The Blood Racer (The Blood Racer Trilogy Book 1) (41 page)

              “Are you kidding?” I asked incredulously. “Is that orange juice?”
              Nichols beamed at me. “Good eye. I was saving it for a special occasion…and I think this qualifies.”
              New Eden was the only place in the Dominion that grew oranges, and a bottle of the juice was just as rare. It must have cost him a hefty sum to get a hold of it. He poured a glass for me and I watched the bright liquid slosh back and forth before me, staring down at it in awe. After pouring himself a glass, Nichols raised it in the air.
              “I propose a toast,” he said dramatically, making me laugh. “To Elana Silver, the girl that could not be beaten. You have brought justice to your family, and honor to the city of Adams.” He lowered his voice to his normal tone before adding, “And I am very proud of you.”
              I definitely needed a rest. My emotions were out of control. As I clinked my glass against his, I was very near tears yet again. Luckily, the orange juice splashing across my tongue was enough of a sensation to distract me. It was cold and thick and sweet, and tasted like I had just bitten into a fresh orange from the tree. I hadn’t had one in such a long time, but I would never forget the taste. It was sugary and tangy, and was utterly incredible. It even had bits of pulp in the bottom of the glass. I wanted more, but I instead asked if I could take the remainder to Rigel. Nichols agreed without hesitation.
              “Though, you can afford this kind of thing all the time, now,” he said with a grin, finishing off his glass.
              I nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my mind around that.”
              “I don’t doubt it,” Nichols said sympathetically. “It’ll take some getting used to. That much is certain.”
              “Do you think anyone in town will…resent me?” I asked hesitantly. “For having money?”
              “Of course not,” he answered, leaning his elbow on the table. “The entire city is proud of you, just like I am. Besides, they know you well enough to know that money isn’t going to turn you into one of those bratty Rainier kids.”
              I laughed softly. “No, I don’t want to be one of those people.”
              “Very good,” he said with a wink. “Besides…now you have the means to properly take care of your family.”
              “Yeah, I do,” I agreed, looking up at him. “Including you. You’re family, too. I’m going to make your retirement as comfortable as I can.”
              Nichols roared with laughter, slapping his knee as he did. “Ah, child! There…there is the real reason I wanted you to win!”
              I joined in laughing with him, feeling more at home than I had since I began the race. For the next couple of hours, we talked about my adventures during the event. I told him about the friends I’d made, Darby, Killian, and even about Audra. I told him how she had been the one to kill my mother, and I told him about almost killing her. I recounted the trips to all the cities, to the Citadel in Shiloh, the storm, the bomb on my ship, visiting Ravencog, even about watching Killian get shot down, which was hard for me to look back on without feeling a deep stab of loss. Throughout all my ramblings, Nichols listened intently, smiling warmly and nodding along. It seemed he wanted to hear all about the things I had seen and done.
              Finally, when I had asked him about the goggles he had given me, about their strange ultraviolet setting, he finally spoke, saying that he just thought they would be a good thing for me to have. It was a vague answer, but I didn’t really know what I’d been expecting, so I didn’t question him any further about it. It wasn’t until I noticed the clock on the wall that I saw how much time had passed since I’d left Zanna and Echo. I wanted to get back to them, but there was one other person that I wanted to see beforehand.
              After giving Nichols one last hug and word of thanks, I slipped on a dirty, oversized pair of his trousers, snatched the remainder of the orange juice from his ice box, and headed for the door. Before I walked out, I turned to him one more time, with one final question that I had been curious about.
            “How do you know Willow Timbre?” I asked him. “She’s just a shopkeeper from New Eden.”
            He smiled, more to himself than to me, and scratched his white beard. “She’s an old friend. She’s…someone I trust with my life.” He looked pointedly at me as he made his final statement, as if it should have meant something important to me, but I just nodded.
            “Right. Well, I was just wondering. See you later!”
             Slipping out the door, I quickly shuffled toward the docks. I checked cradle eleven first. Sure enough, he was there, staring over the wreckage that was the
Cloud Kicker
and tapping his fingers on his thighs as he watched the red clouds slowly swallow the sun. He had his work gloves off and stuffed into the pockets of his grease-stained coveralls, and he had unzipped the top and slipped out of it, letting it rest on the ground behind him as he sat. This was a clear sign that he was off duty.
              Seeing him made me feel a bit sprightly, and I began creeping up slowly behind him, thinking I could surprise him. Before I reached him, however, he opened his mouth and spoke.
              “Hey, Ellie,” he said, not even looking back.
              Groaning, I plopped down beside him on the edge of the dock. “How did you know?”
              Rigel grinned and looked over at me. “I suddenly felt good. I knew it had to be you.” His words were sweet, but his voice somehow managed to sound rather sad.
              I smiled and stared down at my hands, suddenly unsure of what to do with them. I didn’t want to seem awkward, though. From my jacket, I produced the glass decanter of orange juice. “Here,” I said warmly. “For you.”
              Rigel stared at the bottle in my grasp for several seconds before looking up at me. “Is that what I think it is?”
              I nodded. “Yep. Real orange juice.”
              He let out a breath, staring at the bottle intently as he slowly took it from my hands. Without another word, he tipped it up and gulped down all the juice inside, chugging it like he’d been dying of thirst.
            He pulled it away from his mouth and smacked his lips. “Wow…that was really good. Thank you.”
              “You didn’t even savor it,” I scolded him playfully.
              He grinned and handed me back the decanter. “Tell Nichols I said ‘thanks’, too.”
              I nodded, searching for something else to say. There were many things I knew I should tell him, but I couldn’t seem to get a handle on the words in my head. Instead of speaking, I just sighed loudly and stared out at the crimson clouds.
