into the pool of warm water. It grows deeper and deeper, almost hitting my chin before we get to the waterfall. There we notice a cord hanging down the waterfall. Cody grabs it first, hoisting himself up and almost straddling the narrow falls as he looks to find a foothold. Ivy goes next.
Luke places a protective hand on the small of my back under the water. “Go first. I won’t let you fall.”
I cast him a worried glance but nod, rubbing my hands together as I take hold of the cord. I try to remember where Ivy’s setting her feet as I pull myself up.
The first few feet aren’t a problem. It’s only when we get up higher and the pool starts to shrink beneath me that my fear of heights kicks in. The footholds are wet, and my sneakers keep slipping. More than once I have to rely on the cord—and Luke—to keep me from falling. And he does just as he promised, always keeping one hand hovering nearby to catch me.
At one point, we climb to one side of the falls, then have to cross over sideways to the other side of the surging water. I stop and watch Ivy make the difficult jump, gaining her foothold. She reaches up for Cody’s hand but suddenly slips. She reaches for the rope, but it falls through her fingers, and down she goes. Luke reaches out for her, but her hand slips from his grip.
We all stare open-mouthed as she falls at least thirty feet, shrieking, splashing into the water below.
“Holy shit!” Cody calls out. “Ivy?”
She surfaces a minute later, waving. “Shit, that hurt! I’m coming.”
“She’s okay,” Luke says, letting out a sigh of relief as we continue the rest of the way up.
When we get there, the path abruptly ends at a cliff. We see a sign that says WELCOME, TRAVELERS. TAKE THE LEAP OF FAITH! with a giant arrow pointing off the cliff.
Oh hell no.
Luke goes to the edge of the cliff. “It’s about sixty feet. You can’t really see what’s down there because of the tree cover. But it’s got to be okay.”
I stare at him, then try to go and peek over myself, but even craning my neck to look over makes me dizzy and sick to my stomach. “It’s got to be?” That really isn’t the guarantee I was looking for. “Are you sure?”
He nods. He gives me his hand. “Do you trust me?”
I nod. I do. I really, really do.
“Then let’s go.”
So we do. No hesitation. Holding hands, we charge off the cliffside, falling down, down, down, into the warm, fresh water of the pool. We surface in each other’s arms, and I don’t need breath because he kisses me, and it turns out, that’s all the sustenance I need.
He takes my hand, and we wade as fast as we can out of the pool and to the next grouping of clues. “Come on, killer. We have a race to win.”
Luke
We didn’t know when it was going to end. We figured soon, but we had no idea it would be like that.
—Luke’s Confessional, Day 14
I rip the envelope of the next clue with my teeth and pull out the slip of paper. It tells us we need to head back around the island again. My voice loses its timbre as I say, “And listen to this. Make your way to the Maui Ocean Center, where your adventure will come to an end.”
“An end?” Her eyes widen.
I don’t know what I was thinking. Not that this would go on forever. We’d fucking die. But I thought we’d have a little more time. Now it feels like everything’s about to come crashing to a halt, and I want it to keep going.
I want us to keep going.
We climb into the Jeep. The other teams are still on our tail, and Ace and Marta are still ahead of us, so we can’t lag like I want to. Talking to her. Making plans.
I want to know what the fuck she’s thinking.
She doesn’t say anything as we set off around the island again.
The silence is fucking slaughtering me.
We have to talk about this. We can’t just end with the cameras on us. Here in our Jeep, we’re alone. There’s so much I want to say, and this could be my last chance to say it.
“Look,” I say, at the same time that she says, “You know . . .”