Coup howled as he sailed across the finish line.
Fourth place.The words scraped like talons through Kel’s mind.
“How the hell did he pull that off?” Oska screamed through the comms. A second later, Kel heard a strange, frenziedjingle, followed by a squawk from Sav.
“What’s that noise? What are you doing?” Kel shouted.
Oska didn’t reply. Squinting, Kel spotted Oska fumbling with the buckles around her legs. Oska hissed as the metal blistered her gloved fingers.
“What the hell are you doing?” Kel screamed. “Unbuckle your legs and you’re dead.”
“We need to dosomethingto place!” Oska shouted. The strain in her voice sent shivers down Kel’s spine.
“Not this,” Dira said breathlessly. “Do you have a death wish? It’ll just mean we need to find a new rider—”
Oska made a small noise, something between a whimper and a laugh. “You really think that arrogant shit is a better rider than me?”
“No,” Kel lied. “But why would you want to imitate somethingWarren Coupersdecided was a good idea?”
Oska’s hands kept fumbling at the buckles pulled tight around her ankles and calves. Kel imagined the rider’s face had turned as stark-white as her own knuckles.
“I can do this,” Oska rasped.
“Even if the move was doable—we’re running out of time.” Kel’sears started ringing. Her heart became a wild, caged animal in her throat. “Please. Oska. It’s not worth it.”
Oska’s fingers merely moved faster. She freed her right leg, straining to keep a grip of Sav’s sides as she shifted over to her left leg.
Kel felt lightheaded. She couldn’t believe Oska hadn’t immediately flown off Sav with one leg free, moving at such wild speeds. All it would take was one errant breeze, a bump from another phoenix, and Oska would go flying—still tethered to Savita. She’d be a limp puppet chained to a flaming, adrenaline-drunk god.
“Stop, Oska!” Rube screamed from Kel’s side.
Oska didn’t respond.
“You do this, you’re off the Howlers,” Kel shouted, a desperate, unconvincing threat as Oska flicked off the last buckle on her left leg.
“Don’t do this, Oz,” Dira breathed.
Kel was almost too afraid to glance up at the overhead screens, magnifying every terrible, granular detail of Oska’s fate.
With trembling hands, Oska gripped the pommel and tried to lift her legs up behind her, lying flat on her stomach. Her arms wobbled with the strain. Three fingers lost their grip as Savita released an earsplitting shriek and pinned her wings, all too eager to recreate Coup’s stunt.
A sob echoed down the comms. Pressed against the saddle, Kel imagined Oska’s leathers burning away as easily as paper over a lighter.
“Jump, Oska!Jump!” Kel screamed.
The ground below Oska was packed with hard dirt, but breaking a few bones was better than what would come next.
Oska refused to loosen her grip, and Sav barreled between the two phoenixes directly ahead. Sav tilted slightly to the right as onephoenix shifted, sending Oska tipping, too. Without a tight enough grip to keep her low against the saddle, Oska collided with the adjacent phoenix’s wing.
The live feed from Oska’s helmet camera turned to static. Beyond their booth, Kel could still see their rider being tossed into the air like a rag doll. Talons glinted, and Kel heard the sound of shredding leather through her comm. Nausea roiled through her.
Oska screamed; a nightmarish sound ripped from her throat. Wind and static broke her cry as she tumbled through the sky. Falling.
A deafeningthudechoed through the Howlers’ comms.
The line went dead.
TWO