              It occurred to me then that I didn’t need to say anything. One of the benefits of being around Rigel was the fact that we didn’t need to speak all the time. Just being in one another’s company was good enough. I was suddenly very glad that this hadn’t changed. To so many others, I was now a celebrity. I was someone to ask questions and get autographs from. People who never knew me before would now know my face. I was the winner of the race. Not to Rigel, though. To him, I would never be that. I would never be some celebrity. To him, I would never be The Blood Racer…I would only ever be Ellie.
              And for that, I was eternally grateful.
              Beside me, Rigel reached into the pocket of his coveralls and retrieved a small tin. “Hazelnut?” he offered.
              I smiled and plucked one from the container, looking down at it. I couldn’t seem to make sense of my thoughts. For some reason, this hazelnut reminded me of the race, about Rigel’s part in it.
              “You know,” I began, looking at the hazelnut in my hand. “You saved me.”
              In my peripheral vision, I saw his head swivel over to look down at me. “What? I was the one that got shot down and had to be plucked out of the air, remember?”
              I gave him a superficial smile. “Yeah, I do. But…I had a chance to kill Audra. On the last part of the race, I could have killed her. I
wanted
to kill her.”
              I paused.
              “But, you didn’t,” he finished.
              “No,” I whispered. “No, you stopped me.”
              I paused again, but Rigel said nothing, giving me the space to continue.
              “You reminded me to not let the race decide what kind of person I was,” I said. “That’s what had happened to her, and…well…I realized I didn’t want to be like her.”
              Rigel shook his head. “No,” he said simply. “Maybe I helped, but…the reason you didn’t kill her is because you’re
not
like her. You never will be.”
            “Is that why you left the gun for me?” I asked.
            He nodded. “Yeah. I knew I couldn’t make the call for you. You needed to make it for yourself…and you made the right one. You’re just as good as I always knew you were.”
              I thought about this for a moment. I wanted to believe him, but I wasn’t sure if I did. It was true that I did not send Audra plummeting into Veil. Without question, she had deserved such a fate, but I had refrained from pulling the trigger. On one hand, part of me was glad that I hadn’t done it. On the other hand, instead of being proud of myself for letting her live, I could only worry that I would come to regret it. Even now, knowing that she was back in Shiloh, stewing over her loss, was troubling to me.
              “What did she say to you?” Rigel asked, his eyes fixed on the dying sun.
              I looked over at him. “What?”
              “Radio said she was whispering in your ear after you won,” he said, looking over at me. “What did she say?”
              I drew in a deep breath and blew it out, remembering the cold, silken tone of her voice in my ear. “Oh, that. She said ‘you will not beat me again’.”
              He smirked. “Already plotting her retaliation. Wow.”
              “I guess so.”
              Trying to push the thought from my mind, I tossed the hazelnut into my mouth and chewed it while I looked at the mangled wreck that had been the
Cloud Kicker
. “Oh, my ship!” I exclaimed. “Look at it!”
              Rigel laughed at this, sounding more cheerful as he did. “Yeah, that’s gonna take quite a bit of work. Your engines are fine, though. I tested them. Even the Leap.”
              “Well, that’s good,” I said. “I’ll just need a new…everything else.”
              Laughing again, he reclined back on his palms and sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you fix her up.”
              Mimicking him, I leaned back to join him, relishing the last ribbons of pink sunlight on the air. “Thanks. I’ll pay you for your time, of course,” I said with a grin.
              Rigel scoffed. “Normally, I’d refuse, but…I
am
in some pretty serious debt, now.”
              I couldn’t help the loud cackle that burst out of my mouth. He wasn’t wrong. He had borrowed a ship from Merrick Buchannon himself and had destroyed it. He was definitely in debt. With my winnings, though, I could easily – and gladly – repay it for him.
              “Don’t worry,” I told him. “It’s going to be fine.”
              He grinned and nodded. “I know. Everything will be stellar. After all the ceremonies and awards are over, anyway.”
              I groaned. “Ugh, don’t remind me.”
              Ascendance Day was still a few days away. I would be forced to spend that entire function talking to the radio, signing autographs, reliving my time in the race, and attending the memorial ceremony…which was the thing I was looking forward to the least. On the bright side, I would surely get to see Sparks and Darby again. That was something to be happy about, at least.
              “It’s weird,” I said to him. “The race is over, but…I have this weird feeling that things are actually just beginning. I’m glad you’re here.”
              Rigel turned and looked at me, his hazel eyes sparkling magnificently in the failing light. “So am I,” he said. “And I swear…I’ll be there at the end.”
            “Promise?”
            “I promise.”
              I smiled at him and we both turned to watch the sun vanish, plunging the sky into twilight. Soon, we would both cross the causeway and head home. We would eat some dinner, talk to our family members, and we would both go to bed. I was very much dreading the Ascendance Day activities, but I would make sure Rigel was there. I needed someone that made everything feel okay.
              Later that night, for the first time in my life, I awoke with a craving for hazelnuts.

                                                                     
To be Continued…

Acknowledgements

There are a few people I would love to thank for helping me pull this all together. The process of writing this book seemed to take forever, and I really couldn’t have done it without them.
              First, my friend Mags, for helping me see into the mind of a teenage girl. Indispensable.
              Another friend, the Judge, who helped me brainstorm on multiple occasions. You’re invaluable.
              My sister Christina - who was a perfectly brutal beta reader - Clari, Chloe, Beth, and Jason, all of whom gave great feedback.
            Nicole, for being my Polaris in the night, the shining star that kept me from losing my way along this journey. Thank you for all your advice, guidance, and feedback. You never fail to inspire.
              Not to mention Paige Purcell, the gorgeous and wildly talented woman behind the helm of PaPur Graphics, for doing the incredible cover art. If you liked it, find her on Facebook and get a commission.