Danica ground her teeth and snarled, pushing the Porsche to its limits, forcing it forward. The sound that came out of her mouth was feral, the win so close she could taste it. Phi and Arden were saying something, but she couldn’t hear them over the roaring in her ears and the roaring of the engine.
The finish line came close, close, closer, flaring brightly, a creature holding a checkered flag out waiting for the winner.
The Porsche pulled just slightly ahead of the Maserati. Danica’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel to the point of pain, but she didn’t feel it. The world slowed around her, everything went quiet, and suddenly, all she could sense was the line ahead of her. Her ears rung with the sudden silence.
Rust or dust, baby girl. You’ve got this.
“I’ve got this,” Danica repeated, her voice sounding garbled. “Dust. I choose dust.”
They slammed through the finish line going two hundred and forty miles per hour, and it took a second for Danica to realize the Fae passed through it a split second after she did.
For a moment, Danica had time to feel the thrill of the win, but it was short-lived.
Danica let off the gas, about to press her foot to the brakes, when something slammed into the right side of the car, t-boning them. They went airborne and then began to roll, the force of their speed and the hit combining as a force. This time, it was too great for the Porsche to handle, despite the technology Arden and Phi had used.
Glass shattered, gravity pulled at Danica’s body hard, but she only began to scream when Arden began to tumble around the inside of the car.
Blood smeared across the ceiling and the world arrowed in on it.
The ringing in Danica’s ears grew excruciating.