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Mal wasn't allowed into the spa hotel anyway. Chris said it was only for winners now, that they couldn't take anyone else, so Zoey went to spend the night there alone. In the cabins, I talked girl talk with Courtney and Gwen.

"I know we're all playing to win now," I remarked, "But I have to say I'm impressed with you, Courtney. Last time, you were all about winning and nothing else."

Courtney smiled. "To be honest, I feel as if what I've been able to do here is worth as much as the million dollars. Just in case I don't win, I'm not willing to start manipulating or cheating anyone to get any further."

I got to talk to Zoey the next morning. She was horrified at what she'd found out. "I found out what Alejandro meant by 'the truth is in the art'." she whispered. "He hid a DVD in one of the pictures of Chris. It's called 'Mal's Greatest Hits'."

I gasped. "I remember now! When we were ziplining, I heard Mal telling Alejandro to tell him where some DVD was, but he refused. He must've been talking about that. What did you see?"

"He's been Mal for such a long time!" Zoey said. "He was Mal during the blue moon challenge, and when he punched out Izzy. I know he was Mike sometimes in between, like during the egg challenge, but I think he's been Mal since the teams merged. I feel so stupid for not realizing! I should've listened to you earlier."

I paused, trying to think of the right thing to say. Finally, I answered. "You weren't being stupid, Zoey – you were being optimistic. None of us want to believe our boyfriend is turning into our worst nightmare. At least we both know what we're up against. Now one of us needs to win the next challenge."

Zoey paused. "By the way, you do realize that this is the second-to-last episode, right? I think three of us are getting flushed tonight."

I frowned. "In that case, we need a plan. I think we need to find a way so that if we both go, Mal goes with us. Gwen and Courtney can't handle him, especially if it's just one of them."

"If one of us stays, I think we need to bring Mal to the finale." Zoey added.

I frowned. "What?"

"If we ditch Mal now, we could lose Mike forever!" Zoey said earnestly. "If one of us stays, we try to find a way to get Mal to stay too. Are you with me?"

I frowned. But I trusted Zoey – she'd never steered me wrong before. I decided I'd have to take a chance. We shook on it. "I guess our friendship finale idea is a bust, though." I sighed.

"Yeah, it didn't work out the way I'd hoped." Zoey agreed. "I still really miss Cameron."

"I hope he's doing okay." I said. "I just want to see him again, even if he's still in the bubble."

Then we were called to the dock for our next challenge.

"So," Mal said to Zoey, "Did you sleep well?"

"Not as well as you might think." Zoey answered cryptically.

"Look, I know it's been hard for you to trust me this season, but I really am back in the driver's seat now! Have been since the boat race. And it's all thanks to you. I promise, I'm the same Mike who gave you that bracelet last season."

Zoey smiled at him. "Yeah. I wasn't sure who you were sometimes, but now I know." Despite her underlying meaning, she smiled sweetly. But I knew from her sideways glance at me that she was faking it all. Besides, Mike gave her a necklace last season, not a bracelet. I remembered her showing it to me.

I hadn't done a confessional in a while, so I made one that night. "Okay, I know the walls have ears, so I shouldn't say a thing. But the thing is...the eliminations are decided! We know who's going and who's staying." I gave a sigh. "I'm kind of gonna miss Zoey. But our plan is working. One of us will definitely find a way to get Mike back!"

Zoey made a confessional just after me, and I heard her answer to the "bracelet" thing. "Mike gave me a necklace, Mal, not a bracelet, you weasel!"

Anyway, on to the challenge. Chris dressed up in pirate gear (he seems to do that once most seasons), and told us that our challenge was to find loot. Oh, and Chef came out dressed as a parrot, looking annoyed.

"You look great and you know it." Chris told him, jumping off the boat they were on. "Look, if you don't wanna be here – that isn't what I was going to say!" But Chef had already driven the boat away. I couldn't hide a squeal of laughter.

