Good vs. Evil High

by April Marcom

  He smiled sheepishly, looking more like the young Luke I remembered. “Yeah.”

  I closed the space between us and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thanks, Luke. It means a lot...I’ll win it for you,” I said as we let each other go.

  He turned his arms inward and disappeared. In the shadows of the bathroom entryway, I couldn’t see the hand that placed itself on my cheek. I couldn’t help but lay one of mine over it as I leaned against his warm skin. It felt like a dream to feel him when I couldn’t see him, like it wasn’t quite real.

  “I’ll win it for you, too,” he whispered so close to my ear I felt his lips brush against it. A thrill and a shiver washed over me as his touch was taken away, and then I didn’t know where he was. I stood there for a minute, wishing he would reappear, because the sensation I was feeling was too good to walk away from.

  But I was forced to walk away in the end, because I knew I’d already been gone too long and that he might not even be there.

  I heard a door open as I left the arena hallway behind and then loads of chatty kids poured in, only missing me by a couple of seconds.

  That was when something hit me hard enough that I stopped in my tracks. Luke had only been there a few weeks, like me. And Bane was recruiting a Cinder the night I was recruited. It must have been Luke.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ~ North Haven Victor ~

  With only a few minutes until go time, Coach Ling led me through the slim hallway that wrapped all the way around the arena’s floor to the entry point. We stood facing the door as I waited for her to give me the word. I knew my opponent was waiting as well on the other side of the wall.

  But my opponent wasn’t what was making me sweat and squeeze my thumbs over and over. It was the people in the stands. I could hear the roar of their voices blending together and a very excited, muffled announcer. What if I lost? What if I fell?

  “It’s almost time, Kristine,” Coach Ling said. “Are you ready?” I nodded. “Good.” She reached out and pushed the door open without warning. For a few seconds I stood there, shell-shocked.

  “Here they are, Thorn and Kristine Fayre,” a man said. His voice echoed through the entire structure. My ears nearly burst for all the screaming and cheering. The bright lights from above were just as blinding. I realized Thorn was running toward the two race tracks laid in the middle of everything, so I jogged after her. Looking up, I saw myself on a ginormous screen and flashed a smile, hoping it would give the illusion that I was really confident and pumped about running. “...from Broken Ridge, Wyoming, she was recruited after risking her life to save a little girl from a fire...”

  Smoke shot out of the ground to my right, nearly knocking me over with the shock of it.

  I looked ahead and saw Thorn smile back at me before she shot forward. It seemed she wanted to start the race early, but I figured there was no need to risk embarrassing myself before I had to. She reached the starting point way ahead of me, my fear building all the while.

  That’s when I realized no one else was on the field. How would we know when to go? What if there was some weird thing that signaled us to start and I didn’t go and Thorn left me in her dust? I would be humiliated.

  As sheer terror began to overwhelm me, I leaned my head down and closed my eyes. I tried to remember Luke’s last birthday before the accident. He was turning twelve years old. My mom and I woke up early to make him a triple layer chocolate cake with chocolate chips poured all over the icing. The CD he wanted was wrapped and waiting for him on the table. We even got him a secondhand skateboard, since he’d always wanted one. I think he came over expecting something small and a “Happy Birthday!” from me, but that was it. I remember the knock on the door. My mom and I called out, “Come in,” as we picked up the cake and walked out of the kitchen. The squeaky old door opened. The surrounding noise of the arena was replaced by the memory of my mom and me singing “Happy Birthday” and Luke’s face filling with joy. The candles’ lights flickered on the cake as we walked and Luke looked happier than I’d ever seen him.

  “Is everyone ready for the Winter Competitions to begin?!” I was brought back to reality when the already deafening cheers rose in volume. “All right, Kristine and Thorn, take your starting positions.”

  I leaned forward on one leg, ready to take off. The look on Luke’s face when he opened the skateboard, even happier than when he saw the cake, brought my out-of-control pulse down. Nothing seemed quite as scary. I focused on the finish line at the end of the stretch, blocking out the girl beside me and everyone else.

