Amazing part 11

The alarm sounded in time for Annie and Auggie to take a long hot shower and put on clean clothes for the day. As she went to grab her pack Auggie caught her arm and pulled her close. His kiss was soft and warm and full of tenderness, not a kiss to start something more.

"Nice," Annie smiled against his lips and hugged him close.

"Sorry I fell asleep so dramatically last night, I was wiped out," Auggie frowned.

"I was right behind you buddy, we needed the sleep," she ended the hug and placed his hand on the strap of his pack.

The rest of the group assembled right before 8:00 and Annie led Auggie through the ancient Agora to the clue box.

A train ride later they arrived in Corinth for an Individual Challenge that Annie had suspicions about.

"The clue says 'who wants to hear the sounds of their own screams' and we are near a canal," she hinted.

"I'm in," Auggie raised his hand with a giant smile on his face.

They made good time getting to the site of the challenge and sure enough Annie had been right, it was time for Bunge jumping.

"Oh hell no," Cathy exclaimed as she realized where they were.

"It's your turn babe, you have to pull your weight too," Brett chided.

Auggie went first as technically they were the first team to arrive at the last pit stop. Annie climbed to the top with him and watched as they harnessed him in and put a camera on his helmet.

"I don't think we'll want the DVD," Auggie grimaced.

"You can go frontwards or backwards, up to you," the instructor offered.

"The view is the same for me either way," Auggie smirked and positioned himself forwards.

Several teams were gathered around, Molly standing right next to Annie who was cringing slightly.

"Have fun," she choked out as the instructor counted down from 5.

When the instructor said 1 Auggie fell forward, his arms out as he was told and Annie watched as he squealed like a little kid. Annie, on the other hand, felt her own stomach lurch as she watched him fall away from her, she wondered if he felt that way every time she went on a mission.

They hauled Auggie back up and unbuckled him as Annie hugged him fiercely.

"That was awesome," Auggie snuck the words out as Annie showered kisses all over his face.

"Oh god," Cathy declared again as it was now her time to jump.

"Just close your eyes," Auggie advised as Annie led him away with their clue in hand.

***555***

"Do you think you could throw a javelin without, you know, killing anyone?" Annie asked as she read the next clue.

"Depends on how crowded the place is," Auggie shrugged, "why?"

"Our choice is to gather pieces of pottery with Greek letters on them and figure out our next location from a map, which I could probably do OK, but the other one is 3 ancient Olympic activities: discus, javelin and wrestling. I could throw a discus, that would be kind of disorienting for you, but if you can throw a javelin I think we could ace this one," Annie reasoned as she led them towards the field.

"Just point me in the right direction," Auggie grinned.

Annie thought the crew looked a little concerned with Annie and Auggie choosing this challenge, but Annie had seen Auggie do a whole lot of things he shouldn't have been able to do.

Annie started with the discus and it took her 2 throws, but she made the distance. She grabbed the javelin and put in Auggie's hand, watched him lift it to his shoulder and practice the movement, judge the weight of it. She guided him to the beginning of the track he would run down before making he throw.

"Can I walk it once, just to get the pace?" Auggie asked and the crew was more than happy to give him any preparations he needed.

"Count it out," Annie helped and Auggie had it down.

He returned to the top of the track and took off, the javelin held aloft. He let it fly when Annie told him too and the javelin flew long and arced perfectly to catch the ground.

"Wow," the crew member closest to Auggie said with awe.

"Did I kill anyone?"

"No, but you killed it, perfect," Annie smiled and led him to the wrestling circle.

Auggie made short work of their opponent in the circle and a crew member, still shaking his head over the javelin toss, handed them their clue as Brett and Cathy arrived.

"You OK?" Annie asked Cathy.

"Yeah, it wasn't so bad," Cathy smiled.

"Congratulations," Annie waved and led Auggie back to their vehicle.

They had a 100 mile drive ahead of them so Annie stopped and got some water and snacks and tried to find a radio station they could at least hum along to as the day cleared and the bright blue sky met the bright blue Gulf of Corinth in front of them.

"Wonder if Eyal is nearby in his boat," Annie grinned.

"I am sure he has gotten bored with sailing by now," Auggie replied as he finished the last of the oddly paprika flavored potato chips Annie had bought.

"Probably," Annie shrugged as she started to pay attention to the directions.

"First again," Gwen shook her head.

"I have Mr. Fearless as my partner," Annie shook her head.

"You're the one who let me throw a long pointy stick," he quipped.

"I think the story of the blind man and the javelin will be part of World Race lore from this day forward," Gwen laughed.

"The man, the myth, the legend," Annie laughed as Gwen showed them around their accommodations for the evening.

"Enjoy your last night in Europe…."Gwen hinted as she left them at their room.

***555***

Sure enough, the next day had them departing Athens for Muscat, Oman.

"Finally, I get to ask for directions," Auggie grinned as Annie read the clue.

TBC…