Magic Mansion (36 page)

Unfortunately, as he hung there by his frigid, aching fingers, Ricardo realized that dangling from the bar was difficult after ten seconds, painful after twenty, and downright excruciating after thirty. He chanced a look to see how Kevin Kazan was doing. Kevin was looking right at him.

Smiling.

Damn it. If there were only a way to knock that bastard off his trapeze—with what, a packing peanut? He’d hardly notice. And there was no dust to throw at him either; the grounds were a soup of red slush. Ricardo’s shoulders burned, really burned, and his fingers were screaming.

“The Professor’s been holding on for nearly a minute…and Sue’s out of the pool!”

Sue dashed across the lawn, leapt up and grabbed her trapeze. She was sucking air in huge sobs.

“Kevin and Ricardo hanging past the minute mark, too. Bev jumps into the pool as Jia climbs out. It’s still anybody’s game.”

“Hurts your hands,” Kevin said cheerfully, turning to John. “Don’t it?”

John didn’t answer.
 

“Shoulders, too. Back, sides…. Think how easy it’d be to just…let…go.”

“Jia’s almost at the trapeze.”

“Can’t feel too good, what with the taste of blood in your mouth.”

John looked straight ahead.

“Hands burning. Delts. Pecs. You’re shaking, old man. But me, I could stay here all day.”

Still, John resisted the bait.

Kevin kept going. “Don’t even know who smacked you back there in the popcorn…do you? Wasn’t me. I was at the other end of the castle. Who else got it in for you, huh?”
 

“Shut up,” Ricardo gasped.

Kevin ignored him. “You think anyone care ’bout what happened to your man last year? That’s old news. All they care ‘bout is the quarter-mil, and you standing in their way.”

John closed his eyes, gave a grunt…and let go.

Monty said, “And the Professor is done, as Jia takes her trapeze. Great job, Professor Topaz.”

The seconds ticked by, pain raging through Ricardo’s muscles…and that bastard Kazan was still fucking smiling.

“Ohmigod,” Sue gasped, as she let go, too—with Jia’s fingers slipping off right after.

“Sue is out. Jia is out.”

Ricardo shut his eyes and focused. It would feel so good to let his hands slide from the bar. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. Unfortunately, no matter how strong the will, the body can only be pushed so far. Despite how hard Ricardo tried, eventually he felt his fingers…begin…to slip.

His knees felt like rubber when his feet hit the ground. “And Ricardo the Magnificent is done. Well played, Ricardo. And Bev is struggling with the ladder—that’s four times she’s fallen back in.”

“Go, Bev,” Sue called, and Ricardo turned to cheer on poor Bev, who shrieked as she forced her way out of the frigid red water.

Kevin finally let himself drop from the trapeze as Bev hauled herself out of the pool and began trudging her way across the lawn in a waterlogged, pink-stained clown suit. By now everyone was cheering for her, even Kevin. Though Ricardo suspected he only did it so he didn’t come across as a complete jerk by kicking the underdog when she was down.

Bev paused to catch her breath, hands on knees, drinking great gasps of air, although the respite racked up still more time to her score. No doubt she was painfully aware of each and every second. Finally, when she could straighten up, she leapt up and caught the bar while all the other Magicians cheered wildly. She hung there, still gasping for air, for twelve seconds. And then she dropped.

Iain called cut.

One assistant wrapped Ricardo in a robe while another pressed a cup of black coffee into his hands. Ricardo was shaking so hard his teeth actually clattered together. John had been taken off to the sidelines where a pair of medics fussed over his nosebleed with ice packs and gauze. Bev sat on the lawn with her head between her knees like she was about to faint. Jia was ranting about freezing to death. Sue had collapsed into a sobbing heap. Kevin, though, simply stood there in his robe with that fucking smile fixed in place, and looked around in triumph at each of his competitors.

“Okay,” Iain said, “listen up. We’ll get some portable heaters out here to dry you off, but then we’ve got to go right into the scoring.”

The scoring. Great. Why not just declare Kevin the winner of the whole damn thing and save everyone the trauma of another gauntlet of challenges?

Bev raised her head from her knees and asked Ricardo, “Did they say how the trapeze time was being counted?”

“No. Not yet.”

