No. Shit. “Yes,” I say.
Ivy copies it, and stupid Anderson says the same along with Stacey and Britney—God, I hate Britney.
I swear I’m sweating harder.
“Jack.” Olmec saying my name causes actual chills. I stand as close to Ivy as possible. “You have two choices. You may either earn this internship and walk right through the temple and gather your tokens, or…” He pauses dramatically. “You can do it as a team, knowing you’ll potentially lose everything, but lose together. What’s your choice?”
Ivy’s breath hitches.
I slowly start to pull away from her.
She stiffens.
“And what happens to my partner?” I ask.
“Well, if they let you go,” Olmec says, “then they can still have a chance on their own during the temple run to win, but it will be without you. So, what will you choose? And Anderson same goes for you and Stacey. What is your choice?”
I hear a commotion and then the sound of thunder.
“It seems both Anderson and Stacey have chosen to go on their own. Anderson, you’ll be escorted to corporate, Stacey, you’ll have to battle the temple guards on your own, but you’ll earn an extra ten thousand dollars for each medallion you gather.”
Whoops of excitement come up from the contestants who have already lost, and that’s when I feel it.
The temple guards.
Is that what Ivy was warning me about?
They’re all around us. I can feel their breaths.
Oh, God.
I want so badly to run through that temple straight to corporate. Maybe the me from a few days ago would have.
I sigh deeply and mumble. “I hate you.”
“What was that?” Olmec says.
“I’ll go through,” I say, “with my partner. We’re ride or die like that.”
Ivy softens next to me. “But you’re scared.”
“But I have you,” I say right back. “And if I die, you’re kind of like attached to me, so we’ll go down together, a lot more cheerful that way.”
I think she’s going to elbow me, but instead, she leans her head on my shoulder and then straightens. “Let’s win this bitch.”
“Bitch is already won.” I laugh.
The ground rumbles again beneath us, and the sound of things falling fills the air as our blindfolds are pulled from our faces.
“Oh, good God.” I try not to curse as a temple guard glares at me.
“Focus!” Ivy yells amidst the falling rocks around the temple. “Plus, it’s not like they’re real rocks.”
“You’ll be given helmets as the rocks are, in fact, real,” Olmec just has to add as Temple Guards put hard hats on us.
“Corporate America, and its live burial.” I look at the tall pyramid-like rock temple. “Sounds about right.”
“You should have brought your stapler,” Ivy jokes next to me.
I burst out laughing despite my total fear. “You’re right; gonna need that more than beer in hell.”
“Imagine how much you can annoy the underworld?”
“Spitting out straight up facts.” I laugh. “All right, let’s grab our medallions and try not to let the temple guards find us.”
We move to the very front. I’m bracing for impact when we reach the top of the stairs and nearly stumble over when I see the temple guards lined up and all three medallions for the Silver Snakes lined up for us.
“Is it a trick?” I ask.
“It’s trust,” Olmec says. “In any work situation, you need to work with others in order to be able to succeed. Sadly, Stacey will now be working with an intern who volunteers and not her partner who abandoned her for riches and glory.”
I snicker a bit because I kind of want to punch Anderson in the dick anyway.
“So,” Olmec says again as fire lights a small tunnel toward our medallions and those of the Blue Barracudas. “You now have your final question.”
I pause.
Ivy freezes.
“How much?” Olmec asks.
“How much? That’s the question?” I repeat. “How much what? What is this?”
“A million!” Stacey answers. Of course, Jude’s the one who offered to partner up last minute since Anderson skipped town and temple.
“How much?” Olmec says again.
I look over to Ivy; her eyes search mine, and then she smiles up at me, then creepy Olmec, and she says, “No price.”
Jude and Stacey’s mouths drop as they look over at us.
“Shall we?” I hold my hand out.
“We shall.” Ivy grins, and we take our first step into the temple, trusting each other the entire way, and all I can keep thinking is.
Priceless.
Chapter Fifteen
Ivy
He’s not ready to enter the actual temple; I know this, he knows this, the world knows this, and yet we keep walking up the stairs to the final challenge, going through the actual temple where I’m pretty sure Jack will end up in a corner rocking back and forth.
I’m still reeling from his answer.
I grip his hand.
It’s sweaty.
I don’t mind, though. I don’t because I know that it’s going to be worth it in the end if we can just get the internship.