouble concentrating.”
Mare wrinkles up her face in a scowl. “Why?” she asks. “What’s wrong with you? You never have trouble focusing on our tasks.” The rest of them stare at me like I’m an alien.
“I’ve been thinking about something.”
“What?” asks Jillian, with a worried expression on her face.
“You probably already know, Jillian. You were there when she said it.”
“When who said what?”
“Martina.”
“What did she say?”
“It must not have been horrible if Jillian doesn’t remember,” says Mare.
“It was.”
Jillian looks confused, but then she seems to figure it out. “Oh! You mean what she said about our team?”
“Yeah.”
“What did she say about our team?” Mare demands.
“She said that some people think the Piedmont Challenge in New York was fixed—that the five of us couldn’t have really won.”
“But we did,” says Jax.
“Who is she saying said it?” asks Mare.
“She said some people, like the boys on her team.”
“I was there when she said it Kia,” says Jillian. “She’s just trying to mess with us. No one really thinks it. Maybe her team does, but it’s just because they’re jerks, that’s all.”
“That’s what I said!” Ander replies.
Jillian shrugs. “Who cares what she thinks anyway?”
“I do,” says Mare. “I don’t want people talking about us, saying we didn’t really win.”
I look at Ander, and I feel like I’m betraying him. “And I want to know if it’s true or not.”
“Me too,” says Mare. “And then we go squash them like bugs for starting rumors.”
“You guys, no!” Ander holds his hands up for quiet. “We can’t. If it is true then we can’t be here at Globals. We’ll all have to leave. What about the Ancestor App, KK? It’ll never get built, and we may not even be able to go to PIPS! Did you think about that? Huh?”
“No.”
“See?” says Ander. “Let’s just forget about it. It’s probably not even true anyway.”
My teammates and I stand in silence for a few minutes. Ander shoves his hands in his pockets. Mare lets out a loud breath, and I bite my pointer finger. It seems none of us can decide what to do.
BONFIRE SPARKS
As the sun dips behind a cloud, we hear a loud siren—a screeching, ear-splitting siren—coming from the Creativity Pool. “What the—?” shouts Ander, and we take off after the sound. The uneven bricks beneath our feet make it hard to sprint but we run as fast as we can anyway. We round the bend, pass the Canadian and England tree suites, and catch up to our friends from France. They see us running and slow down to let us catch up.
“What’s happening?” I call to Maelle.
“I do not know,” she replies. The sound gets louder and louder, but as we approach the square the siren starts to sound like musical chimes. Soon, kids from all of the trees suites are surrounding the sparkling pool.
Tiny silver packages fall from the sky around its perimeter. We inch closer. Each package is marked with a team name, and we scurry to find the one that’s meant for us. We search along one side, looking up at package after package, and eventually turn the corner. Finally, near the ladder of the problem-solving bars, Jax spots it and catches it before it lands.
We head to a bench where it’s quiet and crowd around him as he unties the ribbon and pulls off the cover to the box. Inside are two small notes.
Greetings, New York Team,
You are cordially invited to attend the Piedmont Bonfire this evening at 9:00 p.m. This is a Piedmont tradition. Please write down any fears, concerns, or apprehensions you may have in regard to this competition and bring them with you this evening. We will extinguish them before the night is over. It should be a night to remember—one that will renew your positive, creative energy!
Think More. Work Hard. Dream Big.
Andora Appleonia
The second note read:
When completing your task, you must now incorporate this object into your solution. It must be visible at all times.
Underneath the notes, partially hidden under a sliver of tissue paper, is a small metal object—a red letter C with a silver number 5 in the center. Jillian hands it to me and I turn it over. I pass it along to Jax, and then to Ander and Mare. Mare shrugs. “It looks like a symbol for the Crimson Five.”
“Whoa,” says Ander. “They made a symbol just for us.”
“But why would Andora want it to be part of our task solution?”
Jillian shrugs. “Maybe she made up a nickname for all the teams and wants them visible for everyone to see.”
“That’s weird,” I say. “Why wouldn’t they want it to be a symbol of the USA?”
“Probably because there is more than one team from each country here,” says Jax.
“Yeah, that’s probably it,” says Mare. “It’ll be easy to add it to our solution.”
As we walk back to our tree suite, Jillian practically floats. “This bonfire is going to amazing!”
Mare grins. “We’ll finally get to hang out with some cute guys.” She looks at Ander and Jax. “Oh sorry, guys, no offense.” She giggles her Mare giggle and shrugs.
Ander grins right back. “I know you secretly think I’m the guy of your dreams, and you’re just checking out the other guys as a consolation prize, so I don’t take offense at all.”
“So are you saying you’re a prize—an object to be won by girls?”
“No, I just mean—”
“What are you two even talking about?” I ask. “We have more important things to worry about, like the script. Can we just hurry up and get back to work?”
