No.
It couldn’t be.
‘Hey! Hey lady!’ someone started to shout beside me. ‘You alright?’
‘Fine,’ I replied.
She tilted her head to give my face a good study. ‘You just slapped yourself.’
I nodded. ‘Had to be sure this wasn’t a dr …’ I trailed off as I watched the float pass me. Big Shot gave me a finger-gun point.
I knew it then. The float, the song, the movie that I had watched all those summers before with … with …
No. It just couldn’t be.
Ricky?
Someone turned off the hot faucet on my blood, and all that was left running through my veins was cold. No. No way. It had been years since I thought about Ricky. The sudden rush of memories made my heart clench.
I stood rooted to the spot for a few more minutes while everybody else followed me—I mean, the me-s—down the street.
I planted my hands on my hips. What was I supposed to do now? I looked from one end of the street to the other. Did I follow? Did I go to The Pink Beaver pretending like that hadn’t just happen?
I gently kicked a rock lying on the street with my toe. This was a message. For once I was truly justified in the belief that this one corner of the universe was revolving around me. But what were the Bremys trying to tell me? I looked up again in the direction of the float and something caught my eye. Hey now, what were those two shady characters about?
Two men had jumped onto the back of the float. I could instantly tell they didn’t belong there. I mean, for one thing, they weren’t dressed like me.
I trotted after the tribute leviathan to get a closer look. I saw one man give the other a sharp nod, before they huddled over what looked to be the float’s engine, arms working. That couldn’t be good.
‘Hey!’ I shouted. ‘What are you guys doing?’
Despite the near deafening music coming from the float, both men snapped their heads around to look at me. A second later they jumped off of the float and ran for a side street.
I almost took off after them, but I thought it better to see what they had been up to. The float was slowly edging its way to the crest of one of the only hills in the city. Gears turned in my head. Giant crystal float. Hill. Shady guys fiddling with the engine. Suddenly I had a bad, bad feeling about this.
I pumped my arms and legs, running hard to catch up to the float.
I was almost there. Just a few more feet.
Bang!
Chapter 14
I skidded to a stop. A small cloud of grey smoke ballooned into the air right above the engine. I snapped back into action and sprinted the last few feet to catch up to the float, before grabbing a metal railing to pull myself up onto its back end. I peered down at the smoky engine. Right in the middle of a tangle of cut wires, small flames licked skyward, striving for grander destruction. I looked around. The float trudged onward of its own accord, the stretch of road to the peak of the hill narrowing quickly. I looked back down at the engine. I was willing to bet one of those cut wires had something to do with the brakes.
I had to do something. Think, Bremy. Think!
My eyes darted around the float. Dammit! Why was there never a big red button that screamed PUSH IN CASE OF EMERGENCY? Although that would be a lot to put on one button.
I had to try something else. I hopped off the back of the float, stumbling onto the pavement. Someone had to know how to stop this thing. I just needed to get that someone’s attention. I ran around to the front of the crystal monstrosity, waving my arms in the air, shouting, ‘Stop! Stop the float!’
No one reacted.
‘Fire!’ I shouted.
A few Bremys spared me a glance, but they didn’t break their choreography. ‘Fire!’ I screamed again. ‘The engine’s on fire!’
Again, nothing. Gah, it was probably the windbreaker. I ran into the crowd of dancers, bumping into as many of them as I could. Once I had the attention of a small few, I screamed again, ‘Fire! The float! React! Scream! Anything!’
Angry faces turned confused.
‘Look!’ I yelled, point-jabbing to the float. Smoke had now risen to alarming proportions at the back of the moving crystal palace. A dancer behind me suddenly shouted, ‘Fire!’
‘Finally!’ I yelled, throwing my hands into the air. ‘Thank you!’
More shouting started up. ‘Okay people,’ I ordered in my loudest voice while running towards the front of the float. ‘If we all push together, we can stop it from going over the hill!’ I placed my hands on the front bumper, walking backwards quickly so as not to get run over.
