Lonnie's Warrior Sword

  Hadn’t she?

  Or had she left it back in the Training Center?

  “Competitor One Seventy-Eight!” the producer hissed at her. “Do you have your competition helmet? We are back to live in sixty seconds!”

  “Uh…uh…” Lonnie stammered, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to figure out what to do. “I seem to have misplaced my helmet!”

  Jay slammed his fist into his hand. “It was that Chen guy! He must have stolen it!”

  “Don’t be paranoid, Jay,” Lonnie scolded. “I’m sure I just left it somewhere.”

  “I told you to watch out for that guy. I don’t trust him. He’s clearly trying to get you disqualified.”

  Lonnie shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. They’re not going to disqualify me just because—”

  But just then, the producer interrupted her with a sad shake of his head. “I’m sorry, but we cannot allow you to participate in the Auradon Warrior Challenge without a helmet. If you don’t have one, I’m afraid you’ll be disqualified from the competition.”

  No! It can’t be over! Not like this! I have to be able to compete. Otherwise, how will I convince the council to give me the sword of Shan-Yu?

  Lonnie didn’t know what she was supposed to do. She didn’t have time to run back to the registration desk to get another helmet.

  “I told you!” Jay growled through gritted teeth. “Just look at him gloating over there.”

  Lonnie glanced over at Chen, who was sitting farther down on the bench. He had a contented look on his face that made Lonnie’s skin crawl. Could Jay be right? Was Chen really trying to sabotage her? Just because she’d beaten him on the Mountain of Doom?

  No. She refused to believe that. This was Auradon. People here were supposed to be kind and decent and good sports.

  “We are live in forty-five seconds!” the producer called out. “We must get the next competitor onto the course.”

  “Wait!” someone shouted. “Li can use my helmet!”

  Lonnie turned to see the female competitor who had congratulated her after beating Chen. She was holding up her helmet and waving it in the air.

  See? Lonnie thought. Kind and decent.

  “Thank you!” Lonnie cried, and she and Jay ran over to grab the helmet. “Thank you so much!”

  The girl grinned. She looked to be only a little older than Lonnie. “I just want you to beat Chen at his own game.”

  Lonnie nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  “I’m Yi-Min,” she said, “daughter of Yao.”

  “Daughter of Yao?” Lonnie said in surprise, recognizing the name. Her mother had told her stories about the fellow soldiers who had fought alongside her when she defeated Shan-Yu. “Your dad and my mom…” Lonnie began to say, but let her voice trail off. For a moment, she’d almost forgotten she was in disguise. “Um…they knew each other. Way back in the day.”

  Yi-Min smiled. “That’s great! You better get out there before the producer has a heart attack.”

  Lonnie nodded and slid the borrowed helmet over her blond wig. “Thank you again!” she tried to say, but the words were muffled by the helmet, which Lonnie now noticed was gigantic on her. The top part was supposed to come down to her eyebrows, leaving her eyes, nose, and mouth uncovered. But it was way too big, and Lonnie’s whole face was practically swallowed.

  “Oh!” Yi-Min said. “I’m sorry. I’ve always had an exceptionally large head. I inherited that from my dad.”

  Lonnie pushed the helmet up on her forehead so she could see Yi-Min. “That’s okay,” she said, trying to sound grateful. After all, the girl had saved her from getting disqualified. “I’ll make it work.”

  But as soon as she released the helmet, it thunked back down over her eyes.

  This is going to make things more difficult, Lonnie thought. She turned to Jay, propping the helmet back up so she could see him. He suddenly didn’t look so confident anymore.

  “Be careful out there,” Jay warned her. “Chen is up to something.”

  Lonnie sighed. “Relax. I’m telling you, it was just a misunderstanding. I’m sure my helmet is back in the Training Center.”

  Jay shook his head. “I don’t think so. He has it out for you, and he’s not going to stop until you’re out of the way.”

