Geniuses

WARNING: This book contains the following:

- Romance

- Violence

- Blood

- Death

## Preface:

Maddie regained her consciousness and tried to look around. She was held down with bonds to a metal cot. A plastic mask was pulled off of her and the dizziness fogging her mind disappeared. Memories flooded into her head as she remembered what had happened.

*She and her twin sister Charlie sat out on the sand of the house they were staying at. Their multiple adoptive brothers were inside creating chaos, as usual. They were watching the sunset, as usual. One thing had made the whole night unusual though. A vice-like grip grabbed Maddie’s arm and she turned around. A figure in a midnight blue cloak was grabbing her.*

*The Legacies. Maddie thought.*

*Mr. Callas had told her and her friends about the Legacies but she’d never thought that they would come for her and Charlie. She kicked the man and he yelped in pain. His hood fell off of his face and she screamed. The skin on his face was covered with jagged cuts and his hair was blonde.*

*The man pulled out a gas mask and he shoved it onto Maddie’s face. Maddie collapsed as her vision blurred and she saw Charlie lying on the ground next to her. Maddie struggled to fight the gas until she felt a strange stabbing sensation in her heart and everything went black.*

After reliving the memory, Maddie struggled to sit up and felt a searing pain stab her hip. Warm blood fell down her leg as Maddie winced. She stopped moving and listened. Then, a scream reverberated around the room. Maddie knew exactly who that scream belonged to; Charlie. Her sister. Maddie tried to run. Tried to save Charlie… but she couldn’t.

Maddie froze as a raspy voice said, “Put her back to sleep,”

A rough pair of hands shoved the gas mask that Maddie was becoming increasingly tired of back onto her face. Gas began filling the mask as the hands lifted her head and pulled the straps of the mask over Maddie’s head.

Maddie tried to ignore the sleepiness making her head spin and she accidentally gasped in more of the sweet gas. Her lungs burned and her eyes started to close. She forced herself to fight. To keep going. But… she couldn’t. She let the gas carry her away, and she only focused on one thing; Her sister’s smiling face…

## Chapter 1: Walking

“Goodbye, my darlings,” said Mrs. Dunley. Her two daughters Madison and Charlotte waved.

“Bye, Mom!” Maddie said with a smile on her face.

“Yeah! We’ll see you after the competition!” Charlie grinned.

“See you later, girls! And, stay safe!” Mrs. Dunley said.

As Maddie and Charlie walked away from their house, Maddie asked, “Do you think we’ll do good at the competition?”

This competition was the one that twelve of the most innovative, curious, smart, and intuitive children would compete to be in the final six.

“Of course we will, Mads! We’re two of the twelve kids that these people chose!” Charlie reassured. “Aren’t you excited?”

“Well, yeah, but what if we don’t pass? The people are eliminating half of the people!” Maddie said.

“It’ll be *fine*,” Charlie said.

Charlie and Maddie kept walking the next twelve blocks while talking about things like friends, YouTube, art, school, or boys.

“I swear, if we don’t get there soon, My legs are going to fall *off*,” Charlie groaned.

“Stop exaggerating, Char,” Maddie said, rolling her eyes.

“Fine. But Mads, it’s true! Soon, my legs are literally going to-” Charlie started but Maddie cut her off.

“Shush,” Maddie said.

“But Maddie,” Charlie said. “I wasn’t done talking-“

“Too bad. Look,” said Maddie.

As Charlie looked up her jaw dropped. A large castle stood before them that looked as though it was made out of-

“Diamonds,” said Maddie.

“Woah,” Charlie gaped

“Um...you’re still ready to do this, right?” asked Maddie.

“Of course!” said Charlie snapping out an awestruck reverie. “Let’s go inside,”

As they stepped inside, they saw a few other kids in the large main room of the castle. A woman sat at the front desk with a tag that read, ‘Mrs. Pelowski’.

“Hello! I’m Mrs. Pelowski! We’ve got a few other kiddos here already! I’ll let them introduce themselves.” said Mrs. Pelowski and Charlie smiled politely.

A girl with curly black hair, tan skin, and deep brown eyes smiled lightly and said, “Hello, I’m Aria!”

