‘Who says you’re coming along?’ I asked.

‘You might need me.’ I snorted but Bob looked only momentarily put out. ‘If you want,’ he said, warming to the topic, ‘you could make a wish and win automatically. Job done.’

I didn’t even deign to answer.

‘Actually,’ Taylor interjected, ‘I’m pretty certain that there are wards in place to prevent anyone from using magic to win.’

‘Participants can’t use their Gifts?’

‘They can use them during the individual challenges but not to control the outcome of the Games as a whole. There’s some trigger system that alerts the organising Clan. Anyone caught trying to play the system is banned from competing for the next six generations.’

More of Byron’s supposed honour shite. Whatever. I fixed my gaze on Taylor. ‘What else do you know about the Games?’

He frowned, searching through his memory. ‘There are three challenges: Artistry, Adventure and Acumen.’

Speck pursed his lips. ‘Alliteration.’

‘Bless you,’ said Lexie. He glared at her.

Taylor ignored them and continued. ‘The nature of the challenges changes every time. If memory serves me right, that ice wall thing Byron Moncrieffe was talking about came in the Adventure challenge last time around.’

Lexie clapped her hands. ‘That would be a piece of cake for Tegs!’

Taylor grimaced. ‘It was only part of the whole thing. The reason I heard about the competition in the first place was because of what came after the ice wall in the last Games. In the Acumen challenge.’

‘Which was?’

‘A Yeti.’

I blinked. ‘Seriously?’

‘Yeah. There were some rather brutal, er, deaths.’

I swallowed. ‘Wow. So we can make a reasonable guess about which part of the competition Debbie is going to be in. Do you know anything else?’

Taylor shook his head. ‘No. I could find out. If I asked around, I’m sure someone would have some information.’

I thought about it. ‘Nah, best not. We don’t want to seem like we’re cheating. And I’m betting the Clan Chieftains will do whatever they can to stop me participating. We don’t want to give them a reason to cancel my entry.’ A smile played around my lips as I imagined their reaction if I won. ‘Besides, if the challenges aren’t repeated from one set of Games to the next, information about the last ones won’t help ‒ although it wouldn’t hurt to keep our ears to the ground. We know the Carnegies are the organisers so maybe something will drift our way. Debbie did.’

‘So you’re definitely going to compete?’ Taylor asked.

My smile spread until I was grinning so hard it was possible my carefully applied make-up would crack. ‘You can count on it.’ Aifric’s face hovered in my mind for a moment before I added, ‘And I’m going to win.’

***

Travis was only too happy to give me time off from mountain rescue. He was so quick to agree that I almost opened my mouth to argue with him but in the end I decided it was easier not to look a gift horse in the face. It was a close-run thing though. I really had to stop letting my emotions get the better of me.