Free The Candidates by Inara Scott Page B

fiddled with his dreadlocks when he spoke.
    “Okay, now that you’re all acquainted, let’s get down to business.” Trevor led us over to an enormous wall in the middle of the forest. It was about twelve feet high and at least that long, made of smooth, dark wood planks.
    “This is the wall. On the back of it is a ladder that leads to a platform a few feet from the top. Follow me—this will be your only chance to see it before we begin.” He led us around the backside. The platform looked frighteningly high off the ground. Nervous laughter trickled off into silence.
    Jack snorted under his breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    Trevor glared at him. “Your job as a group is to get over the wall. After I explain the rules, you will have thirty minutes to complete your task. Not a second more.”
    “You want us to climb that thing?” Gideon asked doubtfully, as we returned to the front.
    Trevor smiled. Not a nice smile. More of a smirk. “You can get over the wall any way you choose. There are only a few rules. You can’t go around the wall or touch the sides. You can have up to two people stand on the platform. While they are on the platform, they can help those coming over, but they must come down in the order they went up. Once someone gets over the wall and comes down from the platform, they can come back around and help as spotters for people going up, but they can’t touch them.”
    Everyone groaned. Trevor silenced us with one of his icy-blue stares. He showed us a few basic safety moves, telling us to push the person into the wall if they started to fall, which sounded more sadistic than safe. We practiced with him for a minute or two, then he held up his hands for quiet.
    “You know the rules. I’ll be watching to make sure you obey them. The clock starts now.” Trevor pushed a button on his watch and stepped back to lean against one of the trees.
    We looked at each other silently. Hector walked over to the wall and reached his hand up as high as he could. It went about two-thirds of the way to the top. He motioned to Paul, the skinniest kid. “Why don’t you stand on my shoulders?”
    They flailed around for a few minutes, trying to get Paul onto Hector’s shoulders. Once they did, Hector leaned against the wall for support, but he could barely stay upright when Paul tried to stand up. Paul, meanwhile, got so scared when he tried to straighten his legs that his entire body shook, and he couldn’t reach up to grab the top of the wall.
    “It’s high up here,” he said, his voice wavering as he tried to get his legs to stay still.
    Allie said, “He needs more support from below.”
    Hector frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    She put a French-manicured hand on his arm and patted comfortingly. “It’s hard to stand up straight on someone’s shoulders. I was a cheerleader, so I know. It takes forever to learn to do that. A pyramid is easier and more stable.”
    Why was I not surprised that she was a cheerleader?
    Allie guided the group into forming a pyramid at the base of the wall, with her at the apex. She ended up an easy foot or two from the top.
    “Wait!” Marika interrupted, as Allie started to pull herself over. “Shouldn’t we plan this out? I mean, once Allie goes over the wall and comes down from the platform, she can’t be part of the pyramid anymore. Shouldn’t we think about the order?”
    A few scattered groans greeted her questions. After a pause, Allie called down, “Good point, Marika.” She climbed down from the top set of shoulders and jumped lightly to the ground. The rest of the pyramid dissolved around her.
    “You mean we’re going to have to do that again?” Hector asked, rubbing his shoulders.
    “Cheerleading isn’t as easy as it looks, is it?” Allie said with a wink. Everyone laughed.
    Great, I thought. Perfect Girl is cute and funny.
    After milling around a while longer, people started throwing out ideas for the order. Everyone, that is,