She wrung red Kool-Aid from the hem of her blouse. “Pay close attention when they do. It’s probably going to change everything.”

Chapter 32

PLAYING THE GAME

John’s head ached. He had no idea whose elbow had found his nose in the bounce castle…but it only served to cement his growing unease at the necessity of using his True magic to stay in the game. A bloody nose was negligible in the grand scheme of things…but from here on out, he’d need to stop relying on the Truth before an accident occurred that he couldn’t simply shrug off.

When it was all said and done, he refused to put Ricardo through the needless loss he’d endured himself.

In both his hands, with its face carefully concealed, he held the card he’d filled out according to the rules Iain had explained, and then clarified with a few phone calls and re-explained following Bev’s persistent questioning. John hoped it would be enough, but he couldn’t be sure how the other magicians had played their strategies.

A podium was arranged for the magicians that hid the heaters at their feet from the camera, and also gave them something to hold on to so their shivering wasn’t quite so apparent. The scoreboard stood before it, with the white line separating the two lowest positions from the rest of the group. Iain sent Bev to the podium while the cameras found their places, as Sue and Ricardo whispered about what this next round of the competition might mean.

Cameras rolled, and Monty read from his teleprompter, “The results are in from the Big Top Challenge. Let’s see how long it took each of the magicians to arrive at their trapeze.”

The scoreboard flashed, and random characters scrolled through the empty squares…and finally flickered into the contestants’ names…and their scores.

BIG TOP CHALLENGE

1. Professor Topaz 2:59

2. Kevin Kazan 3:04

3. Ricardo the Magnificent 3:08

4. Sue Wozniak 4:09

_________________

5. Jia Lee 4:25

6. The Math Wizard 5:41

While they’d been given the official times with which to make their strategic decision…the numbers looked a hell of a lot more threatening on the massive screen. Especially with the huge white line two-thirds of the way down.

“Impressive scores,” Monty said. “But this challenge is not only about strength, speed, endurance and luck—it’s about strategy. Each player was given the option of improving their score by the amount of time they dangled from the trapeze…or applying that time to one of their competitor’s scores as a penalty. Let’s see how each contestant chose to play their strategy.”

Cameras rallied around Bev.

“Math Wizard,” Monty said, “this challenge was clearly a struggle for you.”

“I’d claim that age had something to do with it, Monty, but considering the Professor’s score, it would be ridiculous to use my age as an excuse. I’m out of shape. That’s that.”

“Still, you did finish the physical leg of the challenge—proving you have a lot of heart. As to the strategic part, you were given an important decision to make. You hung from the trapeze for twelve seconds—and that means you can either improve your own score by those twelve seconds…or you can apply them to someone else’s score as a penalty. Bev, since you’re our resident numbers guru, I’m sure everyone’s eager to hear the logic behind your decision.”

“Well, Monty…my score was so low to begin with that it was unlikely any of the other Magicians would penalize me by adding their hang-times to my run-time. Unfortunately, the spread between my score and the others, combined with my poor performance on the trapeze, ensured that even if I applied my strategic points to my run-time, I’d still come in dead last.” Bev’s voice was strong, but in her hands, the card she was clutching shook. It could have been the cold…but John wasn’t entirely convinced of that.
 

“In the end,” Bev went on, “my decision might or might not make a difference, depending on how all the other magicians vote. But I opted to apply a twelve-second penalty to one of the stronger competitors.” The whole set went dead quiet as she flipped her card, and read aloud, “Kevin Kazan.”

On the scoreboard, Kevin’s time changed to 3:16.

John swallowed, and realized his throat had gone coppery dry. He’d hardly dared hope anyone but Ricardo and Jia would vote to push Kevin below the elimination line. But Bev’s twelve-second penalty, though small, was exhilarating to see applied to Kevin’s score.

“Ricardo,” Monty said, “you’re up next.”

John swallowed again. Iain knew what everyone had written on their cards. What did it mean for Ricardo to go second? That his strategy was negated by someone else’s? Maybe John hadn’t actually done enough to draw Kevin’s fire. Maybe Kevin had used his insanely long hang-time to knock out Ricardo.