Another shrill scream pierced the air. ‘The float’s going over the hill!’
‘Run!’ another person shrieked.
‘No!’ I screamed back. ‘Don’t run! Help me!’
Dancers scattered in a million directions, making for the sidewalks. In the chaos, I suddenly lost my balance. I hit the ground hard in a seated position. My eyes widened in terror when I realised the front bumper was mere inches away from my face. The r in princess was about to knock me out! I smacked my back down to the concrete, bumping the back of my head, just as the underside of the float rolled over me. Stars pinpricked my vision. Maybe I was in shock, but I found my thoughts were slowing down to a solitary mantra. This couldn’t be happening. This just couldn’t be happening. I was literally being run over, like literally. And for once I was using literally in the right context.
I watched the dirty underside of the float pass inches above my face. Suddenly my survival instincts snapped back into focus. I craned my head to the side to see if I was almost out. Uh-oh, that was a lot of smoke and fire coming my way. I quickly log-rolled out from under the float and popped up to my feet.
I took a moment to do a quick pat down. Good. Everything was still attached.
Now what?
My eyes snapped back to the float inching its way forward to the crest of the hill. There was no way to stop it now. The Bremys had to abandon ship!
I ran back around to the front of the float, giving myself at least a few more feet of wiggle room. ‘Bremys!’ I shouted waving my arms again in big Xs over my head. ‘You need to jump!’ Dozens of fake-eyelashed eyes turned in my direction. ‘Seriously! You need to jump before you go over!’ I shouted, pointing back to the hill. I couldn’t tell if they heard me. The music from the sound system was still blaring. I shot my eyes up to the top … to Ricky. ‘Tell them to jump!’ I shouted, acting out a little hop. ‘Abandon ship!’ I had moved back as far as I could without going down the hill myself. No way was I going under the float again. I scuttled over to the side. ‘Bremys!’ I shouted one last time. ‘Get down here this instant!’ But I knew in my heart was too late. The float tipped over the hill. I squeezed my eyes shut. I did not want to see this. I only flipped them back open when I heard the screams. I shook my head slowly back and forth. ‘No. No. No.’
The crystal juggernaut gathered speed as it rocketed down the hill. Flash-mobbers rolled and dove out of the way.
Then, without any thought, I was running after the float again.
‘Hold on, Bremys!’
It wasn’t a long hill, but it was steep. This could only end in disaster.
A woman suddenly grabbed my arm, yanking me to a stop. ‘Oh my God!’ she shrieked. ‘A head! Her head came off!’ I snapped my gaze to follow hers only to see one of the Bremys’ heads flying into the sky! No! It couldn’t be. She had been decap— Wait. It was only her wig.
‘You’re not helping!’ I screamed, yanking my arm back.
This was horrible! Even if all the people on the street managed to get out of the way, the me-s on the float were done for—at the bottom of the hill, the street ended in a T-shaped intersection—and the float was headed straight for the sheet metal wall of a factory right on the other side. The wall looked flimsy enough. There was probably just a parking lot on the other side, but it wouldn’t matter with the speed of the impact.
I had to do something! B
ut what?
I took off following the path of the float. I knew I’d never catch it in time, and even if I could catch up to it, what was I going to do? I kept running anyway, knowing it was hopeless. No one could stop its momentum now. Not me. Not any of the people on the street. Not even the police in the cruisers that I could now see fishtailing to a stop in the street below. No, no one could help those poor souls now. No one but …
‘Ryder!’
Chapter 15
‘Look! It’s Ryder!’
Soon everybody was screaming her name.
Down the street, nearly at the bottom, I spotted Ryder perched on an old balcony of a building. All the angry emotions I had been holding melted away in relief. None of that mattered now. Ryder would stop the float. Ryder would protect all the Bremys. Ryder would save the day. The float raced towards the end of the street, but just as it passed the building before Ryder’s position, she launched herself into the air.
‘Yeah!’
