Jasper stood at the edge of the roof while the team talked quietly behind her. The setting sun bathed the city in shades of red in front of her. No matter which way she turned her gaze, her mind was running in a million different directions at once.
Tonight's race was a straight shot across Sagev, through the Silvium Center, followed by a loop in the desert around the city. Jasper was determined to do well this time. Holly had a point about not drawing attention, but Jasper couldn't stand all those smug villains thinking they were better than her.
So, she had a few tricks up her sleeve for this race.
"I'm going," Jasper finally announced.
"Good luck," Grace said.
"Thanks." Jasper lifted her helmet and inspected the visor for smudges. "But I don't need luck." She'd learned to make do without it a long time ago.
"Stop being dramatic," Holly said. "I'd tell you to keep a low profile, but I feel like that's out the window at this point."
"It's not just out the window, it's in a whole different neighborhood." Jasper slid on the helmet and gave the team a thumbs up. "But thank you all for the words of encouragement."
"Grace is the only one who said anything remotely encouraging, and you dismissed it," Thea pointed out.
"I'd say good luck too," Jax said. "But—"
"All I hear is praise and admiration." Jasper laughed. "See you nerds later."
She jumped off the roof and landed on an apartment balcony. From there it was a few short drops to the ground where her motorcycle waited. The roar of engines in the distance grew as the racers converged on the starting point: an abandoned construction site waiting for demolition.
Jasper rolled up to an empty spot near the middle of the pack. When the countdown to the race she'd added to her screen reached zero, Ringmaster emerged from the shadows above, stepping into a shaft of red sunlight on a metal rafter.
"On your marks, racers." His voice echoed around the skeleton of a building. A golden platform appeared in the air in front of him. He jumped onto it.
Jasper did one last quick check of the tools she'd added to her belt: a few of her stronger smoke bombs, extra explosives, and a container holding a deep sea neoworm she'd nabbed from a pet store. She'd also strapped her longest sword to the side of her motorcycle. It wasn't strong—she doubted it could handle more than a few bullets, if any—but it would work for her purposes.
"Get set." The platform carried Ringmaster upward. "Go!"
Jasper kept at the edge of the pack. As she neared the front of the building, Ringmaster's platform carried him even higher, out of the construction site entirely. Why was he getting out so fast?
Jasper passed through the opening as Ringmaster lifted his hands. She glanced back. A golden orb appeared in the air in front of him and dropped down into the building. A detonator formed from his energy.
It was one of Ringmaster's signature moves.
Jasper was forced to slow as the course merged with Oasis Street. Without her even thinking about it, a countdown had popped up in the corner of her screen. The amount of time it typically took for one of Ringmaster's energy bombs to go off.
Jasper pulled onto the divider between the two directions of traffic and zig-zagged around the palm trees lining the center of the road. The ground shuddered. She threw another glance back.
The bottom sections of the building groaned as they collapsed. The upper levels followed.
"Leave it to Ringmaster to blow up a building for the drama," Jasper muttered, though some part of her wondered if he was trying to get people killed.
"That's rich, coming from you," Holly replied.
"I wouldn't blow up a building!"
"You blew a hole in the roof of the Silvium Center just yesterday," Thea pointed out.
"And Atzy's," Grace added, quieter.
"Wait, when were you at Atzy's?" Holly asked.
Jasper ignored the question. The course shot under an overpass, and she veered up onto the side, using the higher ground to survey the other racers. She spotted South Siren near the front, hekten wrapped around her upper arm.
Perfect. Jasper eased back down into the flow of traffic. The Silvium Center's dome glowed up ahead against the darkening sky. The first racers left the road and headed up the long set of stairs leading to the north entrance. When Jasper reached them, she hopped onto the railing instead. She wobbled but managed to keep her balance as she shot past the vehicles climbing the steps.
She flew off the railing at the top and landed right behind South Siren. As they passed through the front entrance, South Siren extended the arm her hekten was perched on.
