Good vs. Evil High (17 page)

I heard a door open as I left the arena
hallway behind and then loads of chatty kids poured in, only
missing me by a couple of seconds.

That was when something hit me hard enough
that I stopped in my tracks. Luke had only been there a few weeks,
like me. And Bane was recruiting a Cinder the night I was
recruited. It must have been Luke.

Chapter
Twenty-One

~ North Haven Victor ~

With only a few minutes until go time, Coach
Ling led me through the slim hallway that wrapped all the way
around the arena’s floor to the entry point. We stood facing the
door as I waited for her to give me the word. I knew my opponent
was waiting as well on the other side of the wall.

But my opponent wasn’t what was making me
sweat and squeeze my thumbs over and over. It was the people in the
stands. I could hear the roar of their voices blending together and
a very excited, muffled announcer. What if I lost? What if I
fell?

“It’s almost time, Kristine,” Coach Ling
said. “Are you ready?” I nodded. “Good.” She reached out and pushed
the door open without warning. For a few seconds I stood there,
shell-shocked.

“Here they are, Thorn and Kristine Fayre,” a
man said. His voice echoed through the entire structure. My ears
nearly burst for all the screaming and cheering. The bright lights
from above were just as blinding. I realized Thorn was running
toward the two race tracks laid in the middle of everything, so I
jogged after her. Looking up, I saw myself on a ginormous screen
and flashed a smile, hoping it would give the illusion that I was
really confident and pumped about running. “...from Broken Ridge,
Wyoming, she was recruited after risking her life to save a little
girl from a fire...”

Smoke shot out of the ground to my right,
nearly knocking me over with the shock of it.

I looked ahead and saw Thorn smile back at me
before she shot forward. It seemed she wanted to start the race
early, but I figured there was no need to risk embarrassing myself
before I had to. She reached the starting point way ahead of me, my
fear building all the while.

That’s when I realized no one else was on the
field. How would we know when to go? What if there was some weird
thing that signaled us to start and I didn’t go and Thorn left me
in her dust? I would be humiliated.

As sheer terror began to overwhelm me, I
leaned my head down and closed my eyes. I tried to remember Luke’s
last birthday before the accident. He was turning twelve years old.
My mom and I woke up early to make him a triple layer chocolate
cake with chocolate chips poured all over the icing. The CD he
wanted was wrapped and waiting for him on the table. We even got
him a secondhand skateboard, since he’d always wanted one. I think
he came over expecting something small and a “Happy Birthday!” from
me, but that was it. I remember the knock on the door. My mom and I
called out, “Come in,” as we picked up the cake and walked out of
the kitchen. The squeaky old door opened. The surrounding noise of
the arena was replaced by the memory of my mom and me singing
“Happy Birthday” and Luke’s face filling with joy. The candles’
lights flickered on the cake as we walked and Luke looked happier
than I’d ever seen him.

“Is everyone ready for the Winter
Competitions to begin?!” I was brought back to reality when the
already deafening cheers rose in volume. “All right, Kristine and
Thorn, take your starting positions.”

I leaned forward on one leg, ready to take
off. The look on Luke’s face when he opened the skateboard, even
happier than when he saw the cake, brought my out-of-control pulse
down. Nothing seemed quite as scary. I focused on the finish line
at the end of the stretch, blocking out the girl beside me and
everyone else.

A gun fired. I pushed myself forward as hard
as I could. I caught the streak that was Thorn out of the corner of
my eye, and then it was gone. All I could see was the fifty-yard
mark. If I could keep from falling, keep focusing on better days, I
would be all right. Time hardly seemed to move as my legs raced
against it.

And then I was there, turning around because
my opponent wasn’t. I won! Only three quarters of the way down the
track, she slowed down and stopped. If she couldn’t win, she
wouldn’t even finish.

The crowd, which had gotten quiet for however
long that took, went crazy. One side cheered and the other booed.
It felt amazing.

Thorn gave me a terrible look and turned
away, leaving the field with her head hanging.

Turning slowly around, I looked up at all the
faces. The wonderful adrenaline of winning that race was like
nothing I’d felt before.

