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Istood alone in the woods, waiting. Any second now, the five other teams would come crashing through the underbrush, bombarding me with paintballs.

How did I get myself into these situations?

“Because you’re the bait,” Asher had reminded me just before my teammates had run off without me.

“I hate being bait,” I grumbled under my breath, clutching the messenger bag to my body.

The yellow team found me first. The red team wasn’t far behind. Every instinct I had was screaming at me to run, but I couldn’t. Not yet.

“Hand over the treasure, Savannah.” Dante took a step toward me.

Elliot of the red team cut him off. “Hey, not so fast. We agreed that our team would retrieve the treasure. And that your team would be backup.”

“I am not backup,” Rhett said with disgust.

I’d gotten Dutch on my team, and Dante had gotten Rhett. Lucky us.

“We’re not going to allow a team of meatheads to take possession of the treasure,” Elliot declared.

Rhett patted his paintball gun, a sneer twisting his lips. “I’d like to see you try to stop us.”

The other three teams arrived and immediately started pummeling the yellow and red teams with paintballs. That was my cue. I turned and ran.

“She’s getting away!” someone shouted over the whoosh! of paintballs.

What remained of the five teams took off after me. I hopped over Asher’s tripwire. As soon as I was clear, I broke out into an all-out sprint.

“Like we would ever fall for such a cliché trick, Savannah Winters!” Rhett taunted me.

I could hear the heavy thumps! of my hunters’ shoes jumping over the very long rope.

The sharp snaps! of the dangling tree branches flicking against their heads.

The springy zip! of the trap, activated by all the commotion in the tree’s lower branches.

The resounding crack! of the tree releasing its load.

The wet splatter! of paintballs and paint-filled water balloons breaking.

The satisfying gasp! of startled Apprentices, caught totally unaware.

“We eliminated most of the enemy Knights,” Bronte said as I ducked into the bush where my teammates were hiding.

“I think you mean I eliminated most of the enemy Knights,” Asher said with a smirk. “It was my plan.”

“And I executed it,” I reminded him.

“And a fine job you did too.” Asher patted me on the back. “Only someone so short could jump over the tripwire without activating the treetop trap.”

“Wow, you’re complimenting me for being short.” I rolled my eyes. “Awesome.”

“Would you rather I criticize you for it?” he chuckled.

“Actually, I’d rather serve a purpose other than bait or short girl,” I told him honestly.

“You guys can work this out later,” Bronte snapped. “We need to get to the extraction point. And might I remind you all that we are still outnumbered.”

She was right, of course, so we scooted out of our hiding spot and hurried toward the extraction point before our competitors untangled themselves from the painted pile. Anyone who hadn’t been paint-marked was still in the game, and they would be coming for us.

“I see it!” Kylie told us. “The trail marker! We just need to grab the phone attached to it and…” Her voice trailed off as she stopped at the post.

“What is it?” Asher asked her.

Kylie turned around to face us, worry lines crinkling her brow. “It’s not there. There’s no phone.”