But you might have noticed my little note next to Arnie. That’s the bad news.

I don’t know how Arnie messed it up. All I know is that before we left that parking lot, Sergeant Pittman pulled out a walkie-talkie and radioed back to base camp. (I guess no one told her about that NO ELECTRONICS rule.) Then a little while later, Captain Crowder showed up in the world’s oldest jeep to pick Arnie up and take him back.

It wasn’t like I liked Arnie that much. He was nice enough, sure, but we’d never really talked for a long time. But still, I felt bad for him. I think everyone did.

“This isn’t fair!” Thea said. “We’ve all been working hard!”

“Some of you have been working harder than others,” Pittman said. “Arnie only had eight tags.”

“And anyone who thought we were kidding about that Ten, Twenty, and Out Rule is sadly mistaken,” Fish said.

That much was obvious. Because just like that, Arnie was O-U-T.

Since nothing ever stopped out there, we still had to make a fire, build our shelters, cook some slop, and start thinking about our next ten tags.

Which brings me from the bad news… to the even worse news.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Burp asked while we were all sitting around the fire later. “What’s the next obstacle?”

Pittman pointed up. “That is,” she said.

It was dark out, but when I turned around, I could see the cliffs in the moonlight, sticking up higher than the trees around us.

“Say hello to Devil’s Highway,” Fish said.

“Are we climbing that?” D.J. said.

“Sure are,” Pittman said.

“Cool!” D.J. said.

I might have thought it was cool too—like maybe a week earlier. You know, before my whole panic-attack, brain-melt, Weak-Link situation on the climbing tower.

And those cliffs made that tower look like a step stool. The idea of climbing anything right now, much less something called Devil’s Highway, made me want to throw up my teeny-tiny dinner.

Still, I knew I had to give this a shot. If I didn’t, I was going be bunking with Arnie back at base camp. Mom was going to be majorly disappointed in me. Stricker and Stonecase were going to have a huge Told-You-So party. My little sister was going to finish middle school before I did. And the past three days of torture-on-the-trail were going to be for nothing.

Less than nothing, in fact. I’d be worse off than when I started.

“All right, time for some shut-eye,” Fish said. “I want you all well rested and sharp for this climb.”

Yeah, I thought. Sharp. Like jagged rocks.

I realized I probably wouldn’t be getting much sleep after all.