  Lonnie tapped Jay on the forehead. “You VKs are so paranoid. This isn’t the Isle of the Lost.”

  “Exactly,” Jay said with a laugh. “It’s the Auradon Warrior Challenge. It’s worse.”

  “Competitor One Seventy-Eight! We are live in ten seconds!” the producer shouted desperately, his face turning an alarming shade of red.

  “Coming!” Lonnie called, and raced toward the first obstacle, keeping her helmet propped up with one hand so she could see where she was going.

  As she mounted the starting platform, she took a deep breath and looked out over the three obstacles she would have to undertake. The Monkey’s Dare, the Great Wall of Fire, and the Bridge of Despair. She made one last attempt to adjust her helmet, finally managing to tilt it back and balance it precariously on her head so that it stayed in place and she could just barely see under the rim. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.

  Okay, she told herself as she shuffled to the edge of the platform and grabbed on to the first rope. You can do this.

  As she waited for the cameras to come back on and the producer to signal her to go, she glanced out into the crowd, wondering what was taking so long. She tried to catch Jay’s eyes, but he was focused on something else. She followed his gaze to Chen, who was typing hastily into his phone, a furious expression on his face.

  Finally Ari’s voice came back over the arena speakers. “I’m sorry. We will need to extend our commercial break. There’s been a malfunction with the Bridge of Despair. Please wait momentarily while a technician fixes it.”

  A malfunction? Lonnie thought suspiciously. How can that be? It’s been working for the past one hundred seventy-seven competitors.

  She whipped her gaze toward the third obstacle, where the narrow metal pole had stopped spinning and a short man in a red AWC jumpsuit and cap was kneeling in front of the mechanism.

  When Lonnie glanced back at Jay, he caught her eye and gave her a worried look.

  Fear shot through Lonnie. Could that man be tampering with the course? She quickly brushed off the concern.

  Jay’s paranoia is rubbing off on you! she told herself. Relax. He’s just fixing it.

  But as the technician finished up his work, the cameras resumed the live feed, and the producer started the timer, signaling for Lonnie to begin, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was dreadfully wrong.

  Okay, here goes everything!

  One, two, three! Lonnie jumped from the platform, easily grabbing on to the first rope of the Monkey’s Dare. She swung smoothly from rope to rope, using her body’s momentum to keep her gliding forward. After all her practice with Jay, her grip was strong. The crowd cheered ecstatically as she reached for the final rope, the one that would swing her to the awaiting platform at the end of the obstacle.

  But as soon as she grabbed on to it, her precariously positioned helmet shifted, falling back over her eyes. Lonnie could no longer see the top of the platform! All she could see was the inside of the gold helmet.

  Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to do. She could just jump toward the platform and hope her instincts guided her to the right place, but she risked missing the mark and falling into the water below, which would instantly disqualify her. On the other hand, if she didn’t let go, she’d lose her momentum and be left dangling way too far away from the platform.

  Lonnie’s breath hitched in her chest. She just had to go for it. She’d seen other competitors hesitate before the end, and they were never able to build up enough power to reach the platform.

  Lonnie let go of the rope. She felt herself flying through the air. But she could see nothing. Not the water below. Not the platform ahead. And not the
shocked crowd who had all let out a simultaneous gasp when they’d realized what had happened.

  Then, Lonnie felt a jolt and a bang as her feet hit something solid.

  She’d made it! She’d landed safely on the platform. But without her vision, it was impossible for Lonnie to find her balance, and she quickly tumbled forward, her feet scuffing across the spongy surface. She tried to pull herself to a halt, but the force of her blind landing was too much and she kept stumbling forward. Then she heard someone cry out. “Lean back!”

  It was Jay. He was guiding her.

  Lonnie didn’t hesitate. She did as she was told, thrusting her body backward until she fell onto her butt. But at least she’d stopped moving. She released a breath and pushed up her helmet. Her heart skipped when she saw how close to the edge of the platform she was. She’d nearly toppled right over the side into the water. The fall would have immediately eliminated her from the competition. She glanced at Jay, who was standing off to the side of the course, and gave him a grateful nod. He motioned for her to keep going. She was wasting precious time.

