Wait.
I stopped walking so suddenly that someone behind me almost crashed into my back. Kai kept going for a few steps before he realized I wasn't next to him anymore.
"Amara? What's wrong?"
But I wasn't listening. My brain had just caught up with everything that happened. I'd made it to the semifinals. I'd beaten Serena. Which meant—
The necklace. Pearl's necklace.
"Amara?" Kai said again, walking back toward me. "You okay?"
"I need to find Serena," I said, my eyes already searching through the crowd.
"What? Why would you..."
"AMARA!"
I turned to see Pearl and Des pushing through a group of people, both of them grinning so wide their faces had to hurt. Pearl got to me first and threw her arms around me in this crushing hug.
"You did it! You actually did it!" she squealed right in my ear. "Semifinals! You're in the semifinals!"
