by Zoe Quinn
We all turned to see the Integrity/Fortitude team drifting past in their raft. Oddly, the swell of white water that had nearly taken us under had stopped and the current in that spot was calm, just like the map had indicated.
The girl who'd been putting on lip gloss was now touching up her eye shadow, and the rest of the team was still trying to get the hang of paddling.
“Ah,” said Simon.“And there go the winners of the raft race.”
“That is so not fair!” said Casey. “We were the better team.”
“It's okay, guys,” said Amanda.“Keep your spirits up. We've still got two more events.”
“If we're not disqualified,” Dave muttered. “'Cause of me.”
“Not because of you,” said Howie. “Because of me. You used your power to save me. I'm sure Bertram won't disqualify you for that. You are a superhero, after all. That's part of your job description.”
“I think Howie's right,” said Amanda. “I'll talk to Bertram. He'll see that Dave didn't have a choice.”
She took one last disappointed glance at the shriveled remains of the raft, now draped limply on the far bank, and headed back to camp.
When she was gone, Simon gave us a sympathetic look. “Don't feel too bad about losing the raft race,” he said. “I suppose knowing when you're beaten could be considered an admirable quality. You did your best. At least, I think you did.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” demanded Zander.
“Nothing, except that…well, I would have liked to see you make more of an effort to keep going.”
I considered his remark. Maybe he had a point…sort of. We hadn't even tried to come up with a way to stay afloat and make it to the finish line. Howie's voice interrupted my thoughts.
“How did you get all wet?” he was asking Simon.
“When I was reaching toward the water to fish out the paddles, I tumbled in.”
“Where are the paddles?” Howie asked.
“I must have dropped them on my way through the woods, in my hurry to get back here and see how you all managed to mess up so badly.” There was a sudden sharp glitter in Simon's eyes, as though he resented Howie's questions.“Now let's go back to camp and get you guys dried off ”—he glared at Howie—“before those of you who aren't super and nearly indestructible catch a cold.”
We trooped back to camp without a word.
THE good news was that Bertram understood and ruled that the Intrepid/Bravery team would not be disqualified.
The bad news was that, for Howie's own safety, he would not be allowed to participate in the Mountain-Climbing Challenge.
Amanda broke it to us Thursday morning, just before it was time to start the second event.
“But Howie's part of the team!” said Zander.
“He's been training as hard as the rest of us,” Dave added.
“I'll say it again,” huffed Casey.“So not fair!”
Howie looked touched by the show of support. “Thanks, guys, but I understand where Bertram's coming from. Besides, I'd only slow you down, and because of yesterday's mishap,we've got to come from behind if we're going to place. I want you go out there and win this one.”
“Are you sure, Howie?” I asked.
“Positive.”
“Can Howie at least come along to cheer us on?” said Megan.
“Of course,” said Amanda, smiling. “I wouldn't have it any other way.
“Mount Valor,” Amanda announced, when we reached the base of the mountain. It was impossibly steep, and it was definitely a long way to the top. I looked up at the sparse patches of trees, the scraggly brush, the occasional outcropping of rock.
“Be right back,” said Amanda. She went over to talk to the counselor of the Fearless/Energized team, who would be our competition for this task, leaving us with Simon, who was handing out our climbing equipment. I couldn't take my eyes off the mountain.
“We're supposed to climb that?” I said. “Without powers?”
“Oh, it's just a relaxing little hike,” said Simon.
“I'd rather fly to the top,” said Megan.
“Ah, but you can't, now, can you?” Simon shook his head. “Those are the rules. No powers. Just teamwork. Because if it were about using your powers, well, Zander would be the winner, of course. He is the fastest kid on earth.”
I cleared my throat loudly. It wasn't that I cared if Zander was faster than me—at least, I didn't think I cared—I just didn't like being overlooked.
“Something wrong, Zoe?” Then, as if he'd suddenly remembered, Simon smacked his forehead. “Oh, that's right! You have that speedy thing going for you as well. Hmmm, then maybe you would be the winner.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zander frown.
Simon shrugged. “Too bad our little race didn't work out the other day. Then we'd know for sure. But no matter. We're all in this together, right? Now, what was I saying? Ah, yes…teamwork.”
“Teamwork,” said Howie. “And trigonometry.”
“Trigonometry?” said Dave. “You mean like in school?” He made a face. “C'mon, this is summer vacation. Let's not talk about trig.”
“I agree,” Simon said briskly. “Save that for the classroom. Now you all get ready for the climb. I'm going to grab some water bottles for you to have if—I mean when you finish.”
When Simon was gone, we all turned to Howie.
“What about trigonometry, Howie?” said Casey.
“Well, I'm guessing the Fearless/Energized team is going to climb straight up, going vertically toward the peak.”
“And that would be wrong because…?”I asked, confused. I'd never been as good as Howie in math.
“Because going straight up an incline this steep is going to require not only great balance but incredible strength, which all of you have but can't use. You'll tire yourselves out before you're halfway up. See, it's all about angle measurement and tangents, but I don't want to bore you with all that.”
