SWNOVELS The Raven King: Chapter 6
A lottery in July chose Blackwell University as host for the fall banquet. It was a relatively lucky draw for the Foxes since they were only four hours away, but none of them were feeling particularly good about it when they boarded the bus Saturday. They pulled onto the interstate with thirteen people on board: the Fox team, the two-man staff, and Aaron’s and Nicky’s dates.
Nicky was bringing Jim from his improv class and Aaron finally worked up the nerve to ask Katelyn. Neil didn’t think much of it until he saw all the money changing hands between his teammates. Apparently Katelyn was the center of two bets between the Foxes: whether or not Aaron would ask her, and how Andrew would respond. The latter was what interested Neil more. Andrew was high on his drugs, but he didn’t spare a single smile or hello for Katelyn. Andrew looked through her and around her like she wasn’t even there.
The banquet was supposed to be a two-day event to justify the costs and travel time for the further teams, but the Foxes took a unanimous vote to leave Saturday night. Six hours spent socializing with teams who’d repeatedly and loudly mocked them in the news was more than enough. According to Dan few athletes were crude enough to start trouble at an ERC-sanctioned event, but Neil wasn’t reassured. He wasn’t worried about thirteen rowdy teams; he was worried about one awful man.
Neil tried keeping his cool, but Kevin started losing his the first time they passed a sign pointing out the way to Blackwell. Neil heard his short, ragged breaths as Kevin valiantly fought off a panic attack and it did nothing for Neil’s nerves.
It wasn’t just Riko Kevin was afraid of. In twenty minutes he’d be facing his entire former team. The Ravens’ coach, Tetsuji Moriyama, took Kevin in after his mother died. He’d raised Kevin to be a star but never let Kevin forget he was just Riko’s valuable property. Neil didn’t know much else about him. The one time Kevin mentioned him he’d slipped and called him ‘the master’. Neil didn’t need to hear anything else after that.
Blackwell was slow to appear in the distance, but it didn’t take long to spot the two stadiums. The football and Exy stadium were on opposite sides of the campus like massive bookends.
‘Hey, hey,’ Andrew said, distracting Neil from the view. ‘You’ll tear something if you keep breathing like that, Kevin.’
Neil turned enough to look back. Andrew was standing up and leaning over Kevin’s seatback, arms folded on the cushion so he could look down at Kevin’s head. Kevin had a knee hugged to his chest and his face hidden in the fold of his arm. His knuckles were white where his hand was clenched into a fist. Neil didn’t think it was the bus that was making Kevin shake like that.
‘Look at me,’ Andrew said. ‘It’ll be fine. You believe me, yes?’
‘I believe you,’ Kevin said, muffled but noticeably strained.
‘Liar.’ Andrew laughed and leaned forward a little to peer out Kevin’s window.
They weren’t the first team to arrive, but a quick count of buses said they weren’t the last, either. Neil’s stare inevitably went to the three black buses in the middle of the parking lot. The only hint of color on any of them was a splash of dark red around the silhouette of a raven. Wymack parked as far away from Edgar Allan’s buses as possible.
Wymack took the key from the ignition, grabbed Abby’s travel bag, and started down the aisle toward the back of the bus. ‘Off the bus,’ he said, and the upperclassmen obediently filed off as he passed. Aaron and Nicky waited for him to go by before ushering their dates out to the asphalt. Neil stayed where he was.
Wymack pulled a bottle of vodka out of the bag and put it down beside Kevin. ‘You have ten seconds to inhale as much of this as you can. I’m timing you. Go.’
It was alarming how much a man could drink when he needed an emotional crutch. Wymack had to pry the bottle from Kevin’s desperate fingers afterward. Kevin smeared a hand across his mouth and looked out the window. He couldn’t see the Ravens’ buses from this angle, but the sick look on his face said he didn’t need to. Wymack sent Neil a significant look, and Neil gave up stalling. He left Kevin to their unorthodox care and got off the bus.
Abby had the storage doors open so they could get their change of clothes out. Nicky already had Neil’s in hand and turned it over at Neil’s approach. Neil tried not to crush wrinkles into it with his fingers.
Andrew led Kevin and Wymack off the bus. Wymack gave Abby her bag back, waited for Kevin and Andrew to get their clothes, and locked all of the bus’s doors. Security guards at the gate watched their approach with interest and checked them off on a list. One stayed behind at the gate while the other escorted them to the locker room. Madison was using the home locker room to change right now, so the Foxes had to go all the way around to the away side.
By the time they were dressed, the alcohol had gotten a good hold on Kevin’s system. He looked much steadier as he followed Andrew out of the dressing room. Judging by the nervous looks Nicky kept sending Kevin, Nicky wasn’t convinced that calm would last. Neil had equally weak faith in Kevin’s spine but he had to trust Andrew to be enough.
