Most of the track was built to fit one car with a bit of room to slide. Some sections were tight enough that the trees would touch the windows even on a perfect line. Other sections could have fit three astride comfortably. There were plenty of sections to pass if one waited long enough. Passing however, wasn’t what this other driver appeared to have in mind at all.

  The other car drew close enough that Zephyr could make out Cat as the one driving it. Had she been suspicious enough of him throwing his time to get out on the track and observe his lap for herself?

  That possibility made more sense to Zephyr. Maybe he could blame a poor time on performance anxiety then? Nobody liked being watched that closely.

  And she was getting awful close.

  As they rounded the next corner her bumper was no more than a hair’s width from his. She kept that distance all the way around the bend.

  The track straightened out.

  There was room enough to pass here now. If she was getting that close, maybe she wasn’t here to watch after all. Maybe she just wanted to do a lap for herself.

  Zephyr was soon proven wrong on all accounts.

  Cat rammed him.

  “Oi! What the hell!” Zephyr remarked aloud even though no one could hear him.

  He caught her expression in his rear-view mirror though. A waggle of her dark eyebrows. A sly smile. An expression that challenged him.

  Zephyr his the gas.

  The implication in her face had been obvious. If he didn’t move it, she’d do it again. He winced at the thought of whatever dent she’d put in the nice polished paint.

  It was impossible though. He’d never beat Cat, not even if they were both in the same sort of car. But as he pulled away she gave him some distance.

  Enough that for a few seconds he thought he’d actually lost her.

  He guided the car smoothly around the inner bend of the start of a chicane, before pulling it neatly out of a short slide and into the perfect line for the second corner.

  A small dip in the road sent his stomach soaring as he crested the high point. He grinned before swinging into the double apex that followed. A dense bushel of ferns barely brushed his outside wing mirror.

  His panic subsided into an enjoyable thrill and then back into relaxation. His peace was short-lived though. As he eased off the accelerator, there was Cat again, right on his tail, reminding him what would happen if he didn’t move his arse.

  She bumped into him three more times before he realised he was really going to have to push it if he didn’t want a forth tap.

  He drove like he’d never driven before, pushed by fear of damage to his car. The last time he’d felt like this a literal dragon had been on his tail.

  Cat didn’t ease off this time. She kept close, as if they were racing. But she never overtook, not even where she could have. She wanted to keep the pressure on.

  She didn’t need to. After the second tap Zephyr had already realised that he couldn’t slow down again. The third tap had just been before he’d really gotten going.

  Every corner he took thereafter he pushed the limits of his tyres. His suspension shook. This rough road at this speed couldn’t be good for that. Had Cat forgotten his road tyres weren’t made for the mud?

  She stayed on him, inches from his tail. Zephyr focused on the road. He found his groove. Corner after corner. Turn after turn. The trees passed by in blur of green until he wasn’t even sure where on the track he was anymore. He drove by instinct and with the goal of just getting back to the start without doing anymore damage to his car.

  Zephyr had once read something about how students who did well under test conditions always had a few moments of panic, but that following those moments what distinguished the average from the very best was the ability to quickly calm down and use that adrenaline to focus on what was in front of them.

  He swung the car to the left. Cat followed.

  He swung it to the right. Cat was there again.

  Wherever he moved, she was right behind him. Their tyres kicked up mud, coating the greenery in ruddy ochre.

  A few times he tried to lose her by taking a line that would force her to rethink her own position. But Cat’s reflexes were quick and the both times he tried such a trick it only brought her closer. Even the corner where he accidentally overshot where he’d intended to go resulted in her almost butting him again. She intended to make him drive not just to the best of his ability but better than he ever had before.

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  He finally reached the home loop and was faced with a decision. Take the circuit again or pull in. He was certain he knew what Cat wanted.

  With a sigh he committed and started into his next lap with the plan to this time drive as fast as he could, no tricks. He knew she wouldn’t let him rest until he’d convinced her he’d done his best, and maybe not even then.

  He floored the accelerator, knowing she wouldn’t be able to keep pace around this section in that car. Straight-line speed was where he excelled and he wanted as much distance as he could between them before he began his next lap.

  He got to the fifth bend in from the bush line before he saw her again but he ignored her and kept his foot to the floor.

  Left, right, up, down, around a bend so tight he was basically going back the way he came. Every curve that came at him he took at a speed so fast that if the trees had had eyes and had blinked they’d have missed him entirely. Him and the yellow car that never left his sight. Only dust remained in their wake. Repeated runs of the track were slowly drying out the top layer of dirt while the ruts got deeper and slipperier. The track would get harder and harder for him to maintain traction on. He tried not to think about all the abuse his car was taking from the extra exposed roots and stones.