Maddie smiled at Aria. Maddie was good at reading people’s personalities and could tell that this girl would be nice. A tall, older boy with black hair that he had twisted into braids said he was Alex. Two other kids were there including a boy with brown hair and thick glasses named Matt, and a girl with light tan skin and rose-gold hair named Emery.

Two other boys came into the castle next. A small boy with light blonde hair and big blue eyes hid behind a taller boy with dark hair and eyes.

“Will and Oliver?” Mrs. Pelowski asked.

The older boy nodded before adding, “I’m Will, though,”

Another boy with thick blonde hair and bright blue eyes said his name was Lucas. Next, a tall girl with frizzy blonde hair rushed into the room.

“I’m here! I’m here! I’m not late, am I?” she asked.

“You must be Abigale,” Mrs. Pelowski said and checked another name off of her list.

Maddie counted the people and realized that two people weren’t there yet. She looked out the window and saw a boy with wavy black hair jogging towards the castle.

He entered and smiled while Mrs. Pelowski said, “Wonderful! Dex is here too. Now we’re just waiting on Josie.”

As if on cue, a girl with frizzy brown hair and a coral-colored backpack appeared at the door. The girl, Josie, Maddie realized, smiled and walked over to one of the chairs in the corner, and sat down. The girl looked a little quirky judging by her teal tennis shoes, her layered fuzzy socks, her big backpack, and her explosion of curls. Josie pulled out a notebook and pencil and began sketching something.

“Attention!” called a stern voice. Maddie turned around from watching Josie to see a middle-aged man with greying black hair and dark skin.

“I am Mr. Callas. For the six of you who pass the test, I will be one of your mentors. Please, follow me,” he said. “This test will be different than any test you have ever taken before. You will need to navigate through a series of dangerous obstacles. Only six will make it out.”

Maddie and Charlie exchanged a look of unease.

“You will be split into two teams of six and go through separate obstacles,” said Mr. Callas. “Group one is Emery, Charlotte, Aria, Oliver, William, and Lucas,”

Charlie and Emery both squealed and glanced over at Lucas as they clasped hands.

“Girls,” said Mr. Callas with a disapproving expression. “Thank you. Now, group two will be Josie, Dexter, Madison, Abigale, Matt, and Alex.”

Maddie glanced around as a lump formed in her throat. Her sister, the only person she knew, she was being separated from?

“Oh, and,” said Mr. Callas. “Try not to die!”

As he walked away, a few of the kids laughed and Mr. Callas shouted over his shoulder, “I wasn’t kidding!”

Mrs. Pelowski walked over to the kids and said, “Don’t worry. Follow me. There are some fun games you can use to get to know each other!”

Mrs. Pelowski led them all to a quiet room. It had blue carpeting, black walls, a red couch, a purple couch, and a game on a clear coffee table.

“Let’s just do the game. I’ll go first,” said Lucas and he grabbed a card. “Do you play any sports? Yeah, I do. I’m a football player. I play quarterback for my local high school,”

“Ooh! Football!” said Charlie and she leaned forward.

“*I’ll* go,” Josie said and she grabbed a card. “What’s your favorite food? Well, mine is apple pie,” Josie said.

“Eww! Apple pie is disgusting!” said Abigale.

“No, it isn’t! It's yummy!” Josie retorted.

Personally, Maddie thought apple pie was delicious. Everyone spent the next ten minutes debating whether apple pie was delicious or disgusting and only stopped when Mrs. Pelowski entered the room.

“Dex, Josie, Matt, Abbie, Maddie, and Alex, please follow me,” she said. Charlie gave Maddie a small smile and Maddie waved.

She and the others followed Mrs. Pelowski over to a big iron door. “Emporium,” Maddie heard Mrs. Pelowski mutter and the door creaked open.

“Head on in, kiddos!” said Mrs. Pelowski and she stepped back to reveal a large grimy boat floating next to a dock in a long stretch of lake.

“What are you waiting for!?! Head on in and get started!” she said and walked off, her red heels clicking into the distance.

“Ummm… I'll go first,” said Alex as he hopped into the boat.

Josie, Matt, and Abbie followed after him.

“Oh look! A little spider,” said Josie looking down. “Good thing I didn’t sit on him,”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! Ah ah ah ah! GetitawayGetitawayGetitawayGetitaway!!!!” Abbie shrieked.

“Dude. It’s a spider,” said Matt.

