Blazewrath Games

by Amparo Ortiz

  After a quick elevator ride, we exit onto a carpeted corridor. There are red doors on both sides. Agent Horowitz stops beside the third one on the left. The sign above reads INTERROGATION ROOMS. Once inside, Agent Horowitz unlocks another door.

  Papi sits alone at a metal table. “Lana!” He rushes over to me, sweeping me in a hug. He holds me as if I’m made of the most fragile glass. “Did the Sire hurt you?”

  Only my heart.

  “No, Papi. I’m okay. I love you.”

  “Te amo más, mija.” Papi hugs Samira, too. “What you did was incredibly reckless, girls. You could’ve died.”

  “Director Sandhar will arrive soon with more details and further instructions. The interrogation will begin once he’s here,” says Agent Horowitz. “Lana and Samira will both be interrogated, as well as the Puerto Rican team, so I suggest getting comfortable while you wait. For now, I’ll let you all catch up.” She addresses Samira, “Your family will be here soon, too.”

  Samira says, “Thank you.”

  Agent Horowitz exits the interrogation room, closing the door behind her.

  I use my sleeves to wipe the tears away. After we’re all seated, Samira does most of the talking with Papi. She explains everything that happened after Takeshi took him. He flashes her a look that’s a mix of pain and disgust and mumbles Spanish insults for the Sire and Randall.

  “Andrew’s dead?” Papi says. “He’s really gone?”

  I wince. My sudden tears answer Papi’s question.

  “Dios mío. That poor boy,” he whispers.

  Once Samira’s done, I fill in the blanks of what went down on the Dark Island. I keep the president’s curse a secret, vaguely insinuating he needed to be protected from the Sire.

  “Your turn,” I say to Papi. “What happened with Takeshi?”

  “Oh, I thought he was going to kill me. But after he dragged me outside, he told me he was an undercover bureau agent. He told me to find Agent Horowitz in the forest and that he’d go back to save the three of you. I’ve spent these last few weeks hating that boy, and there he was promising to bring my daughter back alive from the monster he pretended to serve.”

  Yeah. And now he’s in handcuffs.

  The door bursts open.

  “Samira?” Mrs. Jones barges into the room. “Oh my Lord! There you are!” She’s a blur as she races toward Samira, scooping her up in her arms. “Julius, here she is!”

  “Yes, I can see her just fine from here, sweetheart.” Mr. Jones swoops into the room and wraps both Samira and his wife into a bear hug. “You almost gave us a heart attack, Samira! Nobody gave you permission to go to Brazil!”

  “They told us you’d been fighting against the Sire and his Dragon Knights!” Mrs. Jones sounds even more alarmed. “And what’s this I hear about you knocking out a Gold Wand?”

  “She did just that, Mrs. Jones,” I say as Shay enters the room and gasps. She dives for her family, squeezing herself into their embrace. “Samira crushed him in a duel.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Jones back up first, letting Shay cling to her big sister. They all look like they’ve won the lottery.

  “You Ascended to Silver today?” Mrs. Jones asks.

  “No, ma’am.” Samira takes out her wand and holds it up. “I’m a Gold Wand.”

  Her parents are too dumbfounded to speak. Mrs. Jones clutches her husband’s sleeve, pulling down on it like she’s trying not to collapse.

  “Where did you get that?” Shay asks.

  “It’s my Copper wand, Shay. Only it’s not Copper anymore. I still don’t know how, but when my magical status changed, the wand changed, too.”

  “That’s amazing,” someone by the door says. “Congratulations.”

  Agent Horowitz has returned, but she’s not the one who spoke. It was the woman to her left. She’s wearing that blush-pink satin shirt I bought her three Christmases ago, a gray tweed skirt, and a white doctor’s coat with DR. WELLS embroidered on it.

  My stomach drops. “Mom?”

  “Hi, Lana.” That’s her voice. Her nervous gaze and stiff posture and clasped, sweaty hands. “I, uh … I don’t mean to bother you, but I wanted to see if you were okay. I was watching the game when you disappeared along with your teammates and the Scottish boy. Then the agents took Todd and me to another location because Carlos’s hideout had been compromised. Now that we’re safer, I had to come see … if you were okay,” she repeats.

