Page 143 of Tailwind

One …

Ellas landed.

Noise exploded in my ears. The comms were open, the cheering from the Kiestral crew flooded into my helmet. Orange uniforms filled the plateau, rushing at us. Then they were surrounding me. I slipped from Gottyk’s back, keeping one hand on him to steady myself. My legs trembled as my feet crunched against the ground.

Every bit of adrenaline that had kept me going during the race drained away. Not that I needed to hold myself much longer – the Kiestral crew swept me up. As I was lifted on to their shoulders I watched the same thing happen in green and purple, either side of me, as the Victrolia and Ballenir teams welcomed their riders and dragons back to the finish line.

I’d won. Everything I’d done had been worth it. Everything Josie had done had been worth it. Trusting Theo had actually helped. Bach Lotiere had made sure I was ready. After the doubt, the frustration, the anger … it had all turned out okay.

I hauled off my helmet, sucked in the fresh air and looked at Gottyk. His warm brown eyes watched me over the heads of our team.

‘We did it.’ I whispered it, but I knew he could hear me. In that moment it felt like I could be thrown across the continent and my dragon would still be by my side.

‘That was the most reckless, chaotic, out-of-order flying I’ve ever seen in my life.’

The jostling of the crew stopped as they froze collectively. I was lowered down to the ground. The crew parted to make way for Bach. His face was as stoic as ever, his thick blond brows straight, the piercing blue eyes looking into my soul.

He walked to me, making the Kiestral crew back off, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

‘Which makes it a very effective argument for this to be the greatest year of racing.’ He cracked a smile.

The wind was knocked out of me as the colours of the other teams blended with ours. Theo barrelled into me, throwing his arms around my shoulders and pulling me into a hug. I could only glimpse Colly as he bounced into view with Quinn lifted up on to his shoulders.

The rest of the dragons must have landed, because the cast crews swarmed around us, sending the celebration across the continents.

‘Congratulations,’ Theo whispered into my ear, hardly audible over the crowd. ‘I totally let you overtake me. You know that, right?’

I pulled away enough to see his face and thump a fist on his chest. ‘You’re a dickhead, you know that, right?’

He gave me the full Vaspre smile experience. The eyes, the dimples, the teeth … and it was genuine. Both of us would be on the podium for the last race of the season. It had taken five long years, but finally I could celebrate with him, like I’d always wanted.

I looked around for the person I needed to see the most. Josie hadn’t come to see me, maybe lost in the sea of people. It threw me off. Suddenly the celebration felt false. I needed to throw my strategist in the air while she complained. I needed to crush my best friend’s ribs and tell her how happy I was to have her … but she wasn’t there.

Something was wrong.

As the crew celebrated, showering Gottyk with attention, I pulled myself away from the crush. I pushed through, feeling the heavy pats on my back from everyone I passed until the crowd thinned. Only the casting crews followed me, getting ready to ask me inane questions before I reached the podium to get the trophy.

I couldn’t do that without Josie.

‘Josie?’ I lifted my helmet back up and spoke into the comms, unsure whether she was still on the other end.

‘Yeah, I’m here.’ She was quiet. I could barely hear her over the din of everyone else.

Something was very, very wrong.

‘Lena, they gave you a penalty,’ she said.

I pushed my helmet up a little, getting the comms closer for her to hear me. ‘Yeah, I know. I counted before Ellas landed. He was over ten seconds behind.’ I turned around, looking for her.

I shouldered a pushy caster aside and saw her, standing alone. One hand was to her ear for the comms, the other was nearly breaking a pencil in half. I rushed over, gripping on to her arms.

‘We won.’

She shook her head.

‘We won,’ I insisted.

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes.