Page 137 of Tailwind

‘How’s the mood at the back of the grid?’ I teased them and pulled them into a hug one by one.

‘I’m optimistic,’ said Colly, stating the obvious. ‘But Quinn’s not so sure.’

Quinn sighed as his teammate threw an arm around his shoulders. ‘It’s possible for me to finish with more points than Jas, but I need to be up there.’

He nodded towards a mass of deep forest-green uniforms a few spots ahead of me. Both Jas Thokan and Ellas Ruan had been lucky with their starting draw.

‘Nothing like going up against your old teammate to get you motivated, Quinn.’ Theo bumped up against my side, setting my proximity sensors off even on the lowest setting. I jabbed the spike on my elbow pad into a gap between his armour, smiling as he flinched.

‘Just be thankful you’re not starting next to him.’ I gestured to the other half of the Kiestral team. Thorne and his new dragon would be launching right behind me.

Colly rocked on to the balls of his feet. ‘I have to overtake all of you if I want to be on that top podium step. Can’t get much worse than that!’

A knot pulled tight in my chest. The aim was to win – that was always the case when I raced. I had a lot more than just points riding on the outcome though.

The three other riders standing with me were some of the best I’d ever seen. Quinn was fighting for second place in the championship, Theo was more than capable of being in the top five and Colly was having the best rookie year of the past two decades.

‘All right. Enough complaining. Helmets in.’ Theo straightened his arm, holding his helmet out at waist height.

My throat thickened. It was a sabotage tactic, bringing this back before my career-defining race.

The Prevere boys stared blankly at him.

‘We bump helmets before the race. For luck.’ In my peripheral I saw him look over at me. ‘Lena and I used to do this all the time.’

‘It started with head-butting, but Pops made us change it.’ I lifted my orange helmet, the top of it knocking against his. It wasn’t sabotage. For the first time in five years the memories of our old races didn’t hurt. Instead it reminded me of why I was doing this at all. ‘We fly fast and fight fair.’

Our purple and orange helmets were joined by two sky blues: seven, eight, fifty and ninety-nine.

‘Fast and fair.’ Theo repeated our old mantra and nodded.

‘Break it up,’ Josie cut in, pulling me backwards by the shoulders. ‘No time for your superstitious athlete rituals. Go back to your teams before your poor strategists have a collective heart attack. Go!’

We dispersed, following orders. I watched the back of Theo’s head as he returned to his team. For so long I’d wanted to go back to the way things were, erasing the betrayal to find comfort in the familiar. Turns out there was no going back, but that was okay.

‘Helmet on, Lena. Please focus and stop acting like a rookie.’ Josie walked me back to Gottyk as I shoved my helmet on. The pre-race jitters were getting to her.

‘I am a rookie,’ I said, pushing up my faceplate to see her scowl lovingly at me. It made me think of her wise words – something about being such good friends that we didn’t have to be nice to each other anymore. Josie, for all her intelligence, wasn’t always right. ‘I’m glad I get to do this with you.’

Her scowl softened, but only into a frown. ‘You’re not going all mushy on me now, are you?’

‘Neither of us do mushy, Josie. I just want you to know I’m grateful. Getting this far … It’s thanks to you.’ I clapped her on the shoulder and hauled myself up into the saddle. ‘At least ten per cent thanks to you anyway.’

Her arms folded across her chest. ‘You really are shit with numbers.’

‘Who needs numbers when you’ve got wings?’ I flexed my legs, sending Gottyk’s wings rustling for added emphasis.

‘Meathead riders!’ She backed up with the rest of the team, making space for Gottyk and the other nine dragons to launch.

I took a deep breath and closed my faceplate. Peace settled over me. The sounds from the plateau around me were muffled, letting me sink into the quiet. The visor sprang to life, sharpening the view of the five riders and dragons in front of me. I could feel Gottyk pawing at the stone, ready to go.

‘Lena.’ Josie’s voice came through the comms. I found her in the crowd. ‘Win.’

It wasn’t a request.

I nodded. That same fire I’d sensed in her when she’d cornered me on the train was in her eyes. The same one that fuelled me every time I took off on dragonback. I felt it, letting it light up every fibre of my being.

The plateau was clear except for ten dragons and ten riders. Five teams. One last chance.