“Wow, Kia,” says Mare. “I thought you had writer’s block and couldn’t write the script?”
That’s when I remember what Martina said about our team.
“So are we going to try to figure out if what Martina said is true?” asks Jillian.
My team stares at me. I stare at the ground. I’m so confused. All the wormy pieces in my brain are tangled. I don’t know what to do.
“Let’s just keep working,” says Jax.
“Okay,” I say, “and when we’re not working, let’s figure out if it’s true—like at the bonfire tonight.”
“Fine, but how?” asks Ander.
“Don’t worry. I have an idea.”
The bonfire is three stories high with twenty-foot-long boards surrounding it, almost like a teepee. The flames rage into the dark night, and even though they could burn me to ashes if I stood too close, I’m not afraid. I need to stay close to my team and the rest of the kids here, so I can make my move.
“Come on, Mare,” I say. “The boys from the Idaho team are right over there. Let’s go talk to them.”
“Oh my god, yes, Kia!” says Mare. “Good call! Come on, Jillian.”
I knew my plan was going to work. “Ander and Jax, stay here. We’ll be right back.”
We walk over to the boys with USA written across the front of their shirts and Idaho printed up the sleeve. Mare marches right up to one with black curly hair and another with blond hair and glasses.
“Hi,” she says.
They look startled, but they both
smile. “Hi.”
Jillian is about to introduce herself, I can tell. But I don’t have time for that. “Hi, I’m Kia. We’re also from the United States, as you can see from our shirts. So . . . we have a question for you.”
Mare looks at me like I have no idea what I’m doing, but of course I do.
The blond boy looks embarrassed for some reason. “Okay, what’s your question?”
“Well, have you heard any rumors about our team?”
Mare leans close and whispers. “What are you doing?”
I whisper back. “Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
“Rumors?” he asks.
“Yeah, like about the competition, about you know, about our team competing here—”
Suddenly my words get mixed up in my head. I don’t know how to ask him what I want to know. My face feels hot.
“No,” the boy says. “Like what?”
Mare is glaring at me, and Jillian’s mouth is hanging open. Mare says something to them, but I’m not really sure what it is because it all happens so fast. Then Mare and Jillian drag me back to Ander and Jax.
“What was that?” Mare demands.
“Yeah, Kia,” says Jillian. “What were you doing?”
“I’m trying to find out if what Martina said is true.”
“What happened?” asks Ander.
“She asked the boys from the Idaho team if they had heard any rumors about our team.”
“Really, KK?”
“I know, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. I just thought that if there really was a rumor, they would have heard it and maybe they would tell us.”
“But we can’t let the other teams think we shouldn’t be here,” says Jillian.
Mare shakes her head. “Yeah, and now those Idaho boys think we’re weird.”
“So?”
“So?” She rolls her eyes at me.
Whatever. I don’t care if Mare is annoyed with me. But I guess it was stupid to think the Idaho boys would just come right out and tell us what they’ve heard. It’s just that . . . I don’t know what else to do.
I watch the flames crackle in the bonfire. All the teams around us are laughing and talking with other kids. I wish I felt like laughing and talking with them too. Before long, the Piedmont chimes fill the Piedmont square.
“Good evening!” Andora’s voice crackles through the speakers. “The time has arrived for our Piedmont Bonfire Ritual. Prepare your fears, concerns, or apprehensions.”
We reach into our pockets and pull out the papers we’ve brought with us. I slowly unfold mine and stare at the words. There are only two.
The truth.
That’s the only fear, concern, or apprehension I have about this competition now. I guess I could have written I’m afraid the Ancestor App won’t get built or I’m concerned that we won’t figure out a way to make the Satellite Spectacles work. I also could have written that I’m apprehensive about talking to Mare because I’m always apprehensive about talking to Mare. But the truth is that none of it matters if we didn’t rightfully earn our place in this competition. So I only have this one fear right now. I’m afraid that what Martina said is true.
I crumple my paper in my hands.
“Now we ask you to take several deep breaths, and as you do, imagine yourselves successfully solving your task without any of your fears, concerns, or apprehensions standing in your way. When the bells chime once again, throw your fears, concerns, and apprehensions into the Piedmont Bonfire where they will be vanquished for good!”
I breathe deeply and imagine that I’m holding Martina’s rumor in my hand. I crumple it even smaller, and as the chimes ring out, I toss it into the fire. Pieces of paper fly all around me, and within seconds they shrivel up into nothing but ash.
The bonfire rages on three stories above me, but soon the chimes fade into the Piedmont theme song. The bonfire is extinguished, and the teepee is transformed into a giant hot spring geyser! We step back in awe as blue, pink, yellow, green, and purple steam rise from the center.
“And now,” Andora continues, “all that remains is your positive creative energy! Use it wisely, for now as you solve your task, the possibilities are endless!”
