Royals Rise

by K. Manna

  RING!

  The bell rang loudly right beside Ricky, who was smiling and, as always, too conceitedly.

  Now it’s Gage’s turn. Come on, Gage. Make your sister proud.

  Gage walked over to the rope that he would soon be climbing. He stood tall with his fingers holding onto the netting, waiting impatiently until Sir Felix blew the whistle. When he did, Gage sped up that netting like a spider crawling on its web. He looked like he was almost floating. Then he stopped suddenly, just for half a second when he lost his footing. Once he regained it, he continued up the net and across the line, faster than fast, quicker than quick. Gage rang the bell with a frustrated look upon his face. He was extraordinarily fast, but his slip had cost him precious time.

  Very precious time. Aw, dammit, Gage!

  I chewed at my lip. “Ugh, that pisses me off.”

  “I know, but it’s only the beginning. Chill out, lady. Besides his foot getting tangled, he did totally awesome,” Sasha said.

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

  I wanted so badly for Gage to win, even more so than I had Lottie; he was my own brother after all, my own flesh and blood.

  Maybe Lottie didn’t win for a reason. Maybe she was meant to go back home and date Cole. They could be meant for each other; soul mates. And maybe with Lottie being gone, her dad will realize how he is treating her. When she goes home, hopefully, he will try and change. I wouldn’t be surprised if her mother tried contacting her after all of this. Then Lottie could find all the answers to her questions about the past and why things happened the way they did.

  Here, at least I have Sasha. And if Gage wins, he will have Anton. All in all this would work out, right? It has to work out or I will feel guilty as hell having to send Gage home a loser. That just isn’t right. Growing up with Gage, I always ended up being the loser. I got used to it, but him … oh, he would probably have a major complex if that changed now.

  Pulling myself out of my distracting thoughts, I looked back to the screen where Sir Felix was just about to whistle.

  WHOOT!

  Gage, Elise, and Ricky were all running down their own individual stone path lined with waist-high walls on either side of them. A series of hurdles, each with a stylized “Z” or a picture of the royal emblem hanging from it, blocked their paths.

  The three ran so fast that it made it difficult to decipher who was who. Elise’s pale skin and white hair gave her away. Then one of the others hit their foot against the edge of the hurdle, causing him to slow.

  Oh, not Gage again, please!

  Thankfully, when the runner slowed, I recognized Ricky and not Gage. Ricky stumbled but continued on.

  “That’s what that cocky punk gets! He had it coming.” Sasha laughed.

  “Dang! How far do they have to run these hurdles?” I asked.

  Looking at the screen, Sasha said, “I think Sir Felix said it’s about one-fourth of a mile.”

  Once the hurdles disappeared, a long string of stairs weaved up a small hill, which led each to a separate tower. I couldn’t ever imagine having to run up so many stairs myself. I would definitely have keeled over and passed the heck out.

  Gage reached the doorway to his tower first. A close-up view showed him running up even more stairs that circled up inside of the tower. Elise wasn’t far behind, as she ran up her own circling staircase, and then Ricky entered his tower shortly after. A view of Gage reaching the top of his tower popped up next. He walked up to a silver stationary gun that pointed out the window, quickly grabbed for one of the small missiles on a nearby table, and connected it to the front of the gun. With a pull of the trigger, a large blue firework lit up the sky. Shortly after, Elise’s red firework made a loud crack. The sky began to light up one after the other with bright fireworks of blue, red, and green. On Gage’s last miniature missile—and the largest of the sixteen—a huge blue firework shot into the sky, and then a huge red-and-green firework blended all three colors together.

  Awesome. I’m sure people can see these from the mainland of Alacor, that’s how ginormous these fireworks are.

  I pulled Sasha’s arm, feeling such a thrill. “Gage won this one!”

  Yes, his largest blue firework hit the sky first, for all eyes to see.

  Smiling, Sasha said, “I told you so.”