The thing was, Chris was missing his old pad. So he'd decided to come up with the looting challenge. Each of us would look in one of the five treasure chests to find out what we needed to look for.

"Zoey, as the winner of the last challenge, you get to go first."

Zoey put a hand out towards the chest in the middle, and got an electric shock for her trouble. She had to find the Sasquachanakwa. I went next, and chose the one on the far left. I stepped back, but it didn't help, when several mozzies flew at me, leaving bites all over my arms.

"Vampires." I muttered. My loot was some kind of exotic coral that I'd have to dive underwater to get – some that was literally coral pink.

Gwen got pepper sprayed in her face and had to find a still-intact picture of Chris in the ruins of his old home. Courtney got a boxing glove in her face, and had to retrieve a diamond which was being guarded by Fang.

Finally, Mal went, and tried to escape opening the chest. Sadly, Chris wouldn't tell him what was in the chest, and he ended up with a snapping turtle on his hand, which ran away, terrified of him. Yep, that was Mal, all right. He had to find the long-lost original golden Chris statuette, kind of like the Gilded Chris Awards from the second season.

Basically, whoever came back last or worse, empty-handed, would be the first to take the Flush of Shame. Then the winner of the challenge would pick whoever came to the finale with them.

I glanced at Zoey, and we nodded at the same time. One of us had to win.

I never expected things to happen the way they did. I dived down, trying to evade the sharks, and tore a piece of the coral off the reef. I did not expect a bunch of tropical fish that I swear did not live near Camp Wawanakwa last season to start chasing me. At least none of them got out of the water. Some of them jumped out, including a real flying fish, but I got to shore and raced back, the piece of pink coral in my hands.

Just as I reached the dock and held my loot in the air to show Chris, the Sasquachanakwa slid down the slope to the dock, with Zoey in tow.

"Can't say I approved of how you did it," Chris said, "But you did do it. But Shannon got here first, so she wins the challenge!"

Zoey smiled at me. "All right, Shannon!" We high-fived, just as Mal dragged a stunned Courtney back. Neither of them had any loot, but Mal pointed out he'd brought back something else Chris loved – an injured contestant. So Courtney was on the chopping block if Gwen brought back what she was assigned. That sobered her up quickly. "Mike didn't bring back what he was assigned, either!" she protested. "Bringing me back doesn't count – it's not fair!"

"Actually, you wouldn't be back at all if he hadn't dragged you," Chris pointed out, "So I'm not even making up those rules."

Gwen arrived last, with a picture of Chris that wasn't intact. In fact, she'd refurbished it with a lot of things. Mainly bear faeces.

Chris puked all over the picture and declared Gwen the loser, for "defacing" his picture.

That evening, Gwen wished us all good luck, not knowing who I'd chosen to bring to the finale. But once she was gone, Chris turned to me. "It all comes down to who you want to battle in the finale. Zoey, Courtney, or Mike."

I exchanged another glance with Zoey, silently pleading her to let me pick her. She understood my look and mouthed No, keep Mal.

I gave a sigh and said "I really don't want to do what I'm about to do. But I have a favour I promised, and I have to keep it, so...I'm sorry, Courtney, I'm sorry, Zoey. You guys are leaving."

Zoey gave me a hug. "The Mal DVD is in the camera room. Watch it, OK?" she whispered in my ear. "Good luck."

Courtney, on the other hand, looked as if she was about to throw a tantrum after losing her chance again. As it was, she whined and complained the whole time she was in the giant toilet. "And Mike's not as innocent as he looks, anyway! You really don't know what you're doing, Shannon!"

"Don't worry about that, Courtney." I said. "I know exactly what I'm doing. And believe me, I wasn't originally going to do this because of that, but I owe it. Sorry."

And that was it. I was in the spa hotel, alone on an island with a psychopath with one of my closest friends trapped inside his mind. But then again, I was in the finale! This was further than I got last time, and I was determined to do at least one thing in the finale. Bring Mike back, or at the least, win.

So yeah...Shannon made it to the finale! Next episode, you'll see what happens!