CHAPTER EIGHT #2
Only a few moments later I was out on the sun-bleached streets. I craned my neck upwards to wave to Gottyk, but from outside the large windows became mirrors, impossible to tell who was watching from the inside.
Despite not having him with me, I still found myself drawn to the circuit. Up until the day of the race the city was open for business as usual, meaning the streets that would become our racing route were crawling with people. I walked away from Mirendi Tower and joined the crowd.
After changing out of my Kiestral uniform it seemed I was the only one not in team colours.
Here in Eauveil the fans were a different breed.
Instead of the branded team merchandise – the dyed shirts, jackets and hats – they had on far more unique and fashionable outfits in muted versions of the team colours.
Sat outside a cafe on white wrought-iron chairs was a pair of ladies, one in a deep-green skin-tight dress with golden heeled shoes, the other in a white knitted jumper that hung off her shoulders and reached her thighs, with dark red boots.
The class and wealth they exuded while sipping their drinks was palpable.
The only thing bigger than their bank accounts was their hair – how they got it so large and yet so neat was beyond me, but I liked it.
I envied them. To be able to live a life of leisure would likely bore me out of my mind, but boredom would be an incredible problem to have.
As I rounded the end of the street block leading to the harbour, better known to me as ‘turns one and two’, I spotted the one restaurant I’d been to before: Luzzi’s.
It was a fancy breakfast place two storeys up on the edge of turn two.
A deep balcony wrapped around the building, catching the sun all morning.
Luzzi’s was how I knew I envied the rich. It had been my first literal taste of luxury. Before Theo had shown his true colours there had been benefits to being friends. He being stupidly wealthy and inviting me to join him for food was definitely near the top.
My mouth watered. The thin yet buttery pancakes, the jams that exploded with flavour and the view of the ocean as we sat eating as much as we could … which, for two thirteen year old athletes who loved to one-up each other was a lot.
My stomach growled and my heart pinged at the memory of his parents’ fond laughter. I couldn’t afford to eat there by myself. Not only was the monetary cost too high, but the toll on my emotional stability wasn’t something I could afford either.
So I continued on, opting instead for a street cart by the harbour. The amazing smell of fresh fish wraps drew me in and if the length of the queue was anything to go by, it tasted just as good.
As I crawled closer to my breakfast, minute by excruciating minute, a commotion began to move in my direction.
A knot formed in my chest at the telltale sign of Volitant riders in my vicinity: a crowd of people all facing inwards, moving like a pack around someone in the centre.
Then I saw the yellow frills of two exotic wyverns above the crowd and let out a sigh.
It wasn’t him.
‘Yeah, these are our daily fliers.’ A deep voice rumbled through the crowd. ‘They aren’t racers, just cruisers. Perfect for a flight along the coast.’
I rolled my eyes so hard I could feel the pull of the stalks behind them. These yellow wyverns were overbred to look good, but had the stamina of a baby drake learning how to walk.
A gap formed as the wyverns and their owners came through.
It was the Boll brothers, each of them leading a wyvern by the reins on one side, with an arm slung around a woman on the other.
The wyverns were pretty with their sunshine-yellow scales and their membrane wings folded to an upward point due to the way they attached to the forelegs.
The frills on their heads were useless, but did make them cuter.
My brows twitched as I saw Colly Balen, the Prevere rookie, with them.
He stood like an out-of-place beanstalk between the two brothers and their companions.
Gordi and Mac Boll weren’t twins, but they might as well have been.
They were the same height, though not as tall as Colly – I sincerely hoped that bothered them – and had the same thick shoulders, neck and limbs.
As well as the light brown hair and pale skin turned red from the sun, they also both had a thick ego inherited from their Volitant rider father who, in turn, had inherited it from his Volitant rider father.
Funny coincidence, since that was also how they’d got their jobs.
‘Were they expensive? I really want my own wyvern but my mum says it’s better to invest my money first.’ Colly’s enthusiasm dripped off him as he trailed the older riders. I couldn’t help but smile, I was the same the first time I saw wyverns as luxurious as that.
The laugh that Mac Boll let out wasn’t good-natured though.
‘You’re not from around here, are you?’ he asked. ‘You can’t just buy a wyvern like this.’
My jaw flexed as I stared bore holes into the side of Mac’s head. The women with the brothers giggled at Colly’s expense.