  I listen to her every word, but only a few stick with me: I was watching the game.

  She broke her promise. I don’t care why. I don’t care whether she regrets being furious at me for living my dream. All I care about is I’ve just survived the worst day of my life, and she’s here to see if I’m okay. It’s impossible to delete the bad memories, but I’ll never forget how my mother chose to be with me when I needed her most.

  “You must be exhausted, so I’ll … I’ll just wait outside.” Mom starts for the door.

  I push my chair back. It hits the table with a clang, the noise startling Mom.

  I launch myself at her. Fresh tears poke at my eyes. “I love you, Mom,” I choke out.

  She’s holding me closer than ever before, sniffling into my hair. “I love you, too.”

  One cannot hope to tame dragons. This doesn’t mean a Bonded dragon will betray their rider. It means the Bond is never about subservience. A dragon has a voice, too, and it’s a rider’s duty to listen with careful consideration of their steed’s feelings. When a dragon expresses what it most desires, with either words or actions, it’s essential we don’t take it for granted. Believe dragons when they tell you their truths.

  —Excerpt from Carlos Torres’s Studying the Bond Between Dragons & Humans

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  MOM HASN’T LET GO OF MY HAND IN THE PAST THREE HOURS.

  We still haven’t discussed what our reunion means for the future. She did mention Todd was escorted back to Aunt Jenny’s at his unbearably insistent request. The fact that she was present during my interrogation with Director Sandhar, sitting right next to Papi in respectful silence, gives me the slightest bit of hope that all’s well again.

  She even waits with me while my team endures the interrogation. Since Manny and Joaquín are serving as our guardians, Edwin’s grandparents and the others’ parents aren’t required to join them, but they’ve been texting and calling frequently. They’re waiting to see what happens with the Cup in order to decide if they’ll fly out to Dubai, too. None of my teammates come out to the waiting room with negative feedback. Héctor mentions how easy it was to take Director Sandhar and his agents into the Dark Island and show them the Sire’s cage. After the director approved keeping the Sire there, he sent the dragons to Dubai and beefed up their security detail in case of rogue Dragon Knights.

  Victoria’s the last one left. She’s been gone thirty-five minutes.

  Ten minutes less than Samira and her family have been stuck in the Department of Magical Artifact Permits and Regulations. Since her wand had originally been certified and sold as Copper, Samira needs government approval before she can legally use it. That’s just the first step. According to Director Sandhar, even if she does get her wand approved, she’ll have to undergo a series of tests and interviews to further study her Gold Wand status.

  Only Samira Jones could ever be ecstatic about something that draining.

  “Would you like some soup, honey?” Mom offers me her cream of broccoli.

  “No, thanks. I’ll eat later.”

  “But you must be starving.”

  “Not really.” I slide closer to her seat with a yawn. “I’m just tired.”

  Papi yawns, too. “You’ll be able to rest soon, mi amor.”

  Luis’s snores are getting louder. He’s asleep on Génesis’s shoulder with his mouth wide open, unleashing the sounds of the underworld.

  “I wish I had my phone right now,” Gabriela says through a fit of giggles.

  Stoically, Héctor replies, “I apologize for the d
isruption. But if it’s okay with everyone, I can wake him up with my best rendition of the Celine Dion classic, ‘My Heart Will Go On.’”

  “No!” Gabriela, Edwin, Génesis, and I say together.

  Luis is startled awake. “What happened?! Whose ass are we kicking now?”

  “Yours if you don’t stop snoring,” says Héctor.

  More laughter. Luis pretends to be offended, while Edwin does a flawless reenactment. The whole time we’re bantering, Mom smiles.

  “They’re wonderful,” she whispers.

  “I know,” I whisper back.

  “V! About time!” Luis stands up as Victoria approaches him. They fist-bump each other. “These fools have been accusing me of things I haven’t done.”

  Victoria grins. “If it’s snoring, then you did it.”

  “Boom.” Héctor gives her a high five.

  Luis groans. “Y’all suck.”

