I barely made it three steps out of the arena before someone tackled me from behind.
"AMARA!" Pearl's voice shrieked in my ear, and I stumbled forward as she wrapped her arms around me in a death grip. "You absolute legend! You did it!"
"Can't breathe," I wheezed.
"Pearl, you're going to kill her before Round Two even starts," Des said, appearing next to us with his arms crossed but smiling anyway. He pulled Pearl off me and I gasped for air. "But seriously, Amara, that was incredible. We were watching from the spectator stands and everyone was losing their minds when your team got all three relics."
"You were so smart with that temple puzzle!" Pearl said, bouncing on her toes. "The whole pedestal thing where you figured out the magic conversion? That was genius! I was sitting there thinking there was no solution and then you just solved it!"