“B-b-But I-its g-gonna k-kill me-ee!” Abbie screamed.

“Oh my god! It’s not going to kill you! You are at *least* a thousand times bigger than a tiny *spider*.” said Alex rolling his eyes.

Josie bent down, pulling out a small plastic container and nudged the spider into the container, and quickly sealed it up before placing it in a coral-colored backpack before throwing it onto her back.

“Dude, you just carry that stuff around?” said Matt looking at Josie as though she had three heads.

“Well duh,” Josie retorted, acting like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Doesn’t everybody?” she asked and flipped her hair.

“Uhh… no!” said Alex.

“He does have a point,” said Maddie, “What’s in there anyway?”

“Loads of stuff. Everything we might need to survive!” said Josie smiling serenely.

“Oka-wait! You think we aren’t going to survive?” shrieked Abbie and she started hyperventilating.

“You are such a drama queen,” a voice behind Maddie said and she jumped, turning around to see Dex standing behind her.

“What? She is!” he said as though he was defending himself.

“Definitely,” said Maddie and she rolled her eyes.

“Dude, are you paranoid or something carrying all that stuff around?” asked Matt pointing to Josie.

“Nope! That’s my mom!” said Josie.

Maddie looked around and noticed that she and Dex were the only ones not on the boat which must have looked quite awkward. Maddie gingerly climbed into the boat and sat between Matt and Josie. The boat started to slowly and smoothly glide across the lake and Maddie felt calm, almost relaxed until she discovered that nobody was rowing. The boat was moving on its own and the water around had a lavender tinge to it, unlike anything she had seen before.

“Incredible.” Maddie heard Josie mutter to herself. Maddie sat back, wondering what her sister was doing right then.

◆◇◈◇◆

Mr. Callas opened the door and entered. Charlie’s head popped up as she and the rest of the group turned to look at him.

Mr. Callas cleared his throat and said, “You six, follow me. Your test is about to begin.”

Mr. Callas turned and walked out of the room. Lucas stood up and started to follow after Mr. Callas’s heavy footfalls. Charlie and the rest of the group followed Lucas in an uneven line. Mr. Callas led them to a wood door painted blue with pale flowers growing from it.

“This looks promising!” said Aria. She took a deep breath of the flowers and smiled.

“It’s not,” said Mr. Callas darkly. “They’re poisonous.”

Aria stepped back from the flowers. But, it was too late. Aria had smelled the flowers and they were poisoning her. Aria collapsed and her breathing got shallower.

“She has about five minutes left. Before she dies, that is,” said Mr. Callas.” Remember this as a lesson, kids— be cautious about *everything*.”

Charlie screamed as Aria stopped breathing. She had died before Charlie could teach her things; Makeup, dresses, hair dye, *boys*. Oliver screeched and everyone turned around. He was staring at Aria with wide eyes. Charlie automatically felt bad for the little kid.

“Is t-this what’s g-gonna happen t-to all of us?” he asked, stammering.

“That depends,” said Mr. Callas. He frowned. “Now, you kids make your way through here but here’s a hint: don’t breathe. The flowers in there are poisonous too.”

“Oh my *god*. We’re all gonna die!” said Charlie dramatically.

Oliver’s eyes bulged and he took a step back.

“In you go!” Mr. Callas said and he walked off.

“Umm…” said Lucas “I’ll just go first. C’mon.”

All five of them took their last breath and ran as fast as they could through the corridor seeping with flowers. Once they had made it through, Charlie slammed the door closed with a defining BOOM. *Now to move on.* She thought. She just hoped Maddie was okay.

## Chapter 2: Death

After the death of Aria, the five remaining kids in Charlie’s group felt scared and nervous to make the first move forward. Three doors sat in front of them. Lucas stepped forward and pressed his ear on the first door before immediately jumping backward.

“Do *not* open that door,” Lucas said.

“Why?” Charlie asked.

“I can hear something really loud in there. I just don’t think that door is right,” Lucas said.

Lucas turned to the next door but stopped when he smelled something like burning rubber from the third door. Knowing that the second door was the right one, he opened the door, and instead of a clear path, Charlie saw a sleeping dragon. Emery let out a small gasp as the two other doors disappeared with a loud pop. The dragon opened its eyes and looked around. Emery immediately sprung into action and ran past the dragon’s face and near his ribcage.

