William the Werewolf, the first contestant sacrificed and voted off the island, met Tribe Kivi on a shell-strewn beach. Many of the orangy-tan shells were gigantic. "Within some of these shells, you will find ceramic geese. You will have five minutes to collect as many geese as you can. They all contain an egg, but you must not break the geese until after the five minutes are up.

"The silver egg will earn you this meat lover’s pizza." William held up the box briefly. "The person with the golden egg will have immunity this week. Before we begin Golden Goose, I need to collect your votes for who’ll be placed on the altar and in danger of leaving this week."

Haimes (scree) voted for Gorm.

Gorm (mage) voted for Amber.

Amber (unicorn) voted for Gorm.

Eadric (warrior) voted for Haimes.

Kailen (fairy) voted for Eadric.

DIARY CONFESSION – EADRIC THE WARRIOR

"It’s no surprise that I voted for Haimes. Again. Something about the guy gets under my skin. I’ve spent most of my life fighting monsters, regular-size and small ones even. Something about Haimes sets me off, like he’s one of the bad guys. I really want him off the show.

Interviewer: How does it feel to lose against a zombie?

Jewel: I guess the fans of Tribe Depths felt like Paige was a better competitor. In some ways she is. It was a tough choice. Of course fans of Tribe Kivi would want the better player off the show.

Interviewer: Do you think the viewers like Paige more?

Jewel: More than me? I never thought about it. Why would that matter anyway? We were both on the same team.

Interviewer: But only one person will win the show.

Jewel: I guess that’s true, but I don’t think it’s an issue this early in the game.

Interviewer: Why did you alliance with Christina?

Jewel: She was a good competitor. Her and I pulled most of the weight of the tribe. I guess the others didn’t like being chosen for the altar, but they should’ve understood why we picked them.

Interviewer: Don’t you think Christina is a little too ruthless?

Jewel: Sometimes you have to make tough choices.

Interviewer: I mean with feeding on and killing just about anything.

Jewel: Oh. I never saw much of it, but I guess it’s likely she would with the pressure to win. She’s already dead herself. I wouldn’t like it though. Anyway, I don’t think she’s like that. She was always nice to me.

Bera the Barbarian Priest soaked in the radiant sunlight while standing in the grassy meadow. Behind her loomed a dark forest with old, twisting trees. "The Team Competition is called Pixie Dust. Each Tribe gets four cups to use and must fill these two crystal buckets with pixie dust. The first team to fill their bucket to the line wins the game. The other team will sacrifice one of their own at the end of the week."

"And how are we to get this pixie dust?" Christina (vampire) asked.

"The forest behind me is full of pixies," Bera said. "You may begin."

"Oh no." Kailen (fairy) shook his head.

"What?" Haimes (scree) asked.

"Not pixies." Kailen groaned. "They’re nasty tricksters."

"But they aren’t very big, right?" Nessa (elf) asked, picking up a cup.

Eadric (warrior) picked up one of the buckets and marched toward the tree line. "No bigger than Kailen."

"Some can be the size of Ranzkin," Dedrick (centaur) added. "Even bigger depending on the type."

"I’m with Kailen," Ranzkin (gnome) said. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Christina picked up the last bucket. "Just suck it up. This is an important competition. Unless you want to be the one on the altar."

DIARY CONFESSION – CHRISTINA THE VAMPIRE

Zekna the Naga slithered into the clearing and smiled at the ten contestants. She lit several tiki torches. "In today’s luxury challenge, you are competing for flint and steel wool, the ability to make fire. The game is called Burn. The winning team is the first team to have every team member at the lake somewhere to the north. And for incentive," Zekna knocked the torches into piles of tree litter on the ground. "You must out run a forest fire!"

The leaves burst into flame as lapping red tendrils climbed up a tree trunk. The contestants hesitated until Haimes (scree) took off sprinting deeper into the forest. The others followed, fanning out and coughing from the wind blown smoke.

Jewel (cyclops) rubbed her eyes. "It stings." Christina (vampire) didn’t reply as she passed the cyclops. Ranzkin (gnome) separated from Dedrick (centaur) and followed Christina until Paige (zombie), human Paige with pain-filled eyes and a sling around her arm, picked up the gnome by the scruff of her blue dress.

"Not now," Paige whispered. "We all must get to the lake."

"I wasn’t going to…" Ranzkin paused, stunned. "It worked." Paige nodded, breathing hard as she ran. "You’re in pain," Ranzkin said.

"I forgot what it’s like to be human. My mouth, my arm. I need a doctor."

"Take this," Ranzkin handed Paige a mushroom from under her conical hat. "You’ll still be able to run."

***

Amber changed to unicorn form and caught up to Haimes. They crossed a wooden bridge swaying over a long drop into a raging river followed by Paige, Ranzkin, Nessa (elf) and Kailen (fairy).

"That doesn’t look very steady," Eadric (warrior) said.