Chapter 61
Joel sat atop his team’s fortress, emitting a large, invisible cloud of slumber, just as he had done since the second day of War Games. No one could enter the fortress or much of the airspace above it without falling under his sleep spell. He would have loved to play a more offensive role within the team, but on day one, before they came up with the “yawning defensive” strategy, Lizzy had been able to use her power to capture their fortress, as well as the other teams’ strongholds, three times in a single day. Joel still had no idea what ability could allow her to swap her team’s flag with the opponents’ without being seen, heard, or triggering any defensive traps.
The strange benefit of Joel’s role on the team was that it allowed him more than ample time to sit and think. In fact, keeping his mind working was the only way not to give in to his own body's need for slumber in as much as he was only able to get 4 hours of sleep a night while the rest of his team guarded the flag. Much of these waking hours were spent wondering how his life had become so complicated. Joel did not consider himself a particularly ambitious man, so acquiring meta abilities and being mentored by an unofficial member of The Council were not entirely welcome changes to his everyday existence. Every time he thought he had seen the craziest thing imaginable, something new would come along and prove him wrong. These War Games were escalating this phenomenon dramatically. At least Joel was on a team with most of his friends, though. Sure, Ken had been poached by his cousin, Lizzy, with her first pick as captain. But Bailey had still assembled a good group of trustworthy challengers. Bobby, Bailey, and June were off trying to capture Team 4’s base, while Jax and Ralph, who rounded out the squad, were defending the captured bases that they had wrested control of from Teams 1 and 2. And, if they were to be successful in today’s offensive, Team 3, Joel’s team, would only be one point behind the leader: Team 1, led by Lizzy and including both Ken and Ashley.
Joel got up from the blanket that he had spread on the floor of the rooftop deck where their flagpole lived, and wandered down to the brig, where about a dozen of his team’s captured opponents were chit-chatting and passing the time. Since the rules stipulated that once imprisoned, one was not allowed to leave jail unless released or freed by an uncaptured competitor, Joel was able to leave the large basement prison unaffected by his own slumber cloud and could trust that they all would remain safely out of play.
“Anyone need anything? Food? Water?” Joel asked the group. He was grateful that the prison cells each had little stripped-down but private bathrooms. “We expect this round to be over soon, so I can basically offer anything we have left in the larder.” The rations refilled each time the scenario was reset. Whatever technology operated just behind the scenes of all the trials was impressive and beyond Joel’s comprehension.
The surly captives just ignored Joel, except for Ashley, who waved him over to her cell. “Hey, I wanted to get a minute to chat about…well, something maybe private, I dunno.” She seemed uncharacteristically nervous.
“We can talk right here,” Joel said, wary of some sort of trap.
“It’s nothing like that,” she assured, realizing what Joel had to be thinking. “It’s just, I heard June and Bailey chatting before this trial, and I’m pretty sure tomorrow is Bailey’s birthday. I know you and she are close, so you probably already knew, but I wanted to give you a heads-up, in case you know, you wanted to know. You know?”
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Joel laughed. “That’s what you wanted to talk about in private?”
“Well, yeah,” Ash bashfully mumbled. “I mean, a girl’s birthday…”
“Hmmm.” Joel turned around and looked at the downtrodden group of captors. “Any ideas on what I should do for Hieroglyph’s birthday tomorrow?”
***
Lizzy was fuming in her cell. How she had let one of those Bradley Twins take her out was beyond her. She was sitting in a corner of Team 3’s brig when that dopey challenger Triple Z walked into the room and asked what he should do for his crush to celebrate her birthday. She had to work to hide the smile that threatened to creep across her face. If Team 3 won this point today, which was likely, her team would be one point up with only two days left in the challenge. But, if she played this right, she could all but ensure a win for her team: Team 1. “Have any of you ever heard the story about the Christmas Truce of World War One?” she asked seemingly out of the blue.
Joel moved in her direction and shook his head. “No. Why?”
“First of all, have none of you read a book?” Lizzy mocked the whole room. She paused as if canned laughter was going to be added in post-production. “As for why, well, you wanted to know what to do for Hieroglyph’s birthday, right?”
“And what does some truce during World War One have to do with her birthday?”
Lizzy sighed. “Just everything, Sleepkid-”
“It’s Zzz,” Joel interjected, clearly offended by the slight.
“Cuz that’s better,” Lizzy mumbled under her breath before continuing loudly to cover up and move on from her personal zinger. “On Christmas in 1914, 100,000 British and German troops laid down their arms, broke bread, and got together to play football. Or Soccer, I should say. Some say it’s just a story, an old wives tale, but for the purpose of your friend’s birthday…” She put air quotes around the word friend as she trailed off and watched the idea sink into the gullible, naive young man’s head.
Joel tilted his head like a puppy, understanding the word toy for the first time.
“Sounds impossible. I doubt we could make sure that no one would break a truce of this kind.”
“Let me handle that. I bet I can get the team captains on board. If I’m correct, your team is very close to winning a point. When we reset, allow me a few moments to confer with the other captains. I’ll make it happen.
Lizzy watched Joel study her, hunting for hidden motivations and dastardly machinations.
“And, you are gonna do this out of pure generosity? Or will there be strings attached?”
Lizzy quickly weighed her options here. She could ask for a favor to make Joel believe this was a hardship for which he would owe her in the future. But, he really had very little to offer that she needed, and someone on his team would likely deduce her real motivation. So she only had one viable path: Honesty. “No strings. Obviously, it serves me to delay the start of the last encounter, since we are only one point ahead. But everyone is worn down, including you, so I think it behooves all of us to recharge and make one last blitz on the final day.”
“Huh. I didn’t expect you to be so transparent with your motives.” But, I don’t disagree that a half-day truce wouldn’t be mutually beneficial.”
Lizzy stared at Joel quizzically. His triple negative was confusing. “Don’t disagree that a truce wouldn’t..? Does that mean you want the truce?”
“Yeah. I think… I mean… I’m pretty sure my team won’t object. And I like the idea of a little celebration.” Joel smiled and reached out his hand to lock in the deal. She reached out, clasped his wrist, and shook hard. The deal was struck! Lizzy managed to keep the smile off her face, but inside, her devil was raging with glee. All in a day’s work.