“I'm grateful,” said Megan.
“I can sum it up in one word,” said Howie.“And that word is simple: zigzag.”
“Huh?” said Dave.
“I think I understand,” I said.“Instead of climbing straight up, Howie wants us to zigzag our way to the top. First we go up sort of sideways in one direction, which will make the climb less steep; then still go up, but sideways in the other direction.”
“By creating an angular path, you'll conserve energy and experience better balance,” Howie concluded.
“Trigonometry,” said Zander. “Who knew?”
“Howie knew,” I said, laughing.
Dave gave Howie a high five. “Zigzag!”
“Go for it!” said Howie.
“What about you?” asked Megan.
Howie sat down beneath a big tree and pulled out Sam's forgotten communication device. “I'll be waiting here, chatting with Thatcher,” he said.
Using Howie's zigzag strategy, we made our way up the mountain. We could see the Fearless/Energized team heading straight for the top, just as Howie predicted.
“They're farther along than we are,” Zander observed, sounding a little worried.
“But they'll be exhausted before they reach the midway point,” I assured him. “And we'll still be going strong.”
We worked together, pointing out footholds to one another, and warning our teammates where the ground turned slippery.
Sure enough, halfway to the peak, we'd caught up to the other team. We could tell they were losing steam. Even without super-hearing, I could hear Sunny complaining about how thirsty she was.
“She looks pretty beat,” said Zander.
“You should go offer to help her,” I teased. “Maybe she's got a bottle of water you can open for her.”
As Zander and I joked, a small stone came rolling past. Then another. Then another, larger rock came thumping by.
“I don't like the look of that,” I said.
Dave shaded his eyes and looked toward the top of the m
ountain. “Uh-oh.”
We all looked. A giant boulder was rocking back and forth, throwing off smaller stones as it came loose from the mountainside. Slowly, it began to skid downward. And we were directly in its path.
“Quick,” cried Zander. “Get out of the way!”
“Why bother?” asked Casey.“If we go into Super mode, we'll be fine. That boulder could roll right over us, and we wouldn't even feel it.”
“Yeah,” Zander replied, “but if we don't go into Super mode, we can stay in the contest.”
“Good point,” said Dave.
“But what about Howie?” I asked.“He's at the bottom of the mountain. That boulder is headed right toward him.”
The urgency of the situation hit us all at once. Our friend Howie was in danger—again!
“Contest or no contest, we have to stop that boulder!” said Megan. “I don't care if we get disqualified. I don't want Howie to get crushed!”
“Me either!” said Zander, looking up toward the giant rock as it continued to tumble down. “Okay, so what's the plan?”
“Catch it?” Dave suggested.
“We can redirect it,” I said. “Remember my letter from Emily?”
Megan and Casey caught on at the same time. “Yes!” cried Casey.
“Time for a game of soccer,” said Megan.
“Supersoccer,” Casey corrected her.
We all went into Super mode, hooking into our strength just in time as we positioned ourselves in the formation Emily had described in her letter. The boulder came bounding down toward us, casting its shadow like a dark cloud.
It reached Casey first; she kicked her leg out as hard as she could, propelling the rock toward Megan, who leaped upward and used a bicycle kick to shoot it to me.
Closing my eyes tight, I leaned into the boulder and let it bounce off my head, sending it sideways in the opposite direction from the Fearless/Energized team, and far from where we'd left Howie under the tree. The giant rock sailed away in a wide arc, then slammed to the ground to continue its journey down the mountainside toward a dense area of forest, where we were sure no other campers would be caught unaware.
We all looked and saw that our rivals had continued on their way… using the zigzag strategy and making great time.
“They copied us!” huffed Casey.
“We lose again,” Dave muttered.
Strangely, Zander didn't seem to care that we had no hope of winning the mountain climb.“First the unexpected rapids, now a boulder,” he said. “This is getting very weird.”
We made our way down the mountain to where Simon was waiting in the shade with Howie.
“Back so soon?” Simon asked.
“Yeah,” said Zander. “The road got a little rocky. Literally.”
Megan explained about the giant rock.
Simon made a tsk-tsk sound with his tongue. “Tough break, kids. You must be getting awfully discouraged.”
I looked around at my teammates and realized he was right. “Um, Zander, can I talk to you for a moment? I think we need a quick cocaptains' meeting.”
Zander followed me away from the others. He looked miserable.
“Morale is pretty low,” I said.
“Well, what do you expect?” he grumbled.“First we lose Mel, then Sam goes wonky, then the raft disaster, and now this. I really thought we had a chance to win this cup, but now I don't think there's any way we can pull it off.” He kicked at a stone on the ground.“I must be a pretty crummy captain if I can't lead my team through these challenges without failing on every count.”
I couldn't believe my ears. “Zander,” I said, “first, you are not the only captain of this team. So if you've failed, then so have I.” I didn't wait for him to reply. “And second, there's no way all these things could be coincidence. I think someone is sabotaging us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let's go back to the beginning. We don't know for sure that Mel caused that fire—it could have been someone with a match, not fire-starting superpowers. And as far as Sam is concerned, I'm having a hard time believing he vandalized Bertram's car because he was angry about being on restricted power—he seemed fine with it to me. He wasn't harboring a grudge against the Feds.”
