The sound of Chris yelling wakes me up. I sit up and rub my eyes. When my vision has cleared, I look at the clock. It says 6:30.

"Get up, get up, get up! And get down to the beach! Move it, campers, move it! Walk don't run! And get down here!"

Chris continues yammering in the background. I heave myself out of bed and over to the dresser, where I find my clothes and put them on. As I do this, my head starts to clear, and I remember yesterday.

Wendy's gone.

I blink a few times. When I open them, I see Marlowe and Nazz staring at me suspiciously.

That's probably how it's going to be in our cabin from now on. I thought we had finally gotten over the whole traitor thing–it's been a while since Megan was voted off–but now we've been smacked in the face with evidence that there's actually a traitor in the girls' cabin. And of course, the traitor isn't stepping forward. So we're all going to be suspicious of one another.

I finish getting dressed, apply my lipstick, and head out the door. Nazz and Marlowe follow me, and we walk down to the beach. Numbuh Two and Rusty are already there. Chris is standing on the beach with a hose and a huge tank of water.

"Need a drink?" he asks. I shake my head no. Marlowe declines as well, but Nazz takes him up on his offer. Chris holds out the hose to Nazz and turns it on, and Nazz sips from it like it's a drinking fountain.

A few minutes later, Chaz arrives. The only hint that he's not quite ready this early in the morning are the well-covered bags under his eyes.

"Morning Chaz! Want a drink?" Chris asks. Chaz shakes his head. "Suit yourself!" Chris says.

We fall into a line. Chris looks at us with a big grin on his face.

"Welcome," he grins, "to the Dehydration Marathon!"

Nobody applauds.

"The rules are simple," he says. "Run around the island as many times as you can. Like in a marathon. And do it without any water!"

We gasp. My mind races furiously. I know the symptoms of dehydration and the negative health effects, and as I think about them I start to worry. Sometimes having a photographic memory really bites.

"Now, there's no need to worry," Chris says. "You can drop out any time you like without fear of punishment. Because today, you're not playing for immunity. You're playing for privacy!"

Privacy? On a reality show? Not likely.

"And by that I mean you get the empty room in your cabin," Chris says. "All to yourself. For the rest of the time you're on the show. Doesn't that sound nice?"

That does sound nice. The guys' faces all light up, so they're interested too. Although I'd need a single if I had to share a room with Chaz. Assuming that any of the stories Numbuh Two tells about him are true.

"No way!" Nazz says. "I'm not going to run a marathon without any water just for my own room!"

"Yeah!" Marlowe joins in. "I like Nazz and Ingrid!"

I don't say anything. They look at me.

"Sorry guys," I say apologetically, "but I need my space sometimes. It's not that I don't like you, it's just–"

Nazz smiles. "Yeah, we get it," she says. "Just promise we can come visit?"

"Of course!" I say.

Nazz and Marlowe walk off the beach and presumably back to bed. Although I'm sure that my willingness to run this marathon won't help them be less suspicious about me.

"That's a shame," Chris says. "If she had stayed, Nazz would've learned that she's allowed as much water as she wants because she won the poker game in the last episode. Oh well. Who wants water? It's your last chance before the race begins!"

Chris is swarmed by the four of us.

After we've all drunken our fill, we line up on the beach by Chef. Chef has brought a beach chair with him.

"Now remember, we've got cameras all over the island, so we'll know if you cheat," Chris says. "And this time, cheating is not encouraged. Yeah. It's a surprise to me too. Ready?"

We get ready.

"Get set...and..."

Chris fires a pistol into the air.

"Go!"

We all start jogging. Behind us, something hits the beach hard, but we don't look back to see what it was.

"That's gonna provoke some angry emails," Chris says as we run away from him.

Soon, Chaz has outpaced the rest of us. It's always surprising when he reveals his athletic ability. Sure, I already knew he was a good runner from the water balloon challenge, but I'm still surprised every time I see him actually run.

Maybe it's because he never seems to put any effort into anything besides looking good. Still, it's always a surprise to see him reveal his ability to do, well, anything useful. I will admit that I may be biased by my talks with Numbuh Two, but even so my observations of him suggest that he's generally nothing more than a dandy and a camera hog.