I stare at the geyser. Andora’s right. The possibilities are endless. The good we could do with the Ancestor App and the Satellite Spectacles is endless. That’s why we need to stay in this competition. But I want to win fair and square, and there’s only one way to know for sure—one person to ask.
“KK, are you coming?”
I see the rest of my team leaving and skip to catch up with Ander.
“What’s wrong?” he asks me. “You were staring into space.”
“I was? Oh sorry.”
“That bonfire was so cool, wasn’t it? And then that geyser! How did they do that? That was awesome!”
“Yeah, it was. The Piedmont people can do anything.”
As we walk back to the tree suite, Ander keeps talking. I keep nodding and answering but I’m actually trying to formulate my plan. I need to make a phone call without anyone hearing me. I can’t make the call from inside. The tree suite isn’t that big, and my teammates will hear me, for sure. I could make it from our clubhouse, but what if someone from another team overhears? There are a million kids wandering around tonight, so that definitely won’t work. I need to think about this. I also need to plan out what I’ll say when I do call. I definitely need to catch him off guard. He won’t expect me to ask, and when I hear his response, I’ll know for sure.
The first thing I need is his phone number. I wish I could remember it from when we tracked him on the Ancestor App, but that’s no big deal. I just need to find an air screen.
There’s one near our sleeping eggs, but that’s too risky. Mare and Jillian might catch me. I’ll just use one in the Work Room.
I follow the girls into the tree chamber and get ready for bed. When I’m sure they’re asleep, I slide out of my sleeping egg and tiptoe out of our room. The Work Room isn’t too far, but it is on the floor below. I really hope these stairs don’t creak because if they do, I’m caught.
I take my first step down the stairs and I realize I worried about the wrong thing. The stairs don’t creak. They light up. The yellow board lights up underneath my foot and the words “Be Courageous” flash around it. Crap. I forgot about our team mantra steps. I continue down the steps and they each light up. At least the preceptor rooms are on the first floor. There’s no way they can see the lights from there.
I step off the bottom step as lightly as I can and sneak down the hall like a spy in search of secret information. Once I get inside the Work Room, I flip on the light. I have no choice. I can’t see anything without it. I walk over to the far wall and grab the first air screen I see. I type in “Blake Bermuda” and before long, his greasy hair and phone number appear. I memorize the digits as quickly as I can and shut down the screen. Now that I have his number, all I have to do is call him.
I sneak out of the Work Room and repeat the phone number over and over as I sneak back up the steps. I crack open the door to our tree chamber and Jillian and Mare are standing right there with their arms folded across their chests.
“Oh! You scared me.”
“What are you doing?” asks Mare.
“I was just getting a drink of water.”
“Downstairs?”
“How do you know I went downstairs?”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
I try to think of a good excuse, but I guess I’m really not a quick thinker all the time. So I decide to be honest instead.
“I found a way to find out for sure if what Martina said is true. I got Principal Bermuda’s phone number, and I’m going to call him.”
“Are you an idiot?” asks Mare.
“I’m going to ask him if he messed with the resu
lts.”
“I repeat: Are you an idiot?”
“No.”
“Well you have to be if you think it’s okay to call him.”
“What else are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know,” says Mare, “but not that.”
“Don’t you guys want to know for sure?”
“Duh, Kia, yes. But what if we have to leave here? If we find out our scores from the Piedmont Challenge were changed, then they’ll ship us back on the aero-bus. We’ll look like idiots, and they’ll send other kids here to solve our task—or there’ll be no New York team at all. Is that what you want?”
“No! But, oh, I don’t know! Why did Martina have to be such a jerk? Why did she have to say it in the first place?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going back to bed, and so are you. And you’re not calling him, got it?”
Jillian yawns. “Don’t call him, okay, Kia? Please?”
I climb back into my egg bed. “Fine, I won’t call him.”
I lie there wide awake and realize they are probably right. Calling Principal Bermuda is a dumb idea. I just wish I knew for sure if we placed in the top five, because right now I feel like a fake winner of the Piedmont Challenge.
THE PIEDMONT CHALLENGE TASKS
We sit around a table in the clubhouse staring at our metal box. The morning air is crisp, and instead of thinking of the box, I think of home and riding my aero-scooter. My best ideas always come to me while I ride. That’s where I do my best thinking and where I can always figure things out. But here in Québec I’m not able to ride. I have to think on the ground—sitting at this table, staring at this box.
My teammates and I had a breakthrough, and we should be able to finish up this task. We found a way to tap into the satellites. We also found a way to create a virtual reality for each individual person. And we found a way to create a program that will tell the glasses what to do.
But now we’re stuck trying to figure out how to put everything into the computer chip that we attach to the glasses. I guess we’re not as smart as I thought.
“This is hopeless, Seraphina,” I say. “I don’t know how to figure this out. I’m pretty much only good at Math anyway.”
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