One of the gear closets in the main room had a printed PALMETTO STATE sign taped to the door. They locked their personal belongings in there and Wymack pocketed the key. Wymack did a quick head count and sent Kevin a measuring look. He said nothing but looked at Andrew. Andrew grinned in response. Wymack nodded and turned on Neil.
‘You,’ he said, ‘attempt to behave this time. Don’t pick fights with him today.’
‘Yes, Coach.’
Wymack looked skeptical but didn’t argue. ‘Let’s go, then.’
The Blackwell stadium was eerily quiet. Everyone who’d arrived already was on the court. Thick cushioned mats covered the polished floor to keep table legs and chairs from scraping up the wood. All of the lights were on, but the overhead scoreboard was dark. Neil thought he heard music, but he wasn’t sure until he’d made it to the inner court.
Fourteen teams meant there were two hundred and fifty athletes present, then another ninety or so bodies in dates and staff. Neil had never seen so many people on an Exy court before. There was still plenty of room to walk around between the tables, but Neil hated seeing a court repurposed like this.
Wymack opened the court door and shooed his Foxes on. A small group of coaches were waiting right inside the door. One picked up a megaphone and announced the Foxes’ arrival. Conversations faltered around the court and chairs creaked as athletes turned to look. Wymack looked at Dan, jerked his chin in a silent command to keep moving, and peeled off to play nice with his colleagues. Abby stayed behind with him after one last pensive look at Kevin.
There was a seating arrangement on the court. Chairs had paper banners draped over the backs with school colors and mascots. Finding a short line of orange chairs didn’t take a lot of looking. Spotting the Ravens was easier. The two teams were seated across from each other at the same table.
‘Motherfucker,’ Dan said, low but with enough heat Neil had no problems picking up on it. He had to give her props, though. Dan didn’t even slow on her way over to the table.
‘Oh, how cliché,’ Andrew said, sounding almost delighted by this turn of events. ‘Maybe this will be fun after all. Come on, Kevin. Let’s not keep them waiting.’
All the blood had left Kevin’s face, but he followed close behind Andrew.
Judging by Neil’s quick headcount, the Ravens hadn’t brought dates. They hadn’t brought any color along, either. All twenty-two of them were dressed head-to-toe in black. The twenty men wore the same shirts and slacks, and the two women wore identical dresses. They even sat the exact same way, all with their right elbows on the table, all of them with their chins in their hands. Another team might look foolish going so far, but somehow the Ravens looked imposing.
‘Riko,’ Dan said, pulling out the chair directly opposite him. ‘Dan Wilds.’
Riko offered her his hand in the most condescending handshake Neil had ever seen. He kept his arm straight and his wrist loose, like a lord expecting a subject’s kiss upon his knuckles. Neil hoped Dan would ignore it, but she slipped her hand into his and squeezed. Riko smiled when she let go.
‘I know who you are,’ Riko said. ‘Who here doesn’t? You’re the woman who captains a Class I team. You’ve done admittedly well despite your disadvantages.’
‘What disadvantages?’
‘Do you really want me to start listing them?’ Riko asked. ‘This is only a two-day event, Hennessey.’
Neil didn’t understand, but Matt did, judging by his fierce, ‘Careful, Riko.’
Dan touched Matt’s arm to calm him down and pulled out her seat. The upperclassmen sat to one side of her, with Allison neatly tucked between Renee and Matt. Andrew’s group stretched out to her right in the same order they’d been in on the bus. Neil was closer to Riko than he wanted to be, but having a couple bodies between them was a little comforting.
Unfortunately, Riko wasn’t the only problem. The man to Riko’s right stood up as soon as the Foxes were settled and walked behind the Ravens until he was across from Neil. Two fingers to the woman’s shoulder got her out of her chair and she moved to the newly-emptied seat. The stranger sat across from Neil. As he did the Ravens fell out of their frozen poses, but they did so only to lean back as one in their chairs. The only one still sitting straight was Riko, and Neil’s new dinner companion was leaning forward as he considered Neil.
Neil didn’t recognize the man, but he didn’t need to ask. The black three tattooed on his left cheekbone meant he could be no one but Jean Moreau. He was the Ravens’ starting backliner and supposedly an old friend of Kevin’s. There was nothing friendly on his face tonight.
‘You look familiar,’ Jean said in heavily accented English.
‘If you watched Kathy’s show you saw me there,’ Neil said.
‘Ah, you are right. That must be it. What was your name again? Alex? Stefan? Chris?’
For a moment Neil thought he’d fallen over. He felt the world lurch out from under him and take his stomach with it. A second or minute or eternity later he realized he hadn’t moved at all. He wasn’t even breathing.
