Page 67 of Of Flame and Fury

Dira turned on her side, toward Kel. “I don’t talk about my parents because it hurts. Not because I don’t trust you. And I just… I was worried you’d think I was selfish. For choosing Cendor. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I didn’t want you to think racing wasn’t everything to me, too.”

Kel reached for Dira’s hand. “I don’t. I promise.”

Softly, Dira said, “As a kid, I’d hear about CAPR races and the money that could come from them. Dresva doesn’t offer anything like that. Staying on Cendor and entering CAPR… it was all just meant to be one long race. I wanted to get in, get some money for me and my parents, and get out. But now…”

Kel gently nudged Dira’s shoulder.

Dira huffed. “Rahn’s forced me to stop lying to myself.”

Kel frowned, an unspoken question. After a while, long enough for the heat lamp overhead to wink out completely, Dira confessed, “My parents have agreed to visit Cendor.”

A shock of warmth flooded Kel. “Dira, that’s—”

“Great, right? That’s why Ineededracing. My plan was to earn asmuch as I could to get us set up for a life, together. I was going to return to Dresva. And with Cristo’s money, I actually can. But… Iloveracing, Kel.”

Kel squeezed her friend’s hand. She’d always thought that Dira was born for this. “Then stay. Your parents will understand.”

Dira shook her head. “Dresva is different to Cendor. It was always my plan to go back. Eventually.” Dira let out a shaky breath. “Now, I don’t know what to do.”

Kel leaned back and rubbed her arms. A venomous fear prickled her skin. Though she’d never said it aloud, Kel had known Dira might return to Dresva. Maybe that was why Kel used to push so hard to learn about Dira’s past, her family. If she knew what Dira was missing, she could try to fill that hole. But hearing the pain in her friend’s voice… maybe she’d never fully understand it, or be able to erase it. And that would have to be enough.

There was a long pause before Dira whispered, “I know it’s early days… but it feels right with the three of them, doesn’t it? Bekn, Rahn, Coup. They fit.”

A weight settled over Kel. “Yeah, they do.”

Maybe it was because they all had so much to lose—but their new teamworked. Months ago, Kel never could have imagined finding anything like it away from her farm.

She didn’t want to think about the warmth that followed the confession, and the memory it summoned of her and Coup flying, pressed together, the first of their reluctant truces. She wanted sleep to smother the fear she felt for their rider. So, the two girls lay side by side, with Savita at their feet, and let the darkness consume them, hoping it would consume their fears, too.

Until a sharp noise cut open the quiet.

TWENTY-NINE

Kel and Dira jerked upright at the sound. They rubbed sleep from their eyes and swapped frowns. Slowly, they tiptoed across the aviary, toward the glass wall that Savita shared with the other phoenixes. Savita didn’t seem concerned by the noise—which did concern Kel. Was it nothing to worry about? Or was it just a familiar noise to her phoenix?

Voices echoed around the glass, coming from the larger aviary. The phoenixes’ answering noises were somehow wrong—not the usual shriek or squawk, but something stifled.

Nothing could stifle a phoenix.

Nothing but a muzzle.

Kel and Dira hid behind a thick tree trunk. Kel couldn’t spot all five phoenixes in the neighboring enclosure, but the two she could see both wore intricate leather harnesses around their beaks.

Kel clenched her nails into her palms. She’d never seen a muzzled phoenix, never even heard of someone attempting it. The creature would either kill them or the taboo of it would chase them from Cendor.

A muzzle was no better than clipping a phoenix’s wings.

Why would Cristo let this happen?

The people in the enclosure wore the white masks and uniforms of Cristo’s research division, which rarely had anything to do with the aviaries.

The phoenixes griped and ruffled their wings, but quickly lay on the ground beside the workers. They were clearly used to this treatment.

Kel’s breath shallowed as she watched the scientists move around the birds, carrying strange glass instruments. Their words were whispered too quietly to hear, but it was clear what they were doing. A phoenix’s collar could only tell a person so much. For whatever reason, these scientists were poking and prodding the creatures for more data.

Kel glanced back at Savita, sleeping peacefully on the ground. Had Savita been experimented on, too?

Dira must have felt Kel begin to shake, because she touched Kel’s arm and whispered, “Not yet.”

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