  A gun fired. I pushed myself forward as hard as I could. I caught the streak that was Thorn out of the corner of my eye, and then it was gone. All I could see was the fifty-yard mark. If I could keep from falling, keep focusing on better days, I would be all right. Time hardly seemed to move as my legs raced against it.

  And then I was there, turning around because my opponent wasn’t. I won! Only three quarters of the way down the track, she slowed down and stopped. If she couldn’t win, she wouldn’t even finish.

  The crowd, which had gotten quiet for however long that took, went crazy. One side cheered and the other booed. It felt amazing.

  Thorn gave me a terrible look and turned away, leaving the field with her head hanging.

  Turning slowly around, I looked up at all the faces. The wonderful adrenaline of winning that race was like nothing I’d felt before.

  A man was running toward me on the field from below the merging point that split the two schools up above. I recognized Mr. Barnard, the history teacher. I wasn’t familiar with him, but I’d heard about him from Nadine. He was carrying a white ribbon with something shiny dangling from it. “Congratulations, Kristine,” he said when he reached me, placing the ribbon around my neck.

  I held up the silver angel wings hanging on it. Tiny letters were engraved along the edge of the wing on the right. North Haven Victor. “Thanks,” I said to Mr. Barnard.

  “No, thank you. North Haven gets the first point in this year’s competition.” He grabbed my hand and held it up in the air as the entire left side erupted again. “Is there anything you want to say?” Mr. Barnard said, holding his microphone out for me.

  “Yeah,” I held up the beautiful wings. “This is for Rose. She should be the one standing out here accepting it.” I smiled as I let it fall, thinking of Luke and feeling like he had a great deal to do with my victory as well. “And I should thank my favorite guy. He probably has no idea what I’m talking about, but he played a big part in my winning this race. I shouldn’t say more, but hopefully he knows who he is.”

  “Ohhh, leaving us all hanging with a little mystery. Well, let’s have our next competitors out here.”

  Adora and a Cinder came running towards us. I made a break for the door I came in through, grateful Thorn was nowhere in sight. I doubted she was a very good sport when it came to losing.

  Back in the locker room, I was met by warm hugs from my roommates. “You won your first race,” Harmony said. “I bet you’ll have six of those medals before we go home.”

  “Six? I thought there were only three races.”

  “Two races three times.”

  “You mean I’ve gotta race again tonight?”

  “You didn’t know?” Nadine asked.

  I shook my head. How could Coach Ling not have mentioned that earlier? She was officially my least favorite coach.

  “I’m surprised Roman’s not here,” I said, thinking that at least I had that to be happy about.

  “Of course not,” Sassy said. “He’s a boy.”

  “Right.” I shook my head again, thinking how stupid I was not to have realized girls and boys would be kept separate in the locker rooms. I decided I would stay in there until competitions were done for the night and go straight to meet Luke. I could avoid Roman altogether and then I wouldn’t have to try and find a way around telling him my plans, because that would just cause a bunch of pointless drama.

  Coac
h Ling came over to pat me on the back and hand me a bottle of water. “Good job, Fayre. I knew you’d win. After Adora runs, it’s Anna’s turn. Then the guys’ track teams race; then you’re up again for the hundred-yard dash. So don’t go anywhere.”

  “Kay.”

  When she left the room my friends and I sat down to talk about how awesome my win was.

  * * * *

  I won the hundred-yard dash, too! And it was just as unforgettable as the first race was. I’d never been cheered on like that in my life. I was beginning to feel like a true track star.

  Luke remained in my mind through it all. Happy memories and looking forward to being with him when it was all over got me through it, because I knew, no matter what the outcome, we’d have fun together afterward.

  I was practically bursting by the time my roommates and I walked out of the competitors’ room and headed for the red section. The plan was they would walk me through there and then through the blue section, so I wouldn’t be left alone until I was safely with Luke.

