Page 14 of The Cauldronball Run
"I didn't decide to do this until the last minute," he said."I was desperate.I figured you were desperate too."
The words stung because they were absolutely true.She was desperate enough to take a sketchy job from a stranger, desperate enough to ignore obvious red flags, desperate enough to be sitting here seriously considering becoming a criminal.
But there was something else in his admission, something that made her feel like he was a kindred spirit after all.The way he'd said "desperate" like it was a dirty word, like being broke and struggling made him less worthy somehow.
"Tell me about the debt," she said.
J.J.blinked, clearly not expecting the question."What about it?"
She studied his face."What happened?What made it so bad you're willing to commit a crime to get the money?"
"In the third year of my EMT program," he said."My partner on a ride-along was this kid, maybe nineteen.We got called to a construction accident.A beam fell on a worker, crushing injuries to his legs.Standard stuff, except the kid panicked when he saw how bad it was.Froze up completely.And the patient was going into shock, losing blood faster than we could replace it.I knew if we waited for backup, he'd die."
"What did you do?"
"What I had to."He sighed."I used my strength to lift the beam off him.It was a steel beam that should've taken three men and a pulley system.I saved his life but...”
"You scared the shit out of the humans," she finished.
He blinked at her in surprise."Yeah.Exactly.The video went viral.'Orc EMT Shows Superhuman Strength' was trending for weeks.Every medical service in the state suddenly had concerns about my methods, my disposition, whether I had the temperament to be an EMT.”J.J.'s laugh was bitter."Funny how saving a life becomes a liability when you're not human."
Farrah's heart clenched.She knew that story—knew the aftermath, the slow erosion of opportunities, the whispered conversations about whether someone like them could be trusted.
"You got blacklisted."
"Not officially.But suddenly every job paid minimum wage.Every shift was with the worst partners.Every supervisor treated me like I was one incident away from a rampage."He met her eyes."The decent-paying jobs dried up.I had to take a third job just to make loan payments, then a fourth to cover rent.Been three years of working sixty-hour weeks and still falling behind."
Farrah nodded along with each of his sentences."That's when you started thinking about the race."
"That's when I started thinking about disappearing completely.Just walking away from all of it.But then I heard about the Cauldronball Run, and I thought maybe there's another way."
This wasn't just about money.It was about dignity, about proving paranormals were worth something more than minimum wage and sideways looks.
"And if we lose?"
"Then I'm back where I started, except now I'm also a federal criminal."J.J.managed a self-deprecating smile."But at least I tried something other than slow financial suicide."
Farrah thought about her own slow financial suicide—the overdraft notices, the collection calls, the careful calculations about which bills she could delay another month.The soul-crushing routine of hiding her abilities to keep jobs because being a witch was too “other” for mundanes.
"I want half," she said.
"Half?"J.J.'s voice went up an octave, and the sound was so genuinely shocked that she almost smiled.
"Half the prize money or I walk.If we're doing this, we're partners.Equal partners."
J.J.stared at her for a long moment, then sighed heavily."Deal."
Holy shit.I'm actually doing this.
"But I have conditions."She held up her hand to stop his grateful response."First, no more lies.About anything.I don't care how embarrassing or complicated or inconvenient the truth is.I want to know what I'm getting into."
"Agreed."
"Second, if anyone gets hurt during this race—actually hurt—we stop and help them.We're medical professionals first."
"Deal."
"Third, I want details about every other team we're racing against.If we're breaking the law, I want to know exactly who we're breaking it with and what we're up against."