  Gage threw his hands up, howling in pure bliss. Ricky immediately began to complain that his foot hurt pretty badly, so Sir Felix brought Ricky to Sonya where she could work her magic and heal his poor little owie.

  “Now that Ricky is feeling better, we will continue,” Sir Felix said before leading them toward a silver rectangular object that stood about chest high. “Here we have a disk-throwing machine. The disks will be thrown at different heights and in every direction within fifty feet of you. The speeds at which they will be thrown will vary anywhere from ninety to a hundred and ten miles per hour. You will be going one at a time, and your goal will be to catch as many disks as possible. The disks contain a sensor that will light up, indicating when a catch has been made.” Sir Felix raised his hand, pointing his finger. “The far netting will stop any disks missed. Who would like to go fir—”

  Not surprisingly, Ricky yelled, “Me! I’m going first this time!”

  “Very well, Roderick. Please step behind the blue line.” Sir Felix pointed toward the starting line.

  “This one’s all me, baby!” Ricky shouted.

  Sasha looked at me, rolling her big brown eyes. I smiled because I knew exactly what she was thinking.

  She despises that kid so much.

  Ricky stood on the line, looking in the direction of the disk machine.

  Sir Felix fiddled with the machine, then …

  WHOOT!

  A disk shot out of the machine at amazing speed. Ricky ran to catch it and did, making it look way too dang simple. The disk began to glow blue within its center as Ricky tossed it to the ground.

  POOT!

  Another disk flew out even faster and a little higher than before. Ricky sped toward it, jumping high into the air, and caught it with one hand.

  POOT! POOT!

  Two disks shot out of the machine, both flying in the same direction and causing Ricky to miss one disk. The missed disk flew overhead into the distance where it caught in the netting. Disks continued to fly here, there, and everywhere until no more shot through the air. Ricky definitely looked sweaty and tired by that point.

  I think he only missed three disks. Wow, that’s pretty frickin’ good, especially considering how many disks were thrown and how fast they flew.

  “Well done, Roderick. Now we must wait a few minutes for the field to be cleared of disks,” Sir Felix said.

  Two spiffy machines began to move quickly across the ground, sucking up the stray disks. Within minutes, the field was disk-free and ready for more action.

  Elise now stood on the blue line, looking especially alert. She stood with her arms and legs apart, as still as a statue, concentrating on the disk launcher.

  Again, Sir Felix pressed the green button, launching the rotation of disks.

  Elise flew straight up through the air and caught the first disk aimed high above her head. She bolted this way and then that way, giggling at every turn. This looked like fun for her, zooming all around like a little bumblebee.

  POOT! CATCH! POOT! POOT! CATCH!

  She ran swiftly and jumped, grabbing for a disk and then another, but a touch too slow.

  Ow! That has gotta hurt.

  One disk nicked Elise’s arm and blood immediately began to seep. She stopped suddenly, gripping at the pain. A shocked expression crossed her face before she realized the number of disks she had missed during that moment. Quickly, her expression changed, snapping out of shock and back to reality. Elise got back into the game and began snatching the flying disks with her hands, ignoring the blood that dripped down her arm.r />
  POOT! POOT! SNATCH. THROW.

  The disks stopped shooting from the machine, marking the end of her attempt. Elise kicked at a disk on the ground near her foot. Her disappointment was obvious.

  The hit to her arm and the shock of it probably cost her three or four disks.

  Sir Felix looked to Elise. “Elise, you did wonderfully despite the injury to your arm. You may have stopped for a moment or two, but you continued on and—”

  “Yup, Sir Felix, I know. I did the best I could have done, even though I messed up,” Elise cut him off, knowing already what he was about to say to help her feel better. But she was clearly disappointed in herself.

  “Good thing that Sonya lady is there. That’s two injuries so far, and they are only on the third race,” Sasha pointed out.

  Then my brother took his place on the starting line. Gage looked pumped and ready for speed racing. He smiled at the disk machine, and I knew he was thinking “Bring it on! Give it to me! Challenge me, sucker!” No concern or worry showed in his eyes, only exhilaration.