“Come on, guys!” she yelled before pulling out a knife that was hidden in her boot.

“Oh, great! Now there are knives!” yelled Charlie as she ducked under the dragon and ran over to Emery.

William dove under the dragon’s neck and raced over to the door. “Oliver, Lucas, let’s move!” Emery screamed.

Lucas and Oliver ran as Emery distracted the dragon by stabbing it with the knife. Charlie screamed when the dragon swooped down upon Emery, ready to grab her. Emery threw the knife and hit the dragon in the eye. The dragon snarled in agony and Charlie took the chance to run towards the door.

Emery saw Oliver standing trapped by the giant tail in his way. Emery lunged forward just as the dragon whipped its spiked tail and slashed Oliver. Emery ran over to Oliver and picked him up. She ran towards the door and Will opened it. Everyone ran through before Will closed it sharply.

“Really, Lucas?” Emery said. “You were smelling the burning from that door and not the one you thought had the burning smell. Your little mistake has killed poor Oliver!”

Lucas held his hands in the air as if to surrender. “Listen, I’m sorry. I screwed up,” said Lucas.

“Can we just keep going?” asked Charlie and the three others nodded.

They opened the next door to find what looked like a cross between a lion and an eagle. It was, unmistakably, a griffin. The griffin licked its paws and extended its claws. They were definitely in trouble.

◆◇◈◇◆

The boat steadied to a stop and Dex climbed out. The door ahead of them was blindingly bright and gold-tinged. He helped Maddie climb out since she looked a little seasick and instead of letting go when she was on the cement, Maddie held onto Dex’s hand. Dex grinned. He didn’t mind holding Maddie’s hand. Maddie wasn’t like Abigale, Charlie, or Emery who seemed to be very giggly and girlish. Maddie was smart, sensible, and strong. Josie was also nice but she didn’t really interact with people. She interacted with the spiders on the magic boat.

Dex and Maddie walked towards the door and squeezed their eyes shut. Dex let go of Maddie’s hand and turned around when he heard a shrieking noise. He saw Abbie stumbling away from the door. Dex assumed that Abbie hadn’t closed her eyes. Abbie walked backward and tripped over a nail on the dock.

“Abbie, no—” Dex began.

Abbie tripped backward and fell into the lavender water. She flailed around helplessly.

“Abbie! Grab my hand!” Dex screamed.

Abbie thrust out her hand and Dex grabbed it. Matt and Alex helped Dex pull Abbie out of the water and Maddie wrapped her coat around Abbie. Josie meanwhile was off in the corner, rummaging through her backpack.

“Josie? What are you doing?” Dex asked.

Josie rolled her eyes at Dex before picking up her backpack and walking over to the others. “Getting this,” she said.

She showed the others a thermometer before putting it in Abbie’s mouth. “I…” Josie said and she frowned. “It’s so strange… it seems like this water is poisoning her,”

Maddie lay Abbie down as she took her final breaths. Maddie, Dex, Matt, Alex, and Josie all made sure to squeeze their eyes shut as they walked through the door. When they opened them, they saw an iron door with padlocks and even keypads and voice locks.

This was Josie’s jam and she knew just what to do. “Josie, get away from the door,” Maddie said.

Josie ignored her and stepped towards the door. Josie may have been the youngest in their group but she knew what she was doing better than Matt, Maddie, Alex, or Dex. She pulled out a computer and started hacking into the padlocks. Dex leaned over Josie’s shoulder curiously. Eventually, the locks clicked open. Then, Josie stood on her tip-toes to reach the highest lock which was voice recognition. She pulled out her phone and played a video of Mrs. Pelowski saying “Emporium,” Josie stepped down and smiled as the door swung open, revealing a large teal pool.

“This doesn’t look too bad.” Said Matt.

“Do you see those things floating around?” asked Josie, waiting to continue before everyone had nodded. “Well, those are jellyfish. And the only way to get past is to swim.”

Maddie yelped. “Swim?! With the *jellyfish*?!” she said.

“Yes, Maddie,” said Josie and she dove into the water.

The jellyfish stirred but Josie was too fast. She pulled herself up onto the ledge and yelled, “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Maddie and Dex jumped in and swam hurriedly to the ledge where Josie helped them both up. Alex dove in next and he too swam quickly across the pool. As Alex climbed up the ladder on the pool, a jellyfish stung his leg and he fell backward. Maddie, Josie, and Dex grabbed him and pulled Alex onto the ledge where he sat, panting and wincing.

