“Yes, by all means, count the blimp,” Hudson drawls.
Stop it, I hiss, but honestly, it takes every ounce of self-control I have not to laugh. Which only encourages Hudson more.
“Too bad there’s a roof on this place. If we were lucky, he could just float away.”
Stop, I say again as we start to walk out onto the field. I actually have to pay attention now.
“Okay, okay.” He stops at the sidelines and watches as we head, single file, onto the field. We’re almost to the purple line when he calls, “Hey, Grace?”
“Yeah?” I turn toward him instinctively.
He gives me a little chin nod. “Break a hip.”
I burst out laughing all over again, and as I do, my stomach unclenches and the last of my nerves dissolve.
This time it’s Aiden who marches onto the field with us and takes his place in the box. He’s a lot more serious than the other members of the Circle—though not quite as serious as Cyrus—so there are no encouraging smiles from the dragon and no wishing of luck.
He just stands there waiting as team four lines up across from us. Liam is in the direct center of the lineup, and so is a dragon I’ve never met before. Flint calls him Caden, and the two do a little friendly trash-talking, but it’s obviously all in good fun. That, combined with the fact that Rafael and Liam are on this team, convinces me that, while the competition might be fierce, it will probably also be fair.
One of the great things about my friends is they tend not to associate with assholes—which is a good quality to have in friends, if you ask me. Flint and Gwen line up in the center of our group with Jaxon next to Gwen and me next to Jaxon. Xavier is on my other side.
“You okay?” Jaxon asks as Aiden gets a new comet out of the center box.
“As ready as I’m ever going to be,” I answer, suddenly uncomfortably aware of just how wet my palms are.
I surreptitiously rub them on my pants—hard to catch a ball with sweaty palms—and hope no one notices. But Xavier grins down at me and says, “Don’t worry, gargoyle. Jaxon and I’ve got your back.” He looks all proud wolf as he says it, head up, chest out, body loose and ready for the fight.
And though I know I should be grateful for the support, I can’t help firing back, “Don’t worry, wolf. I’ve got your back.” And then I smack him right in the center of his shoulder blades, just because I can.
He looks startled but not mad, and then he tosses back his head and lets out a loud, excited howl that gets the entire stadium on their feet. I don’t speak wolf, but I don’t have to, to know that howl was a challenge and a statement of intent at the same time.
Especially when one of the wolves across from us howls back—though his isn’t nearly as impressive as Xavier’s.
Aiden just shakes his head, but for the first time I see a gleam of excitement in his eyes. Right before he throws the comet straight up.
For a second, it feels like everything is frozen as we all tilt our heads back and watch the ball go up, up, up. It finally reaches its ultimate height and hangs there before it eventually starts to come down.
And that’s when it feels like the gates of hell open up around me. Flint shoots straight into the air, partially shifting as he goes so that he can use his wings to propel him upward. But the other dragon is doing the exact same thing, while Rafael jumps and grabs on to Flint, using his super-vampire strength to hold Flint back.
Flint roars in disapproval, shooting a stream of fire straight at the other dragon in an effort to slow him down even as he kicks Rafael in the face. Rafael’s strength is dampened ten seconds faster than Flint’s ability to fly, so Flint is eventually able to shake him off and use his powerful wings to propel him away from the other team before he’s grounded for thirty seconds.
“Oh my God,” I tell Jaxon and Xavier. “This is terrifying.”
“No, this is amazing!” Xavier answers as, in the middle of the melee, Gwen quietly casts a spell and nets the ball right out from in front of the other team’s dragon. Then she yanks it down and straight into her arms and