‘You ain’t stupid.’
‘I’ll pay you back,’ Asta blurted. ‘That’s what this is about, right? The money.’ She would ask Felix for it after all, though the thought turned her stomach. ‘Then I won’t owe you anything.’
Karol and one of the other cousins exchanged a throaty laugh that made Asta shiver.
Hummer took one small, ominous step closer to Asta. ‘The money? I forgot all about the money. Keep it, sweetheart. Congratulations! You got yourself a promotion. Hoity-toity. New job, new responsibilities.’
‘I don’t want it. I want out.’
Hummer smacked his lips in disgust. ‘Didn’t ask what you wanted, did I?’
‘Look, I don’t even know what you expect me to do,’ Asta pleaded. She reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Hummer’s grungy raincoat.
‘Do what you do.’ He dusted her fingers away dismissively, and she let go.
Asta stared at him, not understanding.
‘Do you think we chose you by accident?’ Karol cut in. ‘Everybody knows what you did to Seraphin at that school. It’s not that hard, Ek. The man said to do what you do. So do what you do.’ As if that was an answer to all her questions, the Bruces turned and trudged away down the avenue into the gathering gloom.
But I didn’t do it,Asta wanted to say.It wasn’t what you think. That’s not who I am.
Except that to everyone else, thatwaswho she was. Asta had lived with that lie so long that she herself had almost begun to believe it. Every decision she had made since then, she had made thinking that she was the kind of person who risked the life of the one she loved because winning mattered more than anything.
For the first time in her life, Asta wished she were back on the Ekenberg Farm. Right now, she could be learning the ways of the seasons and crop rotations from her parents and working the land beside her cousin Leif, and Felix might be weaving illusions somewhere, happy and free. Pikki would be uninjured, running her textbook-perfect races. Gem would be getting some hotshot band their first big break. But instead, Hummer and his greasy henchmen were standing here telling her that if she didn’t take care of Felix, they would.
How had she let this happen?
She should have listened to her parents when they had tried to get her to come home. It was at the Turbo Cup, the day she qualified for Silverscale– the first and only time they had come to see her race.
Gem had brought her to the stables under the pretense that Carmine’s leg was bothering him, and there they were, Linden and Maeve Ekenberg, chatting away with the Bruces. It had felt so strange to see them standing there together as Tru rambled on to Asta’s father about the dietary regime that she kept for the dragons. It was like seeing characters from two different TV shows onscreen together.
Asta’s parents had bragged about how well Leif was doing on the farm. ‘That Leif’s a real natural,’ her father kept saying. ‘A real natural.’ And he had hinted that Asta could come home and join her cousin. The market prices were favorable right now. The farm was actually making some money these days.
Always ready for a game of one-upmanship, Hummer made Nat tell them about the money she was winning at tournaments.
‘I’m not saying you can’t make money at it,’ Linden had said. ‘But not all money is worth making.’
Hummer had curled his lip in disgust. Then he laughed, one loud and grating laugh. ‘That has got to be one ofthewrongest things I’ve ever heard anybody say. All money is worth making.’
Later, when they were finally alone with Asta, Linden had been the one to say what they were thinking. ‘He was wrong, Asta girl. You know that, right?’
Asta hadn’t known what he was talking about. ‘Who?’
‘Your friend with the little hat,’ Maeve had said. Asta could still remember her hands, wrapped around her purse straps, blanched white at the knuckles. ‘And that woman.’
Linden had sighed. ‘Chasing money is a dangerous game.’
‘Why don’t you just come home?’ Maeve had asked
And of course, Asta had refused. She was one race away from qualifying for Silverscale. They didn’t understand her, she had told them, and they didn’t believe in her. Maybe Asta had been right about that, maybe not. Buttheyhad been right about Hummer.
If she had just stayed home and done what they told her, she would have saved everyone all this trouble. But it was too late for regrets now. It was time for her to decide what she was going to do.
The Silverscale Grand Prix: Day Six
Drake Class Final
24