A man was running toward me on the field from
below the merging point that split the two schools up above. I
recognized Mr. Barnard, the history teacher. I wasn’t familiar with
him, but I’d heard about him from Nadine. He was carrying a white
ribbon with something shiny dangling from it. “Congratulations,
Kristine,” he said when he reached me, placing the ribbon around my
neck.

I held up the silver angel wings hanging on
it. Tiny letters were engraved along the edge of the wing on the
right.
North Haven Victor.
“Thanks,” I said to Mr.
Barnard.

“No, thank you. North Haven gets the first
point in this year’s competition.” He grabbed my hand and held it
up in the air as the entire left side erupted again. “Is there
anything you want to say?” Mr. Barnard said, holding his microphone
out for me.

“Yeah,” I held up the beautiful wings. “This
is for Rose. She should be the one standing out here accepting it.”
I smiled as I let it fall, thinking of Luke and feeling like he had
a great deal to do with my victory as well. “And I should thank my
favorite guy. He probably has no idea what I’m talking about, but
he played a big part in my winning this race. I shouldn’t say more,
but hopefully he knows who he is.”

“Ohhh, leaving us all hanging with a little
mystery. Well, let’s have our next competitors out here.”

Adora and a Cinder came running towards us. I
made a break for the door I came in through, grateful Thorn was
nowhere in sight. I doubted she was a very good sport when it came
to losing.

Back in the locker room, I was met by warm
hugs from my roommates. “You won your first race,” Harmony said. “I
bet you’ll have six of those medals before we go home.”

“Six? I thought there were only three
races.”

“Two races three times.”

“You mean I’ve gotta race again tonight?”

“You didn’t know?” Nadine asked.

I shook my head. How could Coach Ling not
have mentioned that earlier? She was officially my least favorite
coach.

“I’m surprised Roman’s not here,” I said,
thinking that at least I had that to be happy about.

“Of course not,” Sassy said. “He’s a
boy.”

“Right.” I shook my head again, thinking how
stupid I was not to have realized girls and boys would be kept
separate in the locker rooms. I decided I would stay in there until
competitions were done for the night and go straight to meet Luke.
I could avoid Roman altogether and then I wouldn’t have to try and
find a way around telling him my plans, because that would just
cause a bunch of pointless drama.

Coach Ling came over to pat me on the back
and hand me a bottle of water. “Good job, Fayre. I knew you’d win.
After Adora runs, it’s Anna’s turn. Then the guys’ track teams
race; then you’re up again for the hundred-yard dash. So don’t go
anywhere.”

“Kay.”

When she left the room my friends and I sat
down to talk about how awesome my win was.

* * * *

I won the hundred-yard dash, too! And it was
just as unforgettable as the first race was. I’d never been cheered
on like that in my life. I was beginning to feel like a true track
star.

Luke remained in my mind through it all.
Happy memories and looking forward to being with him when it was
all over got me through it, because I knew, no matter what the
outcome, we’d have fun together afterward.

I was practically bursting by the time my
roommates and I walked out of the competitors’ room and headed for
the red section. The plan was they would walk me through there and
then through the blue section, so I wouldn’t be left alone until I
was safely with Luke.

“We’re off to a good start,” Nadine said as
we walked. “Four wins for the girls and five for the guys. Only
three losses.”

“Kristine’s a good luck charm,” Sassy said.
“Too bad she missed Tommy and Charlotte’s comedy act just before
her second run. Even the Cinders were laughing their pants
off.”

Harmony couldn’t stop laughing as we left the
hallway and entered the mass of excited kids heading for the
arena’s exit. “They did this bit where Charlotte’s the dog and
Tommy’s her master, but they can’t agree on who’s in charge...” She
stopped to wipe a tear from her eye, she was laughing so hard.

“It
was
pretty funny,” Nadine said.
“Hopefully they’ll do another sketch and you’ll get to see it.”

“Hey, Kristine,” Roman said as he made his
way through the crowd.

“Not now,” I muttered to myself.