Jasper's hand darted to the neoworm in her pocket. She popped the lid off its container and swerved to avoid the first blast from the hekten. The fluorescent green worm inched onto Jasper's gloved hand. She held it up.
The hekten hissed and scrambled up to South Siren's shoulder.
"That's right, you dumb cephalopod!" Jasper flung the worm onto the hekten's head. That should put the thing out of commission for a week or so. South Siren yelled a string of curses as Jasper shot ahead.
Jasper navigated the tables in the food court—and the people running around them—with relative ease. Larger vehicles were forced to take the long way around. They would also be forced to take the grand central staircase up to the second floor.
With her motorcycle, Jasper was able to instead aim for the nearest up escalator. "Outta the way!" she shouted at the last few people scrambling off.
From there, the course ran along the same path Jasper and the others had used during their little joy ride a couple of days earlier. Jasper tipped her head back and laughed as she flew off the roof and sailed through the air.
She whizzed through the parking lot and onto Silvium Drive. The sky was all purples and pinks and blues now. Jasper lifted her gaze to take it in.
Storefronts and restaurants and casinos and dance clubs flew by, a blur of flashing lights and glowing signs. As traffic lessened and buildings became shorter and father apart, a bang went off in a passing alleyway.
"Was that a gunshot?" Jasper asked. She glanced back, but there was no sign of anyone behind her.
"Where?" Thea asked.
"Near intersection of Silvium Drive and Sunshine Boulevard."
Grim Machine's tank form was coming up on Jasper's right. She frowned when a long pipe emerged from his side. That had to be some kind of weapon, right?
More racers broke free of the city traffic and turned onto the older road leading out into the desert. Grim Machine summoned a surprising burst of speed and passed Jasper. As he did, a pale cloud shot out of the pipe.
The racers that the dust touched didn't show any immediate adverse reaction. Still, Jasper steered clear. "I don't suppose anyone could tell me what this weird cloud is."
"Hold on, I'll bring up a camera feed," Thea replied. "Make sure your smartsphere is pointed forward."
After a moment, Jax said, "Looks like some kind of bird seed."
"What? How do you know what bird seed looks like?" Jasper asked.
"I go bird watching sometimes."
"There aren't any birds in Kronos."
"There are in the Tide District," Thea said.
"Don't those birds eat people?" Holly asked.
Grace chimed in. "I thought that was a myth."
"This debate is completely pointless, because there is absolutely no reason for Grim Machine to put bird seed in the air during a race." Jasper opened her camera as the robot fired off another cloud. "I'm going to send Thea a close picture so someone with more than half a brain cell can tell me what it is." Jasper zoomed in, snapped a photo, and sent it to Thea's tablet.
"Oh, yeah, that's definitely bird seed," Thea said.
"Yep," Jax confirmed.
Jasper frowned. "Really?"
"It's this super potent brand that's meant to lure in birds from up to a mile away," Thea continued. "Honestly, I'm disgusted he's using it. It's awful for the environment—"
Something shrieked in the distance. A long-forgotten memory stirred in Jasper's mind, of desperately seeking cover, of watching people get snatched up like mice. "No, no, no, no, no—"
"Jasper, what's wrong?" Jax asked.
"This is bad."
"Jasper?" Grace pressed.
Focus. She needed to focus if she wanted to get out of this alive. "Snatchawks." Jasper fought to keep her eyes on the road and not the sky. "Invasive species. Brought in during the Waste Wars to destroy armies."
"Oh." Holly's tone was more intrigued than concerned. "I've always wanted to see one of those in person."
"No, you don't," Jasper told her sharply. "They're monsters. And Grim Machine's summoning them to pick off racers." He had nothing to worry about, being a massive robot.
The shrieks were closer now.
"You sound like you've seen one," Holly said.
Jasper didn't answer Holly. She barely heard the statement. The first of the red, helicopter-sized birds of prey appeared on the horizon.