18
Pikki sat ramrod straight in her chair, facing the table where Flávia Gameiro, Dr. Isley, Tess Curie, and the rest sat listening to her accusations.
She was dressed in the off-track uniform of her racing house: dark green athletic pants and a warm-up jacket with highlights of pink, sponsor logos all across her back.
‘Everyone knows what the Bruces are,’ Pikki said.
Nat was half out of her seat. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
‘Ms. Bruce,’ Flávia cautioned, ‘you will have your chance.’
‘So I’m just supposed to listen to this bitch talk shit about my family in the meantime?’
‘You bet your ass you are,’ Tess Curie bit back at her. ‘Now sit down and shut up.’
Tru pulled Nat back to her seat.
Above their heads, there was a dull throb of noise from the track. They were between races, but the sound of tens of thousands of feet clomping around the grandstands, changing seats or going to get refreshments, shook the building.
Gem, sitting beside Asta, fidgeted with the edge of his plastic chair.
Asta didn’t want to know what he was thinking.
He had believed in her. Really and truly.
She had been a mess when he came to get her from Pillar, but he had been the one to convince her that she still had a future.
Somehow, his believing it had made her believe it. He didn’t deserve this.
‘I saw Natalia and Asta talking to Felix Seraphin before they left the ceremonies,’ Pikki went on. ‘When I asked him what they wanted, he told me Natalia had claimed she was going to – quote – burn the city down.’
Asta couldn’t believe it. Same old story. Once again, Felix had been running his mouth to his so-called friend, Pikki.
Nat threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘You moron, that’s just an expression!’
‘Ms. Bruce, please control yourself.’
‘Want me to find a muzzle?’ Tess asked Flávia, who attempted a placating smile.
Tru laughed aloud but quickly swallowed her amusement when both Nat and Hummer shot her angry looks. She tugged on the lapels of her blazer and smirked to herself.
Asta fixed a hateful stare on Pikki. Of course it would be her. She had taken Pillar from Asta, and now she was trying to take Silverscale.
It had taken Asta years to understand how Pikki had used the accident to her advantage.
It wasn’t until she saw the way Hummer and Tru would bait Nat and her cousins into defiance, just so they could punish them, that it all clicked into place.
That was what Pikki had done to her. She had wanted Asta to punch her.
Maybe she really had been angry with Asta that day. Probably she had been. Felix was her friend. But she had not let her anger go to waste. She had turned it on Asta like a weapon. It was the worst moment of Asta’s life, and Pikki had been ready for it.
It’s not like it had even been a fair fight.
Asta had gotten in two good punches – enough to split Pikki’s brow, draw blood, and paint Asta as the aggressor.
The contact of her knuckles with Pikki’s face had sent a jolt of relief through her, and so she had gone for her again, but that second blow was the last punch she landed. Pikki had kicked Asta’s ass.
Asta’s injuries from the prelims throbbed in sympathy with the memory. The painkillers were wearing off.
There would be no fight today. Asta wasn’t the same hothead she had been then.
She had learned how to control her anger.
These days, it burned like a fire in the belly of one of those old steam locomotives.
She would not let Pikki get inside her head again and hijack it.
She would ignore her. Felix, too. And Nat, for that matter.
The only thing that mattered was the race.
Too little, too late, Asta, she told herself bitterly. You can’t win if you can’t ride.
Pikki didn’t need her to throw a punch this time. The moment she’d followed Nat out of the track that night, Asta had already lost everything.
‘And you saw Ms. Bruce and Ms. Ekenberg racing in the streets of Hallium?’ Flávia asked Pikki, her eyes on her notes.
Pikki hesitated. ‘Me personally?’
Asta’s sickened hope spasmed back to life.
Flávia looked up at Pikki, her face painted with irritation. ‘Yes, Ms. Lowell. You personally.’
‘No. But I spoke with a credible witness who reported seeing two dragons racing that night in the streets – one was red, they said, and one had a copper-colored head – both with female riders. I think it’s obvious that this was them.’
‘And who might this witness be?’ Flávia pressed.
Pikki fidgeted with the fabric of her warm-ups. ‘One of our fans. They asked to remain anonymous.’
Nat let out a disbelieving laugh. ‘You have got to be kidding me! She’s lying!’
A couple of the officials at the table frowned and made notes to themselves.
Flávia did not rebuke Nat for the interruption this time. ‘You led me to believe, Ms. Lowell, that you had witnessed the infraction.’