In eight years on the run Neil had been through sixteen countries and twenty-two names. Hearing one name from Jean wouldn’t mean anything. Hearing three wasn’t a coincidence. It was a threat. Andrew had warned Neil Riko would unearth his trail no matter how well he and his mother buried it. Neil feared that eventuality, but he hadn’t wanted to believe it. It sometimes took his father years to catch up with them. It was impossible to think Riko succeeded in just two weeks.
Coaxing air back into his lungs was the hardest thing Neil had ever done. It was a miracle his breath sounded so steady when his throat was closing up.
‘It’s Neil.’
‘Hmm?’ Jean titled his head to one side as if that would help him see Neil better. ‘You don’t look much like a Neil.’
‘Blame my mother,’ Neil said. ‘She named me.’
‘How is she doing, by the way?’ Riko asked.
Neil looked into Riko’s dark eyes and felt like he was dying. He might have answered, but Dan beat him to it with an annoyed, ‘Don’t antagonize my team, Riko. This isn’t the place for it.’
‘I was being polite,’ Riko said. ‘You haven’t seen me antagonistic yet.’
Jean looked at Kevin. ‘Hello, Kevin.’
‘Jean,’ Kevin said quietly.
Jean’s smile was lazy, but the look in his gray eyes was ashen ice. Neither of them had anything else to say to each other, but they stared each other down unblinking. Andrew lost interest before long and leaned forward.
‘Jean,’ he said. ‘Hey, Jean. Jean Valjean. Hey. Hey. Hello.’
Jean huffed a little in annoyance but looked at Andrew. Andrew held out his hand and Jean was foolish enough to take it. Andrew’s knuckles went white as he crushed Jean’s hand. Jean couldn’t hide all of a flinch, and the smooth look on his face gave way to an irritated scowl. Andrew only smiled wider at the sight of it.
‘I’m Andrew. We haven’t met yet.’
‘For which I am grateful,’ Jean said. ‘The Foxes as a whole are an embarrassment to Class I Exy, but your very existence is unforgivable. A goalkeeper who doesn’t care if he is scored on has no right to touch a racquet. You should have stayed on the sidelines like the publicity stunt you are.’
‘That’s a bit out of line, don’t you think?’ Renee said.
The woman now on Riko’s right gave a loud snort. ‘If someone like that replaced you in goal, you must be downright terrible. I can’t wait to watch one of your matches. I think it will be entertaining. We would make a drinking game of it but we don’t want to die of alcohol poisoning.’
‘Yeah, that’d be a shame,’ Dan said with heavy sarcasm.
‘This is the first time our teams have met,’ Renee said, sounding completely unruffled by such rude words. ‘Do we have to start off so poorly?’
‘Why not? You’re poor at everything else you do,’ the woman said. ‘Is it honestly fun to be so terrible?’
‘I imagine we have more fun than you do, yes,’ Renee said.
Neil could hear the smile in her voice. He didn’t know how she could keep up such a nice tone. His fear was an icy ball in the pit of his stomach, but listening to the Ravens’ derision was eating a hole through it. Keeping his mouth shut and staying out of the conversation was taking more willpower than he thought he had. The longer he sat there in silence the harder it became. Neil fleetingly wished he’d inherited his mother’s patience instead of his father’s temper.
‘Fun is for children,’ Jean said, looking away from Andrew.
If he’d been going to say anything else, he forgot it when he got a good look at Renee. Andrew let go of Jean’s hand while he was distracted, but it took Jean another moment to withdraw it. Riko barely moved, but Neil was so attuned to his presence he didn’t miss it. Neither did Jean, judging by how fast he found his tongue again.
‘At this level it is supposed to be about skill, and your team is sadly lacking. You have no right to play with us.’
‘Then you shouldn’t have transferred districts,’ Matt said. ‘No one wants you here.’
‘You took something that does not belong to you,’ a Raven said. ‘You brought this year’s humiliation on yourselves.’
‘We didn’t take anything,’ Dan said. ‘Kevin wants to be here.’
The Raven across from Renee laughed. ‘Don’t tell me you really believe that. Kevin went to you because someone had to teach you what Exy is supposed to look like on a court. If he had stayed on as an assistant coach maybe he would learn to stomach your failures. Now that he’s playing with you there’s no way he will last the season. We know Kevin better than you ever will. We know how much your incompetence must grate on him.’
‘So do we,’ Aaron said. ‘It’s not like he’s shy with his opinion.’
Kevin finally found his voice. ‘They know how I feel, but words alone won’t fix anything. A team that needs this much work requires a larger commitment than that.’
