Chapter Thirty-One
“Four miles until the weapon’s systems are online,” Phi commented.
They’d been quiet since the elf except for the few warnings and directions. The air was heavier somehow, because despite having seen others die, Danica was suddenly feeling solely responsible for the elf’s death.
“She knew what she was signing up for,” Arden said suddenly, breaking the silence.
Danica scowled at him. “I highly doubt she signed up to be eaten by a fucking dinosaur.”
“It’s the risk of the Race Games. They put creatures and traps in here meant to shock. We couldn’t have helped her.”
“I realize that,” Danica whispered. “But I feel just a little less human for not even trying, so can we just drop it?”
Arden’s eyes softened. “I sometimes forget you’re human, little racer. Your conscious will try and convince you of many things—”
“I know what I signed up for,” Danica interrupted. “But I won’t allow myself to be lost in this. My humanity is a part of me, and I want you to know, if there’s a way for me to help someone, despite them being our enemy, my instincts will be to help them. The only reason I didn’t stop to help the elf was because I knew, just as you did, there was no way to help her, not without us being killed in the process. I’m many things, but I can’t fight a dinosaur, and I doubt the two of you can either.” She rolled her shoulders again and took a deep breath. “We’re getting close to the weapons coming online, which means we’re closer to everyone else having better weapons, too. We’re at the back of the pack, so we have about forty-five miles to pass. . .”
“Twelve teams,” Phi filled in for her.
“We have forty-five miles or so to pass another twelve teams—”
The trumpet sounded.
“Eleven teams,” Danica continued. “Let’s win this race and then Phi here can pay for my therapy after the fact.”
It was meant to be a joke, but the moment they left her lips, she knew it probably wasn’t a lie. Still, she chuckled right along with Phi and Arden. After all, what better combatant to horror than humor?
“Two miles until weapons online and the swamp ends.”
“What teams are left?” Arden asked him. “And who is directly ahead of us?”
“A necromancer team is ahead of us. Another goblin team is close to them, so I assume they’re causing trouble. The other goblin team is toward the front of the lineup. The elf team, a goblin team, kelpie team, and a demon team are deceased.” Phi clicked his tablet. “There are still two necromancer teams, two goblin teams, the Fae team, us, the crow, two wolf teams, two dragon teams, and a demon team.”
“The necromancers,” Danica repeated. “In your files, there wasn’t much information—”
“That’s because we don’t know much about them,” Phi said just as Danica flew around a sinkhole opening up in the road. It spread rapidly, but she was just quick enough to drop a gear and gun the car that she edged right around it. They all leaned with the car along the turn before Danica corrected the wheel again. “Most call them Frankensteins, for obvious reasons, and we know their powers connect to death, but other than that, we don’t know much. They’re secretive, and they can raise the dead, but we have no idea how the mechanics of that work, if the dead are only vessels or if there’s some sort of consciousness in the dead they raise. If we’re going to face them, I can guarantee that it won’t be pleasant.”
“And there’s two teams of Frankies in this race,” Arden added. “Let’s hope someone else takes out both before we ever reach them.”
But somehow, Danica knew that wouldn’t be the case. She didn’t say it out loud, but she was certain she’d be facing the necromancers before long.
“There’s a trap coming up. Hit it and see if we’re able to use them yet,” Phi instructed. “It shouldn’t hurt us since it’s a delayed trigger.”
Danica nodded as it came into sight. The beam of light was easy to see in the gloom of the swamp, a beacon amongst the creatures peeking out of the trees. It was as if they waited to see if they’d get an easy meal or not. They didn’t seem to want to come from the swamp unless they were stopped in some way. Her one goal was to not find out. There would be no stopping, no matter what happened.
Danica drove the car across the beacon and held her breath. “Anything?” she asked, glancing in the rearview mirror but seeing nothing.
“Nothing,” Arden growled, searching his own mirror.
“Wait,” Phi grunted and pointed ahead of them. “Look.”
The road in front of them lit up like a disco ball, a crack appearing across the road where the light spilled from.
“What the hell is that?” Danica asked, her fingers tightening on the wheel. Her other hand curled around the shifter knob in case she needed to drop gears. The crack wasn’t large enough she couldn’t drive over it, but she wasn’t sure why it was opening in the first place.
Tiny things began pouring out of the light. Arden and Phi groaned at the same time.
“What?” Danica asked, panic seeping into her voice. “What are they?”
“Pixies,” Arden and Phi said at the same time, and Danica frowned in confusion.
“Pixies?” Her brow wrinkled. “Like Tinkerbell?”