At least it's a marathon and not a sprint. I have a chance. I'm used to chases; some things about Safety Patrol never really leave you. I just have to keep running for longer than Chaz can.

Of course, Chaz did pretty much outrun me the last time something like this happened.

I take a deep breath and continue to run. Beside me, Rusty is panting heavily as he tries to beat me. It seems like all those years of smoking are taking their toll on his lungs. I can't say I'm surprised by his ill health; he's the oldest person still on this island and has been since Boris left. It's fairly easy to predict that he's not going to win.

I do have an ulterior motive for running this race. If I have time to myself I can think through everything and figure out who the traitor is. I just know that there had to have been clues left behind, and if I just have the time and space to analyze them I can figure out who voted Wendy off. The numbers say it had to have been one of us; we all agreed to vote for Chaz, and four of seven is a clear majority. But if one of those votes flips to Wendy it explains how she bit the dust.

That relies on every guy voting the same way. That would be a bit unlikely were it not for the fact that the only available candidates were me, Wendy, Chaz, and Marlowe, and of those four the strongest competitor is probably Wendy. Yes, I'm willing to admit that I'm not the best-equipped to win in this game. But as long as I stay in, I have a shot.

Ugh, quit getting distracted! Okay. So, Wendy left. I know I didn't vote her off. I know that either Nazz or Marlowe did. Although it's hard to believe my friends would turn on somebody in our group so quickly. And then to lie about it? That just seems unlikely. Sure, a good liar would be able to cover up their lies. And maybe it's a more attractive option to get rid of Wendy than it is to get rid of Chaz, even if he is really annoying. But I still find it kind of hard to believe that one of them would just turn on Wendy.

But what if both of them did? What if Marlowe and Nazz got together and decided to vote off Wendy?

Ahead of me, Rusty peels off to the right, falls to his knees, and pukes up phlegmy water. I run past him as he pants and heaves and chokes.

Poor Rusty. In a challenge based on dehydration, he ended up losing because he drank too much water.

I start thinking about last night's results again. If Marlowe and Nazz did get together to betray Wendy, that would explain why they're suspicious of me, or why they're chummy despite the whole traitor thing. Maybe they're both pretending to be wolves in sheep's clothing. But then, that wouldn't explain why they'd feel the need to ask questions about who turned on whom. Are they trying to set me up? Or maybe they didn't get together but both decided to get rid of Wendy independently, and that's why they think they need to keep up the act. After all, Wendy did make Marlowe angry by getting us to vote off Triana. And she did throw off the dynamic of the group when she joined.

Unless Wendy voted herself off. That's always a possibility. But then something would've been said. And Wendy wouldn't have acted so shocked when she was removed.

Occam's Razor. Let's see. All theories require that Wendy was voted off. Okay, that happened. And that a girl voted her off. That happened, unless two people on our side voted for somebody not named Chaz or Wendy. I think that can be discarded, unless those votes were cast against me or Marlowe. That's unlikely though. So at least one girl cast a vote for Wendy. Okay. Let's see, that's two assumptions I can assume are true. What else? I know I didn't vote off Wendy. And I can probably assume Wendy didn't vote herself off. So at least three votes were cast against Wendy. The only question is who cast them?

Hmm. Numbuh Two's running a bit behind me. Maybe he'll have some insight.

I slow down a little, and soon we're side by side.

"Hey," he pants. "What's up?"

"I just want to know who you voted for yesterday," I say.

"Wendy. Why?" he asks.

"Just wondering," I say.

"What, was she your friend?" he asks. I nod. "Well sorry, but she was like the toughest person still here. Me and the guys knew we had to get rid of her."

Me and the guys. Did that mean...

"So all of you voted for Wendy?" I ask.

"I think so," Numbuh Two says. "It's impossible to be sure, but Rusty said he would and Chaz said Wendy wasn't really that entertaining, whatever that meant, so probably. What's with all the questions?"

I don't say anything for a few seconds so I can formulate my thoughts. "I was shocked when Wendy left," I finally say. "So were Nazz and Marlowe. But one of them had to have voted her off."

