Page 30 of Sweet Surrender
Barra nodded, pushing her legs down until her toes brushed the sand. She stood upright, the water dropping back to her waist, and nodded. “Yes.” That was the plan. A plan that had felt rock-solid a minute ago, but now she wasn’t so sure.
Allie’s expression lit up. “If anything feels off, I’ll play the protection bracelet for you,” she said cheerily, moving her hands to her hair again.
Barra had worried for nothing. She embraced the warm feeling in her stomach and lifted one hand in the air. Herfingertips were beginning to prune. She’d never liked the feel of it. When Barra was six, she’d refused to get out of the bathtub until every last bubble had evaporated. Her grandmother, who wasn’t known for her patience, had held up wrinkly hands and confidently said that if Barra stayed in any longer, hers would end up exactly the same. At least she knew better now. She lifted her other hand, turning it slightly. A whiff of nostalgia caught her off guard. She was beginning to experience all the normal feelings of missing her family.
Wait. In the gaps between her fingers, Barra spotted something bobbing in the distance. Something unmistakable. There was a box floating on the water. Was it even possible? InOutlast Her, everything was possible, and she’d bet her left toe that inside that box was an advantage.
Barra dropped her hand back into the water with a splash. “Allie,” she muttered quickly and a little breathlessly. “I need you to go back to camp right now and create a diversion.”
“A diversion?” Allie frowned. “Why do you need a diversion?”
But Barra didn’t have any time to waste. If anyone else saw it, if anyone so much as spotted the box floating in the water...
No, Barra couldn’t possibly think about that scenario. “Just go,” she said a little too sharply. “I’ll explain later. Find me at the rocks.”
Allie hesitated for a second longer, but then, as if something clicked into place, she turned and ran. Water dragged at her legs as she pushed through the shallows. Ten seconds later she was running toward camp at full speed with sand kicking up behind her.
Barra watched her for exactly two seconds longer than she should have. When she snapped her head back to where the box had floated a moment ago, she nearly cried out loud. It was gone. Or more accurately, it had drifted farther away. Without thinking, or wasting another second, Barra dove right into animpeccable freestyle. Her arms felt strong, her legs too. She didn’t even mind the salt burning the corners of her eyes.
Less than a minute later, Barra’s fingers closed around the edge. “Got you,” she muttered under her breath, risking a mouthful of seawater. Then she dragged the box tight to her chest and tipped onto her back for half a second to reset her breathing. One. Two. Three. Barra gulped in air, turned her body back toward the shore, and immediately pushed the box down beneath the surface. It fought her like a cat in a bath and knocked once against her ribs. Then against her chest. Of course, it had to be the most buoyant box on the planet.
Barra tightened her grip and pressed it lower while her legs kicked beneath her. She stole a quick look to shore, but no one was glancing her way. Not even Allie, who was somewhere out of sight. Certain she was in the clear, Barra swam with the box, fighting her every move until she was out of view. By the time she got to the rocks, she was exhausted. But also buzzing.
With the protection bracelet in play this season, Barra had expected the double-elimination advantage to be a thing of the past. She was glad it wasn’t. She’d always dreamt of finding the protection bracelet. In her season, Isla had discovered it hidden beneath the shelter inside a cookie jar.
“What is it?” Allie asked so suddenly that Barra’s entire body jolted.
She threw her hands up without meaning to, and then the box fell out of her grip before splintering open onto the rock. Out tumbled a vacuum-sealed bag. Inside the bag were brownies. They looked so dense and gooey that Barra’s mouth immediately watered. But then she spotted the edge of an envelope beneath the brownies and gasped at the sight of it. The advantage.
“This feels unreal,” she said softly, as if she spoke any louder, the rest of the contestants would come bursting out of the treeline demanding she hand it over. But nope. She would fight to the death if she had to.
Allie seemed a second away from licking her lips. “Should we read the advantage?” she asked, then immediately looked embarrassed she’d said it. “I mean, we don’t have to. It’s your advantage. I can even go if—”
“This is your advantage as much as it is mine,” Barra interrupted, reaching for Allie’s hand. She squeezed her fingers as tenderly as she could before she grabbed the bag and dragged its edge back and forth against a jagged rock. “So what did you do to distract everyone else?”
Allie’s cheeks flushed. “I’ll tell you another time when these brownies aren’t looking at me like they’re begging to be eaten,” she said quickly, then crouched to pick up a sharp rock, which she handed over to Barra. Good thinking, because the plastic was refusing to give.
That rock did the trick. The plastic split with a small, satisfying tear, and the rich, chocolaty smell that followed wiped Barra’s brain clean. She forgot all about Allie’s distraction back at camp. She nearly forgot her own name.
Barra pulled one brownie out of the bag and broke it in half. The center was so soft and so fudgy that half a moan slipped out of her throat. Then she handed one half to Allie and said, “On the count of two.”
Allie stuffed the entire piece into her mouth before Barra even started counting.
Barra blinked. “Alright then. I guess we’re not counting.”
“Sorry,” Allie mumbled. Her mouth was full of brownie. A few crumbs stuck to her lips. “I couldn’t help myself. They just smell so good.”
Barra winked. She liked this side of Allie. “Do you have no restraint?” she teased.
“Do you?”
“Touché,” Barra said, laughing.
Once they’d indulged in another brownie, Barra reached for the envelope and tore open the seal. Allie leaned in closer and settled her chin on Barra’s shoulder. For some reason, Barra’s mind inconveniently fell back to that vision she had earlier, except instead of walking along the chilly beach, it was spring, and they were in Central Park. The two of them were watching the little model sailboats drifting across the pond at Conservatory Water, their white sails catching the morning light. Allie stood behind her there too, chin hooked over her shoulder in the same way. Except there, she had her arms loose around Barra’s waist.
Barra cleared her throat and subsequently the vision. Then she pulled out the card and flipped it open. “Congratulations,” she read, her voice dropping slightly. “As the holder of this advantage, you have the power to alter the course of the game. At any Sending, before the game reaches its final two pairs, the holder may choose to act.”
Allie’s chin dug harder into Barra’s shoulder, and she was glad for it. The pressure was grounding. “With a single decision, you may send not one, but both members of a pair out of the game. Use the power wisely.”
