It was only a distant buzzing which managed to break through my consciousness. ‘Byron?’ I murmured, as my insides squirmed. ‘Stop.’
His fingers brushed my skin, searing in a way I’d not thought possible. ‘Mm?’
‘Drone.’ I couldn’t even form proper sentences. The buzzing got louder and I pushed him away. ‘There’s a drone coming.’
His breath was ragged as mine. We stared at each other as the buzzing got louder and the drone appeared, hovering above us.
‘They should have banned those things. It’s not like they’ve been used before at the Games.’
‘It’s a brave new world.’
He eyed me. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I suppose it is.’
‘Byron!’ a voice called.
We turned. The four other Moncrieffe competitors – Jamie included – appeared round the corner. The spell was well and truly broken.
‘Your Clan like working together,’ I said in an undertone.
‘Tactics,’ he muttered, raising a hand in greeting.
‘Where’s Tipsy?’ Jamie asked.
‘Ahead.’
I ignored the suspicious glances they sent me. Jamie frowned. ‘How did you get here, Integrity?’
I shrugged and grinned. ‘Tactics.’ I wiggled my fingers at them. ‘See ya!’ Then I took off, pelting back into the woods. There was still a challenge to win.
Chapter Sixteen
There were shouts from behind me but it didn’t take long for me to pull away from the group of irritated Moncrieffes. Byron wasn’t close enough to pull any tricks like untying my shoelaces with his telekinesis Gift – and somehow I didn’t think he’d try that again. In this world, where the word honour was bandied about as if it was as common as oxygen, I thought he probably had some. Apart from when it came to Tipsania.
‘Uh Integrity,’ Bob said, emerging from his hiding place once more, ‘that was some kiss. I’m still blushing.’
‘Does voyeurism come as part and parcel of being a genie?’ I asked, avoiding a low-lying branch.
He ignored my question. He was probably upset that his prediction about everything ending in tears hadn’t come to pass – not yet, anyway. ‘You knew I was there,’ he sang out. ‘You were trying to titillate me, weren’t you?’
‘Sure, Bob,’ I muttered sarcastically. ‘That entire episode was purely for your benefit.’
‘I knew it!’ he crowed. ‘You can’t fool me!’
Whatever. I kept running. Judging by Byron’s last clue, there wasn’t far to go. If I concentrated and avoided going off track, I’d still catch Tipsania in no time. It helped that I had the tracks to guide me. Adrenaline fired through me; I couldn’t wait to see the look on Aifric’s and those damned Carnegies’ faces when I got back into first position despite all their efforts to stop me. Or kill me.
Now that I was on my own, I reached the point where we’d left Tipsania very quickly. Her small footprints diverged off to the east and I called up another mental image of Byron’s map. Good old Tipsy still seemed to be heading in the right direction. All I had to do was catch her up.
I continued with my fast pace, ripping through the undergrowth in a way that would have impressed even Travis. The trees were getting denser but I was spry enough to dodge through them without slowing down. No problem – or it wouldn’t have been if the sky hadn’t already started to darken. By the time I reached Tipsy, I could barely see a thing.
No wonder I’d caught up with her so quickly; she was on the edge of a frozen loch and was eyeing it with trepidation. I wasn’t in a hurry to test the thickness of that ice either. Climbing up an icy expanse was one thing; falling through ice into frigid water was something else entirely.
As I approached, she turned and tossed her head disdainfully when she recognised me. ‘Hi Tipsania!’ I called out cheerily.
She looked away. ‘Where’s Byron?’ she asked. ‘Or have you stabbed him in the back so you can get in front?’
The guilty memory of our kiss surfaced briefly before I pushed it down again. ‘Oh, I’m sure he’s on his way, along with the rest of his Moncrieffe crew.’
Something flashed in her eyes. ‘The rest of his Clan have caught up?’