"Why?" Numbuh Two asks. "Maybe the vote got split."

"Because we're all friends. I think."

"So? It still could have–"

"Chaz was the only option."

"Oh," he says. He pauses. "Okay yeah, I remember that. Huh. Totally slipped my mind that I had immunity last night. But then that means–"

"Exactly," I say.

"So somebody is lying," he says. "About not voting Wendy off, that is."

"I know," I say. "I just can't figure out who it is."

We run together in silence for a few minutes.

"Well, tell me if you figure it out," Numbuh Two finally says. "I'm uh, I'm giving up. And no offense, but I'd really appreciate it if you let Chaz get his own room, just so we don't have to deal with him anymore."

I smile slightly. "I'll keep that in mind."

Numbuh Two stops running and collapses in the sand.

Huh. That didn't really help me much. Except it confirms that Wendy almost certainly had three votes against her from the start. So who voted against her? I know I voted for Chaz, and Wendy's reaction pretty much shows that she didn't vote herself off. So that leaves Nazz and Marlowe. Why would they vote her off? There's gotta be a reason. Even if Wendy was the strongest competitor, she'd probably be voted off anyway. I'm pretty sure we all had a stronger relationship with each other than she did with us.

Didn't we? I mean, Marlowe didn't like Wendy because she pushed to have Triana shoved off the show. And Wendy was trying to pretty much lead us all as a single group. Which is odd, since we're not a group. Although we do meet up so we can arrange our votes. And we do work together outside of voting. And...

How did I not see this before? I'm in an alliance. I've been in an alliance. Pretty much since Megan and I discovered Snidely's treachery and told Marlowe and Nazz and we all decided to work together to get rid of Snidely. I mean, sure, it was initially an attempt to get away from Snidely's influence on our team, but after he was gone, there was no reason to work together.

Except for maybe Elise. But Elise didn't really have any friends and didn't really have any allies outside of Snidely. She wasn't a threat once Snidely was gone, was she? Even Elise probably couldn't grab immunity in every challenge.

So we stayed together. Was that friendship, or was it something else? Was it an alliance we formed unconsciously to try and get to the end?

Now that I think about it, it was an alliance. I even thought about it that way, I just didn't use the term alliance.

My mouth is so dry. Should I give up? No, focus. Focus. Privacy might be really important. But if it's an alliance why would one of our members betray it? It doesn't make any sense. Why send Wendy packing now? Why not wait until the final four or at worst final five? Why not just control the game as much as possible? Why get rid of...

Wendy was trying to lead us.

This alliance was based on friendship. It was quasi-democratic. Without Wendy, Triana probably doesn't get voted off because we would have listened to Marlowe's objections. Wendy comes into the cabin, ingratiates herself, and tries to lead us. It all makes sense. She was voted off because she was trying to control the unspoken alliance.

So somebody wanted to get rid of Wendy because Wendy wanted to hold the reins of power. But we were doing fine without somebody guiding us. Weren't we?

I guess I was always the quiet one, but they listened to me. Marlowe and Nazz both seemed to respect my intelligence. And Marlowe may have been the most outspoken, but she didn't always make us do what she wanted. Nazz would argue against Marlowe when they disagreed, but neither girl issued an ultimatum. Wendy pretty much issued an ultimatum on Triana, and Marlowe was angry about that, but she'd go along with Nazz when–

Nazz. She's the one who had us start meeting on the beach. She pretty much kept us on the same page after Megan was eliminated.

After Megan was eliminated.

Flashback

Marlowe and I were walking towards the cabin after the eating contest.

"I, am stuffed," I said.

"I know," Marlowe groaned. "That was definitely too much food."

"Sucks that we lost," I said. "Who do you think we should vote off?"

"I dunno," she said. "How about you?"

"I think we should get rid of Elise," I told her.

"I dunno, she's been doing a lot for the team," she said. "You know, Nazz once told me that she thought Elise was a bigger threat than Snidely."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, too bad we didn't manage to vote her off and Megan went home instead."

Megan went home instead.

