AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Forty-Six
BROOKE
We had a full day of rest. One day and night of fitful, excited sleep before we hopped a one-hour flight to the final city on our tour: Rome, itself.
There was no time to take in how beautiful it was, or how incredible the weather we’d been granted. We were ushered into one final hotel beneath a flawless blue sky, then seated for the Race’s traditional ‘last breakfast’.
“This is it!” Noah boomed, once everyone was seated. “Our time together is almost at an end! I know you’ll all miss me, and that’s okay. You can always send me postcards from whatever bright corners of the world you venture into next.”
He motioned for us all to sit and begin eating, and we did. The group of competitors was small enough now that we could all make one big table. The four members of Need for Speed sat across from the Boston Banshees, while our team made up the end of the table, Hayden and I directly across from Devin and Reese.
No one spoke to each other, except within their own group. The time for exchanging pleasantries was over. The restaurant consisted of twelve nervous people each with a million dollars on the line, trying to push down waves of nausea just far enough to scarf down some eggs, toast, and fruit.
“Gloria!” Noah called out randomly, to one of the Banshees. “What are you going to do with your share of the money?”
The short-haired blonde’s head snapped up mid-bite, her expression telling us she was totally caught off guard. The other Banshees looked uncomfortable.
“I— I guess I’d move out of my apartment,” she said. “And into a house.”
“Not bad!” Noah nodded. “Not bad at all. And Zeke? What about you?”
The tallest of the fighter pilots — who wasn’t really that tall to begin with — leaned back in his chair. “You mean if I won?”
“Obviously, yes,” Noah smirked. “If you won.”
“I’d pay off my mortgage,” he said. “And maybe buy a boat.”
“Excellent,” said Noah, swinging his head our way. As his eyes scanned our group I braced, expecting him to pick me straight out of the guys.
“Reese?”
“Yeah?”
“What would you—”
“I’d start my own adventure network,” Reese said smoothly, “and produce my own around-the-world race. First prize would be a guest spot on my new show, Reese’s Risk-Takers. And maybe a medal or two. I like medals.”
A round of subdued laughter went up. When it subsided, Noah clapped his hands together.
“You do all that,” he grinned, “and I’ll be your first contestant.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that,” Reese winked.
We finished breakfast in relative silence after that, with everyone eating lightly. We knew we’d be running all over the city. Everyone had seen enough finals to know the rest of the day would be be totally ridiculous.
“Alright everyone, I guess that wraps things up here,” said Noah, rising. “I want to thank all of you for an amazing season! Possibly our best one ever!”
With that we all clapped, first for ourselves, then for the crew. It was all a little too self-congratulatory for me. I was getting sick of the fluff, and just wanted to be let loose.
Noah headed for the exit, as we all began to rise. Halfway there however, our host stopped.
“Oh yes, almost forgot!” he said abruptly. “One last thing…”
He turned, headed back to the head of the table, and snapped his fingers. At the exact moment he did, a curtain that had been separating the room behind us fell immediately away.
“You won’t just be racing each other,” Noah said loudly and proudly.
We turned around. All twelve of us.
“You’ll also be racingthem!”
The curtain finished hitting the floor. Three other teams of four materialized out of nowhere, standing with their arms folded. One adjacent to each of us.
And then I saw…
And my heart nearly leapt out of my chest.
