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Removing his visor, he sent her ahow do you like me nowlook that grated. Blasé, she pretended to examine her cuticles.
After stepping down and collecting his voucher, he made his way over to her. “You going to show me what you’ve got?”
“Careful, Aidan, or my moves might just blow your mind.”
He crossed his arms. “I’d like to see that.”
Turning on her heels, she headed up the platform. He called up to her. “A bit of advice…”
She glanced back, and found his mocking grin far too sexy.
“Try not to crash.”
“Sage advice,” she replied sardonically, then took her place in the VR chamber and slipped the visor over her head. Instantly, it was as though she’d been transported to another realm. Her vision of the big top was replaced by a jagged, rocky landscape. Blue sky as far as she could see met the uneven terrain composed of stone plateaus and sharp cliffs. The purr of the interactive VR chamber surrounded her like the vibration of the ship’s engine running through her bones. So realistic. She even thought she smelled the sharp bite of fuel. Amazing.
Her starting position was different than the previous race, high on a bluff at the edge of a precipice instead of in a deep canyon, which suggested this racetrack was all new, and therefore unpredictable.
No matter. She had faith in her skills.
Below, where the cliff’s base met the low land, her gaze followed the track of slightly darker sand to a wide-mouthed cave. That was where they were headed, beyond was a mystery.
When the countdown started, she grabbed the controls, her adrenaline spiking, excitement surging. Before getting stuck with Tag, she and Caryn would travel from port to port, seeking employment and occasionally entering races for cash prizes, often winning and earning enough for them to survive…until they’d been swindled. One day, she and Caryn had been duped into trading their only vessel for a craft that promised to be a racer’s dream. It turned out to be a lemon. It could fly, but barely…wholly unfit for racing without major, costly upgrades.
Because she couldn’t race and there’d been no opportunities for work, their funds had dwindled. They’d been forced to steal to avoid starvation, which inevitably led to their capture and incarceration, putting them in the direct path of Tag and his cohorts.
But they were finally free, and she was going to keep it that way.
She took in a breath and let it out slowly. At the zero mark, she powered forward and edged off the cliff into a deep nosedive, successfully taking the lead. “Ha!”
In her peripheral, she noticed another racer’s ship close by…too close for comfort.
With the cliff face at her belly, she added power to her thrusters, but the other ship continued to close the distance between them.
She’d been so focused on the race, she hadn’t taken the time to mentally scan her competition. She did now. The one coming up on her right was the aggressive type. The racer just behind her was too, but he wasn’t the one about to—
His wing batted hers, knocking her off balance. She nearly lost control entirely, but managed to keep her craft stable. That little kiss cost her dearly. As she lost speed, all three racers blasted past her.
She was more concerned with the ground rushing toward her…fast!
She pulled up on the controls as hard as she could. The ground was still coming at her, but the horizon shifted into her viewpoint. Still, she was dangerously losing altitude.
For a moment, she was sure she wasn’t going be able to pull up in time.
Fingers dancing over the console, she engaged the bottom thrusters. “Come on! Come on!”
The good news? She didn’t explode into a flaming heap. Her craft simply skidded across the bedrock. She felt the violent vibration of gravel angrily scraping the gut of her ship before she took to the air once more.
The bad news? She was now in last place and had lost nearly all of her momentum.
She thought she heard Aidan’s distant laughter from somewhere among the jeering crowd. She wanted to strangle him. Instead, she powered forward through the mouth of the cave.
Velvety darkness folded around her. Her eyes strained to adjust. With a yelp, she yanked the craft to the right, dodging a stalactite in her path, then to the left, just missing another. This cave was filled with them. For a moment it was all she could do not to slam into one. There weren’t as many around the borders, but she couldn’t get there easily to take advantage of the open space. The cave’s uneven ceiling and floor had her constantly adjusting altitude as she swerved around the obstacles.
Finally, she fell into a kind of rhythmic groove, winding through the cave, dipping and dodging, diving and climbing. It worried her that she didn’t see any of the other ships. Was she already that far behind?
Hazy light ahead told her she was approaching the exit. The stalactites thinned and she pushed the engines harder, jetting into the too-bright sunlight—an assault on her eyes after all that darkness.
Her pulse jumped.