‘You won’t stay,’ Jean said. It sounded less like a prediction and more like an order. ‘You should reconsider our offer before we rescind it for good, Kevin. Face the facts. Your pet is and always will be dead weight. It’s time to—’
‘What?’ Andrew turned a wide-eyed look on Kevin. ‘You have a pet and you never told us? Where do you keep it, Kevin?’
Jean flicked him an annoyed look. ‘Don’t interrupt me, Doe.’
The sound Nicky made at Neil’s side was sharp and offended, but Andrew smiled in the face of Jean’s strange insult. ‘Oh, points for trying, but save your breath. Here’s a tip for you, okay? You can’t cut down someone who’s already in the gutter. You just waste your time and mine.’
‘Enough.’ Dan snapped her fingers at them. ‘Break it up. This is a district event and we have twenty officials on hand. We’re here to get to know each other, not to start fights. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. That goes for both teams.’
‘Is that why your new child is being so quiet?’ Riko gestured at Neil. ‘He doesn’t have anything ‘nice’ to say?’
‘Leave him alone,’ Matt said.
‘He was very spirited the last time we met,’ Riko said. ‘Perhaps that was just a show for the crowd? Hello, I am speaking to you. Are you really going to ignore me?’
Nicky dug his fingers into Neil’s thigh under the table, a silent and desperate reminder to keep his mouth shut. Neil left half-moon marks on the back of Nicky’s hand with his fingernails and counted to ten. He only made it to four before Riko opened his mouth again.
‘What a coward,’ Riko said with exaggerated disappointment. ‘Just like his mother.’
Neil stopped counting.
‘You know, I get it,’ Neil said. ‘Being raised as a superstar must be really, really difficult for you. Always a commodity, never a human being, not a single person in your family thinking you’re worth a damn off the court—yeah, sounds rough. Kevin and I talk about your intricate and endless daddy issues all the time.’
‘Neil,’ Kevin said, low and frantic.
Neil ignored him. ‘I know it’s not entirely your fault that you are mentally unbalanced and infected with these delusions of grandeur, and I know you’re physically incapable of holding a decent conversation with anyone like every other normal human being can, but I don’t think any of us should have to put up with this much of your bullshit. Pity only gets you so many concessions, and you used yours up about six insults ago. So please, please, just shut the fuck up and leave us alone.’
Jaws dropped up and down the line; Raven symmetry shattered as they stared at Neil in stupefied disbelief. Riko’s expression could have frozen hell, but Neil was too upset to be afraid. He’d have a nervous breakdown later. Right now he leaned forward and looked down the table at Dan, who sat with her face buried in her hands.
‘Dan, I said please. I tried to be nice.’
‘Matt,’ Dan said, almost choking on his name. ‘Matt, Coach. Get Coach. Oh my god.’
Matt left as fast as he could.
‘You can’t say things like that,’ Jean said.
Neil wouldn’t have looked at him, except Jean sounded more horrified than angry. ‘Then he shouldn’t have asked me to join the conversation. I was happy sitting here saying nothing.’
Jean turned on Kevin and spoke in quick, furious French. ‘What the hell is this?’
‘His antagonism is a personality flaw we’re learning to live with,’ Kevin said.
‘Live with,’ Jean echoed, like the very idea offended him. ‘No! You should have dealt with him two weeks ago when he first stepped out of line. We trusted you to discipline him. Why doesn’t he know his place yet?’
‘Neil has no place in Riko’s games,’ Kevin said. ‘He is a Fox.’
‘He is not a Fox!’
‘Funny,’ Neil said in French. Jean wasn’t expecting him to understand them and shot Neil a startled look. ‘I’m pretty sure the contract I signed said Palmetto State University.’
‘A contract does not change facts,’ Jean said. ‘Did you forget who bought you?’
‘Bought me,’ Neil repeated. ‘Nobody bought me.’
Kevin frowned, lost. ‘Jean, what are you talking about?’
Jean looked like he swallowed a stone. ‘You don’t know.’ It was supposed to be an accusation, but it fell flat. Jean shot an incredulous look between them. ‘How can you not know? Why else would you have recruited him, Kevin?’
‘He has potential,’ Kevin said.
Jean’s laughter sounded more than a little hysterical. ‘God save you both, you useless fools. No one else can. How either of you have lived this long when you’re so miserably stupid is beyond my capacity to understand.’
Wymack’s voice nearly startled Neil out of his skin. ‘What the hell is going on over here?’
Neil looked up to see Wymack standing right behind him. Matt went back to his chair but didn’t sit down again. Jean ignored Wymack but turned in his chair and said something in a flurry of Japanese. Whatever it was wiped the icy look off Riko’s face at last. Riko sent an intent look between Neil and Kevin before answering. Jean gestured helplessly. Kevin looked from one to the other before saying something in cautious Japanese.