Pikki looked flustered. ‘But who else could it be? A red dragon. A copper-headed one. It’s them.’
Nat looked at her aunt and uncle. ‘Vulture has more of a bronze coloring, wouldn’t you say?’
Hummer nodded sagely. His beady eyes, peeking out from under his bucket hat, were locked on Pikki, and they were smoldering.
‘Copper?’ Tru scoffed. ‘Not even close.’
‘Flávia, my sweet,’ Hummer said in a gruff voice, ‘you are getting jerked around here. Now, I know the Federation has been raring to take the Bruces down a peg or two. But I sure hope you’re not putting all your eggs in the basket of this dingbat.
’ He jabbed a thumb at Pikki. ‘Until you got some real evidence against Natalia, you’d be wise not to do anything.
’ His eyes slid to Tru, and she snickered.
There would be no evidence. The Bruces were bold but never careless.
‘Natty didn’t do nothing,’ Tru said, chin in the air.
Asta couldn’t help but notice that she was not included in the Bruces’ defense. It was like they had forgotten she existed.
If only that were true.
Dr. Isley, who sat to Flávia’s left at the table, turned to face the chairwoman. ‘I am not familiar with Natalia Bruce, except by her family’s reputation, but I do know Asta Ekenberg. And I have to say, I find these accusations plausible.’
The door to the room opened. Asta glanced over to see Felix enter with his parents.
Their eyes met across rows of empty chairs.
Felix gave her a tight almost-smile and followed his parents to seats in the back of the room, directly behind Asta.
She turned to face the front of the room again, but her neck burned with her awareness of them behind her. What was he doing here?
Flávia looked at Dr. Isley with an expression that revealed not a little dislike for the man. ‘What are you trying to say, Marvin?’
‘Asta was a student of mine at the Pillar School several years ago. Unfortunately, my assessment of her behavior falls perfectly in line with what Ms. Lowell is suggesting here today. During her enrollment, she proved to be quite reckless. She regularly flouted the standards of decorum we expect of students, and her willful and malicious violation of one of the most fundamental rules of racing resulted in a grave injury to one of her classmates – Felix Seraphin, in fact, who I see has just joined us. Not to mention the fact that she viciously attacked Ms. Lowell prior to her expulsion.’
Asta wanted to point out that she’d come out of that fight far worse off than Pikki, but Dr. Isley rolled on in his litany of Asta’s failings.
‘When disciplined, she expressed no remorse whatsoever.’
That was a lie. Just because she hadn’t thrown herself on the ground weeping hadn’t meant that Asta wasn’t sorry.
She had pleaded with him to believe her.
She had thought, for sure, that she was far enough ahead to rise safely.
She hadn’t meant to hurt Felix. To be fair, she wasn’t sorry about Pikki, but what she’d done to Felix had eaten her alive.
‘Her failure to adhere to mandated safety standards, as demonstrated in yesterday’s race, only underscores this pattern of behavior.’ Dr. Isley looked over at the other board members, who cast suspicious glances at Asta. Asta couldn’t bear to look Tess Curie in the face.
‘Damn,’ Gem whispered.
Asta felt like the walls of the bland meeting room were starting to close in on her.
The ceiling with its fluorescent lights seemed too close.
The air, too sluggish in her throat. The dull rumble of the track noise leaking through the walls threatened to crush her.
She counted her breaths, trying to convince herself that it was helping. In-two-three. Out-two-three.
Why had she gone with Nat? She was such a numbskull. Dr. Isley was right. She was reckless. She hurt people – that’s just what she did. Once again, she had ruined everything.
‘Ms. Ekenberg, would you like to defend yourself?’ Flávia asked, her tone flat and detached.
Asta swallowed and looked at Gem. He gave her a bewildered look and shrugged. Well, she had to try, didn’t she? It was her dream on the line. His, too. Their dreams were worth fighting for.
‘Asta?’ Flávia prompted.
‘I don’t know what to say.’ Asta’s voice came out thin and unsure.
‘I have been dreaming of racing in Silverscale since I was twelve years old. It’s all I have wanted since I saw my first race on that old TV back home.
I sacrificed so much to get here. More than anyone will ever know. Why would I ever risk losing it?’
She choked on the knot of guilt in her throat.
It was a legitimatequestion. Why had she risked it?
It would be easy to blame Nat, but Asta had her own reasons for racing.
She was chasing something. The danger. The risk.
Even though it could cost her everything.
Maybe because it could cost her everything.