“Somebody pee on him,” said Josie.

“Pee on him?” Maddie said.

“*Yes*, Madison. Pee on him. And stop repeating everything I’m saying. Peeing on Alex’s leg will make his sting better, these aren’t deadly jellyfish after all. Unless you don’t treat the sting. So, pee on him now!” said Josie.

“Okay, no one is peeing on me,” Alex retorted with an expression of great disgust.

“Fine,” said Josie. “Put this on at least,” she said and she handed him a bandage and some sort of balm.

Alex rubbed it onto his leg before wrapping it up in the bandage. Josie glanced back and saw Matt still hesitantly standing at the edge of the pool.

“Come on Matt!” yelled Josie and Matt dove into the water.

One of the jellyfish immediately stung him followed by two more. Matt yelled as the jellyfish began pulling Matt underwater. Josie frowned. Jellyfish normally didn’t act like this. Jellyfish didn’t normally *drown* people. The four remaining kids watched helplessly as Matt’s body stopped moving and sunk to the bottom of the pool. Alex stood up wobbly and winced. Josie rifled through her bag until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a metal block and extended it into a crutch. Alex’s lips twitched a little as he gratefully took the crutch leaning against it as they stood there silently for a moment.

“So… that just happened,” Maddie said awkwardly.

“Even I was confused by the way the jellyfish behaved,” said Josie. “I’ve never heard of jellyfish that do that. Unless…”

Maddie didn’t like the way Josie’s voice had started getting curiously interested in those jellyfish and the way she was inching closer to the pool.

“Unless what?” Maddie asked.

“Just let me see something…” Josie said, still thinking.

“I don’t like the sound of this,” said Dex worriedly.

“Josie,” Maddie said in a sort of warning tone, “What are you doing?”

Josie didn’t answer. Then, without warning, Josie dove back into the water and started swimming towards the jellyfish that were now lying still next to Matt’s body.

“Josie!” Maddie screamed, shaking violently.

“She’s going to get herself killed!” Alex exclaimed.

Underwater, Josie grabbed one of the jellyfish and it started to struggle. Josie grabbed the head of the jellyfish and groped around the back of the jellyfish and pulled out a small object that was indistinguishable. She popped her head up and gasped a breath of air and swam back to the ladder. The jellyfish that Josie had attacked crept up behind her and began to wrap the tentacles around Josie’s ankle, pulling her downward. Josie being light, fell from the ladder and the jellyfish began to drag her back under as she tried to pull against it. Maddie screamed again and went even paler. Dex grabbed her arm tightly and watched in horror.

“Josie!” Maddie yelled when only the top of Josie’s head poked out of the water. “Stick out your arm!” Josie’s pale arm shoved out of the water and Maddie leaned forward and pulled Josie up out.

“What were you thinking?!?” Maddie yelled, still panting and shaking.

“Better question,” asked Alex, “how do you not have a sting? The jellyfish wrapped his tentacles around your ankle!”

“Because I found *this* inside of the jellyfish,” said Josie, showing the others a small black disk with intricate markings on it. “I think it’s some kind of controller that made the jellyfish act so strangely and drown Matt,” Josie explained.

“Well, I’m sure we’re close to the end. It can’t get much worse,” said Alex as he limped towards the door. He opened it and Josie looked inside. A glass balance beam sat above eight feet full of water. In the water, were… pufferfish.

“I spoke too soon,” Alex whispered.

◆◇◈◇◆

The griffin stalked closer to them, scraping its claws on the metal ground.

“Listen, I can take this thing without any of us getting hurt. Just stay still right here.” Emery whispered.

Everyone nodded and Emery reached into her sweater hood and pulled out a long coil of rope. Everyone stared. “What? I’m good with fighting skills!” Emery defended.

She stood still for a second before standing up straight. Emery uncoiled the rope and stretched it out flatly. She looped the rope around creating what looked like a lasso.

“Charlie,” Emery said. “I need you to just hold onto the end of the rope and once it’s over the griffin’s head, pull it hard.” Charlie nodded nervously.

