Page 44

THIRTY-FOUR

K el sucked in a short, silent breath. At least four wild phoenixes moved toward the clearing, clicking their beaks, twitching their heads in agitation.

Slowly, Kel tugged Savita back, into the center of the clearing. The three riders on the ground stayed frozen, eyes wide and distorted beneath their goggles.

The wild phoenixes prowled through the dense trees easier than they should have. They wove into the clearing and took sharper forms, flames turning to feathers and screeches to thunder.

Fear pounded in Kel’s ears, blocking out the static of her broken comms. One flicker of annoyance and these wild phoenixes—uncollared, unfettered—could devastate the entire clearing.

The five riders stayed immobile, helpless, as the wild phoenixes moved toward them. Kel’s heart jumped into her throat. Had CAPR planned this? Had she let Cristo sentence her to death in these woods?

Heat surged behind her. Slowly, dread shaking her arms, she twisted in the saddle.

At her back, along the path they’d all raced, another three wild phoenixes loomed closer.

They encircled the clearing with easy, graceful steps, their blazes slowly stripping back.

Ignoring the hair prickling the back of her neck, Kel pressed a soothing hand to Savita’s side, silently begging her phoenix to stay still.

Savita was bristling; tiny sparks danced along the edges of her paler feathers.

She could feel her phoenix’s legs tensing, feel her heat climbing, ready to pounce forward.

Sav, please, no.

Kel had never prayed to the Alchemists or the Serpent King before, but now seemed like a good time to start.

Taller flames danced along Sav’s back, though she stayed still as the wild phoenixes crept closer.

Rich yellows and reds danced through the darkness, like a bleeding sun. Their flames mirrored their steps, growing when they snapped and shrinking when they stopped. Though terrifying, these beasts were in total control of their own magic.

Ice shivered down Kel’s spine. Even if she didn’t believe in CAPR rules and collar restrictions, Kel had never questioned one thing: wild phoenixes were dangerous, out of control.

Their unregulated power would destroy humans and phoenixes alike.

Collaring—to some degree—was for the phoenixes’ safety as much as everyone else’s.

Alchemists. She’d been so wrong. About so many things.

“We don’t have long before other racers get here,” Kel murmured. If other wild phoenixes hadn’t already taken them out. “We can either hope they let us pass, or try to clear the blockade.”

The other riders muttered at her sides. A moment later, they all reached a silent, fearful agreement: the blockade might be difficult to move, but the wild phoenixes were impossible to survive.

Unbuckling from Savita was possibly the most reckless thing Kel had ever done; she had a much slimmer chance of escape on her own two legs.

With shaking, gloved hands, she and the other riders dismounted their phoenixes and crept toward the barrier.

They just needed to make a hole large for each collared phoenix to squeeze through.

Kel could feel the wild phoenixes’ curiosity poking into her back.

As more CAPR phoenixes and riders soared into the clearing and took in the scene, the wild creatures stalked closer.

Soon joined by more dismounted riders, Kel managed to shift one great log an inch to the left.

It fell to the ground with a dull thud , though none of the phoenixes—tamed or wild—seemed interested in the riders’ attempts.

The collared and uncollared phoenixes were inching closer to each other, curiosity and confusion sharpening the air between them.

With another handful of CAPR competitors pouring in, there were at least fifteen phoenixes closing in on the open space.

Silently, Kel begged her phoenix to stay back—but Savita was closest of all to her flaming kin.

Kel heaved, her muscles aching and leathers slick with sweat.

The rider to her right—a tall woman with auburn hair creeping from her helmet—helped her dislodge a smaller log.

It revealed a narrow gap through the blockade, wide enough for a human to slip through.

They just needed one or two more strategic heaves, and they might have a chance at survival.

Kel reached for another log when she heard a sharp cry above. The sound echoed through the trees in a wind that lifted Kel’s hair. Savita was silent as she looked up to the foliage overhead. Leaves rustled in the gale, and Kel realized that the rest of the clearing had been swept into a hush, too.

There was another cry, singular and sharp, before fire descended through the trees.

The riders fell back as the largest phoenix Kel had ever seen descended into the clearing.

The creature’s great wings knocked into the branches of the blockade and sent the structure tumbling down.

A blaze erupted along the wood and across the ground, as if soaked in gasoline.

The heat blinded Kel and she heard human screams echoing around her.

When her vision cleared, she saw two figures crumpled to the ground, fire and smoke shrouding their bodies.

Kel lurched away from the blockade, toward Savita, before the structure crashed to the ground.

The clearing erupted into an inferno as the wild phoenix landed, no hint of its true form beneath the sunset flames. Around Kel the shrieks of birds and humans mingled, needling her skin.

She couldn’t see much beyond the orange tongues leaping into the sky. Somehow, she had to find Sav through the chaos. The static in her comm had calmed to a defective hum, allowing her own terrified thoughts to fill her head.

“Sav!” she screamed.

She could see the other riders—the ones who were still alive—searching for their phoenixes amid the blaze. Kel pivoted to avoid a climbing fire to her left and collided with the auburn-haired rider. They shared a horrified glance before the other rider leaped between two snaking flames.

Kel had barely turned from the woman before she heard a deafening crunch . Despite the heat, Kel turned back toward the sound, longing to see a crackling fire, a broken log—anything but what she knew had made that noise.

The sunset-colored phoenix held the auburn-haired rider in its beak.

The rider hung limply, like a discarded puppet, her torso flattened in the phoenix’s mouth.

As fire licked dangerously close to Kel’s legs, she stared up at the phoenix helplessly.

At the rider who had helped her clear the blockade just moments ago.

The phoenix tossed aside the dead rider and scoured the clearing.

Kel forced her legs to move, scrambling over mossy boulders, not daring to so much as breathe.

She tripped on a splintered log and caught herself on another rock, jarring her wrist on the impact.

Finally at the clearing’s edge, she hunched behind the nearest tree.

The smoke around her thickened and stole any breath she tried to suck in.

Carefully, she rose onto her toes and reached for a higher branch, desperate for a better vantage despite the climbing fumes.

Even meters off the ground, she could barely see through the growing storm.

A wild, familiar screech sounded overhead. Nausea pooled in her stomach as she looked up.

The fallen blockade had cleared a small opening in the trees to the sky. Above the tree line, Kel spotted two flaming dots, dancing together and then separating. Claws lashed out and wings flailed; Kel could just make out a collar gleaming around the neck of the smaller phoenix— her phoenix.

Kel hadn’t known how Sav would react to untamed phoenixes. Savita was slowly growing more accustomed to the other phoenixes Cristo housed, but those small gains meant nothing here, in a new environment. Did Savita know that this was her true home? Did she know that the wild creatures were her kin?

Kel’s numb fingers dug into the tree. She called out to Savita again and again, her voice weakening.

If Savita heard Kel above the fire’s crackling, the phoenix ignored her.

After a few minutes, Kel jumped down from the tree and pulled out her tele-comm with sweaty hands, fumbling for the app connected to Savita’s collar.

If she could just summon Savita back down through the collar’s commands, they could—

Something sharp jabbed into her upper back. Kel tried to twist around, and the object was shoved deeper into her back, pressing her against the tree. Slowly, the pressure eased, allowing Kel to turn.

A figure—cloaked in the darkness at their back—held a knife up to Kel’s throat.