  “We’re off to a good start,” Nadine said as we walked. “Four wins for the girls and five for the guys. Only three losses.”

  “Kristine’s a good luck charm,” Sassy said. “Too bad she missed Tommy and Charlotte’s comedy act just before her second run. Even the Cinders were laughing their pants off.”

  Harmony couldn’t stop laughing as we left the hallway and entered the mass of excited kids heading for the arena’s exit. “They did this bit where Charlotte’s the dog and Tommy’s her master, but they can’t agree on who’s in charge...” She stopped to wipe a tear from her eye, she was laughing so hard.

  “It was pretty funny,” Nadine said. “Hopefully they’ll do another sketch and you’ll get to see it.”

  “Hey, Kristine,” Roman said as he made his way through the crowd.

  “Not now,” I muttered to myself.

  “You won. Congratulations.” He leaned over to kiss me. I turned my head and hugged him instead. “You’re probably hungry. Why don’t we go have dinner?”

  I was hungry, but I wanted to see Luke more than anything else at that moment. “Sorry, I’m supposed to meet someone after the competition.”

  He glanced around me, probably checking to see that my roommates were all there. “Who?”

  “A friend. I’ll see you later, okay?” I began walking away from him.

  “Is it Knight?”

  I shrugged and kept going, knowing I hadn’t heard the end of it. But I didn’t care. I was going to see Luke.

  Harmony kept talking about the comedy thing as we crossed over to blue. I wondered, as we approached the dividing wall, if I was supposed to go to his side or if he was supposed to come to mine. Stopping in front of the door that separated us from the Cinders, I looked over at Sassy. “Should I go in?”

  “If you want to see Luke.”

  I looked back at the door. Everyone on the other side would hate me even more, now that I’d beaten them.

  Opening it a crack, I looked around the murky hallway for Luke. A group of kids standing against a wall muttered to each other as they glowered at me, but I didn’t see him.

  Something unseen grabbed my arm and pulled me in, throwing a dark cloak around me and pulling it over my head. “AHH—” I began screaming, but something else unseen wrapped around me and covered my mouth.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ~ Riding a Cyclone ~

  “What’s wrong?” Sassy shrieked, coming in after me.

  “Sshh, sh, sh, sh. Relax, it’s Luke.” The thing holding me whispered in my ear. He moved his hand away so I could tell Sassy it was okay.

  Then he was pulling me down the hallway. I kept my head low so no one would recognize me. If there were any markings to tell the sections on the Cinder side of the arena apart, I didn’t see them. It felt like we were at least halfway around the Cinder side before we stopped in front of two closed doorways. No one was anywhere to be seen.

  Luke slid into the dark space between the doors and pulled me through it with him. My grip on his hand tightened as complete darkness wrapped around us both. “No,” I said when he stopped and tried to let go of my hand.

  “It’s all right.” He took it away, the only thing that was making me feel safe in a place of complete despair, and lit a lighter. It wasn’t enough to see where we were until he used it to light a torch on the ground. Then I could see the stretch of tunnel we were in. Luke hung the torch on the wall beside two thick black suits. “Put this on over what you’re wearing,” he said, handing me one.

  “Why?”

  “Cause I’m taking you outside and I don’t want you to freeze to death.”

  “Oookay.”

  We both pulled one on over our school uniforms, so to speak, and followed the hallway until we reached a solid wall with what looked like a small speaker hanging at eye level. Luke pressed his hand against it and the wall slid slowly apart. An icy blast whipped against my face.

  “There’s a mask and goggles in the right pocket,” Luke said as he reached for the back of my neck. He did something with the back of my suit and I felt the whole thing begin to warm up.

  “Thanks,” I said, pulling the ski mask over my head.

  I took a few steps out onto the snow. It was a clear night, plenty of silver starlight to make the white carpet glitter at my feet.

