Page 113 of Unraveling Fate

“There isn’t enough road to outrun them. We need to get to the field.”

The sky to the east hung dark and glittering with stars, but orange and purple still burned their trumpet song to the west. Ahead, the asphalt ran into the dirt road through the woods.

“Watch out!” Reyna pointed to another set of headlights shooting out of the trees to cut them off. Someone fired from the passenger seat. The shot thwacked against the front of the Ferrari.

Cadenza yanked the wheel towards the racetrack, the backend of the car floating through the turn. The earthsong pounded beneath their tires. Cadenza called it to her, aimed at the farthest Audi, and let go. The car flipped, a chunk of the front end shearing off.

The Ferrari smashed through the racetrack’s locked gate, blowing it off its hinges. The gate sailed through the air and crashed into the second Audi’s windshield. Headlights spun through the near-dark and hit the barrier.

Reyna whooped, bracing herself with a hand on the roof of the car.

“Yes!” Cadenza’s gloat turned to chagrin as the lemon-yellow Lamborghini that had cut them off at the woods pulled alongside the Ferrari. “That’s the one from the showroom! They must’ve stolen it,” Cadenza said in indignation. At least Drostan had let the staff go home early this evening due to the wedding. There wouldn’t have been anyone for the Silence to harm.

“Why didn’t that trigger the alarm?” Reyna asked. “Where are the police?”

“Vasilios made things go quiet when I was around him. Maybe he stifled the alarm somehow?”

The Lamborghini slammed into the side of the Berlinetta with a crunch.

“Hey!” Cadenza glared at the driver. “That’s my fiancé, idiota!” She shifted gears. The Ferrari’s growl deepened, and the car leapt ahead. She opened the throttle, screeching around the turn, and barreled down the straightaway.

The momentum from the turn sent the loops of Thread jangling down her arm like bangles. Echoes of the earthsong in the Thread rippled and spread like sonar waves, over her, over Reyna, into the Lamborghini, and across the Silence driver.

Everywhere the waves touched, a tapestry appeared. A weaving showed for each person—friend or enemy—in and over, under and through. Cadenza’s mouth opened in awe of the vision.

“Cadenza!” Reyna grabbed her arm, yanking her attention back to the track. The Audi with the smashed windshield had doubled back and was waiting for them at the front gate.

“Hold on!” She smashed the pedal down harder and cranked the wheel to the left. The Ferrari slid sideways down the track, smoke rising from the drift, and Cadenza sent the Berlinetta speeding back the way they had come.

“I think you’ve been chasing the wrong career, girl!” Reyna clung to her door.

The Audi spun around after them, and a Silence cultist leaned out the window, firing at them. Cadenza guided the Berlinetta through a tight slalom to dodge.

“There’s another exit at the west end, there.” She pointed with her chin and stole another peek in the rearview mirror.The Lamborghini had turned about and was gaining on them. “Hopefully it’s not—mannaggia.”

A padlock connected the chain link halves of the fence.

“You’re gonna tell me to hold on again, aren’t you?” Reyna asked.

“Yup. Sorry.”

The side mirrors flew off and one of the headlights went dark as the Ferrari’s front end smashed into the fence. The gate halves ricocheted off the exit tunnel walls.

Past the exit, the wedding lights twinkled over a battle. A body flew through the air, the silhouette of a wolf leaping after it. Cadenza steered the Ferrari toward the arch at the south end of the clearing, the Lamborghini and the Audi on their tail.

“The sun’s all the way down,” Reyna called. Her voice bounced with the ruts and bumps of the back acreage.

Bodhran and timpani filtered through the crunch of tires on dirt. Cadenza punched it to the arch behind the Norroways and smashed down the brakes.

“Out of the car! Quick!”

Grit peppered her face as the Lamborghini carved furrows in the dirt and slid to a stop. The Ferrari bucked and morphed, and Taran shifted into being, panting through the pain. The other driver dove out of his vehicle and barreled into him before he could stand. In one motion Taran rolled to his feet, hefted the cultist with both hands, and launched him into the middle of the field.

“What is going on?” He reached for Cadenza. Bodhran played full speed up and down her arms as he checked her for injuries.

“Silence.” Reyna pointed to the others. Drostan, Ruairi, and Cyrus melted between wolf and man, ripping through a thick mob of cultists, growls and grunts accenting their attacks.

The Silence worshippers made no noise.