  Lonnie jumped to her feet and peered at the giant timer on the wall. She was already a minute and forty-two seconds in. That little blindness episode had cost her some time. She’d have to make up for it in the next obstacle.

  Lonnie ran toward the Great Wall of Fire, holding her helmet up with one hand as she went. When she reached the edge of the wall, she tentatively stuck her gloved hand out and placed it against one of the bricks. Even through the black leather of her glove, she could feel the heat. She wouldn’t be able to keep her hands on the wall for more than a second without burning herself.

  And then there was still the matter of this annoying helmet! Lonnie didn’t know what she was going to do about that. There was no way she was going to get through this obstacle and the next one completely blind. If only there were something she could wedge between the helmet and her head. Something to fill up the extra space so the helmet didn’t bounce around and fall over her eyes.

  Something like…

  Her gaze fell to her gloved hand, still lingering near the scorching hot wall.

  Lonnie gulped. She had no other choice. She ripped her gloves off one at a time and quickly stuffed them up under the rim of her helmet. It worked. The hulking thing stayed in place, leaving Lonnie’s eyes unobstructed.

  Another gasp had permeated through the bleachers. No one could believe she was going to take on this wall without any gloves! She had to be crazy!

  Just move fast and you won’t feel it.

  Lonnie thought back to the days Jay had made her walk barefoot across hot coals.

  “The trick is to never stop moving, to never let your skin touch the coals for more than a split second,” Jay had told her.

  Lonnie knew the same technique applied here.

  She’d already seen countless other competitors tackle this obstacle, and they had all moved in a hand-hand-foot-foot rhythm. But she couldn’t do that. It would mean her hands would have to rest on the wall for too long, and she’d surely burn her skin.

  She’d have to move her hands and feet at the exact same time, leaping horizontally across the two walls. It would definitely add a level of difficulty that she wasn’t prepared for.

  Lonnie closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and imagined the sword of Shan-Yu. She pictured herself removing it from its protective glass case, holding it in her hands, showing it off to everyone at the induction ceremony.

  Then she pictured that letter from the Imperial Council. The one that had told her she wasn’t yet worthy of the sword. And that was all the motivation she needed.

  Lonnie’s eyes shot open and she leaped into the air, rotating her body sideways and wedging it between the two walls so her feet were pressed against one, her hands were pressed against another, and she was staring straight down at the deep ravine below.

  The heat from the fiery wall immediately seared her bare hands and she let out a yelp of pain, but it was enough to get her moving. And fast.

  Lonnie scurried between the two walls as rapidly as she could, moving in tiny leaps and never letting her hands linger against the scalding hot surface for too long. The heat on her palms and fingertips was so intense, it only pushed her to go faster. By the time she made it to the other side and glanced at the clock, she realized that she’d just completed the Great Wall of Fire faster than any of the competitors so far! Apparently, taking off her gloves had actually helped.

  “Yeah!” Jay cheered from the sidelines. “That’s my friend!”

  She turned to flash him a beaming smile and then peered back at the clock.

  03:30.

  She had less than a minute to get to the end if she wanted a spot in that final round.

  Lonnie turned and stared down the Bridge of Despair. She could see the final platform on the other side. Nothing stood between her and victory except an impossibly thin spinning pole.

  You can do this, Lonnie told herself. It’s just like the log back at school.

  Lonnie took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She could hear Jay’s voice in her head once again, telling her what to do.

  The key to the spinning log is to never stop moving. Go fast or go home.

  Right, Lonnie said to herself. Never stop moving. Never stop—

  She took her first step onto the pole, preparing to run across it as quickly as she could, but the surface of the metal was surprisingly slick and her foot slid right out from under her.

  Lonnie let out a scream as her body was flung to the side and she saw the water below come rushing toward her.