“Ricardo, your athletic background was clearly evident in the way you handled yourself out there on the field. You were neck and neck with the Professor and Kevin coming through the Big Top Challenge course, and you had the second-longest hang-time on the trapeze. More importantly…you’ve also focused your time in the Mansion on building alliances rather than making enemies. What did you choose to do with your discretionary hundred and nine seconds from the trapeze?”

In his robe and his pink-stained leotard, Ricardo raised his head high, leveled a cool gaze at Monty, flipped his card, and said, “I also chose to add my seconds to Kevin Kazan.”

Kevin’s time went from 3:16 to 5:05.

“That puts Kevin Kazan in fifth place, and more importantly, below the white line. But this game isn’t over yet. Professor Topaz, let’s see how you played your strategic seconds.” John stepped up to the podium. He was more accustomed to cold water than the others, and he felt very calm as he faced both Monty, and the scoreboard. “Professor, you ran the course in the fastest time, and you also hung from your trapeze for an impressive eighty-seven seconds. What would you like to do with that time?”

John did his best not to gloat as he turned his card and said, “I’m adding those eighty-seven seconds to Kevin Kazan.”

Kevin’s score was now 6:32. Last place.

“Next…let’s hear from Jia Lee.” Jia stepped up to the podium—but her normal haughty confidence was marred by a furrow in her brow as she stared at the scoreboard and tried to calculate minutes and seconds in her head. “Jia, when you were a member of the Red Team, you made no secret of the fact that you often disagreed with the decisions made by your team leader.”

“That’s true.”

“You had eighteen seconds on the trapeze. How did you choose to play your strategy today?”

Jia looked hard at the board and shook her head. “I saw I was in second-last place, and…well, it hadn’t occurred to me that putting Kevin below the line would have pushed me above. So I thought my best bet for staying above the white line,” she turned her card, “was to add my penalty to Sue’s score.”

Sue’s time went from 4:09 to 4:27, and she dropped from third place to fourth by a mere two seconds.

It was Sue’s turn at the podium next. Her typical poise was gone, and instead she was a bedraggled, shivering wreck. “Sue,” Monty said, “you made good time through the course, though you seemed to struggle in the pool.”

“It was freezing, Monty. You’d be surprised how it feels. It actually hurts. My legs just went numb.”

“You managed to hang on to your trapeze the longest of all the women, thirty-one seconds. What did you choose to do with that half a minute?”

Sue looked back at the seated contestants, shook her head once, and began to sniffle. When she tried to speak, her voice was small and choked. “I saw how close I was to the bottom of the list, and I knew there was an elimination…and I thought the same thing as Jia. I’m sorry.” She turned her card.
 

It read
Jia Lee
.

Jia’s score went from 4:25 to 4:56, and dropped back down below Sue’s.

“There’s one contestant left to hear from,” Monty said, “but before we do, there’s one more thing I’d like to add. A single player won’t be going home as a result of this challenge.” John almost felt encouraged by those words, until the stiltedness of their delivery registered. “Instead…there will be two.”
 

Cameras swung to the scoreboard, and the white line leapt up to the center of the list. Jia, now firmly below it, gasped and covered her face with her hands. John stared at the scores in dismay. Kevin had hung on that trapeze longer than any of them. If he added that time to John’s or Ricardo’s score, was it possible they’d fall low enough to displace Jia and end up on the chopping block? Minutes, seconds, it was all too difficult to add in the heat of the moment.

“Kevin, you received a penalty from half of your competitors. What’s going through your mind right now?”

“Can’t say as I’m surprised,” Kevin asserted, shooting a grim look over his shoulder toward John. “This is a game, and it makes sense to gang up on the biggest threat so you can take him out. When you got more looks, brains and talent than everyone else, and they all know it, that’s the price you pay.”

“He’s gonna get voted off,” Ricardo whispered gleefully, but Bev answered, “You can’t count on it—not yet.”

“One thing’s for sure,” Monty said, “you had the greatest amount of stamina when it came to holding on to that trapeze. You stayed on for a massive two minutes, twelve seconds.”

John tried to add that time to his own score and compare it to Jia’s, but it was no use. Minutes, seconds. He couldn’t even think.
 

“And so,” Monty said, “the results of this challenge hinge…on your strategy.”

“Oh, great,” Jia groaned.

“Kevin Kazan, what did you choose to do with your hundred and thirty-two seconds?”