Right. The blue harvest moon challenge! Thanks for your review, Elizabeth Life Stone, Katie Grimm and Bloodylilcorpse.

The nightmares didn't stay away. I had one break, and then they came back...

Lindsay was in the room, this time, asleep. I shivered as I sat up in my bed, pretty sure I knew where this dream was going.

"One, two, guess who's coming to find you..." sang a deep monotone voice mockingly. Mal appeared out of thin air and sat down on the bed, purposely crushing my upper legs, pinning me there.

"Have you seen me yet, doll face?" he asked with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure you must have. Remember how hurt your teammate over there got?"

I stared at him. "What did you do to the spinner?"

"Chris was going too easy on everyone." Mal shrugged. "There's a couple of levers on the controls. I don't know how they work, since I'm in your mind, but I can guess. I'm guessing that the real me changed the controls to make the spinner go faster." He chuckled darkly. "After all, it's fun to create a little chaos."

"Who are you, the Joker?" I spat. "You psychopath! What else do you know you've done?"

"Oh, I don't know." Mal said casually. "I might have crushed Sam's game console or stolen whatever Sierra had taken..although I might end up giving it back to her...broken." He scowled. "Stop asking me questions. You'll have to ask the real me, although I doubt either of us will give you an answer if you keep speaking to us like that." He brought his face close to mine, almost nose to nose. "You will speak to your master with respect, got that?" he whispered.

I looked at him defiantly. "I'm not fourteen any more, and I refuse to address you as anything but your name. You don't own me."

"Maybe not," Mal said thoughtfully, "But I will. And when I've won the million and finished with you, you'll be my possession until you die. But don't worry," he smirked, "You'll have company. I think I'll have you and Zoey as my two slaves."

I scowled. "I swear, you won't do that to me! And Mike's stronger than he was – he'd never let you hurt Zoey!"

Mal laughed darkly. "Sorry, doll face, but Mike's not as strong as he was last time you met him. Not even his feelings towards that little redhead can save anyone."

"Leave me alone!" I finally snapped. "According to you, I'm going to have to face you in reality sometime, so I'd like to have some time to myself."

"Fair point." Mal shrugged. "But I don't like having to follow orders from someone who should be taking orders. I think you'll be facing a lot of punishment in the near future. Toodles."

And then I woke up.

Duncan was up late, but he came downstairs in a surprisingly good mood. "Hey. Spend the night having a good cry into your pillow?" I teased.

"Ha ha." Duncan said dryly. "Bailey, have I ever cried, in all the time you've known me?"

I paused. "Once, I think. So you didn't cry? Scott's not around – no one would have known."

Duncan shrugged. "After last night, I figured it out. Gwen's right. There's nothing really left for us. We still have fun together, sometimes, but never as a real couple. I can't remember the last time we did anything like that – Gwen will barely touch me with a ten-foot pole, and it feels way too awkward if I try anything. I can't have a girlfriend who only wants to do friend stuff."

I looked at him. "Was I any different from Gwen?" I asked.

"Bailey, you were completely different." Duncan said seriously. "You remember why I broke up with you, don't you?"

"You were interested in someone else." I recalled.

"There was nothing wrong in our relationship." Duncan said. "Until I met that girl. Then whenever we made out, I started imagining her, and I truly didn't want to hurt you, so I had to."

I was glad Duncan had opened up to me. He rarely did that to anyone, but I loved it whenever he did to me, because it made me feel good – one of the people he actually trusted not to laugh at him if he appeared anything less than tough. Our conversation stopped being serious after that point, anyway.

Heather finally confronted Alejandro about faking his paralysis. "Me and Bailey saw you – you were able to move in such a way that we could tell you weren't paralyzed!"

I decided to work with her. "Look, Alejandro, we know you were lying about the paralysis. I'm not going to ask why – I have a pretty good idea of it. Maybe you should just stand up?"

Alejandro hesitated, then he stood up. On his feet. "My legs were asleep earlier on." he said defensively. "I only realized that I had feeling back in them when I was able to move them on the obstacle course, and I still wasn't sure. I wasn't lying."

At least it was out now, and the rest of the team didn't have to feel sorry for him any more. Finally, he'd dropped the act and just walked like the rest of us.

After that, Duncan and I spent the whole day hanging out together. Just as friends. There was no challenge, or so we thought.

At sunset, Chris' voice echoed through the camp. "Evening, campers! Gather around the starting line for a big announcement!"

Scott was brought back to camp once we were assembled, but he was back and ready for the challenge.

"Good news, you guys!" Chris said brightly. "As a special treat, it's time for an extremely dangerous nighttime challenge!"

"How is this good news?" Gwen demanded.

"Entertainment value, hello? This one is gonna be ratings gold!" The challenge was like last season's buried treasure episode – I think that might've been the one with Gwen in it, actually. We had to race to the other end of the island, with the first team with all members across the finish line winning. But tonight, there was a blue harvest moon, which meant the animals were all going to be acting strange.

Luckily, as we won the last challenge, we got a map with the quickest route across the island. The Heroes had to wear hats made of bacon and tails made of sausages.

"This will be a piece of cake." Heather said confidently.

Alejandro gave a sigh and said in a superior tone, "You mean a piece of pie."

"Listen, you-" began Heather, but by that time, we had to start running.

It was about half an hour before the light of the moon changed. It was normal at first, but after the first half-hour, we were cast in a blue light, which made my eyes feel strange. Then we ran into an alligator, who was...wagging its tail like a dog.