‘Oh, really? Then where do you get them?’ His wide smile was steady. The teen wasn’t picking up on the not-so-passive aggression directed at him.
Again, the cutting laughter.
‘It’s a process,’ he said, scoffing. ‘You have to be invited to apply. Naturally, we were on the list before we were even old enough for a flight licence.’
There was so much condescension that I was hit by the leftovers that flew over the oblivious Colly’s head. I tried to focus on the signage for the food cart. Locally sourced fish, which I knew was a lie because there weren’t any fishing docks here in Eauveil – it was passenger boats only.
I heard the smile in Colly’s voice. ‘Maybe when I’m champion then.’
Their laughter was so loud and deep I felt it in my bones. Not just from the volume, but the way it reminded me of every time I’d been laughed at too.
‘Maybe,’ said Mac, ‘but I wouldn’t hold your breath. There’s more to it than that.’
I bit my lip, willing my temper to stay inside. My hunger pleaded with me. There was only one person in the queue ahead.
‘You see,’ he carried on, ‘it’s more of a lifestyle thing.’
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake …’ I muttered as I stepped out of the queue. ‘Colly!’
The Bolls, their girlfriends and Colly all looked over. A mix of derision and confusion came from the duos, while Colly greeted me with a smile like we’d known each other for years.
‘Quinn’s waiting for you,’ I told him, lightly touching his elbow to guide him away from the idiotic recipients of three generations of undiluted nepotism.
It was like a piece of arcanite got powered on behind Colly’s eyes. ‘Oh! Right, yeah. I forgot.’
We turned away to leave, but I heard one of them snort out a laugh.
‘By the way,’ I said, turning on my heel, ‘the drag on those wyverns actually makes them terrible for cruising. Whatever process you went through to get them was clearly to see if you’re dumb enough to fall for the scam, because the fins on those tails would be better for swimming underwater than flying in the sky. ’
I gave them my most insufferable smile.
‘Have a nice day.’ I bit off adding an insult at the end and opted for pushing Colly through the crowd before the Bolls realized I’d been rude.
‘Is that true?’ Colly asked as we dashed across the street, back the way I’d come.
I nodded, weaving between pedestrians doing double takes at Colly. ‘Yep, all style over substance. If you want a good personal wyvern, go for one of the reds. Intelligent and ethically bred for generations – classics for a reason.’
‘Thanks, by the way,’ he says, looking down at me with big brown eyes that reminded me of Gottyk.
‘No worries.’ I shrugged it off. I couldn’t count the number of times I wished someone had helped me.
‘I’d totally forgotten I had plans.’ He ran a hand over his face to his close-cropped hair, his eyebrows bounced up in disbelief as he did so.
Guilt tugged hard on my gut. He’d believed my line about his teammate. I scrambled for something to say, a way to get out of explaining that I’d made it up without embarrassing him.
‘There they are.’ He looked up at the corner building, his moment of confusion gone and replaced with joy once again.
His chest began to expand, I barely had time to cover my ears.
‘Hey!’ He cupped one hand around his mouth and waved the other dramatically in the air. ‘Quinn! Theo!’
My stomach didn’t care about food anymore since my heart had just dropped into it. I looked up to where Colly was waving. My head began to fill with fuzz as I recognized which balcony the other riders were on.
Luzzi’s.
I don’t know why I was surprised that Theo was there. From the sickly squirm in my chest I figured it was probably something like jealousy. Of course his life had remained exactly the same.
Theo appeared over the edge of the balustrade, joined by Quinn a split second later. I ducked away, standing behind Colly and keeping my head down.
‘Hey, kid, I’m gonna head out.’
The young rider paused with his waving hand still in the air, literally caught between two thoughts. ‘Oh, you’re not coming too?’
I was stunned at the assumption until I remembered I’d made my introduction by pretending to know about his plans. ‘Nah, not for me,’ I said. ‘Not my style.’
I gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder – upper arm, really, given how tall he was – and a genuine smile. ‘Enjoy it. I hear the pancakes are popular.’
His eyes shone with appreciation. ‘Thanks, Lena!’
I joined the flow of people around us and did my best to disappear, hoping that Theo hadn’t spotted who Colly had been talking to and grateful that the rookie was tall enough to hide behind. So grateful that I didn’t put much thought into how he’d learned my name.