  “You know what sucks more? Sitting in those freezing metal chairs.” Manny stretches his arms. He and Joaquín are right behind Victoria. “We should get going, mi gente. Director Sandhar’s given us the all clear to go home and prep for tomorrow’s press conference. The IBF is planning Andrew’s public memorial service. That’ll be two days from now.”

  I close my eyes. A public memorial service for Andrew is both great and terrible. Family, friends, and fans around the globe will honor his life as it should be honored. But there’ll be a billion cameras there. It could easily become more of a spectacle than anything else.

  “Have you heard anything about the Cup?” Victoria asks. “What’s gonna happen now that Andrew’s gone? Our semifinals match is forfeit, isn’t it?”

  Manny flashes a deep frown. “Russell texted me with an update. The staff in Dubai said the other dragons caused major commotion in their habitats after you Faded to São Paulo. According to their riders, they wanted to join the fight in Brazil. It would’ve taken them longer to reach the country without magical help, and since the IBF wouldn’t allow them to leave, they kept on squealing.” He nods to my team’s riders. “They were rooting for you all.”

  My heart swells as I picture all those wings flapping and fangs bared for my country’s team. They were willing to go to war for us.

  “Are they calm now?” I ask. “Do you think they still want to finish the Cup? What happens if they refuse to continue? Will the Cup get canceled?”

  Joaquín says, “President Turner will speak at the bureau’s press conference tomorrow morning, which we all are attending, too. He’ll address our next steps then.”

  That doesn’t give me any hint of what to expect.

  I try again. “What happens to us if the Cup is canceled?”

  Manny squeezes Joaquín’s shoulder tight, smiling weakly. “We go home.”

  For a brief second, I catch Victoria glancing nervously at me. It’s so quick I almost think I imagined it. She’d be going back to a life without her coveted trophy. So would I, but that wouldn’t be the worst part. I’m supposed to start senior year soon. My teammates will be swarmed with agents hired to fend off Dragon Knights. I’m also at risk of being attacked, but I’m not the one with access to the Sire’s prison. I won’t feel at ease knowing my teammates’ lives are in constant danger. Plus, I’ll just plain miss them.

  What do I even want anymore?

  “Okay. Ready to go?” Manny asks.

  “Wait.” I look at Papi. “You’re going back to São Paulo, right?”

  “Yes and no, mija. We recovered eight of the Pesadelos, but Violet #43 flew away. I’ll help my colleagues with the ones that stayed behind, and once they’re all settled again, I’m hoping to search for her.” He sneaks a peek at Mom, as if he’s waiting for an atomic bomb to go off, but she just nods in approval. He smiles at her. “I’ll get her back soon.”

  “I’m sure you will, Carlos,” Mom says. “Just be careful out there.”

  My eyes almost pop out of their sockets. Mom is totally okay with the fact that my father is going to find the dragon that nearly killed me. I have no idea what prompted her to start watching Blazewrath matches and support Papi’s job, but I’m sure as hell not complaining.

  “Lana? Is everything all right?” Mom asks.

  “Yeah.” I smile so, so wide. “Papi, listen to Mom. Please be careful.”

  “Always, mi amor,” he says.

  I hug my parents tight. I ask Mom to please tell Samira to call me later, and she promises to do so. Manny and Joaquín shake their hands and exchange kind words with them both.

  Then I’m led back to where Agent Horowitz is waiting to Transport us to the Compound.

  VICTORIA ISN’T EATING. SHE’S NOT SPEAKING, EITHER.

  She stares at the bedroom ceiling with vacant eyes, as if she’s lost the will to live.

  I’m the only one here with her. Joaquín has told us all to rest, but my teammates are in the habitat with him and Manny. I’m supposed to fetch Gabriela’s favorite compact and bring it back to her. Apparently, saving the world makes you want to retouch your makeup.

  “Hey,” I dare to say. “Do you need me to get you anything?”

  Victoria shakes her head.

  “Are you sure? Because I can—”

  She shakes her head even faster.

  “Cool. I, um … I’ll head out now.”

  Victoria slow-claps.

