What she had in mindwasdangerous, but the important thing was, in giving Hummer what he wanted, Asta would tick off Flávia and Dr. Isley and the NFDRA board, and that would bring down constant inspections, constant scrutiny, constant attention on her head. The Bruces didn’t like attention. This plan could actually work, but she couldn’t do it on her own.
She had to talk to Felix.
Asta pushed herself off the wall and hurried along to Housing Unit 1. Karol followed her as far as the entry to the stables and stopped there, leaning very conspicuously on the doorframe twenty feet away.
Felix was with Essie in her stall, rubbing her with a salve that smelled like grapefruit.
He glanced over at Karol as Asta approached. ‘Friend of yours?’
Asta tried to force a smile. ‘He’s nobody.’
Felix registered her strangeness, his brow furrowing. He was waiting for her to say something.
But it wasn’t only Karol’s silhouette slouching in the doorway that weighted her tongue. For this plan to work, she would have to lie to Felix. Or– not lie so much as leave him in the dark. But she couldn’t tell himandsave him.
‘Felix,’ she began. She glanced over her shoulder.
Karol was picking at a scab on his arm but clearly listening to everything she said.
Felix wiped his hands and came out from the stall, closing the door behind him.
Asta tried again. ‘Felix.’
‘What is it?’
His hand was propped on Essie’s stall door. On the other side, Essie was breathing heavily, asleep or nearly so. Asta looked at his extended hand, the tousle of dark hair falling over his brow– she loved these little bits of him so intensely that it threatened to crush her heart.
They had promised each other that they were starting fresh, trying something new. And now she was about to betray him. She would use him, and he would not know why. What if this time, he couldn’t forgive her?
Asta reached up and put her hand on Felix’s neck, just under his ear, and drew him to her. He let himself be drawn, and their lips met in a sweet, soft kiss. She slid her cheek next to his.
‘Turn the cord on,’ Asta whispered into his ear. ‘Right away. I need it. Until the race is over.’
As they both pulled back, she could see Felix’s confusion and alarm.
Asta looked over her shoulder again at Karol, whose eyes met hers and narrowed.
She pressed her face into the crook of Felix’s neck. Her voice was as thin as a spider’s web. ‘Please, just do it. Just keep the magic charged. I’ll do the rest.’
Karol pushed himself off the doorway and started coming their way.
Asta pulled Felix closer. ‘Don’t trust me,’ she whispered to him urgently. ‘Not today. Please, Felix. Please. You can trust me tomorrow, I promise.’
Karol was right beside them now. He placed his back against the stall door next to Essie’s and began picking at his nails.
‘Can I help you?’ Felix asked. Asta’s behavior had put him on edge, and there was a combative note to his challenge.
‘Don’t worry about him,’ Asta said, drawing back from their embrace. ‘I’m telling you. He’s nobody.’
Karol sneered, but did not raise his eyes from his own hands.
‘Don’t forget what I told you about tonight,’ Asta said in a cloying tone. She was performing for Karol, hoping he would not find this a suspicious thing to say.
Keep it charged,Asta thought to Felix. Don’t let me fall.
Felix gave her a strange look. He scuffed his boot across the floor. ‘I won’t.’
Asta left the stables and Karol followed. She lifted her sleeve to see the shimmer of Felix’s magic cord coiled around her arm.