  Luke pulled something out of his pocket, a very long and slender triangle. He kind of spun it as he held it up and let it fall. With a metallic flash and ring, a series of long triangles slid out and around until a circle maybe three feet long was hovering just above the ground at his feet. It didn’t make a sound, but bobbed gently up and down above the ground.

  “What’s that?” I asked Luke.

  “The Cinders’ invention for this year’s competition. Well, it’s a replica of the original. Come on.” He stepped onto it and held out a hand to me.

  “What does it do?” I stepped onto the edge, expecting it to tilt with my weight, but it didn’t move at all.

  “Watch.” He spread his feet apart slightly and put his arms around me as he pulled me close. “Cyclone two, rise.” There was a ringing clink as the thing lifted up, and then I was the one pulling Luke closer.

  I was sure I would fall, but we went up slowly and smoothly. “Is this thing safe?” I asked.

  “Yeah, my feet are locked in and I’m not going to let you fall. It’s been tested a hundred times and nothing’s ever gone wrong.”

  I glanced down and saw what looked like metal shoes partially covering the front and back of his feet. The ground getting farther and farther below made me queasy. I looked over at the side of the school instead.

  “How’d you get it? Are you an inventor now?”

  “No, but I know the main guy who is. Cash was challenged to a fight he knew he couldn’t win. Titus, that guy with me in the hallway the night you got here, might have even killed him-”

  “Killed him?! Wouldn’t he have gotten in trouble?”

  “Maybe. Headmaster lets us resolve our own problems, though. Cash was scared and Cinders love making deals. So he asked me to step in for him. He offered to give me one of the two Cyclones he’d made for the competition. Told the other inventors he’d dropped it and broken it enough that it was garbage. They probably weren’t too happy, but I got this one and he’s safe.”

  “So, so you fought that big guy who introduced you to Roman?”

  “Mm-hm. I knocked him out with the first blow. I learned how to fight to survive a long time ago.”

  Suddenly he leaned to the side and we were flying to the left. I screamed as he sped around in a couple of wide circles and then stopped.

  “I thought you said this thing was safe.”

  He laughed and leaned to the right. “It is. I’m just having fun.”

  I screamed again as we sped faster and faster to the side, stopping a few feet away from the walls of Southland Cinder High.

  “Relax, Kristine. I won’t let anything happen to yo
u.”

  “I know, but this thing’s dangerous.”

  “I wouldn’t have brought you up here if I wasn’t sure you’d be safe. Watch the stars or the snow below us.”

  He took off to the left again. I tried to relax as I looked up at the starry sky. It was really pretty, but my stomach kept churning. I kept quiet for as long as I could, putting my trust, and my life, in Luke’s hands, but I could feel what little I’d eaten that day coming up. “Could we stop for a—” I tried to lean away from Luke as I threw up. It grazed his Cyclone, but if I leaned over any farther, I was afraid I would fall.

  “Cyclone two, descend.”

  I spat as much rancid saliva out as I could while we went down. A few feet off the ground, I pushed away from Luke and jumped off so I could heave out some more. It was a good thing that ski mask had such a wide opening for the mouth. I didn’t even hear Luke approaching or his Cyclone closing, but I felt his hand on my back as I stood up still clutching my aching sides.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know this would make you sick.”

  “It’s not your fault. My stomach’s been upset all day, knowing I would be running tonight.”

  “You wanna go back in?”

  “No! This is the first time I’ve been outside since I got here. I love it outside.”

  “We could walk around.”

  “Okay.” My insides began to settle as we walked along the outside of his school.

  “You know, that Cyclone thing’s pretty cool, but what we’ve got is definitely going to beat it,” I told him.

  “Really? Are you an inventor now, too?”

  “No, I saw it accidently. It was awful.” I went on to tell him the whole story of my run-in with The Baring Springs. I knew I could trust him not to tell anyone about it. He had trusted me with his school’s invention, after all.

  “You think that’s going to beat this? It’s a fog-fountain. Those have been around for years. This lets people fly. It doesn’t even use fuel.”