Page 81 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

“Got it,” he says. “Now what?”

“There’s another one about forty-five degrees up and to the right, one foot from the first one,” I say.

With that, he has enough leverage to lift himself up. I continue navigating him along the wall, and he manages to hoist himself up without too much trouble. Even though it turns out that Daniel is great at climbing, I try my best to pick the easiest moves so he won’t aggravate his burns. At the top, he gropes about in the air as I shout directions, and finally he pulls the key free.

“You did it!” I cry.

Daniel puts the key into the lock and the door swings open with a click. Once Daniel is back down, we step through into the next part of the labyrinth.

What I see on the other side makes my heart sink. In large letters painted on the wall are the next set of instructions.

“One can see and one can do. Now it’s time to wear the other shoe. Blindfold off, hands free. Time to switch which one you’ll be.” I groan. “We have to switch.”

I take off Daniel’s blindfold. He blinks as his eyes adjust to the light.

“Whoa,” he says, taking in our surroundings for the first time. “The writing on the wall feels a little serial killer, doesn’t it?”

“No comment.” As much as I don’t want to, I push my hands toward Daniel. “Untie me.”

Once I’m free, I tie the blindfold loosely around my head, pushing it up so I can tie Daniel up.

I try to be gentle. “Is this okay? Does your side hurt?”

“Nah, I’m fine,” Daniel says, shrugging it off, but I can see him wincing.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

Daniel laughs. “Slayer, don’t worry about me. It’s too weird. You’re going to scare me.”

I laugh too, and that carries me through the terrible moment of pulling my blindfold on. I take a moment to adjust to the sudden andcomplete darkness.

“You good?” he asks.

“Let’s get this over with,” I grit out. I hate this. I want to tear off the blindfold and run out of here. Then Daniel takes my hand and squeezes it. When my foot catches on something, he’s able to steady me before I can even begin to lose balance.

“I’ve got you,” Daniel murmurs, quiet enough that I almost don’t hear it.

“Where are we going?” I ask, desperate to distract myself. “I need information.”

“You’re not missing much,” Daniel says. “We’re walking through a narrow hallway. I’m making sure you don’t bump into the walls, but if you reach, you can feel it.”

I touch the wall briefly, run my finger along the smooth wood, and it helps.

“Turning,” he says.

I hate this. “How did you make this look so easy?” I grumble.

“It wasn’t easy,” Daniel says. “But I trusted you to guide me.”

There it is again. Trust. Daniel trusts me.

“You didn’t think I was going to run you into a wall?” I ask.

“Well, no, because that would be detrimental to our success as a team,” Daniel says. “And I know you wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. We might’ve spent high school on opposite sides, but you were always an honorable opponent.”

That’s true. And if I’m being fair, Daniel was always an honorable opponent in turn.

“I keep thinking I’m going to crash into something or fall on my face,” I admit.

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