Her long dark form flew through the sky. She would land right on the top tier of the crystal float. I had no idea how she could land these types of jumps, but this was Ryder, and I had seen her do incredible things, amazing things. I—
Suddenly, a collective scream ran through the crowd.
‘No!’ I yelled, hands flying to my mouth. ‘No!’
Ryder hadn’t landed the jump. I watched her skid across the top—past Big Shot who was reaching for her while trying to hold on himself to a ledge—and then I saw her fall off the other side, her limp body hitting one of the tiers of the float, before tumbling down to the street below.
I stared in horror at her prone body. After an agonising second, she moved an arm to push herself up. She was alive … but the float! The people on the float! In seconds, it would plough into the wall of the factory!
Oh God, no. I took in the entire ghastly sight before me, but none of it registered anymore. It was all unfolding like a scene in a movie. The faces of bystanders were twisted into screams, but I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. One of the Bremys tumbled from the float onto the street. A small crowd swallowed her up, making it impossible for me to see if she had … what had happened. Just moments left now … moments until all those lives …
I slowed my run, waiting for the impact. The crowd had repelled away from the soon to be crash site in a circle, like water from a dropped stone.
Suddenly a thunderous groan of metal tore through the screams. My eyes darted around the street. What was happening? I ran down the hill, trying to get a better look through the people. It was … the wall … the wall was folding back on itself!
I ran closer. I couldn’t see how, but the wall was tearing back, making room … but it didn’t matter. The float still wasn’t going to make it through. The hole wasn’t big enough. Not by half. It was impossible. The side of the float would still hit. It would fishtail. Flip. Crash.
The float hurtled into the intersection, feet away from disaster.
This was it.
Then, just as the front of the float raced over the remaining few feet … the last half of the wall gave way! The crystal monster raced through the hole to the other side. Unbelievably, within seconds, the bumpy terrain slowed the float to a stop. Cheers welled up from the streets.
‘Did you see that?’ a woman shouted. I turned to look at her, but I never met her eye because all I saw—over the woman’s shoulder, standing in the distance—was him.
My father. Atticus St. James.
He stood completely still in the swirling crowd, wearing an exquisitely tailored suit and overcoat. Perfect. Handsome. Untouchable.
Chills raced over my arms and back, now damp with sweat—which was strange because something very hot was rushing up from my chest towards my face. Something angry. Maybe even something a little like rage.
This was him. All of it. It was his doing.
A slow smile spread over his face, before he gave me a brief nod. He then led me with his eyes back towards the scene below. I couldn’t help but follow his gaze. There were still too many people. I couldn’t see what was happening, but—
Ryder! I had forgotten about Ryder! I spared a glance back to where my father had been, but he had disappeared. I ran over to the group that had gathered around the spot where Ryder had fallen. I tried to shove my way through the bystanders, but they were pushing back and away, making it difficult to find a way through. Something was wrong.
‘Get off of me!’
I elbowed my way to the front of the crowd just in time to see Ryder slapping away the hand of a man who was trying to help her to her feet. He took an uncertain step back as I moved forward. ‘Back up!’ I shouted. ‘Give her space!’
The few remaining onlookers shuffled their feet, but didn’t move. Vultures. I made a half-run at a few, which sent them scattering. I wheeled back to Ryder, bending to grab her arm. ‘You okay? That was a tough fall—’
She jumped to her feet. ‘I said don’t touch me.’
I stumbled backwards before catching myself. ‘Ryder. It’s me, Bremy. I’m here to help.’
She scoffed then strode towards an alley.
I froze, uncertain for just a second, before I trotted after her. ‘Look. It’s okay. Nobody expects you to be perfect.’
She didn’t answer. In fact, she didn’t even break her stride.
‘Wait!’ I called. ‘We have work to do. My father’s here. This was all him. We need to regroup. Let’s find Choden, and—’
She stopped and spun on me, blue eyes flashing. ‘When are you going to get it?’
I stepped back. ‘Get what?’
