Mr. Gwarg blew his whistle.
"The second heat in the sack race starts in one minute. Racers, to your places!"
Zork, Lon, and Cleo hurried to the starting line.
Ben, Deb, and Jen climbed into their sacks and lined up alongside them.
Tweet! As the race began, Ben took off, hopping as fast as he could.
Deb was right behind him, hopping almost as fast.
Meanwhile Jen was bouncing her way across the field.
She tried to go fast, but she kept bouncing too high, and soon she was way behind the others.
Team Orange had taken off fast too.
But as Cleo hopped, her wrappings unraveled.
She hopped face-first to the ground. “Ouch!”
Zork had shot ahead of Ben, and Lon was hopping even faster than Zork.
Suddenly the werewolf howled, and he accidentally dropped to all fours.
Mr. Gwarg blew his whistle. "Lon! That's not hopping! You're disqualified!"
Lon growled and slunk off the field.
That left Zork in the lead, with Ben and Deb close behind.
Off to the right, Ben spotted Winnie.
She and Serena were watching the race and cheering with all the other spectators.
"Huh?" he thought. "Why is Winnie watching Zork instead of me?"
"Ben!" A sharp voice cut into his thoughts.
"You're out too!" Mr. Gwarg called. "No floating!"
"Ugh." Ben groaned.
He'd lost his focus and started floating.
He flew over to the sideline.
Now the race was between Deb and Zork—and Zork was ahead.
"Feet, do your stuff!" Deb said.
Sproing! Sproing! Sproing! Suddenly Deb bounced like a spring across the field.
But unlike Jen, she could control her bounces.
And with three more tremendous hops, she sailed over the finish line.
"Team Black!" Mr. Gwarg announced.
"Argh!" Zork cried angrily.
Deb grinned as she dropped her sack.
Ben laughed—Deb had kangaroo feet, just like Carly!
"Thanks for the idea, Carly!" she called sweetly.
"Grr . . ." Carly looked furious.
Mr. Gwarg glanced at his clipboard.
"Our top four winners are Mog and Deb for Team Black and Carly and Zork for Team Orange.
We'll have one more race to determine the winner of the sack race."
Mr. Freaky did a little dance. "I love Field Day!"
"I'm ready to kick some lizard tail," Mog muttered to Ben.
"And I know Zork's secret weakness."
"Go for it, Mog," Ben said.
Mog hurried off to take his place at the starting line alongside Deb, Carly, and Zork.
Just before the race started, Ben saw Mog whisper something to Zork.
The whistle blew, and both Deb and Carly sprang off the line with their kangaroo feet.
Then—crash! They accidentally smashed into each other in the air and fell to the ground.
Mog, hopping like mad, passed the toppled doppelgangers.
Zork hopped along too. "He looks nervous," Ben thought.
Zork's tail kept thrashing around inside the sack.
"Ahh!" Zork suddenly tumbled flat onto his back.
Mog smiled with glee as he glanced backward.
Ben saw that Deb was on her feet again, springing after him, with Carly right behind her.
Mog surged toward the finish line. "He's going to win!" Ben cried.
But then, with a loud ripping sound, the bottom tore out of Mog's sack.
"Huh?" Mog yelped in surprise as he sprawled forward several feet from the finish line.
Zork saw him fall and laughed loudly.
But somehow Deb had missed it, and she tripped over Mog.
"Yahoo!" Carly shrieked as she leaped across the finish line. "I did it! I won!"
"Another point for Team Orange!" Mr. Gwarg announced.
"They're in the lead, two to zero."
Team Black stood together on the field, shaking their heads.
"Sorry, everybody," Deb said. "I totally blew it."
Mog growled with frustration. "I was about to win—until my sack ripped."
"Hmm." Waldo pushed his glasses up on his nose.
"First the rope breaks when we're winning.
Then Mog's sack mysteriously rips.
It's like Team Black is cursed or something."
Pixel looked at Waldo. "You haven't been using magic, have you?"
Ben had been wondering the exact same thing.
Waldo's spells often went haywire.
Maybe that was why Team Black was having such rotten luck today.
"Of course not!" Waldo replied.
"We'd be disqualified if I got caught using magic."
Mog bit his lip. "I don't know what's going on, but I do know this.
We have to win the next two challenges—and come in second in the cross-country race.
If we don't, Team Orange is going to win the whole thing."
"Ugh," Ben said, looking toward Zork.
"That would be awful."
Right now the captain of Team Orange was strutting up and down the field, pumping up the crowd.
And even worse, Winnie and Serena were watching his every move.