Wymack interrupted before Kevin could finish and motioned to his Foxes. ‘On your feet. Abby is talking to the event coordinators about finding us a new table.’
Neil didn’t need to be told twice, but he didn’t get far. Jean turned back on him before Neil had finished pushing in his chair and beckoned for him to listen. His French was almost too fast for Neil to follow, but Neil understood more than he wanted to.
‘Riko will have a few minutes of your time later,’ Jean said. ‘I suggest you speak with him if you do not want everyone to know you are the Butcher’s son.’
Hearing his father’s name aloud was a kick in the chest. The noise Kevin made at his side was worse. Neil reacted without thinking, clapping a hand to Kevin’s chest and shoving him as far back from the table as he could. Kevin stumbled back so fast he almost fell. Neil didn’t look back at him, but he couldn’t tune out Kevin’s hoarse denial.
‘That’s not true.’
‘Shut up,’ Neil said, but he didn’t know which one of them he was speaking to. ‘Don’t say anything else.’
‘Run along,’ Jean said. ‘It’s what you’re best at, isn’t it?’
Wymack stayed behind to deal with Edgar Allan and the Foxes cleared out of there like their lives depended on it. They attracted a lot of curious stares as they crossed the room to Abby, but the Foxes were too busy watching Kevin and Neil to return any of it. Abby and Blackwell’s coach walked them to their new table. They’d switched seats with the coaches. It put the Foxes on the outskirts of the event, but Neil doubted any of them really minded.
They settled in the same order they’d been in at the last table, but Kevin sat sideways to stare at Neil. He seized Neil’s chin in an iron grip and turned Neil’s face toward him. Neil wanted to fight it, but there wasn’t a point anymore. He watched Kevin, waiting for recognition to sink in. On its heels was sick fear. Neil clenched his hands together under the table where no one could see his fingers shake.
Kevin opened his mouth, but Neil didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t know what Kevin was going to say and, more importantly, he didn’t know what language it would be in. Neil spoke first in quiet but strained French.
‘No, Kevin. Not here. You and I will talk tomorrow.’
Kevin hesitated. ‘Does Andrew know?’
‘He knows only pieces of it,’ Neil said. ‘He doesn’t know my name.’
‘Does he know who you are?’
‘I said no.’ Neil wrenched Kevin’s hand off his face. ‘We’re not doing this here.’
Kevin stared at him a few seconds longer, then got out of his chair almost fast enough to take the whole table with him. Abby was at his side in a heartbeat, expression pinched with worry. Kevin couldn’t seem to manage words, but he gestured for her to follow and started for the door. Abby took a step after him, then hesitated, torn.
‘Go, Abby, go.’ Andrew shooed her with both hands. ‘Bring him back when he’s drunk. We’ve got Neil. Right, Neil?’
Neil had used all his words on Kevin, so he just nodded. Abby hurried after Kevin, but she looked across the court toward the Ravens’ table. Neil saw her wave and followed the gesture to Wymack. Wymack was heading the Foxes’ way, his face a thundercloud. Neil clenched his fingers tighter and willed them to stillness.
‘Neil,’ Dan said, taking Kevin’s seat between him and Andrew. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Does he look okay to you?’ Andrew asked.
Dan shot Andrew a livid look, but his smile said he wasn’t impressed by her anger. Andrew held onto the table edge and leaned back until his chair was balancing on its back legs. It gave him an unobstructed view of Neil behind Dan. Neil looked at him because he didn’t trust himself to face anyone else just yet. Andrew shielded his mouth with his hand but didn’t bother to lower his voice.
‘I told you so.’
‘Sit down, Minyard,’ Wymack snapped, coming up behind Dan’s new chair. Andrew gave an exaggerated sigh and let his chair fall back to the ground. Wymack turned on Neil next. ‘Did you or did you not tell me you weren’t going to start a fight?’
Nicky spoke up on Neil’s other side. ‘In Neil’s defense—’
‘I didn’t ask you,’ Wymack interrupted. ‘Neil, talk to me.’
In his head Neil was already counting steps to freedom. Their new seating arrangement made them the closest table to the court door. He’d just have to cross the inner court and get through the locker room. The fence around the stadium was ringed with barbed wire to prevent vandalism and theft, but he could leave the way they’d come in. It was a toss-up as to whether or not the guards would stop him. A young man in nice clothes running breakneck speed away from a public event was suspicious.
If he had an excuse to get out of here, like following Kevin to the vodka on the bus, he could conserve his energy until he passed the guards. From there he just had to find a taxi, because hitchhiking wasn’t going to be fast enough this time. He needed to get back to Palmetto State and get his papers from his safe. He needed his money and his numbers. Maybe it was finally time to call—
Neil’s escape route ground to a sickening halt in his head. He pried his fingers apart and pressed one hand to his pocket. He could feel the hard lines of his phone through the cotton.