  I love watching my crazo bro.

  With the push of the button, Sir Felix sounded the whistle.

  POOT! … TO THE LEFT.

  POOT! … TO THE RIGHT.

  POOT! POOT! … DOWN THE CENTER.

  Gage darted across the ground and through the air, never hesitating, never slowing. His quick legs took him in all directions, twisting and turning at a moment’s notice. Flying disks shot through the air with tremendous speed, but not too fast for Gage’s arms and legs. He sprang forward and grabbed every one in front of him. The glowing blue disks added up as they were dropped to the ground.

  Aw, crap balls, one snuck past him.

  POOT!

  The last disk flew through the air, making Gage fly sideways to catch it. He skidded across the ground with the lit disk firmly in his hand. Dark, sweaty waves of hair hung over his eyes until he shook his head to swish it all to the side. Smiling at the disk he had just barely caught, Gage threw it to the ground, rolling on his back and panting.

  “Well, Gage, I would love to let you take a little nap, but we have more excitement ahead of us.” Sir Felix smiled down at Gage sprawled on the ground. “You should be very proud of yourself. I can’t believe that you missed only one.”

  Sir Felix reached out his hand to help Gage up. Gage grabbed for it, springing happily to his feet.

  “I need to grab something quick,” Gage said.

  Gage jetted back toward the net, in search of his one unlucky disk, the one disk that happened to get away.

  Show off!

  Sir Felix pointed toward the road where a van sat waiting. “Next, we will be off to the ocean to cool off. Hop in. More excitement awaits us!”

  It didn’t take long for them to reach the clear, teal-blue ocean. A silver yacht waited at the end of the dock for them, and beside it floated a small boat. Sir Felix had the three of them board the yacht.

  “The yacht will take all of you out to an individual float on the water. This is your starting point. You will stand on the float until you hear the loud boat horn signal for all three of you to jump in and begin the race. Each of you must stay in your lane, which will be clearly marked by lines lit with blue-and-white floaters. The length of this stretch will be just short of a mile and a half. Once you reach your ending float, you must swim straight down into the ocean for two hundred feet. On the ocean floor you will find a glowing medallion. Gather the medallion and bring it back up with you. You must be standing on your float at the finish to mark completion. Are there any questions?” Sir Felix asked after his instructions.

  Elise raised her hand. “Are we supposed to wear the clothes that we have on?”

  Sir Felix laughed. “Oh, I forgot to mention that very important part. There is a bathroom below deck that has a one bag for each of you, each with your name on it. A swimsuit, goggles, swim cap, nose plug, and towel are waiting for each of you.” He stepped into the smaller boat. “I will be waiting impatiently at the finish. See you all very soon.”

  The yacht started up, driving out into the distance. Sir Felix veered off into the opposite direction, waving his good-byes. The thought of sharks, biting fish, jellyfish, and who knows what else swimming around in the deep kind of weirded me out.

  What if one of them is attacked? Ah, I have to stop thinking this way.

  Anyway, knowing the royals, they probably already had it all figured out by creating a barrier of some sort to protect the swimmers, maybe a net or a shocking device.

  By the time the yacht had reached the flat, square-shaped floats moving slightly along with the rippling waves of the water, all three swimmers had changed into their swim gear, looking quite fashionable, of course.

  Sasha laughed. “I love seeing the guys in their tiny swimming briefs. Its frickin’ hilarious ’cause you know how much they hate wearing them.”

  I had to laugh, too. “Oh, but they look so cute.”

  “And so sexy,” Sasha joked.

  I shook my head with slight disgust. “Uh, gross. That’s my brother out there.”

  Only Elise wore the swim cap on her head. The boys must have said, “Heck with the cap,” worried they’d look like a dork or less masculine. All three of them did wear the nose plug to avoid the horrible burn of salt water going up the nostrils.

  The yacht dropped each of them off at a separate float, all floats spaced evenly apart. I caught myself biting my lip again with anticipation.

