Chapter Twenty-Nine
The scenery changed from a dark and foreboding jungle to snowy mountains during a blizzard. Visibility dropped so drastically that Cricket was forced to slow down. The tires on the car were not only meant to be impossible to blow, but they were supposed to be all-weather tires. However, during a blizzard with severe drops on either side of the track, Cricket didn’t want to risk testing them out in that way. It was better to be safe in such weather than to fly around mountain curves and accidently spin off. They needed to stay in the race if they wanted to win.
Radley leaned forward in his seat, pressing against his harness to attempt to see through the falling snow. “I expected mountains but not during a blizzard. What do they think we are? Abominable snowmen?”
Despite the situation, Cricket laughed. “Don’t jinx it. There could be snowmen around the next bend.”
He shook his head. “Wouldn’t that be something? Death by snowmen?”
They rounded another bend, taking the curve as slow as Cricket dared. Too slow and the teams behind them would catch up. Too fast and they could lose traction. So that was how Cricket found herself easing around the curve. . . only to see taillights shining through the falling snow in the middle of the road before them.
Cricket wrinkled her brow. “Which team is in fifth place?”
Radley tapped on the screen. “The elves.”
“Why are they just sitting in the road?”
They shared a look between them before Cricket eased the car forward. The horn hadn’t sounded for a death so they were still alive, but they should be moving.
“I don’t like this,” Radley mumbled, leaning forward to glare out the window. “This feels like a trap.”
“We have to pass by them to continue forward.” Cricket slowed to a roll twenty yards away, her brow furrowed at the windshield. “What else can we do?”
“I don’t know but our weapons are on,” Radley commented, tapping the weapons panel. “If all else fails, we have a means of defense but so do they.”
The elves were notorious for their traps, but Cricket wasn’t sure of the two elves who were driving for their team. She’d never met them before, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have grudges held against her or her name.
“What if they’re injured and need help?” Cricket asked suddenly. She wasn’t sure she could drive passed someone who needed help without stopping to render aide, but the race was built to do just that.
“We can’t stop without risking losing the race,” Radley pointed out logically. “You know that as well as I do.”
She glanced at him, her face twisted. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“It might not even be a problem.” He looked out the windshield again. “Just ease up and as soon as we’re passed the car, speed up again. I’d rather not risk whatever is waiting.”
Cricket did as Radley said, easing up around the car. The three teams behind them were far enough behind, she wasn’t worried, but still, the longer they moved at a slow pace, the further they fell back from the racers in front of them.
The elves drove a heavily modified Audi. It was imposing as it rose out of the falling snow like some sort of lilac beast. It sat in the middle of the road, not horizontally. It wasn’t blocking the road, only sitting in the middle of it. The brake lights weren’t on, so they were sitting in neutral rather than in gear.
“I don’t like this,” Cricket whispered.
With those words hanging in the air between them and the cold creeping inside the car, the passenger side door opened on the elven car when there was only another six yards between them. Cricket stepped on her brake, coming to a stop, as a male elf exited the Audi.
“He’s holding a short blade but nothing else,” Radley said, his brows furrowed. “Why stand out in the cold?”
But their question was answered only a few seconds later.
“Lady Snapdragon,” the elf called, loud enough to be heard in their car. She glanced at the mountain nervously. Avalanches were common enough in the mountains without someone shouting. “Your family has one of my friends.” Cricket froze. “She’s locked into service with the Snapdragon family, and though I’ve tried to free her without success, I’ll take your life as reparation.”
Cricket rolled down her window.
“Don’t,” Radley growled. He threw up his hands when she didn’t listen. “This is a bad idea.”
“I apologize for your friend’s situation, but I had nothing to do with it,” Cricket shouted back. “But perhaps, if you tell me her name, I can help.”
The elf’s face twisted. “You’re lying just as your father does. You’ll pay for the lives the Snapdragon’s have enslaved!” And then the elf was running toward them.
Panicking, Cricket hit the automatic roll up button and slammed the gas pedal all within a second of each other. The tires spun on the frozen ground for a moment before catching traction and shooting them forward with all the horsepower of the Ferrari. There was nowhere to go but forward, so that’s where Cricket aimed.