American Hero - George R. R. Martin Page 0,22

the hunt for the statue on Mount Wilson—up against the flyers from the three other teams: Dragon Huntress, Brave Hawk, and Jetman. But Hearts doesn’t have a flyer, so Gardener and Hardhat made do. Jetman had the speed, while Dragon Huntress, circling on a giant stuffed pelican, could scan the area from above, but it was Brave Hawk who found the statue tucked away in a mountain crevice. Gardener made a showing, though, in a spectacular attempt to bring the Clubs player back to Earth with a tangle of vines that reached up almost twenty feet to snag the flier. Brave Hawk managed to chop his way free, however, and returned to the home base with the prize.

But the real action went on at the Griffith Park Zoo . . . and on the road back, where Stuntman went to desperate lengths to steal one of the idols from Tiffani. They’re both nearly indestructible, so why not ram the Team Diamonds Humvee off the road? Stuntman’s daring heist backfired when he fell victim to an unprecedented alliance between members of Hearts and Spades, who worked together to trap him and steal his statue in turn. The pivotal moment came when Stuntman of Team Clubs accused the Spades’ Rustbelt of making a racist remark. Rustbelt denied ever making the comment. The controversy cast a huge shadow over what would otherwise have been a clear victory for Spades. Rustbelt has a hard time ahead of him before he’ll get past this.

The final tally: Team Spades retrieved two of the Jetboy statues. The Hearts and Clubs each claimed one, while the hapless Diamonds were shut out. The fifth idol, the one at the center of so much effort and controversy, turned to rust in Rustbelt’s iron hands, and the three judges declared it out of play. For retrieving the most statues, Spades wins immunity this week. The other teams made their Discard choices: the Maharajah, Gardener—who made a gallant effort this week, but failed to forge the alliances among her teammates that would have saved her in this vote—and Diver.

Keep on the lookout for this week’s confessions:

Curveball, the Candle, Jade Blossom, and Matryoshka!

Confessional: Kathleen Brandt aka Curveball

I thought it would get easier, voting people off, but it hasn’t.

Gardener didn’t deserve that. I certainly didn’t vote against her. She was doing her best, like the rest of us. Just because she isn’t bitchy and in everyone’s face doesn’t make her a weak player. But God, the way people are gaming the system. A loner like Gardener doesn’t have a chance.

I’m here to play the game, just do the best job I can, but there are people here who are really playing. It’s not about our abilities, it’s all politics. A politician is going to end up winning this thing. Look at that dustup with Rustbelt and Stuntman. I don’t even know who to believe.

Some people might say I’m as bad as everyone else with that sort of thing. They’d say that Ana and I have an alliance. But if we do it’s because we’re friends, not because we’re trying to get something from each other. I can’t see either one of us stabbing the other in the back, but maybe I’m being naïve. I joke about the two of us ending up in the finals. Honestly, though, I think that would suck. I don’t want to have to face off against her. And I don’t want to have to keep voting people off. It feels like betraying them.

I’m proud of our team. We may not have won, but we’re out there. We’re trying, we’re making a showing, and that’s got to count for something. We just have to keep getting better and we’ll clean up. Or one of us will. Eventually, I suppose we’ll all be on our own. I keep forgetting that. I’m used to being part of a team. It’s like softball. One person can’t do it all.

My card turned during junior high softball tryouts. I was pitching. You have to understand, I loved the game. I’d been playing since I could pick up a ball and bat. My plan was to blow the socks off everyone in junior high, then maybe try out for the boys’ baseball team in high school. Really start making a splash.

So I really wanted a spot on that team. Not just that, I wanted to be the best player out there. I knew I was, I just had to prove it. I put everything I had