Emery set the rope down on the floor and then took off her sweater, throwing it into the corner of the room. Emery’s hair fell over her face as the griffin circled her. The griffin snapped his beak and then pounced on top of Emery scratching her. When Charlie looked ready to scream, she yelled, “Stay quiet!” before shoving the griffin off of her and flipping onto the ground.

Emery slid under the griffin and grabbed his legs and flipped the griffin over. She pinned him and threw the rope over the griffin’s head. Charlie pulled hard on the end of the rope as instructed and tightened the rope around the griffin. Emery quickly tied up the griffin and let it lay on the floor as it angrily hissed. She leaned against the wall as the others high-fived and congratulated her. Charlie noticed the large cut on Emery’s ankle and Emery winced as she tried to put pressure on it and walk.

“Let’s just keep going. I’m fine.” Emery said and gritted her teeth as she stood.

“Here,” Lucas said and Emery lifted her leg and put one arm around Lucas’s shoulder.

He helped Emery half walk half jump to the iron door and Charlie opened it. In front of them, were five rows of hurdles. Hurdles that were made out of fire.

“How is Emery supposed to do this with her ankle injured?” Will asked.

“I’ll… be fine,” Emery said. Lucas slowly let go of her and she leaned on the doorway. A small groan escaped her lips as she put pressure on her foot. “Let’s just get this over with,” she said.

Charlie jumped nimbly over the first hurdle. Lucas followed suit and so did Will though he tripped a little. “You’ve got this!” Charlie said to Emery.

Emery gave a small smile before jumping across the hurdle. She landed on her ankle and fell to the ground. Lucas helped her back up and she steadied her breathing. “Thanks,” Emery said.

Everyone made it across the second hurdle. *One more.* Emery thought. Lucas and Charlie got across smoothly. Emery jumped next and clipped her injured ankle in the fire.

“Ahh!” she screamed. Lucas and Charlie pulled Emery over to the doorway and she leaned against the door as she sat down.

“Come on, Will!” Charlie cheered. Will jumped and… fell into the fire. He screamed and Emery snapped her head up.

“Will!” Charlie yelled. The flames consumed him and Charlie sank down.

“Congratulations final three. You are safe,” called Mr. Callas from a speaker.

A series of clicks came from the door until it swung open. Emery fell backward and Lucas caught her. He picked her up off of the floor and helped her leave. Charlie walked next to them and looked around the miraculously safe room. Mr. Callas stood next to a white table.

“You three have passed,” Mr. Callas said.

At the table behind him, a woman with curly red hair sat with medical supplies. “Hello,” she said. “I’m Andrea and I can clean up those injuries for you,”

She pulled Lucas over first and cleaned up his few minor nicks. Andrea did the same with Charlie as Mr. Callas watched Emery limp over to one of the tables.

“Andrea, bring your supplies over Miss Emery. She injured her ankle.” Mr. Callas instructed.

Emery sucked in breaths as she watched Andrea clean her ankle and wrap it up in bandages. All Charlie could think of was her sister though. Where was Maddie?

◆◇◈◇◆

“How am I supposed to get across that thing-” Alex gesticulated towards the balance beam. “With a busted-up leg?”

“I-I guess we just do the best we can.” Maddie stammered. Her face was pale white as she stepped forward.

She wobbled sideways and Dex caught her arm. “Thanks,” she whispered.

“No problem,” Dex whispered back, his warm breath touching her face.

He grabbed her arms and stepped behind her, the two walking slowly across the balance beam. Josie rolled her eyes. Those two could be too much sometimes. She stepped forward. It was easy for Josie, with her small figure. If she wanted, she could put her two feet side by side on the balance beam. Alex watched all three of them cross. He set down the portable crutch and limped across the balance beam. Halfway there, he stumbled and slipped off the beam. Maddie screamed. She noticed a hand holding onto the beam and ran out. Alex was there, hanging on by one hand. Maddie tried pulling him up but she wasn't strong enough. Maddie, Josie, and Dex watched helplessly as Alex fell into the water.

A sound like a gong played from a speaker and a hidden doorway appeared on the other end of the balance beam. Maddie crossed back quickly and filed through with the others. She saw Mr. Callas ahead, with a female standing next to him. She was pretty with curly red hair, pale freckled skin, and big brown eyes.

“Congratulations, you three. You and the other three surviving contestants have passed.”