THIRTY-FOUR
Jo had never heard what it sounded like when a glacier began to crack, but by the sounds around them, a strange pinging that echoed through her bones, she knew that was exactly what it was. Call it instinct or some form of self-preservation, but Jo knew they were about to be in even more trouble than they were before.
Why hadn’t the glaciers broken for the other two teams ahead of them?
“Someone is having a good laugh right now,” Jo grunted, getting back in her seat and buckling her harness after cleaning the windows one last time. She checked the tablet. “We have six and a half miles until the final section.”
“It does seem as if someone has it out for us, doesn’t it?” Nic grinned. “Can’t blame them. Look at us.”
“Now isn’t the time for ego,” Jo said, rolling her eyes, but she smiled anyway.
The road led them toward the edge of the glacier, forcing them to drive along it. It was difficult to follow where the track was supposed to be and the leopard seals had thrown them off course briefly, but once the markers were picked out, it was easy to understand the path that needed to be taken. And the path led right along an ice bridge across the freezing water.
When glaciers crack, the glacier almost seems to rise above the sea, being pushed up as the crack moves and spreads, as the pressure lifts it. Once it got too heavy and the crack weakened enough, the glacier piece would fall. Right now, the road they were on was rising slowly into the air, the thunderous cracking echoing around them. Shit was about to get real.
“Nic.”
“I know.” Nic’s fingers were white on the steering wheel as he pushed Frankie faster despite not having any traction. It was a dangerous game they were playing. If Nic lost control, they could easily slide off the ice entirely, and if they ended up in the water, they were done for. There would be no surviving that. Frankie was too heavy, and she’d sink far faster than they’d be able to react.
Pieces began breaking off around them, crashing into the water, creating waves as the chunks hit and fell. Panic clogged her throat, and though she wanted to scream, she kept it inside, her fingers clenched tightly to her harness.
The road swerved to the left then and Nic angled the car toward it, only realizing a moment later that the crack had created a canyon that was splitting the road now. The crack was growing, the two pieces beginning to put distance between them.
“Hang on,” Nic ordered and sped up.
The glacier breaking off was higher than the other side, meaning all Nic had to do was get enough speed off the glacier and they’d be fine. The rear of the car began to move unsteadily on the ice, but Nic kept her straight, turning into each tiny fishtail as if he’d been driving all his life.
Perhaps he had.
Jo hadn’t really asked too many questions, hadn’t thought to learn about how he’d come to be so talented with driving. She only knew he’d been into demolition derbies, but he’d given it up to take up the beta position. She hadn’t asked, hadn’t dug, and at that realization, she felt shame. He’d been trying so hard, had dug deeper into her passions, but she hadn’t returned the favor.
“How long were you into the derby scene?” she asked suddenly.
Nic glanced at her as they neared the edge. “What?”
“How long were you in the demolition derby scene? When did you start?” she repeated, her heart rate picking up as the edge grew closer and the glacier continued to rise, threatening any moment now to roll over or crash to the sea.
“Now isn’t really the time—”
“I just want to know,” she argued, and then grimaced as the edge rose to meet them.
Frankie sailed off the edge of the glacier and they went airborne. For long seconds, there was this feeling of weightlessness as they flew, and then the deep pull of gravity as they slammed onto the ice on the other side, on the road toward victory. The car fishtailed at its hit, but Nic corrected the car like an expert and gunned it again.
He looked over at her once he was steady again. “I started demolition derbies when I was thirteen.”
Jo blew out a breath and met his eyes. “No wonder you’re such a good driver.”
He blinked and a blush began to spread along his cheeks. “I’m not that great.”
Jo grinned. “I beg to differ. Look at what we’ve survived because of your skills.” She looked through the windshield and leaned forward. “Oh, look! I think that’s the vampires!”
They could catch up to them, take second place. They were so close to winning, Jo could taste victory. She was just about to instruct Nic to go faster, to catch up to the BMW skidding along the ice at a slower speed, but she never got the chance.
Ahead of them, as the vampires crawled along the road that still ran along the ocean, water on each side, she watched as an orca burst out of the ice beside them. Its black and white flesh appeared like a bomb from the still water, slamming down onto the ice beside the car, breaking a large chunk free that the vampires were on. The momentum of the orca did the job. The BMW was launched off the ice as the piece broke loose, throwing them off the track and into the ocean where the pod of orcas waited. Their singing was loud as they swirled around the quickly sinking car.
Jo stared with wide eyes at the hole left behind in the road, at the hole they’d have to go around carefully.
“Well,” Nic said, having seen the same thing. The horn sounded to announce another death, echoing above them like a taunt. “I didn’t see that coming.”
The orcas moved along the track, a welcoming committee. . .
. . .a death omen. . .