  Stop it!

  The loud echo of the boat horn went off, and like a flash of lightning, all three racers dove into the deep. Their arms dipped in and out of the water so quickly that anything living in the water beneath them probably freaked out, wondering what the heck swam crazily above them. Their mouths opened, sneaking in every breath they could possibly get. Gage started swerving toward the rope that separated his lane from Elise’s, but he must have realized it as he moved back into the center of his lane. Elise looked way too busy to have noticed, swimming at a faster pace than both Gage and Ricky. She swam about an arm’s length in front of them and kept her pace up the whole way through.

  Just when I thought the race had begun, it was almost over. That was how incredibly fast these three were. Elbows continued to bob above and below the rippling water with amazing speed, while heads shifted back and forth, and mouths opened for air. Elise held the lead. Gage and Ricky just couldn’t seem to catch up as they swam at the same pace, same movements, like a double on either side of Elise who swam ahead in the middle. On and on they swam. When Elise finally reached her float, she took a huge breath and dived down. She was on her way to the ocean floor before the boys touched their floats. An underwater camera shot showed Elise zooming straight down into the water like a bullet. She snatched the circular, glowing-red medallion and started back to the surface. Gage and Ricky were diving down alongside as Elise swam back up.

  Elise giggled while standing on her float. “Ha-ha, finally, I won!”

  She continued to giggle even after both Gage and Ricky finished. Ricky just rolled his eyes, but Gage reached over and gave Elise a high-five.

  “Good for Elise,” I said. “Now they all have won at least once.”

  But thankfully, Gage has won twice so far. He has the upper hand right now. He has two wins over Elise’s and Ricky’s one win. If he wins the next test, he will surely win the Royals Rise. But if one of the others wins the last round, who knows what will happen. Then a major decision will have to be made, and not just by anyone, but by the royals.

  “Well done, Elise,” Sir Felix shouted from the small boat. “All of you may use the traveling time back to the island for changing back into your clothing. We will soon begin the last event of the Royals Rise.”

  Back on land, the damp-haired speedsters had already dressed and were ready for more action. Sadly, it was time for the very last
race.

  I can’t believe it’s almost done. Please, please, Gage, you have to win. You have to stay here with me. We will live as royals together. It will be so awesome.

  The time had flown by so fast, but that was also because the three racers were so flippin’ fast. So far each of their events had probably only taken, at most, a matter of minutes, which seemed totally crazy considering the lengths that they had to travel.

  Too crazy and way too fast. This is so exciting. I want to watch more. I want this whole experience to go on longer.

  “The last race—indeed the last competition of the Royals Rise—will require a combination of skills. You will have to run, climb, and jump your way to the finish line.” Sir Felix unrolled a large piece of paper. “Here is a map to give you an idea of what you will be racing through and where. The race will begin here at this blue line and will continue down this long road for about a mile, taking you through forest. After the forest you will come to a cliff where you must climb to the top. From there, you will continue on through another large span of forest that will eventually begin to slope and bring you to a large hill. At the top of this hill, you will run into a small stream of water. Not far from here will be the finish line. Each of you will be covering an estimated six miles. Please follow the brightly colored arrows and signs provided along the way. Stay on course and do not touch each other in any way. This is specifically about speed and not who can get in whose way or slow another down. Does everyone understand?”

  “I do!” Gage shouted.

  Elise laughed. “Yes!”

  Ricky clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “Yeah, I got it. I’m ready to win this thing.”

  Sir Felix lined Gage and Ricky up on either side of Elise behind the blue starting line. They were ready for the big race.

  This is it, and they all know it. Only one of them can win.

  My heart raced with both thrill and worry. My whole body began to feel jittery. I couldn’t keep my hands and knees from shaking. Even twitching sensations pulled at my lips. Again, I reached for the warm jade stone snug inside my pocket. This special stone still seemed to help me through these stressful times. It made me feel a little better, a little calmer.