Body Games (Games #5)(42)
Author: Jessica Clare

“I’ll tally up the votes,” Chip said. He returned with the slates a moment later and told us, “As a reminder, instead of voting for who you want to keep, now that we’re merged, you want to vote for who you want to leave the game. I’ll read the first vote.” He paused, examined the slate, and then slowly flipped it.

Kip.

It wasn’t my handwriting.

I did a miniature fist-pump. Someone was with me, at least. Now we just needed two more votes.

Another slate turned. “Leslie.”

Okay, I expected that. I looked over at Leslie, and she had a lemon-sucking expression on her face that told me that she wasn’t happy at all.

Another slate. “Kip.” That one was my handwriting. My heart started to hammer nervously. What if there were only two votes for Kip? What if Alys and Kissy had stuck with their original partners?

“Leslie.” Another slate. “Leslie.”

I began to bite my nails. It was either that, or puke everywhere.

The sixth slate turned. “Kip. We’re tied.”

I stifled the squeal of excitement in my throat, but not enough. Several people turned to look at me, including Kip, whose brow was furrowed with confusion. He didn’t understand what was happening.

Chip picked up the final slate and stared at it. “The third member of our jury…”

He turned it around and showed us.

There, surrounded by the Greek symbol for ‘female’, was Kip’s name.

Yes!

Yes yes yes!!

We’d done it! Ding dong, the witch was dead!

I couldn’t resist a small wiggle in my seat as Kip stood up and grabbed his canteen. He looked over at me, dancing in my seat, and a furious look crossed his face. “You dumbass,” he told me. “You just sealed your fate.”

I blew him a kiss. “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

“It’s time for you to go, Kip,” Chip said sternly. He gestured at the path that led out of the game.

Clearly pissed, Kip turned and stalked away, shooting me the bird.

I didn’t even care.

Chapter Nineteen

“Call me crazy, but I think Annabelle is running the show out there. Which kind of makes me laugh. She’s such a sweet girl, but…don’t ever get on her bad side.” — Jendan Abercrombie, Endurance Island: Power Players, Jury Interview

The ladies dominated the game after Kip’s expulsion.

It wasn’t bragging, either. Alys won the next immunity, and from there, we voted out Saul, who was super pissy and stomping around camp once he realized we’d outsmarted him. Emilio was next, and then all the men were gone.

Each Judgment was not a surprise in the slightest. The guys knew their days were numbered, and though they tried to flip things on us a few times, no one was budging.

I’d figured out my ladies. Alys went along with any vote as long as it wasn’t her. Leslie was still pissed that she was the target, and was on a vendetta to vote the men out. Once Kip was gone, Kissy seemed to relax and was in high spirits, just happy to be in the game. She fully embraced the whole ‘girl power’ alliance and spent most of the day weaving us grass skirts and straw hats, and we wore matching gear to each Judgment.

We looked like one big happy family, except we weren’t. I was already thinking ahead. If I was going to get to the end, I needed to pull someone along with me. Leslie and Kissy were close friends because of the nearness in their ages, and I often caught them with their heads together. That meant I needed to bring Alys in to an alliance with me.

That wasn’t too hard. I just dangled the thought of the final two in front of her and she was along for the ride. Which was perfect, really. Alys wasn’t ultra-competitive and she thought she was playing a good game where she offended no one (except maybe Saul). I was the bad guy, masterminding everything, and everyone knew it.

So if we could get to the end, Alys and I could sit across from each other and see who people would vote for – me, because I played hard, or her, because she was an angel.

In the meantime, I was looking for ways to split Kissy and Leslie. If I didn’t win the next immunity challenge, I knew they’d be gunning for me. So I watched, and waited.

The day before the next immunity, I found a clue for Pandora’s Box in our tribal mail.

I stared at it for a long moment, and carefully shut the lid, leaving it there. According to Chip, Pandora’s Box could either be good or bad, and I’d already had good (well, theoretically) so I didn’t want to touch it, lest it automatically vote me out of the game. My game was already under control.

It was a calculated risk, but I’d take it. So I hunkered down in the bushes, hiding and waiting to see who found it.

Alys wandered toward the water hole a short time later, and paused at the tribal mailbox, lifting the lid nonchalantly. She stilled at the sight of the note in there, so I had to emerge from the bushes and warn her away from it. It took some convincing, but Alys was easily sway-able and in the end, she walked away and I went back to my hiding spot.

Leslie found it.

I watched her read the clue with excitement, then race into the jungle. I followed a short distance behind and watched, just in time, as she found a particular tree and reached into a hollow, pulling out the tiny red lacquered box. She opened it, dug out a piece of paper, and began to read.

“Shit,” she hissed under her breath, then quickly glanced around and stuffed the clue back into the box and into the tree.

I slunk away into the bushes. Bad news. That was all I needed to know.

The next challenge, I won, beating the others in a swimming-and-retrieving challenge. Kissy and Leslie were slower competitors, and Alys was my only real competition. I won easily, and felt proud going into Judgment that night, wearing the necklace so the jury – now comprised entirely of men – could see that I was kicking ass and taking names.

As usual, every time the jury filed in, I cast a longing look at Jendan. He was bulking up now that he was eating regularly, and his muscles were filling out again. The man was ripped. And gorgeous. And he made my girl parts tingle every time I saw him.

He never sent me an encouraging look, though, and I wondered if he was mad at me or if this was simply part of him playing the game.

What I wouldn’t have given for just one small smile, though!

Earlier that day, I’d convinced a nervous Alys that we didn’t need Kissy on our side to win the vote. Whatever Leslie had found in Pandora’s Box wasn’t a good thing. Even if we were wrong and it came down to a tie, Alys could beat her in a Judgment challenge. Leslie had been silent all day, except for the occasional snipe at how little work Kissy was doing around camp, and I knew she was trying to encourage us to vote in that direction.