  She stayed on his tail the whole way around. When they finally reached the starting line again and Zephyr pulled in, she eased in right behind him.

  Zephyr’s first concern was the damage she’d done to his car. He jumped out and went to inspect where she’d hit him. It wasn’t quite as bad as he’d initially thought it had been but there was still an obvious dent in his rear bumper. Where before there had been smooth silver was now an ugly depression.

  He turned on Cat, who was already out of her car and walking toward him.

  He was about to call her a string of not very nice names but, as usual, she beat him to it.

  She waved a hand dismissively at the dent. “I can fix it. What I want to know, is why it took the threat of a scratch in your paint to drive a decent run?”

  “A scratch?!” Zephyr gestured at the dent. It was quite a bit more than a scratch. “More like a hole.”

  “Why’d you throw your time?” Cat insisted, ignoring the others who were gathering around and starting to stare.

  “Cat,” Amanda warned.

  Arianna reached Zephyr’s side. She gave Cat an incredulous look.

  Zephyr reached an arm out to her. She’d initially come toward him with a worried expression on her face and had obviously intended to offer him some comfort but her last glance at Cat had shown an expression more like fear so Zephyr pulled her close to offer comfort to her instead. A part of him worried what she’d think of him if she knew how scared he was of driving the dragon road but it was a small part overshadowed by all the other things he currently felt, like anger. Anger at Cat for denting his car and for scaring Arianna.

  He was used to Cat and he understood on some level why she was like this. He also knew the best way to deal with her was to show no fear. Not to fight back but to simply refuse to move. “So what if I did?” he shot back too annoyed at the damage she’d done to even think about cowering or making excuses.

  “Maybe it just took him some time to get used to the track,” Falco suggested naively.

  Cat knew better and she shook her head, her eyes still fixed on Zephyr. “The early runs were easier.”

  “What difference does it make?” Wolf asked with a sigh. “It’s still not the fastest time.”

  Cat frowned and then glanced up at the board where the times were written. Her mouth hung half open as if she’d been about to reply but the times on the board had stolen the words from her mouth.

  Zephyr looked in the same direction. To his surprise, Kass still had the faster time, by one second.

  For awhile neither of them spoke. Then Cat said to Zephyr, “You’re playing.”

  Amanda replied for him. “I don’t think he’s playing, Cat. Look at his face.”

  Zephyr was still too surprised to say anything. He’d thought that last lap was good, but then it had been one of the later laps, with slipperier ruts and more exposed roots, and he hadn’t been in a rally car.

  Cat eyed Kass. “You timed Zeph’s run...”

  “So did I,” Wolf interrupted.

  “And me!” Indi declared with a grin.

  “You want me to go again?” Kass asked. There was the twitch of a smile at the edge of her lips which she quickly hid. It was the sort of thing that might set Cat off.

  But Cat was surprisingly calm. At least for a second or two. Then she turned on Zephyr again. “You still threw those early laps,” she accused with narrowed eyes but less furiosity than before.

  He shrugged but his anger had dissipated too and now he was more afraid of what answers she might find if she kept digging. “So?”

  “Why?”

  When he didn’t reply she guessed for herself.

  “Why don’t you want to drive the dragon mountains?”

  “Probably because there’s dragons,” Arianna ventured boldly, and accurately. She was still clinging to Zephyr’s arm and still giving Cat a sort of fearful look but her shoulders were square and tall.

  Cat barely gave her a glance. With her gaze still fixed on Zephyr she replied, “He’s driven it before.”

  Arianna gave Zephyr a surprised and almost impressed look. Zephyr tried to ignore the prideful warm feeling that look gave him. It was a lie. He was a coward. He’d only driven it because he’d been a fool. He was too scared to do it again.

  “Yeah, and look how that went,” Zephyr replied with a sigh.

  Cat’s posture relaxed as if she’d finally gotten out of him what she wanted. She glanced at the dent she’d left in his car. Zephyr wasn’t sure if her expression now suggested guilt or satisfaction.

  “I don’t mind driving it,” Kass answered. “Just, not in my car,” she added, giving her own glance at the dent in Zephyr’s.

  That got Cat’s attention and she turned and started to open her mouth.

  Amanda spoke before she could get a word out. In Cat’s direction she said in a teasing tone, “You haven’t done your time yet. Maybe Zephyr and Kass should both drive it.”

  Cat turned on Amanda with an incredulous look. “What?”

  “Go on.” She nodded her head toward the rally cars. Amanda’s grin made her ploy obvious. A distraction to get Cat off everyone else’s backs.

  For a moment it seemed like Cat might object but Amanda proved she knew Cat well. It didn’t take much to get the woman behind the wheel of a car. Cat snorted and started down the hill toward the yellow rally car. “Fine. Time me,” she called back over her shoulder.