“Trust me,” he said, touching her shoulder in reassurance. “Gun it, speed racer!”
So she did. Danica downshifted and gunned the car, picking up speed that felt too fast for a quickly narrowing alley. One little twitch and they’d hit the wall, and it would all be over. Green glowing creatures flew overhead, the flying creatures following. Behind them, more ran, and the glow seemed to bounce off everything inside the car.
Fingers tightening on the wheel, Danica fought the urge to close her eyes as the wall came closer and closer.
Arden gripped the Jesus handle. “Phi—”
“Trust me.”
Danica held her breath and prepared to slam into a wall going over a hundred and forty miles per hour, prepared to die just in case, but as they just about hit the wall, the image shimmered before them, and instead of meeting a brick wall, they passed right through.
The scenery changed immediately and instead of a decaying city, they shot into the air right out in bright sunshine and onto what looked like a beachside town. The wheels touched down on the sand and Danica fought to correct them, focusing on turning and following the road.
“What the fuck just happened?’ she asked, her eyes wide despite trying to adjust to the sudden brightness.
“A shortcut,” Phi answered. “We’ve bypassed the second quarter of the course. There are only two teams ahead of us now.”
Danica whipped her head toward him. “We’re what?!”
“It’s legal. There are no rules, and you have to know where to look to find a shortcut,” Phi answered. “We’re now in third place, just behind the Fae and the dragon team.”
As if summoned, the dragon team came into view ahead of them and Danica watched as flames erupted from their exhaust pipe. Of course, they’d have that feature on their car, Danica thought, but when they slammed on their breaks and a massive stream of fire shot out at them, Danica just barely managed to avoid it.
Arden rolled down his window and grabbed what looked like a handful of candy, but when he threw one toward the dragon car, it stuck on them and exploded. However, it did nothing to slow them down. It didn’t do anything to their car except leave a black spot behind on the orange paint.
Before Danica could swerve around an obstacle, another stream of fire shot out that she couldn’t avoid.
“Arden!” She reached across and grabbed a handful of his shirt the same time as Phi did, jerking him back inside, but they weren’t fast enough.
Arden hissed in pain and slipped back inside, the side of his face burnt from the fire she hadn’t missed.
“Are you okay?” Danica asked frantically, her eyes on the sudden walls spaced along the road.
“I’m fine. It’ll heal in a few minutes. Just don’t let the flames touch you,” he hissed before slamming his fist against a large button on the dash.
A large gun rose out of the hood and lit up. “You burn me. I burn you,” Arden growled, and grabbed the wheel. After a split second of aim, he fired what turned out to be a literal rocket launcher at them.
“What the fuck?” Danica whispered as the gun sunk back inside, opening up her view again.
“They won’t die,” Phi replied, watching everything closely. “They’re dragons. But it’ll slow them down with that fire for a minute.”
Danica searched her memory of the file on the dragons, attempting to think of an idea. “Dragons. Dragons,” she repeated to herself, and then it clicked. “Aren’t they scared of water? Or weaker in water?”
“These ones are, yes,” Phi answered. He watched as Arden pressed another button and something shot from the front of the car toward the Dragon car.
“Is there any water coming up in this course? This is beachy enough. There should be something.”
“Of course!” Phi glanced down at his tablet. “There’s a bridge coming up. There’s nothing on either side of it, only water, and it’ll take us into the Doomed Graveyard, whatever that is.”
It didn’t sound promising to be driving toward something called a graveyard, but Danica didn’t care.
“Is the water deep?”