That was the water challenge. I was completely spent after that, but I remember voting for Snidely. Megan probably voted for Snidely too. If Nazz and Marlowe voted for Elise, that explains why Megan got sent home even though with four votes and eight players we should have at least forced a tie.

And Nazz told us that someone was a traitor after that vote happened.

Flashback

"It's the only way," Nazz said.

"Are you sure?" Marlowe asked. "I mean, Elise did side with Snidely. Are you sure we shouldn't vote her off instead?"

"We can do that after the merge," Nazz said.

"But that could be tomorrow," I argued. "And Steve is a good guy. He just has a stomach bug or something."

"But what if it's not tomorrow?" Nazz asked. "Then we've gotten rid of our strongest competitor. Look, I don't like Elise any more than you do. But we need her up until the merge. After that, she's gone. But she's super useful right now."

"Name me one challenge she's won," I said.

"I hate to agree with Nazz–not because I don't like agreeing with you, although I–Let me start over," Marlowe said. "Nazz is right. Steve may have helped us with the musical episode, but Elise is probably the only thing that's kept us all from being eliminated pre-merge. Even if she did join up with Snidely and try to take us all down, we need her. We need her more than Steve."

"Yeah, but–" I started to say.

"Thanks, Marlowe," Nazz said. "And I like Steve too, but Elise at this moment is better for the team."

"Yeah, I don't like it any more than you do, but we have to keep Elise on," Marlowe said.

"It's him or us," Nazz added.

"Fine," I said. "We'll take down Steve."

Nazz led the charge to get rid of Steve. Because she thought it would be more pragmatic to keep Elise on. Even though Steve was our friend. And she split the votes to get rid of Megan. But how did she know Megan would be the one eliminated? Why not her?

Because Megan was the one who told us about Snidely's alliance at the dinner table.

At dinner. Where anybody could have listened in. Like Snidely, or Elise. Of course they would've blamed Megan. And of course Nazz would be safe. Especially when she publicly expressed doubt about Snidely really doing an alliance–doubt that vanished the next day and united us all in trying to get rid of Snidely.

Flashback

Snidely was being carried towards the cannon by Chef.

"Nazz did it on purpose!" he screamed. "Nazz let go of the rope on purpose! She threw the game!"

Chef stuffed Snidely in the cannon, but he kept screaming as Chris lit the fuse. He's so loud that Chris couldn't talk over him.

"Nazz threw the game! She made us lose! It's all her fault! Nazz is a lying sneak!"

The cannon fired.

"DON'T TRUST HER!"

Did Nazz actually throw the game? I did see her lose her grip on the rope, but was it intentional?

Flashback

Triana turned back to us.

"Don't trust her," she said.

Triana was right.

But why didn't she tell us who not to trust? If she knew we shouldn't trust Nazz, then why not tell us about Nazz? Why not tell us that Nazz would–

She didn't mind if Wendy got voted off. She didn't like Wendy. She wanted Wendy to go down. And if she told us about Nazz, Nazz wouldn't be able to get rid of Wendy. Unless Nazz got us all to turn on Wendy.

But that's not what Nazz does. She's been leading us subtly. She's never told us what to do, it's always been phrased as suggestions. And we've just gone along because they're good ideas. But all along she's been manipulating us. Getting us to do what she wants. And she wouldn't suggest that we vote against a friend because that would open her up as a target.

Wait. Nazz has gotten rid of the would-be leaders. Anybody who tries to pull us, she's had them eliminated. She split the votes against Megan, and I'm pretty sure she outright voted off Wendy. Maybe she did vote off Megan. She could always say she voted for Elise. That conversation with Marlowe gave her cover to do that.

So what now?

I force my eyes to focus. Chaz is long gone, my mouth is dry, my legs ache, and my entire body is screaming at me.

I slow to a stop and sit down.

"Congratulations, Chaz, you win!" Chris declares over the public address. "Chef will be coming by with a golf cart to pick everyone up. Except for Nazz and Marlowe. I'll see you all in the middle of camp!"

Great. That gives me time to think of what to say to Nazz and Marlowe.