For Real(72)
The ride to Dumfries is largely silent. Samir drives, and since we’re supposed to stay on one road almost the entire way, there’s hardly any navigating to be done. The silence leaves me too much time to think, and as I watch the Crayola-green farmland, low stone walls, and hills of scrubby trees rush by outside the window, my brain churns itself into a froth. What if I can’t ensure that Samir and I come in last, and I’ve spent the entire day looking like an incompetent fool for nothing? What if I succeed, but Miranda’s not even grateful? Have I caused so much damage that my grand gesture won’t be enough to repair things between us?
We drive past a few small towns and through the city of Dumfries, then down a bunch of narrow, twisting village streets where all the doors are painted different bright colors. Finally, we spot Sweetheart Abbey looming ahead. Only the outside shell of the building is still intact, all crumbling brick towers and arches. The floor, where there must once have been an altar and pews, is a carpet of neatly trimmed grass. Martin and Zora are pulling out of the parking lot as we pull in, zipping toward the Cupid’s Nest. When we get out of the car, I see Miranda and Steve searching a distant field. In the other direction, Will and Janine are tromping through some high grass. He’s laughing uproariously at something she’s said, and he seems to be holding her hand. My heart skips a couple beats before it starts limping onward again
“We should split up so we can search faster,” Samir says.
“Nope,” Robby says before I have time to object. “The camera has to be able to see both of you at all times.” I’ve never heard him speak before, and he sounds eerily similar to Kermit the Frog. I almost burst out laughing, but I manage to turn it into a coughing fit just in time.
Samir heaves a soul-deep sigh. “Fine. Let’s go around to the other side of the building and start there.”
The far side of the abbey has huge arched windows that gape open to the overcast sky like wide, sightless eyes. Moss grows along the windowsills and covers the top of the wall that encloses a small graveyard. The stones are weathered by hundreds of years of rain and wind, and I run my fingers over the shallow inscriptions. Most of them are so old that I can barely make out the words. Scattered here and there are small wooden boxes that look brand-new—I guess these are the “caskets” we’re supposed to be searching. I was picturing something much bigger, like those hexagonal coffins cartoon vampires live in. I crack open the lid of one, but it’s empty. So are the second and third boxes I try.
Shockingly, the fourth contains a stack of pink envelopes.
It figures I’d finally get lucky now, when it’s the last thing I want. If Samir and I find the envelopes this early, it’ll put us in second place, and I can’t let that happen, or I’ll never be able to make things right with Miranda. I close the lid of the box very quietly, hoping against hope that Samir hasn’t seen the flash of pink inside. But he’s checking the caskets a few rows away and not paying me the slightest bit of attention. Robby, on the other hand, has his camera pointed right at me. I shoot him a questioning look, wondering if he got what just happened on film. He gives me a thumbs-up behind Samir’s back.
“I’ve searched this whole side, and there’s nothing here,” I call to Samir. “They probably wouldn’t put the envelopes this close to the main building anyway, would they? Let’s head farther out.” I start tromping toward one of the large empty fields nobody’s searching, and I’m relieved when Samir follows me, totally oblivious.
“Remember where you’ve already looked,” he tells me, like I’m five years old and learning to play one of those memory games. “Work smarter, not harder, okay?” For someone with an IQ of 146, he’s falling pretty thoroughly for my ruse. But I just nod like he’s spouting sage wisdom, not clichés you might find on posters in a guidance counselor’s office.
A car door slams in the parking area, followed by the sound of Tawny’s barking laughter. Good—now I just need everyone to find the envelopes in the graveyard before Samir does. Sabotaging myself is surprisingly difficult. You’d think it would be easy to lose.
Unfortunately, Samir is a little savvier than I’d hoped, and he keeps a close eye on the other teams while we search. I manage to distract him by pretending to twist my ankle when I see Miranda and Steve walking toward their car from the back of the abbey, but when he sees Will and Janine heading to the parking lot ten minutes later, he realizes we’re searching the wrong side of the grounds. He’s getting more and more frustrated, and I’m pretty sure he’s not going to fall for my tricks much longer. Just as I’m wondering if I’ll have to resort to more desperate measures, like filling our car with biodiesel or feigning food poisoning, I see Tawny and Troy heading for the graveyard.
“Let’s search the front of the abbey again,” I say, grabbing Samir’s arm and leading him in the opposite direction. “Maybe they put the envelopes somewhere so obvious we wouldn’t even think to look there.”
Samir rants and mutters as we check and double-check all the empty boxes in front of the abbey, followed by the ones inside the walls. And then Tawny lets out a whoop from the graveyard, advertising her exact location and the fact that she’s found the envelopes, and my heart sinks. Doesn’t she know you’re supposed to be sneaky during challenges like this?