The Contest by Gordon Korman
She started when she saw them. “Oh, it’s you guys. I thought you were my parents.”
“They’re coming up from Chicago?” asked Sammi.
She nodded. “Separate planes, separate rent-a-cars. I guess that’s how things are going to be in my family from now on — separate.” She shifted in bed to face Dominic. “Cap told me how you saved my life.”
“Anybody would have done it,” Dominic mumbled uncomfortably.
“No,” she said seriously. “If Cap had chosen your brother instead of you like everybody thought, I’d be dead right now. Do you honestly think Chris could have made it into that tiny chasm to get me out? He’s almost as big as Cap.” She regarded the slight boy, shamefaced. “I’m sorry I didn’t have more faith in you. You deserve to go to Everest.”
“I don’t think anybody’s going to E anymore,” Sammi put in sadly. “Cap’s on the phone with Tony Devlin right now. Word is they’re going to scrap the expedition.”
All eyes turned to Perry.
“What’s everybody looking at me for? You think my uncle calls to ask how to run Summit?” He added, “But my guess is they’ll cancel.”
“You’re relieved,” Bryn accused.
“You bet I am,” Perry said feelingly. “If all this stuff could happen on Lucifer’s Claw, how could we go up three times as high?”
“It’s my fault,” Bryn mourned. “I thought my sleepwalking would stop when we got out of boot camp. And now I’m lucky to be alive.” She sighed. “I ruined it for everybody.”
Sammi put a hand on her shoulder. “I guess this means cliff jumping is back in the plan. Caleb will be happy.”
And then, a gruff but familiar voice: “Caleb is out of luck.”
Cap Cicero strode into the room. “I just got off the phone with Tony Devlin. SummitQuest is still on!”
Perry was wide-eyed. “But what about yesterday?”
“If you kids can get out of a jam like that, then you’re ready for Everest,” the team leader said positively. “Even you, Noonan. You held it together up there.”
Perry didn’t know whether to be horrified or flattered.
“But not me, right?” Dominic ventured sadly.
“What are you talking about?” asked Bryn.
“I disobeyed a direct order,” Dominic explained, “and Cap washed me out.”
Cicero put an arm around his narrow shoulders. “Kid, after what I saw yesterday, I’m amazed I ever climbed anything without you. Yeah, you wouldn’t listen, and I was mad. But we saved a team member because of it, and that trumps everything.” His smile vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. “So no cheeseburgers when you get home — you’re in training! We leave for Nepal in three weeks.”
“I’ll have a cheeseburger for you,” Bryn volunteered wanly. “It’s the least I can do.”
“One more thing,” Cicero added. “Nobody talks to the press about what happened, got it? That comes straight from the Summit board. If a reporter asks why Bryn isn’t going, just say she turned an ankle on the test climb.”
“I didn’t turn it; I broke it,” Bryn reminded him. “Along with every other bone in my body.”
“You broke it because you turned it,” the expedition leader explained glibly.
“Yeah,” Perry winced at the mere memory, “at the bottom of a fifty-foot fall.”
“What about her replacement?” asked Sammi. “Who’s going to be the fourth team member?”
Dominic snapped to eager attention. “It’s my brother, right? We’re taking Chris?”
Cicero shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not.”
E-mail message
To: [email protected]
Subject: SummitQuest
Good news! Summit made Cap put me back on the team. At least somebody knows a real climber when they see one.
We leave for Nepal on March 15. Now I can continue to E-mail your newspaper more dirt about the SummitQuest bone-heads. Don’t worry, Cap doesn’t suspect a thing. He still thinks it’s sour grapes from some loser who washed out.
Tilt Crowley
P.S. Remember, when I summit Everest, I’m doubling my usual fee. The next time you see me, I’ll be a star!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GORDON KORMAN started writing novels when he was about the same age as the characters in this book, with his first novel, This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!, published when he was fourteen. Since then, his novels have sold millions of copies around the world. Most recently, he is the author of Swindle, Zoobreak, and Framed, the trilogies Island, Everest, Dive, and Kidnapped, and the series On the Run. His other novels include No More Dead Dogs and Son of the Mob. He lives in New York with his family, and can be found on the web at www.gordonkorman.com.
LOOK FOR MORE ADVENTURE FROM
GORDON KORMAN
TITANIC
BOOK ONE: UNSINKABLE
BOOK TWO: COLLISION COURSE
BOOK THREE: S.O.S.
KIDNAPPED
BOOK ONE: THE ABDUCTION
BOOK TWO: THE SEARCH
BOOK THREE: THE RESCUE
ON THE RUN
BOOK ONE: CHASING THE FALCONERS
BOOK TWO: THE FUGITIVE FACTOR
BOOK THREE: NOW YOU SEE THEM, NOW YOU DON’T
BOOK FOUR: THE STOWAWAY SOLUTION
BOOK FIVE: PUBLIC ENEMIES
BOOK SIX: HUNTING THE HUNTER
DIVE
BOOK ONE: THE DISCOVERY
BOOK TWO: THE DEEP
BOOK THREE: THE DANGER
EVEREST
BOOK ONE: THE CONTEST
BOOK TWO: THE CLIMB
BOOK THREE: THE SUMMIT
ISLAND
BOOK ONE: SHIPWRECK
BOOK TWO: SURVIVAL
BOOK THREE: ESCAPE
Copyright © 2002 by Gordon Korman.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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This edition first printing, March 2012
Cover photos by Earl Robicheaux
Cover design by Steve Scott
e-ISBN 978-0-545-66635-0
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Gordon Korman, The Contest