Page 21 of Tailwind

She shouldered into it, stopping me. ‘Swear.’

‘I called you in for this, didn’t I? I know you’ve got my back.’

Satisfied, she finally released the door. ‘All right, see you next time you’re home.’ She waved over her shoulder as she sauntered off down the tunnel. ‘Say hi to Theo for me.’

All the goodwill she’d built up evaporated. Cam might have just solved a major problem for me, taking on a risk on my behalf just to make my life easier, but she was still my sister who knew exactly how to get under my skin. My stomach churned.

I shut the door and turned back to the aviary. All the gear was cleaned and packed away, ready to be moved to the next circuit. Thorne was gone. The two Kiestral riders were now Bach Lotiere … and me.

For the first time since I’d launched myself into this mess, I started to feel excitement without the weight of dread hanging underneath it.

Though if I wanted to finish higher than ninth place, I was going to have to fly faster and hit harder. I looked at Gottyk, curled up on his bed of copper, fast asleep. His nose let out little jets of steam as he dreamed his scaly dreams.

Together we could do it. There was no one left to get in our way.

CHAPTER SEVEN

My personal space was invaded time and again as I forced my way through the crowd on the platform. The gigantic train floated silently above the copper rails, the two-storey carriages filling up slowly as everyone’s passes were checked before boarding.

Never missing the opportunity for branding, each team made it clear which carriages were theirs. Kiestral was right in the middle, bright orange, with two horizontal white stripes painted along the sides between the upper and lower windows.

Gottyk had already been secured away in his own personal carriage. Bach’s dragon, Rosinder, had a twin carriage right behind. Ahead of the two dragons were the crew compartments. I joined the glacial queue, shrugging my bag up my shoulder for the hundredth time.

After the wild day of pretending to be Thorne, racing my ass off and committing to identity fraud for the foreseeable future, I was looking forward to several uninterrupted hours of sleep. The canyon and city circuits were the closest two on the whole race calendar, but it would still take the better part of a day to get there. Perfect for catching up on some well-earned rest.

I showed my Kiestral ID to the train security. Their handheld augment buzzed the moment it came into contact with the card.

‘Welcome aboard,’ they said, waving me up the final step.

The single long corridor that ran down the carriage was full of Kiestral orange. Not just the uniformed crew that had boarded before me, who were doing an excellent job of blocking my way, but the corridor itself. Orange recessed lighting cast a warm glow across the white floor and veneered blonde wood walls.

It was, essentially, a transportable headquarters. Aside from the two crew quarters and the two dragon carriages, there were several more storage containers filled with everything the team needed to set up at the next race. It was a miracle that it was all possible. More so knowing how small the logistics team was. I appreciated speed when I saw it: the efficiency of packing it all up, unloading, setting up, breaking it back down and repacking it, all within the span of a few days.

I headed to the middle section of the upper floor, furthest from the connecting stairwells at each end of the carriage. Less through traffic, fewer people, less noise.

As soon as I entered the cabin I switched off the lights, kicked off my boots and swung myself into the top bed of one of the two bunks. A small window between the beds lit up the room. I reached out with my foot and knocked the blind down, plunging the room into blissful darkness.

I closed my eyes. The voices of the crew were faraway and muffled. The air temperature was perfectly neutral. The blanket on the bed was smooth and cool. For the first time in twenty-four hours I was able to take a deep breath without launching into action right after.

It was perfect.

The echo of a door vibrated from a nearby cabin. I sighed and rolled on to my side. The arcanite engines that powered the train hummed to life and my body rocked gently as the transport gained momentum.

Voices floated through the closed cabin door. I grabbed the pillow from the bunk below and put it over my head, enveloping myself. I wanted to disappear and only emerge when it was time to race. Hibernating between flight sessions suited me perfectly.

More doors opened, closed. More voices rose and fell, closer and closer to the room.

My eardrums pulsed with my heartbeat, but not enough to drown everything out.

A conversation struck up right outside my door. Another open and closed door. I slithered off the top bunk, landing on my toes. I rolled my shoulders, loosening up in case whoever I found on the other side refused to shut up.

I crossed the small cabin and slammed open the sliding door so hard it ricocheted halfway closed again.

What I hadn’t been expecting was for the person on the other side to look just as pissed off as me.

‘There you are.’ It was Josie. Her brow was furrowed like I’d been purposely hiding from her.

I had, but only because I’d been hiding from everyone.