I have no idea where I’m going with this, but once I’ve started talking about him, I can’t stop. A million fun facts about Cody Holloway fill my brain, itching to be released into the jungle. I open my mouth to continue, but Ransom jumps in.
“We’re here for our sister,” he says, and Levi nods. “She’s a year younger than us. Mom says she got so lucky with Levi and me that she had to keep going while her luck was hot.”
Levi laughs, like he remembers his mother saying this.
I’m so happy Ransom is sharing his own story that I can hardly breathe.
“Josie, our sister,” Ransom continues, “has this boyfriend we give such a hard time. But I guess he’s all right, really. She texts him so much that we joke and say she has an addiction. So now my dad has been researching texting rehabilitation clinics. Seriously. They have those.” Ransom gives us all a look so we know just how serious he is. “Anyway, she’s obsessed with her boyfriend. And mood rings. And these dumb mint cases that you can only buy online.” Levi nudges Ransom, like he’s forgetting something. Ransom shakes his head like he doesn’t understand, but when Levi rolls his eyes, Ransom laughs. “Oh, I guess she likes us all right, too.”
For some reason, we all look at Caroline. She seems like the next-most receptive person to this little share-and-tell thing we have going on.
“Oh, my turn?” she asks, placing a hand to her chest.
“Spill it,” Levi says.
“Okay, well.” Caroline adjusts herself on the ground, crossing her legs tighter. “I guess I’m here for my mom. I mean, I am here for my mom. She just turned fifty-five. We had a birthday party for her before we left. My son and I made this cake … but she refused to eat any.” Caroline shakes her head. “My mother used to be in the movies. Not like those big-budget films, just some of the ones that go straight to DVD. But that doesn’t stop her from acting like a big-budget actress, right down to the no-carb, no-sugar diet.” She laughs to herself and rubs the back of her neck. “My mom carries around these markers in her purse, just in case someone asks for her autograph. And then if no one does, she’ll just sign something anyway — a napkin or ticket stub or whatever — and hand it to them with this smile … this smile that says she’s somebody.”
Dink tugs on Caroline’s sleeve and she wraps her arm around him.
“I never really knew my mom that well. But she says if I win, she’ll spend the rest of her life being friends with her daughter.”
The first thing I think is that her mother is lying. That she’s saying whatever she needs to motivate Caroline to win. The second thing I think is … “How does your mom know about the race?”
Caroline glances at me. “Because her uncle was a Contender.”
I feel like someone has kidney punched me. “So she knew? She knew about the Brimstone Bleed? Did she know you’d be invited to become a Contender? Does she know about the Cure?” I know I’m grilling her with questions too quickly, but I can’t help myself. I’m dying for more information on how this happened to us.
“No.” She shakes her head. “She just knew the stories about her uncle. She only told me about them after the blue box — er, the device — appeared on my windowsill. Mom says she would’ve told me sooner if she thought there was any truth to his stories. But I’m not sure she would have. It seemed like she was nervous telling me what little she did know.”
“So what did she tell you exactly?”
“Only that he competed in something called the Brimstone Bleed to save his wife’s life.” She looks at Dink before adding, “He left after the second leg of the race.”
I want to ask why her uncle gave up, but I don’t want to pry in case it’s a reason she doesn’t want to share. Instead, I ask, “Did she say anything else? Like what to expect or how this all started?”
Caroline thinks for a moment, and then shrugs with one slender shoulder. “That’s all she really told me. That her uncle entered and that he didn’t win.” Her eyelids flutter. “Maybe she didn’t want to scare me.”
Glancing around, I notice that Harper and the twins are just as eager for information. Guy, however, looks like he knows something. “Guy, do you know anything else?”
He looks slowly from Caroline to me. Then he shakes his head.
But I can see it all over his face.
He’s lying.
Harper interrupts my train of thought and speaks to Caroline. “Are you sure that’s all your mom told you?”
Caroline nods. “I’m sure.”
“So this race has happened before,” Harper states.
Ransom crosses his arms. “This crap is so messed up.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Somewhere out there is a person, or a group of people, running this thing. How can they do this to us? How can they play with our emotions — and our lives — this way? I look up at the people sitting here with me. We’re not so different. We’re all here out of selflessness. Here to save someone else’s life.
Glancing at Dink, I wonder who he’s here for. Titus is a prick, but he’s right. This race isn’t for children. “Dink,” I say softly. “Who are you trying to save?”
The boy’s head snaps up. He looks at me with big brown eyes. Somehow, though I hate my own curly hair, on him, I find it adorable. It makes him appear even more innocent. So I can’t bring myself to push when he just shakes his head.
“That’s okay,” Harper says. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” When I look at Harper, she makes eye contact with me for a second, then glances down. It’s obvious she won’t be sharing a story tonight, either.
Everyone looks at Guy.
He pulls in a long breath. “No.”
We all stare at him, thinking he may say something else. He doesn’t.
The silence among our small campsite is ruptured when the raccoon and ram return. Behind them are Titus and AK-7. I cringe, thinking Titus is going to pick right back up where he left off. That he’s going to confront Guy. But he just sits down and leans back, like he couldn’t care less that we’re here. His grizzly bear shakes like a wet dog, then lies down beside him, muzzle still coated in blood.
DN-99 runs circles around Ransom, and again I wonder what’s going on with this supersized raccoon. Finally, Ransom pays attention to him. “What?” he says. “What on God’s green earth are you so wound up about?”
When Ransom reaches out to stop his Pandora from racing in circles, the raccoon leaps onto his left hand and pins it down. “What the hell?” Ransom says. He tries to jerk his hand back, but before he can, the raccoon begins licking his puncture wounds. Ransom’s eyes slip closed and he groans with pleasure. Then his eyes snap open. “Wow, that was embarrassing.” He laughs. “It just — it feels really good.”
Levi leans forward and looks at his brother with disgust. “All right, man. Can you stop with the animal porn? Get him off your hand.”
“No,” Ransom says, shaking his head. “I can’t.”
“Dude,” Levi yells. He grabs his brother’s left hand and yanks it away from the raccoon. Then he narrows his eyes. “Holy crap.”
Ransom pulls his hand away from his brother and inspects his palm. “The wounds,” he says quietly. “They’re healing.”
We all rush over to see it happening — the small, round holes squeezing closed. I feel like I’m imagining it and wonder if maybe that snake was venomous after all. When the wounds have completely healed, we all take turns pressing on his palm to make sure it’s real.