  I walk to the door, but each step slams more guilt into my conscience. Once upon a time, I would’ve chosen to swallow burning coals over having a heart-to-heart with Victoria. I don’t even know if a heart-to-heart with Victoria is possible.

  My body winds itself into knots.

  “Okay, listen.” I turn to the bed. “You’re not the only one who’s dreamed of holding that Cup. I don’t know what’s gonna happen at that press conference. My mind is a mess right now. But I do know that I’ll never know pain worse than losing a friend.”

  Victoria presses her eyes shut.

  “I mean, I’m not comparing how bad you feel to how bad I feel. This is super hard for me, too. You’re not the only one who fears what’s next. You’re choosing to cope this way, and I respect that, but don’t forget there are others who can help you process what you’re feeling.” I bump my fists together. “That’s all I want to say. I’ll go now.”

  I head for the door again.

  “I’m sorry for the way I treated you, Lana,” Victoria says.

  Her apology hooks itself into my chest, stopping me dead in my tracks. “No, I … I’m not trying to get you to feel sorry for me. I just wanted to—”

  “There was someone else before you.” Victoria sits up as if an anvil is pulling her down, each movement heavier than the last. “I trusted Brian more than I should have. I loved him. But he was just nothing wrapped in pretty packaging. When he revealed the real him, he hurt people I care about. That was horrible enough. Then he hurt me, too.” There’s a grim shadow cast on her expression. “Do you know what his last words to me were?”

  Of course I don’t, and I’m not sure I want to hear them, either.

  “‘You’ve never been a winner and you never will be,’” she says. “The same words my fucking stepfather said for years. I shared them with Brian in secret.” His name sounds foreign in her throat, as if she’s out of practice. That scum bucket used her abuser’s words against her. He used her trust as a weapon, right after disrespecting Edwin and Gabriela.

  I’m so happy he’s thousands of miles out of my fist’s reach.

  “I didn’t trust you as a person or as a teammate because I didn’t think you could help me get what I want, Lana. I thought you were here to bring us down. That you’d end up embarrassing our country.” Victoria rubs her sleepy eyes. “I lied about the others feeling the same way. I’m sorry for that, too.”

  Ugh, I should’ve known. “Water under the bridge.”

  “No. I put you through some bullshit. You proved yourself the minute you saved that Fire Drake. And again when you demanded the Iron Scale for practice, then again when you
froze the Sire’s propeller. That fire in here”—she taps her chest where her heart is—“that’s all Puerto Rico. You might not have strong memories of the island, but it will never forget you.”

  I flash her the smile I never thought she’d deserve. Whether we play again or not, she finally respects me. Hearing it tastes much better than the president’s no-calorie cake.

  “Thanks, Victoria. That’s really sweet.”

  “Oh, there’s nothing sweet about me.” Her grin is a devilish treat.

  We both love Blazewrath with everything we are. Blazewrath was supposed to make us matter. That’s what I told Mom. The thing is, we matter with or without trophies and medals.

  We matter whether the people we love believe in us, support us, or not.

  “Marisol told me not to burn away,” I say. “If you let hate get the best of you, the best will be gone. You’re too important to lose, Victoria—for your mom, for your fans, for yourself.” I sit at the edge of her bed. “We might not play Blazewrath again. That freaking sucks, but we matter wherever we are.” I put my fist on top of hers. “And I’d like to add that we matter without things that make us feel important. Including fancy Gold Cups.”

  She’s nodding weakly. “Including fancy Gold Cups …”

  “That’s right. Let’s see what tomorrow brings, okay?”

  Victoria puts her sneakers on. We leave the room together, smiling like we’ve been friends this whole time. Maybe we could’ve been friends earlier, but the past is the past.

  We’re bigger people than the girls who met in the kitchen.

  THE NEXT MORNING, I’M OUTSIDE THE BUREAU’S MAIN ENTRANCE, where reporters are waiting for Director Sandhar’s press conference to start. I’ve had two hours of sleep. My team stayed with the Sol de Noches last night while they acclimated to their bodyguards. Daga was the fastest to get used to them. She even tried to play catch, but to her dismay, they remained professional.