The Blood Racer (The Blood Racer Trilogy Book 1) (25 page)

              Fresh food had been brought into the warehouse while we were out at the challenge. Despite the loss of another competitor, spirits among the racers were relatively high. The feast was delicious, the drinks were plentiful, and it was a chance for people from all over the Dominion to mingle and get to know one another.
              The four of us kept to ourselves, mostly. We talked and ate, and listened to Killian tell stories of his misadventures with Darby, which included a tale of them stealing a ship and nearly crashing it into Ravencog. Darby had gone to the
Foxfire
and retrieved Georgie, her falcon, and was listening to Killian as she fed the bird strips of meat.
              As it turns out, the rest of the competitors were quite impressed with Rigel’s prize. One by one, sometimes in pairs, or in threes, they would venture over to our table and comment on the chute. Most were in agreement, that it was definitely a good thing to have around. They were also quick to congratulate Rigel. They seemed impressed that such a young pilot was able to win the challenge. Although, they didn’t seem to realize that he probably won by following me…not that it mattered.
              After a while, we received special visitors, in the form of Andre Villefort himself, along with his daughter Celina. They were both dressed fantastically, as if it was the most important night of their lives. The cynical part of me realized it was probably just to show off their status in front of riff-raff like us. They took their time working through the contestants, too, shaking hands and making small talk. Before long, though, they were at our table, and we were all forced into an awkward introduction.
              Andre was a thin, rigid, middle-aged man. He kept his hair flat against his head, with his bangs swept to the left across his forehead, and he wore a long, black tailcoat, coupled with a dark grey waistcoat underneath. Several shining gold chains dangled from his jacket pockets, and I wondered how long it would take for him to get pick-pocketed in a place like Adams. Probably a few steps off the docks. Someone would ‘bump’ into him and make off with his watch, and he’d be none the wiser.
              Celina appeared just as repressed as Andre. She looked to be about my age, but she carried herself very stiffly, her arm linked in her father’s as if she was afraid she’d fall over. Her blonde hair was pinned flawlessly into a side bun, and she wore a dress that was completely black, so black that it didn’t seem possible. It was made of some kind of fabric that I didn’t recognize, but I was sure it was smooth and comfortable. It had small ruffles around the wrists, and around the top, which ended just above her cleavage. Her skin was alabaster white, which made for an eye popping contrast with the dress. Her exposed shoulders and collar bones seemed to be gleaming as brightly as the lights in the place. How much sun did this girl ever get? Is that why she seemed so unsteady? Were her bones brittle from lack of vitamin D?
              She smiled at us, her big green eyes looking rather excited. She didn’t say anything, but waited for her father to speak instead. He took his cue rather well.
              “Hello, my friends,” he said cordially, gazing around at all of us. “I wanted to introduce myself to the brave contestants of this year’s race. My name is Andre Villefort. This is my shipping warehouse.”
              I knew enough about high society to know that it was customary for them to stand up when meeting one another, but no one at our table made the effort. The most we did was give nods of acknowledgement.
              Realizing we had nothing to say to him, he swallowed hard and gestured to his daughter. “This is my oldest, Celina. She was excited to meet the contestants.”
              At this, Celina gave a small wave, and I had to fight to keep the look of contempt off of my face. “Hello,” she said, her voice small and dainty. “It’s so lovely to meet you all.”
              At once, Rigel bolted out of his chair and to his feet, wiping his hand on the leg of his pants before holding it out to her. “Hi,” he said, sounding mystified. “My name is Rigel Campbell. The pleasure is mine.”
              The blush in Celina’s cheeks stood out brilliantly as she set her petite hand in his. Without missing a beat, he brought it to his lips and placed a kiss on the back of her pristine knuckles.
              Andre looked rather bemused at the gesture, but said nothing, not even when Celina let out a small giggle, nervously smoothing out her already perfect blonde hair. “I…I have never met a racer from beyond Shiloh,” she said.