‘Neil, if you can’t be here say so,’ Wymack said. ‘Abby can take you elsewhere until it’s time to leave. Get out of here and get some fresh air.’
It was the perfect opening, but Neil couldn’t take it. If he did, he really would go, and he wouldn’t come back. Running wasn’t easy, but it was easier than trusting Andrew. But Neil remembered the weight of a key in his palm, its metal soaked through with another person’s body heat. He remembered Andrew’s promise to see this year through with him.
‘No,’ Neil said, finally finding his voice. ‘I knew this was going to happen. I just wasn’t ready for it. I’m fine.’
‘What can I do?’ Wymack asked.
Neil looked up. The tired look on Wymack’s face said Neil’s surprise was a little too blatant. For a split second Neil felt guilty, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. He crushed it as fast as he could. He had too much else to worry about right now and was feeling too much already to deal with a strange thing like guilt.
‘I don’t know,’ Neil said.
‘When you know, tell me.’
‘Yes, Coach.’
The arrival of another team helped distract them. Kevin returned a while later, looking worlds better with an ungodly amount of vodka in his system. When all fourteen teams were accounted for, Blackwell’s coach gave a short speech about the season. Event staff rolled food out, and the teams ate to the sound of scattered laughter. Away from the pressures of game night it was easier for them to behave. They just needed to avoid bringing up rivalries and tensions.
Thirteen of the coaches had taken the Foxes’ original seats with the Ravens. The Foxes were stuck socializing with the other half. It was easier than Neil expected it to be. The coaches were professionals and therefore more reserved in their personal opinions. Dan and Kevin carried most of the conversation, Dan with an infectious enthusiasm and Kevin with drunken good nature. Neil was glad for that, as he didn’t want to talk to anyone, but now and then a coach directed a question down the table toward him.
After dinner a crew cleared the court. The table legs were collapsible, so the tables were piled three high along one of the court walls. They stacked chairs until the weight of them threatened to topple them over. With the middle of the court cleared out there was room to set up a couple icebreakers. Neil twitched as he watched them erect a temporary volleyball net where only Exy should be played. No one else seemed to have a problem with it; teams fell apart and mingled as they found something new to do. Further down, a stereo system started blasting what passed as popular music these days, and half of the court became an impromptu dance floor.
‘Go forth,’ Wymack told his Foxes. ‘Have fun. Or don’t. I don’t care. Just no more fighting, you got me?’
Most of the Foxes didn’t need to be told twice. Dan and Matt hurried to find a volleyball team. Aaron and Nicky tugged their dates toward the dance floor. Allison was starting to look a little unsteady on her feet, so Renee ushered her off the court for a quick break. That left Neil, Andrew, and Kevin standing alone. Wymack eyed them.
‘You miss that one and need to hear it again?’
‘Oh, Coach.’ Andrew tossed his hands up in a helpless shrug. ‘You can’t even imagine how much fun we are having right now. It’s overwhelming. Give us a minute to catch our breaths before our hearts explode in our chest.’
‘You have thirty seconds.’
Kevin waited only another twenty before setting off with Andrew and Neil behind him. He made a slow circuit of the court, seeking out every team save the Ravens. It didn’t matter what athletes honestly thought of the Foxes; Kevin could bring almost any conversation to a grinding halt when he walked up. Kevin didn’t go out of his way to be polite, but he kept most of his condescension in check. Neil ended up shaking more hands than he wanted to. Only a couple people tried to shake Andrew’s hand. Andrew stared them down with a smile until they gave up.
It wasn’t fun, but it was interesting, and with Kevin in the mix some of the athletes got worked up. Neil didn’t realize how much time they’d spent talking about past games and some of the better professional leagues until he turned and saw Allison in his peripheral vision. A glance at his watch showed they’d been making rounds for almost two hours now. The event would close in an hour in preparation for a long day tomorrow.
Neil looked up at Allison again. She stood frozen on the edge of the dance floor, hands limp at her side and half-turned toward the court. Not completely frozen, Neil noticed a second later, because her head was moving as she followed something’s progress. He turned and scanned the crowd in search of whatever had caught her interest.
It took him only a few seconds to realize the Ravens were coming. The entire team was crossing the court toward Kevin, walking in V formation like a flock of birds going south.
‘Andrew,’ Neil said.
‘Oh, finally,’ Andrew said, stepping up alongside Neil. ‘Kevin, look. We have company.’
‘Excuse me,’ Kevin said to the Breckenridge Jackals they’d been chatting up.