“You won. Congratulations.” He leaned over to
kiss me. I turned my head and hugged him instead. “You’re probably
hungry. Why don’t we go have dinner?”

I was hungry, but I wanted to see Luke more
than anything else at that moment. “Sorry, I’m supposed to meet
someone after the competition.”

He glanced around me, probably checking to
see that my roommates were all there. “Who?”

“A friend. I’ll see you later, okay?” I began
walking away from him.

“Is it Knight?”

I shrugged and kept going, knowing I hadn’t
heard the end of it. But I didn’t care. I was going to see
Luke.

Harmony kept talking about the comedy thing
as we crossed over to blue. I wondered, as we approached the
dividing wall, if I was supposed to go to his side or if he was
supposed to come to mine. Stopping in front of the door that
separated us from the Cinders, I looked over at Sassy. “Should I go
in?”

“If you want to see Luke.”

I looked back at the door. Everyone on the
other side would hate me even more, now that I’d beaten them.

Opening it a crack, I looked around the murky
hallway for Luke. A group of kids standing against a wall muttered
to each other as they glowered at me, but I didn’t see him.

Something unseen grabbed my arm and pulled me
in, throwing a dark cloak around me and pulling it over my head.
“AHH—” I began screaming, but something else unseen wrapped around
me and covered my mouth.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

~ Riding a Cyclone ~

“What’s wrong?” Sassy shrieked, coming in
after me.

“Sshh, sh, sh, sh. Relax, it’s Luke.” The
thing holding me whispered in my ear. He moved his hand away so I
could tell Sassy it was okay.

Then he was pulling me down the hallway. I
kept my head low so no one would recognize me. If there were any
markings to tell the sections on the Cinder side of the arena
apart, I didn’t see them. It felt like we were at least halfway
around the Cinder side before we stopped in front of two closed
doorways. No one was anywhere to be seen.

Luke slid into the dark space between the
doors and pulled me through it with him. My grip on his hand
tightened as complete darkness wrapped around us both. “No,” I said
when he stopped and tried to let go of my hand.

“It’s all right.” He took it away, the only
thing that was making me feel safe in a place of complete despair,
and lit a lighter. It wasn’t enough to see where we were until he
used it to light a torch on the ground. Then I could see the
stretch of tunnel we were in. Luke hung the torch on the wall
beside two thick black suits. “Put this on over what you’re
wearing,” he said, handing me one.

“Why?”

“Cause I’m taking you outside and I don’t
want you to freeze to death.”

“Oookay.”

We both pulled one on over our school
uniforms, so to speak, and followed the hallway until we reached a
solid wall with what looked like a small speaker hanging at eye
level. Luke pressed his hand against it and the wall slid slowly
apart. An icy blast whipped against my face.

“There’s a mask and goggles in the right
pocket,” Luke said as he reached for the back of my neck. He did
something with the back of my suit and I felt the whole thing begin
to warm up.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling the ski mask over
my head.

I took a few steps out onto the snow. It was
a clear night, plenty of silver starlight to make the white carpet
glitter at my feet.

Luke pulled something out of his pocket, a
very long and slender triangle. He kind of spun it as he held it up
and let it fall. With a metallic flash and ring, a series of long
triangles slid out and around until a circle maybe three feet long
was hovering just above the ground at his feet. It didn’t make a
sound, but bobbed gently up and down above the ground.

“What’s that?” I asked Luke.

“The Cinders’ invention for this year’s
competition. Well, it’s a replica of the original. Come on.” He
stepped onto it and held out a hand to me.

“What does it do?” I stepped onto the edge,
expecting it to tilt with my weight, but it didn’t move at all.

“Watch.” He spread his feet apart slightly
and put his arms around me as he pulled me close. “Cyclone two,
rise.” There was a ringing
clink
as the thing lifted up, and
then I was the one pulling Luke closer.

I was sure I would fall, but we went up
slowly and smoothly. “Is this thing safe?” I asked.

“Yeah, my feet are locked in and I’m not
going to let you fall. It’s been tested a hundred times and
nothing’s ever gone wrong.”