"Awww, isn't that cute?" gushed Lindsay. "I think he wants to be friends!" She crouched down and patted the alligator. Its tail wagged faster.

"And...no one is going to stop her?" I said to no one in particular. "Is it safe?"

"I'm sure she'll be all right," Alejandro said, glancing up at the sky. "From what I've deducted. This moon is like no other – it must be causing the animals to become their opposites."

"Wow, Alejandro, you're SO smart!"

I didn't say that. For a moment, I looked over to see if Lindsay had spoken, because it sounded like something she would say, even though the voice was clearly a bit more grounded, not so airy.

Finally, I set my eyes on the raven-haired ice queen. Heather's grey eyes were wide and sparkly, and she was smiling sweetly. The next second, she joined Lindsay on the ground with the cuddly alligator. Alejandro shuddered at the sight.

I looked around at the rest of my team. So if Heather was affected by the moon, why was everyone else normal? Duncan had his neutral "I-don't-care" expression on his face, Alejandro was serious and focused, Scott looked weirded out, and Lindsay was cheerful and bubbly. How weird.

We didn't have enough time to do anything, though, because a ton of rabbits came and tried to attack us at that moment. Duncan and I had enough sense to get away, but Scott folded his arms and spoke with bravado. "I'm not going to be taken down by a gang of bunnies." Seconds later, "Help! I'm being taken down by a gang of bunnies!"

"Hurry, there's no time to waste!" Alejandro called to the rest of our group, running. We followed him, except for the girls. "Hurry up, Heather, you have the map!"

Heather grabbed Lindsay's hand and pulled her along as she followed us. "Yay, running!" she called out. "Good work, guys, we're halfway to the finish line!" She skipped along. "This is fun!"

"I guess this means Heather's an animal." I muttered to Duncan.

He snickered. "I always suspected she wasn't completely human. Maybe her mom's a coyote or something." We both laughed.

Finally, we came to a rickety swing bridge, and all of us hung back, a little afraid. Well, sort of.

"Come on, guys!" Heather encouraged, although she didn't cross herself. "Nothing to be afraid of!"

"Except you." Alejandro muttered.

"Maybe someone brave should cross it first and make sure it's safe!" Heather continued in her bubbliest voice.

"I'll do it!" Scott volunteered. "Back home, we have a special way to cross these bridges." He cleared his throat importantly...and started screaming. He didn't stop until he'd crossed the bridge. "Like I said," he called, "Nothing to it?" Then he glanced at something in the darkness, and called "Uh...are beavers normally nice or normally evil?" The beaver not only attacked him, but also gnawed at the bridge's ropes, so it slipped sideways. Luckily, it was more interested in Scott, though.

"Good job, keep it busy!" called Alejandro. He looked at the rest of us. "Shall we go?"

The five of us carefully began to cross, edging our way. I got to the end first and jumped down, but just as I did, a plank broke further up and Heather screamed as she nearly fell. Alejandro managed to grab her wrist before it happened, luckily.

I heard her from the other side of the bridge. "I knew you still cared!"

As Duncan got down, I whispered it to him. "Did you hear that? Why was Heather faking?"

Duncan shrugged. "You know Heather. She was probably just doing it to throw people off."

I giggled. "Poor Lindsay. She'll be sad when she realizes Heather was only copying her for the night. If she even does."

The beaver was still gnawing at Scott when we got across, so that gave me an idea. I pulled it off Scott and onto the bridge. Soon, it was impossible to cross the chasm.

"Now the other team can't use the bridge!" Alejandro exclaimed, smiling at me. "Brilliant plan, Bailey!"

"Thanks." I mumbled, looking at the ground. I had to admit, that guy had a great smile. But, as I reminded myself, so did Duncan, and I liked him better.

Heather was quiet for the rest of the sprint to the finish.

We won easily. It took about ten more minutes for the Heroes to arrive, and then the moon changed, and suddenly Mike stopped running, looking around and asking "How did I get here?"

There was an elimination for the Heroes that night before we could go back to the spa hotel, even though it was getting late.

Gwen was voted off, but she didn't mind. She even smiled at her team. "Thanks." was all she said, but it made me wonder. Had she told them to vote her off, because she knew that if she tried to quit, Chris would just make her switch back to our side or something stupid like that?

As we walked back to the hotel, I talked to Duncan. "So...are you going to miss Gwen?"

Duncan looked at me in surprise. "She dumped me, not the other way around. Duh, I'm going to miss her. Besides that, she's still one of my oldest friends."

"What about me?" I asked playfully, taking a step closer.

Duncan looked at me warily. "Um, yeah...Bailey, what exactly are you doing?"

"May I?" I asked, dropping my voice to a more seductive tone.

Duncan's blue eyes lit up in realization, but he said "Bailey, I don't think that's really a good idea when I only just broke up with my last girlfriend."

I leaned in closer. "And does that mean you don't want to?"

"Of course I want to, but-" I didn't let Duncan finish. The kiss wasn't long or anything, but it was still on the lips.

But I regretted it the minute I broke away. "Um, sorry." I mumbled. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that."

Duncan paused. "Bailey-" he began, but I set off quickly. I didn't want to talk about the kiss. Not then. What was he going to say about it?
I collapsed into bed early that night. That race through the island had left me beat.

So, Gwen's gone. How about that? Okay, I know the kiss scene was rushed, but it needed to be there. Plot point alert! What did Duncan think about the kiss? What was he going to say to Bailey? Tune in next time!

Next chapter: A disturbing dream, followed by some sweet moments.