Neil heard the strain in his voice and hoped the Jackals hadn’t. Kevin moved up on Andrew’s other side. Neil buried his hands in his pockets to hide his white-knuckled fists. Riko stopped further away than Neil thought he would, but Neil understood a moment later. The rest of the Ravens kept going, flipping their V until they’d trapped the three Foxes between them. Neil looked at faces down the line and waited for someone to make a move.
It came from the least expected corner. Renee appeared out of nowhere on Kevin’s other side. She looped one arm through Kevin’s and held her free hand out to Jean. ‘Jean, wasn’t it? My name is Renee Walker. We didn’t really get a chance to talk earlier.’
Confusion eased Jean’s stoic mask into something more than a little uncomfortable, but he accepted her handshake. ‘Jean Moreau.’
‘Neil Josten,’ someone said. Neil trusted Kevin to Renee and turned to face the man who’d spoken. Two men and a woman stood in a tight clump to his left. The man offered a sneer instead of a hand. ‘We are the Ravens’ starting strikers. We wanted you to see us so you know what an offense team really looks like.’
‘Offense, or offensive?’ Matt sidled up alongside Neil. Renee’s arrival might have been coincidence, but Matt’s wasn’t. Neil guessed Allison alerted the upperclassmen to the Ravens’ approach. ‘Matt Boyd, starting backliner for the Foxes. I’m the one who’s going to be wrecking your goals this October. Nice to meet you.’ He held out his hand but didn’t look surprised when no one took it. ‘Guess the pleasure’s all mine.’
‘We’re sure it is,’ the Raven striker said, ‘seeing how you’re dating a prostitute.’
‘Stripper,’ Dan corrected as she showed up and wound an arm around Matt’s waist. Her stilettos hung off her fingers by their thin straps and she jiggled them as she spoke. ‘Hopefully you’re smart enough to distinguish between the two professions. If you’re not, I have serious concerns about your academic standings.’
Neil tried not to stare at her. He would have dismissed the Raven’s insult as an outright lie if not for Dan’s easy response. Too late he remembered her telling him she’d worked an overnight job during high school to make ends meet. He’d assumed she was a night stocker at a grocery store or maybe a front desk clerk at a motel. She didn’t seem the type of person who would tolerate being objectified. Neil didn’t make a habit of prying into people’s pasts but there had to be an interesting story there.
‘Hennessey, right?’ one of the strikers said. ‘Such a good name for such a fierce spirit.’
‘We were a little disappointed you didn’t sign up as part of the entertainment tonight,’ one of the others said. ‘We were looking forward to the show.’
The once-over he gave her was syrupy slow. Matt gave a violent twitch as he forcibly restrained himself from breaking the man’s neck. Neil was amazed by his self-control until he saw Dan’s fingers digging into Matt’s hip in warning. Dan didn’t want anyone fighting her battles for her. She slid around Matt to get in the Raven’s personal space. The striker grinned at Matt over her shoulder, then tilted forward and sucked in a deep breath against her neck.
Dan brought her stilettos up between his legs in a vicious punch. The Raven recoiled with an inhuman yelp. The teammates to either side of him grimaced and cringed away. They were quick to avert their eyes from their half-crumpled colleague.
‘Yeah, Hennessey,’ Dan said, sounding calmer than Neil thought she should in the face of such treatment. ‘Treats you right if you’re willing to pay and will fuck you over the morning after if you’re not nice enough to her. Sorry, but this bottle’s got a name on it. Hope you feel that one for a while, you lowlife asshole.’
She didn’t wait for a response but turned back and folded herself against Matt’s side. Neil didn’t know if Dan’s tight grip was apology for leaving Matt out of it or gratitude for letting her handle it. Either way her embrace did nothing to ease the rigid set of Matt’s shoulders.
Neil couldn’t help it. ‘What happened to being polite, Dan?’
Dan laughed. ‘Do as I say, not as I do, rookie.’
‘Kevin Day,’ a booming voice said, and all the Ravens turned to look.
Neil followed their stares to the man now standing at the apex of their triangle. The chill that shivered down his spine made all the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
Coach Tetsuji Moriyama was unarguably the most powerful man in Exy—as he should be, considering he and Kevin’s mother, Kayleigh Day, were the two to invent the sport thirty years ago. He’d handpicked Edgar Allan to be home of the first NCAA Exy stadium and had been coaching the Ravens ever since. He was the founder of the Exy Rules and Regulations Committee, a consultant for the international committee, and owner of two professional teams. He was a legend.
He was also a demon: Riko’s abusive uncle and the younger brother of the Moriyama yakuza boss.
‘Master,’ Kevin said, voice catching with fear. ‘It’s been a while.’
