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. Did I tell you to talk amongst yourselves? Pipedown and get with the program. Gold Team sorted themselves back out according to height.Ricardoobserved the Red Team from over the top of Bev s head.They didnot look amused.Cameras backed up to include entire teams intheir shots.Monty said, That puts the Gold Team in the lead.Theother four contestants were still in the pool when time ran out, andso none of them has a time advantage.The only way another playercan take the lead from Muriel is if he, or she, has indeed found thesingle twelve-inch wand.Any magician who s done that will also getimmunity in the next elimination round. Ricardo s heart began pounding.The way Bev had been screamingin the pool for him to pick up a particular wand, he d had himselfconvinced that she d spotted the immunity-wand.But in his hasteto grab it before time ran out, his jaw collided with Kevin s head sohard, it was a wonder he d ended up with a wand in his hand at all. Kevin Kazan, Monty said, you were one of the magicians with notime advantage.The length of the last wand you discovered was&ten and one-half inches.I m sorry.You are not the winner of thischallenge. 214 Kevin glared at Ricardo.Monty said, It appeared that both you and Ricardo the Magnificentwere after the same wand, he turned to face Gold Team, and thatthe Math Wizard was the one who pointed it out.Bev, is that true? I believe I saw the twelve-inch wand, Monty.But it s hard to say.Myglasses were wet from all the splashing. Ricardo, Monty said, do you think you managed to pick up thewand she was pointing to? Ricardo s heart hammered so hard, he thought his tongue woundwould burst open and he d answer Monty with a spray of blood.Buthis tongue stayed intact as he said, I don t know.Maybe. Ricardo, the wand in your hand when time ran out was, in fact& tenand one-half inches. Across the pool, a grim smile spread over Kevin Kazan s face. Professor Topaz, Monty said, you were also one of the last in thepool, and the wand you selected measured in at& eleven inches.Welldone.But Muriel also found an eleven-inch wand, and she s got atime advantage over you, so unfortunately, you are not the winner ofthis challenge.Gold Team remains in the lead. John nodded stonily. That leaves one magician, Monty said. Bev Austin, the Math Wizard.At the last moment, Bev, you went under yourself. Bev nodded.Sheseemed to be holding her breath.The entire Gold Team was holdingits breath. It seemed like a last-ditch effort.Can you tell us whatwas going through your mind? Well, I& I can t even say for sure.I thought I saw the wand.And itlooked to me as if Professor Topaz was on a perfect trajectory to get215 it himself.And then& well, all I could think of was that the Gold Teamhad to win. Bev, the judges have reviewed the underwater footage from the lastseconds of the challenge, and it showed that when you dove downto pick up your wands, you grabbed with both hands, and you pickedup a total of three.We did confirm that one of those wands actuallywas the twelve-inch wand.Unfortunately, because you broke therules and picked up more than two, your score is disqualified.Youwill be eligible for elimination in the next challenge.But cheer up,Bev.The Gold Team has won the Wand Pond challenge, and is goinginto the competition with a huge advantage.And tomorrow, you ll bespending the afternoon with David Blaine! Once most of the camera crew went home and the magicians headedback toward the dorms, shaking with adrenaline and chill, Ricardoheard Bev whisper, David Blaine, didn t he used to be on SaturdayNight Live? Conversation turned to whether Kevin had injured Ricardo intentionallyor they d just managed to bang heads.Ricardo wouldn t have put itpast Kevin to slam into him accidentally-on-purpose, but Muriel saidit looked as if everyone was just super-focused and super-motivated,and that they d all flown into a tizzy when the last few seconds tickedby.And while Ricardo might have nearly lost his tongue to KevinKazan s hard head& at least he had the satisfaction of knowing thatwhile a middle-aged mathematician who didn t know David Blainefrom David Spade would be wined and dined by the most infamousstreet magician of their time, Kazan would be busy sweeping upsawdust.S S SThough it would have been sensible to try to get some sleep, Johnwandered the grounds instead until after midnight wondering if the216 best thing for him to do would be to take a dive and remove himselffrom competition entirely.Because obviously, in going for the twelve-inch wand (which should have been basically impossible to find, andyet fully half of the remaining contestants had been vying for it) he dnearly exposed the very secret he d implored Ricardo, on the day oftheir first meeting, to keep to himself at all costs.The secret that a few individuals had access to the Truth, while therest of the world did not.His pacing brought him no clarity of mind, but he supposed it wouldbe best to turn in before he drew a freak sinkhole to himself, or arabid raccoon.Or a rusty nail that might manage to circumvent thetetanus shot John s contract had obligated him to obtain.Thankfully, the lights were out in the Red Team s dorms when hereturned.Though the room seemed much more spacious now withonly him and Kevin in it, John missed Fabian s company, and didn tparticularly care to be alone with his team leader
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