              Rigel quickly hopped to the nearest table and grabbed two extra chairs. “Here, have a seat,” he said politely, offering them to the Villeforts.
              Andre gave him a nod. “Why, thank you, young man,” he said, sitting down next to Killian. Celina took the seat to the right of Rigel, right next to me.
              “These are my friends,” Rigel said, grinning stupidly at her. He gestured around the table to all of us. “This is Darby, Killian, and my friend from Adams, Elana.”
              Celina turned toward me, her green eyes wide. “Elana Silver?” she asked. “The Blood Racer?”
              I don’t know why, but I immediately disliked this girl. Rigel, however, was beaming at her like she was some sort of divine angel. I desperately wanted to be away from them. “Yes, that’s me,” I said flatly.
              Andre placed his hands on the table and pushed himself back a bit, blinking at me as if allowing his eyes to adjust and focus. “My word…what a pleasure!” He stood up and offered his hand. Taking the opportunity to leave my seat, I got to my feet and gave his hand a quick shake before turning toward the door.
              “If you’ll all excuse me, I need to make sure my ship didn’t take any major damage in that challenge tonight.”
              Rigel’s face briefly flashed a look of confusion…maybe even concern…but it was gone as soon as Celina turned back to him. She had his full, undivided attention, Andre, however, was leaning over the table to ask Darby about her falcon.
              With everyone distracted, I quietly slipped away, walking briskly toward the door and practically stumbling out of the warehouse. I just wanted to be as far from Rigel as I could be, at the moment. As soon as I was out in the cool night air, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. What was wrong with me? What exactly was I feeling? There was definitely anger, but there was also something else…something that felt a little like jealousy.
              But that was crazy. Why would I be jealous? Just because some fancy tart was hogging my best friend? Or was it because he was looking at her like she was the greatest thing ever? Either way, I didn’t like it, and I didn’t want to keep thinking about it. I hadn’t lied to the table. I did need to check the
Kicker
to make sure it was still in good shape. I had taken a bullet from Audra’s hidden gun, after all.
              I turned down the alleyway toward the docks, but the sound of my name stopped me. “Elana!” Killian called, jogging toward me. I was only just now noticing that his long hair and beard were both frazzled. He looked like he needed some sleep as much as I did.
              “What?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”
              He scratched his scruffy chin and smiled. “I was about to ask you that same thing,” he said. His voice had lost its boisterous flare. He was serious now, which meant more to me than I would have expected. “You left the table in quite a hurry.”
              I did my best to return his smile. “Yeah, I’m…don’t worry about me. It’s okay. I just need to go for a walk, or something.”
              His eyebrows were still pulled together, but he nodded. He knew I was holding back, but he wasn’t going to press me about it. I was glad.
              “All right,” he said. “Be careful of the radio hosts. I saw them lurking around the building as we were coming back from-”
              “Elanaaaaa Silverrrrr!”
              Reed’s booming baritone voice rang out deafeningly loud, pinging off the walls of the narrow alley and making Killian and I both wince.
              “There she is!” Lex said excitedly. “Hey, girl. We’ve been hoping to get an interview with you. Have you got a minute?”
              I looked over at the two of them, who were walking with a small entourage in tow, and gave a very weak smile. “Sure,” I said dryly. “Why not?”
              Reed, whose height was still surprising, marched up to me and flicked a few switches on the metallic box that hung on his side. From the look of it, I assumed it was a radio transmitter. Sure enough, as he pulled out a small, thin microphone, I knew I was right.
              Tapping the end of the mic, Lex slipped on an oversized pair of padded headphones and gave his partner a thumbs-up. “On you,” he muttered.
              Reed nodded. “All right, ladies and gentlemen of the Dominion. I’m here with none other than Elana Silver, and we’re about to get an exclusive that you won’t hear anywhere else.”
              I felt my forehead beginning to wrinkle. I already wanted to walk away.
              Before I could, Reed leaned down toward me with his eyes wide. “So, Elana…everyone listening wants to know…we’ve been hearing rumblings of a
feud
between you and last year’s winner, Audra Carina. What can you tell us about this?”
