Page 42 of Tailwind

‘Well that went as well as it could.’ I cupped his big head in my hands, scratching under his chin not just for his comfort, but mine too. ‘Never mind me. How are you doing?’

A hot waft of air was all I got in reply. He’d bounced back already. His leg was twitching in sync with my scratching, like he hadn’t just hit the ground at over a hundred miles an hour.

‘Well, you’ll be pleased to know that was the last disaster, bud. This time tomorrow Theo will be telling everyone what we’ve done.’ My voice cracked. Saying it out loud made it feel far more real.

Of course he’d been the one to find me. It wouldn’t be the first time Theo was the reason I lost my chance to fly in Volitant either. My lack of surprise at my terrible luck didn’t help me feel any better, so I stretched out on the copper pellets next to Gottyk and considered never moving again.

‘Ah shit,’ I groaned, receiving no sympathy from Gottyk as he drifted off to sleep. ‘I have to tell Josie.’

I shouldn’t have told her.

Josie was sitting on the floor of the cabin, leaning against the bottom bunk with the contents of our dinner laid out between us. I’d relayed the post-race events to her as we’d unpacked the food, delaying the news until we were on board the train.

The smell of spiced tomatoes leaked from the thin pastry and the skewered meat steam was wafting towards me, making my mouth water. I’d had time to tuck away my disappointments and was now fully focused on replenishing the energy I’d spent during my nightmare of a day.

Not that I could eat yet. Josie had been frozen since I mentioned the attack and had only become icier the more I’d talked. I’d handled enough grouchy apex predators to know not to make any sudden movements, no matter how much my stomach was begging for the food.

She picked out a parcel of roasted vegetables, folded into the best food shape – a triangle. I eyed her warily and decided it was worth the risk to try one of the skewers.

‘You didn’t see their face?’ Her voice was unnervingly calm.

‘No, but it was a man.’

That at least got an eye roll. ‘Well that narrows it down. They were in a Volitant uniform?’

‘Yes, but it’s not like those are hard to st— find.’ I didn’t think Josie would go out of her way to report Cam, but my sister had always emphasized the need for caution around discussing the family trade.

‘And there’s been nothing else? No clues about who it could have been or why?’

‘No,’ I said as I chewed through the first piece of food, trying not to drool and further Josie’s opinion that I was an animal. ‘I’m not worried though. They’re not really very good at this. They told me I’m not being paid to win, but I didn’t even finish. Like, at least have a clear message if you’re going to terrorize me. I finished ninth last week. Why didn’t they shock me then?’

Josie’s eyes flicked back and forth like she was reading some invisible writing on the floor between us. ‘Thorne hasn’t been alone since the last race.’

‘Yeah, I have. I’m by myself in the aviary all the time.’ I swallowed the last of the meat, sighing as the hunger cramps began to fade.

She shook her head. ‘No, you’ve been there too. Remember, we’re the only ones who know the real Thorne is gone. As far as everyone else is concerned, he’s been in the aviary with his keeper. When you DNF’d and left the interviews by yourself everyone could see that Lena, Gottyk, Martan … none of them were with you – Thorne.’

I shrugged. ‘Okay, so they’ve been holding a grudge since before this race. Welcome to the club. Most people have a reason to want Thorne vomiting on the steps of Mirendi Tower.’

Josie went back to her eye twitches as I tore through another skewer.

‘He’s finished no higher than seventh since coming out of retirement last season, so the position isn’t the problem. That means it’s something else.’ She dropped her pastry back into the container mid-thought and started rifling through one of her binders.

I leaned over and saved it. It seemed a waste not to.

‘He hasn’t been losing every race, but there’s something he has been consistent with.’ Her eyes widened at me like I should have been finishing her sentence. ‘The Bolls, Lena! He’s finished behind Mac and Gordi in every race.’

‘Oh shit!’ There was something I’d been missing. Josie seemed pleased with my reaction, but it wasn’t for her. ‘The paper!’

‘What paper?’

‘The bit of paper that was in the aviary before the Kiestral race, it had coloured dots on. I tossed it away because it was just some leftover corner of a page, but it was …’ I counted off the colours on my fingers as I placed them in my head. ‘Yeah, it could have been either Ballenir, Kiestral, Mirendi or …’ I counted out on my other hand. ‘Mirendi, Kiestral, Ballenir.’

Josie’s lips were drawn tight enough that the colour began to drain from them. ‘You didn’t think to mention this earlier?’

‘Mention what? It didn’t mean anything. There were also empty alcohol bottles, messed-up pain augments and an unconscious Thorne in the aviary, all of which required more attention than some bit of paper.’

She sighed. Worry seeped into her expression. ‘This is a bigger problem than Theo Vaspre knowing about you.’