“I’m afraid you’ll need your rest,” Brother Sage told us. “The final set of challenges will take everything you’ve got. And then comes the celebration.”
The other mentors gave us warm parting smiles and nods before they stepped away.
Richard collapsed onto a swinging chair that hung from a nearby tree. “They’re certainly sticklers for routine.”
“I’m too wired to go back to the dorm and sleep.” Cormack walked behind Richard, launching himself onto the back of the chair, making it swing high into the air. He whooped again, this time in a loud voice. “I’ll not get a wink anyway.”
“Me either.” I wriggled into the swing seat opposite Richard. “Not yet. We should just stay out here a while.”
Louelle stood apart from us, her arms crossed and staring at the sky. I couldn’t decide whether I thought she was odd or lucky. She seemed to always be in her own space, not bothered by what was happening around her.
Yolanda’s eyes brimmed with excitement. “We’ve done it. The next six challenges are just for fun. They have to be. We’ve already won. We won, people, we won!”
Hop looked exhausted and dazed, leaning against a small tree, but he cracked a smile at Yolanda’s enthusiastic speech.
Cormack began singing the “Leaving on a Jet Plane” song at full pelt.
“With that voice, everyone will be glad you left,” Richard remarked.
“Shut your face,” Cormack told him. “Or I’ll serenade you with the whole thing. Or I would if I knew all the words. Maybe I’ll just substitute different words, for your listening pleasure.”
“Maybe I’ll box your ears before you get a word out,” said Richard. “Let the grownups have some relax time.”
“Do your worst,” Cormack said. “I’ll be on my way to see Kara in a few days. Nothing’s going to give me a frownie face.”
Richard shrugged. “Still beating that dead horse? One thing I know is money, and I can tell you she comes from money. Girl like that is not going to take up with someone from the wrong side of the tracks. Sorry to be the one to give you the bad news.”
“Piss off, Richard. You bitter little bastard.” Cormack, still smiling broadly, jumped from the chair, almost sending Richard careening sideways into a tree.
Richard emerged from his seat. “Yeah, well, life made me that way. Stick around long enough, and it’ll make you that way too.” He paused, tilting his head. “Hang it. This is supposed to be a celebration. Wine and women and song and all of that. Well, maybe just the wine for me. Hold the women and song.”
Cormack whistled, nodding and slapping his thigh, seeming to instantly forget that he was angry with Richard. “Yeah, where’s the wine this time? We’re just supposed to go to sleep like good little children? Well, I don’t want to be good.”
Richard gave a devious wink. “Me neither. What about we sneak down to the cellar for a bottle of good, home-brewed monk wine?”
“What a sterling idea. I wouldn’t be a good Scotsman if I didn’t have a drink to celebrate a win,” said Cormack in a slightly hesitant tone, as if trying to convince himself that Richard’s idea was a good one.
Richard let out a victory howl. “Let me drink enough, and I’ll be Scottish, too, before the night’s out.”
Hop spoke for the first time since we’d left the sixth challenge room, threading his finger nervously through his short black hair. “What got us here in the first place was not making good decisions. I’m not doing anything that might jeopardize things now.”
I pressed my lips together hard. “Yeah, we’re too close to walking out of here.”
Richard and I had already been lucky not to be found in the walkways between the walls. No one even knew we’d done that.
“What are they going to do?” Richard drawled. “We can say we were just trying to do as they asked, but we were too excited to sleep. Like kids on Christmas Eve. So we needed something to help us sleep. That’s where booze comes in.”
Louelle turned to Richard. “The gate to the cellar’s got an old rusted chain and lock on it. I checked.”
“You alcoholic, you,” said Richard, tutting playfully. “Then how on earth do the monks get down there? Must be another way.”
I caught Richard’s eye in alarm, silently warning him not to tell about the secret passages. If the others found out, they might accuse us of looking into the challenge rooms and gaining an advantage. The mentors might strip Richard and me of our win. It was better left unsaid.