“So what do you think happened?”
“Well, Simon said Sam was out of control, right? Maybe somebody got to him and…I don't know, made him rip Bertram's car to pieces. Maybe he was hypnotized or something, and that's why he told Simon all that stuff about being angry.”
“I guess it's possible,” said Zander. “And if you believe in that theory, it's not so hard to imagine that someone could have deliberately weakened our raft and made that rock fall. Whew, someone must want us out of this competition really badly.” He looked very solemn. “Maybe there's a villain hiding out undercover at Camp Courageous after all.”
It was a terrible thought, but I found myself hoping it was true…because the only other possibility was much, much worse. If it wasn't an undercover villain causing the trouble…it was one of the superkids.
I was jumpy the whole rest of the day. I studied every camper, looking for suspicious behavior, but everyone seemed normal. Well, normal for superkids, at least. By dinner I was exhausted from worrying.
During dessert, Bertram stood up at the front of the mess hall and called for our attention.“As you know, tomorrow we finish our Courageous Cup contest with the traditional scavenger hunt. Each team will be given a list of different items to be found and collected.”
He held up a sealed envelope. “The lists are in here; no one besides me has seen them. Not even your counselors know what you'll be looking for. Each item is described in a riddle, so you'll have to first figure out what the item is and then hunt it down. You will have two hours to collect the items. I wish you all the best of luck! And don't forget …no superpowers.”
When we left the dining hall, the Intrepid/Bravery team met
I was jumpy the whole rest of the day. I studied every camper, looking for suspicious behavior, but everyone seemed normal. Well, normal for superkids, at least. By dinner I was exhausted from worrying.
During dessert, Bertram stood up at the front of the mess hall and called for our attention.“As you know, tomorrow we finish our Courageous Cup contest with the traditional scavenger hunt. Each team will be given a list of different items to be found and collected.”
He held up a sealed envelope. “The lists are in here; no one besides me has seen them. Not even your counselors know what you'll be looking for. Each item is described in a riddle, so you'll have to first figure out what the item is and then hunt it down. You will have two hours to collect the items. I wish you all the best of luck! And don't forget …no superpowers.”
When we left the dining hall, the Intrepid/Bravery team met on the shore of the lake. Fireflies twinkled in the dusk, and the lapping of the water on the sand was like a peaceful song.
“Listen up, team,” said Zander. “Zoe and I were talking this afternoon, and we're afraid that there's been some foul play.”
“What do you mean?” asked Megan.
“We think someone tampered with the raft,” I said.“And that boulder—we think it was pushed.”
“Someone's out to get us?” said Dave.
Zander nodded.
“I don't understand,” said Casey. “We're super. We couldn't have been hurt by the leaky raft or the rolling boulder, so what was the point?”
“We don't think they wanted to hurt us,” I said. “We think they were trying to psych us out. Maybe even get us to drop out of the contest.”
“I felt like dropping out after Sam took off,” Megan admitted.
“After the boulder, I was ready to quit,” Dave confessed.
“We think that's exactly what this person is trying to do,” said Zander.
“What difference does it make if we drop out of the contest?” Casey asked. “There's still plenty of competition from the other teams. Why target us?”
“Because,” said Howie,“you guys are amazing! And somebody out there is just plain jealous.”
“Thanks, Howie,” I said, feeling my cheeks grow warm. “But everybody at Camp Courageous is exceptional.”
“Don't you get it?” he persisted. “At a camp full of exceptional kids, you're the most exceptional of all! You guys have the coolest superpowers of anyone at Camp Courageous. But there's more to this team than its powers.”
“Our dazzling good looks?” Dave teased.
“You guys work together,” Howie said, still serious. “You train harder than any other team in this camp and you don't complain. And when you found out I was the only kid at this camp without powers, you didn't try to dump me. You accepted me—even better, you treated me like a friend. When I had something to say, you listened. When I was in danger, you looked out for me.”
I heard a sniffle and glanced over at Casey. She was wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. I didn't blame her. Howie's speech was making me feel a little choked up, too.
“I know we almost blew the whole teamwork thing by getting angry with each other, but we even managed to work that out. See? Powers are great, but there's one thing in this world that no one—super or otherwise—can beat. And that's friendship. So I say we go out there tomorrow not just as a team, but as best friends…and do our best.”
“And work together,” said Casey.
“And have fun!” I added.
“And win,” said Zander. As soon as he said it, he snapped his mouth shut. Even in the dim light I could see him blushing. “Um, I mean…”
“Aw, what the heck,”I said, laughing.“Let's have fun and win!”
The air seemed charged with excitement the next morning when all the teams gathered at the center of camp to receive our lists for the scavenger hunt. Each team would be given four items to collect. The first team to retrieve all four would be the winner.
Bertram called the counselors up and handed them a folded piece of paper, which they brought back to their teams.
As we were waiting for the signal to read our lists, Simon pulled me aside.