She narrowed her gaze before turning again. I stood rooted to the spot for a moment, watching her stride away. More heat rolled in a wave over my body. ‘No. No way.’ I darted after her, pushing past the throngs of people into the deserted space between buildings. I didn’t stop until the shadow of the towering walls fell over me. Where had she gone? I scanned the alleyway as a biting wind tunnelled its way through the buildings, bringing tears to my eyes. There!
I spotted her sleek form scaling a fire escape ladder.
‘Hey!’ I shouted up to her. ‘I want to talk you!’
She didn’t even look down.
‘You owe me an explanation!’
She continued climbing—multiple steps at a time—towards the top.
‘You can’t just leave!’
Her body suddenly froze. I waited, feeling each beat of my heart in my throat.
Finally her cool voice cut through the silence, echoing over the brick. ‘What do I have to say to get rid of you?’ I tried to answer, but my chest felt like it was collapsing in upon itself.
‘Do you want me to say that I used you to get to your father?’ She waited a moment before continuing. ‘I did.’ She paused again. ‘Do you want me to say that I regret you being hurt?’ I closed my eyes. ‘I don’t.’
Silence fell between us as she mounted the lip of the building.
When I looked back at her again, she was almost gone. I couldn’t let it end this way. I wouldn’t. ‘We’re not done here!’ I shouted up at her.
She stopped and looked down at me one last time. ‘Yes, we are.’
***
I didn’t go to The Pink Beaver that day. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets trying to figure out all that had happened. I’d had near-death experiences before, but I had certainly never witnessed me dying nearly twenty times over!
The float had obviously been a message from my father, but I had no idea what he was trying to say. Maybe that he wanted to see me die twenty times over? Probably. And then there was Ryder. Her message had been pretty clear.
After some aimless wandering, I went back to my apartment, got into bed, and curled up into a ball. It was all too much. Today had confirmed that my father was, in fact, playing some sort of dangerous game. Choden was right. And I knew in my gut this was just the beginning. Sure, I had been feeling like I was in
over my head for the past couple of months, but now I felt like the water was about twenty thousand leagues deep.
I couldn’t face my father without Ryder. But Ryder didn’t want to face my father with me. No matter how you looked at it, the game had begun, and I had already lost.
I hugged my thin pillow to my chest. Yup, all by myself with a pillow for company. I hadn’t felt this alone since the day I left home. I needed Jenny. She was the one person in my life who had always made everything okay, bearable, and now I had no one I could rely on like that. Maybe if I could just explain everything to her, we could face my father together. She was the only person in the world who could even begin to understand what I was going through.
Happy memories of days spent by the pool, late night talks on the patio, wheelchair races through the halls, drifted through my mind. No matter what had passed between us, we were sisters—and you can’t erase a shared lifetime.
I was almost asleep when a sharp rap came at my door.
I jumped to my feet like a cat, surprising myself with my agility—must be a little on edge. My eyes glued themselves to the door as I took the one step back in my apartment that I could. My heart was beating hard and fast.
I never had visitors. Queenie certainly never came to me. I always went to her. Bart rarely left the store. And I didn’t really know anyone else—Ryder and Choden excepted—although it was looking like I didn’t really know them either.
I chewed my bottom lip, and took a tentative step forward. What if it was one of my father’s goons come to take me away? No. They could easily break down the door if they wanted to.
Oh! Maybe it was Pierce! He knew where I lived now, and maybe one of my neighbours told him my apartment number. But then again, that didn’t really seem likely. Pierce was the type of guy who would call first. I hopped a little on the spot in frustration. Why couldn’t Mr Pushkin just install a peephole already? I walked forward again and placed my ear against the door. Hmm. No scary breathing on the other side, as far as I could tell. Suddenly I heard a thump. I jumped straight back and smacked into the side of my toilet. This was crazy! I was going to hurt myself. I smoothed my hair down and moved back to the door. I couldn’t take it any longer. I grabbed the handle and whipped the door open.
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