              With the combined annoyance of these two, in addition to Rigel in the warehouse behind me, I wasn’t in the mood to mince words. “She’s threatened by me,” I said bluntly. “She sees me as direct competition, and she doesn’t like it. I’m just as good as she is…and she’s scared.”
              By the looks of surprise on both their faces, I had just given them a fantastic answer. I guess it had been pretty good, full of juicy words that were sure to cause drama. Reed and Lex exchanged glances and decided to continue.
              “All right, we’ll see if we can get a word with her, too,” Reed said, grinning madly. “In the meantime, I wanted to ask you about your friend here.”
              I turned to Killian, noticing that he looked a little bewildered. I was surprised he hadn’t walked away already. I looked at him questioningly, silently asking if it was all right to introduce him. He didn’t give an indication otherwise, so I assumed it would be okay.
              “This is Killian Hardwick,” I said. “And yes, he’s a friend of mine from Ravencog.”
              Reed and Lex nodded. “Interesting,” Reed drawled. “So it’s safe to say you two have formed an alliance?”
              “Very safe to say,” Killian chimed in, snapping out of his stupor. He had stepped up beside me and gave me a pat on the back.
              “That is definitely fascinating,” Reed said, clearly intrigued. “We’d all love to know how that came to be.”
              Killian turned to me and gave me a nod. It was a simple gesture, but I knew what it meant. He was going to stay and distract the radio hosts so I could make my getaway. Using the darkness of the alley, I slipped behind Killian and made my retreat, making sure to draw zero attention to myself.
              I made my way back to the docks and held my breath, hoping that the crowd had once again dispersed. Mercifully, they had. The action was over for the night, and it was getting late. No one was foolish enough to stay out in the brisk night air for no reason. Rubbing my bare arms with my hands, I hustled across the docks and to cradle number 9 where the
Cloud Kicker
was waiting for me.
              As I rounded the side to enter, though, I saw that the hatch was already open.
              It wasn’t wide open, but it was definitely cracked, and there was someone moving around inside. I immediately glance around the docks. I knew a high-class city like this would have plenty of security, but I saw no one. I debated on running back to the warehouse and getting some backup, but whoever it was might be gone by that time. They might have burned my ship to the ground by then. In my gut, I knew it was Audra. She was looking for a way to sabotage me. Well, I wasn’t about to let
that
happen.
              Silently, I pushed the hatch open and crept inside, careful not to set too much weight in one spot. My rivets were creaky, and I didn’t want to give myself away just yet. In the darkness, I couldn’t make out who the figure was, I could just see shadows moving in my cargo hold. I made a quick dash for my dome light and flicked it on, bracing myself for a fight. Instead, I felt my hardened expression disintegrate. It was replaced by total surprise. It was not Audra in my cargo hold. It was an Archon…Beatrice Montgomery herself.
             As the light illuminated the hold, Beatrice shot upright in surprise. At her feet was the satchel that I had received from Dan Canter, the one that held my gas mask, as well as the personal things from back home. In her hands, she held the copy of
Ascension: The Future of Mankind
that Nichols had sent to me.
              “What are you doing?” I asked, doing my best to sound threatening. It didn’t quite come off right.
              Pursing her lips, Beatrice worked her jaw back and forth as she stared at me. In the dim light, I could see that her face was slightly flushed. Clearly, she was just as stunned to see me as I was to see her. Dropping the book back into the bag, she took an uneasy step toward me, trying hard to regain her composure.
              “I…thought I heard gunshots during the competition tonight,” she said, gazing around my cabin. “I came to confiscate any illegal weaponry that you may have possessed.”
              “Well, the shots didn’t come from me,” I told her, hardening my gaze. I was tempted to tell her that Audra was the one that had done the shooting, but then I imagined she would immediately rat me out in return, telling the Archons that I actually did possess a gun of my own. I decided to keep quiet.