  That was not part of the plan. Also, this challenge is crazy hard.

  Lonnie reached up quickly, and her fingers grasped the metal pole. She clutched it tightly, just managing to stop herself from falling.

  Now, she was dangling. Which wasn’t much better.

  She could practically feel the water biting at her toes.

  Lonnie knew she had to get her body back up onto that platform, but the pole was so slick, she was having trouble keeping her grip. And of course, it was still spinning. She kept having to readjust her hands with every rotation.

  “Come on, you’ve got this!” she heard Jay call from the bleachers, and his voice gave her resolve. With a grunt, she used all her core strength to whip her legs upward, catching the pole between her ankles.

  Yes!

  But it was too early to celebrate. Lonnie still needed to get the rest of her body up.

  The pole continued to turn. She tried to maneuver her hands and ankles to keep up with it. With another huge heave, Lonnie pulled herself up and scrambled backward to the safety of the starting platform.

  She let out a sigh. That was close. Too close.

  And strange, Lonnie thought. Why did my foot slip in the first place?

  She glanced down at the spinning pole and noticed it looked…shiny. Much shiner than it should have been. She squatted down and ran her fingertip across the surface. It came back glistening with what smelled like…

  Cooking oil?

  In an instant, everything became clear.

  Her missing helmet. Chen texting. The technician running out to “repair” the bridge.

  Lonnie’s mouth fell open in shock.

  That little cheat!

  Jay had been right. Chen was trying to sabotage her. He had sent someone out here to grease up the metal pole so she’d fall off! Did he have a friend who worked in the competition? Or was that guy in the red jumpsuit just posing as a real technician?

  Either way, Lonnie was angry. And shocked. How could he do that? How could he try to cheat his way to another victory? That wasn’t fair! And it certainly wasn’t very Auradonian.

  Just then, Lonnie caught sight of the clock and let out a squeak.

  04:15!

  She had exactly seven seconds to get across this slick pole in order to secure her spot in the finals! What was she going to do? How could she possibly get across this bridge? She knew that as soon as
she took a single step, her foot would slide right off the pole again like a vegetable gliding across an oiled pan.

  A vegetable gliding across an oiled pan…

  The image hung in Lonnie’s mind for a split second before the idea hit her. She had no time to think it through. No time to ponder whether it would work. It was her only option.

  Never stop moving, she repeated in her mind. That had been Jay’s advice, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

  Lonnie backed up a few paces, checked to make sure her helmet was still secure, and ran toward the edge of the platform. Just before tumbling over the side, she jumped up and landed with her feet sideways on the pole. The momentum from the run, plus the grease from the cooking oil, sent her flying. She crouched down, keeping her center of gravity low and controlled, as though she were about to perform a killer hip-hop dance move. Then she glided straight across the bridge, like a surfer riding a wave back to shore.

  It felt incredible. Like she was flying.

  When she reached the other end, she jumped onto the platform, stopping the timer right at four minutes and twenty-one seconds.

  The crowd went wild. She looked over to see Jay jumping up and down on the sidelines, high-fiving everyone in his vicinity.

  “Well, that was certainly impressive!” Ari, the host, bellowed over the speakers. “Let’s hear it for competitor one seventy-eight, who has officially qualified for the Auradon Warrior Challenge finals!”

  Even though she was breathless and exhausted, Lonnie couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She’d done it! She’d qualified!

  Lonnie removed her borrowed helmet and waved to the cheering crowd. A member of the TV crew jumped up in front of her, pointing a camera right at her face. Lonnie self-consciously smoothed down her blond wig.

  The show cut to commercial and the cameraman disappeared. Lonnie made her way back to the bench, where all her fellow competitors were on their feet, ready to high-five her. Well, all of them except Chen, of course. As she walked past him, she caught his gaze and held it. He was the only one in the entire arena not cheering for her. Instead, his face was twisted into a nasty scowl.