Moriyama motioned to the Ravens, and they broke formation at last. They filled in the gaps between the Foxes, a wall of black suits and cold faces. Neil lost sight of Matt and Dan when the strikers bodily shifted him out of the way. He barely noticed, more intent on watching Moriyama and Kevin. Moriyama held out his hand, and Kevin obediently set his left hand in it. Moriyama lifted it to inspect Kevin’s ragged white scars.
‘Butcher,’ a quiet voice called in French.
Neil looked over his shoulder. Jean had come around the circle at some point and was standing a short space away. He tilted his head in an order and Neil followed his stare to see Riko stepping off the court. Neil didn’t look back to see if any of his teammates noticed his exit and kept a casual pace on his way to the door. He stepped into the inner court in time to see Riko disappearing into the home locker room. Neil took a breath to steel his nerves and followed.
Riko was checking the locker room for unwanted company when Neil entered. Neil waited just inside the door, arms folded over his chest, for Riko to finish. It didn’t take Riko long, and he beckoned imperiously for Neil to join him in the front room. The room was almost big enough to fit the Foxes’ entire locker room and was crowded with matching couches. Throw rugs with Blackwell’s Jackrabbit mascot covered the empty gaps on the floor and photos lined the walls. Riko considered a couple pictures before giving a derisive snort.
He turned on his heel to face Neil, and they eyed each other across the room. Finally Riko smiled. It was a horrible expression, but not nearly as bad as the words that followed it.
‘Nathaniel, it has been so long.’
Neil’s fear was hot and thick in his chest. He could barely breathe around it. He prayed his expression didn’t give him away even as he knew it was too late. ‘My name is Neil.’
‘Do not lie to me again. You will not enjoy the consequences.’ Riko gave Neil a beat to respond. ‘Imagine my surprise when the results came back. Your fingerprints,’ he elaborated, with a mocking twitch to his smile. ‘Kathy gave me your glass as a souvenir. All it took was a smile and a kiss. It seems she is growing up to be quite the cougar.’
Neil’s stomach knotted up inside him. He’d accepted a cup of water at the start of Kathy Ferdinand’s talk show and hadn’t thought twice about leaving it behind afterward. He’d assumed Kathy’s crew would see to it. His mother would beat him half to death if she were still alive. All that time and money spent covering their tracks—destroyed by a simple batch of nerves.
‘Explain something to me.’ Riko started across the room on slow steps. ‘Jean says Kevin did not know who you are. After seeing Kevin’s reaction I am inclined to believe him. Perhaps I can understand, as I know how blind Kevin can be when it comes to Exy. I might even forgive him for sheltering you from me. But you must know who you are, so I am very, very curious to know what you think you are doing.’
‘I’m just trying to get by,’ Neil said, squeezing his arms so tight across his chest he thought he’d crush his own lungs. ‘If I’d known our families were business partners I wouldn’t have signed the contract.’
Riko stopped so close to him they were touching, and it took all Neil had in him to not lean away. Neil hadn’t realized before that they were almost the same height. Riko’s Japanese genes had betrayed him just as Neil’s tiny mother had betrayed Neil. Riko might be short, but he radiated power and lethal malevolence. The two inches between the strikers felt like twenty.
‘You’re lying,’ Riko said.
‘I am not.’ Neil hated the thread of desperation that worked its way into his voice. ‘I don’t want to cause any trouble for your family. I don’t want you to cause any trouble for mine. I’m just here for a year and then I’m gone again, I promise.’
‘You don’t want to cause any trouble for my family,’ Riko echoed, as if hearing them a second time would make them easier to understand. ‘You have already cost my family a sizable fortune and eight years of trouble.’
‘How?’ Neil asked. ‘The money I took was my father’s.’
‘If you think acting stupid will save you, you are sadly mistaken.’
‘I’m not acting,’ Neil said, finally giving in and taking a step back. ‘My mother said it was my father’s money. She never even told me about you. If I’d known the money was yours—’
‘Nothing your father owned was his!’ Riko snapped.
Neil’s words died in his throat. He stared blankly at Riko. Riko stared back at him, looking for deceit on his face. Whatever he found only served to infuriate him further. Riko grabbed Neil by his shoulders and slammed him into the wall. Neil’s head hit hard enough to rattle his teeth.
‘I refuse to believe she never told you. All that time running and you never asked why?’
Neil gave Riko an incredulous look. ‘Have you met my father? I didn’t have to ask.’
A door banged open down the hall, and Matt called Neil’s name. They only had seconds before he found them, but that was enough time for Riko to lean in. He kept his voice down but packed a world of venom into his words.
‘You were not running from your father, Nathaniel. You were running from his master.’
The thought of anyone keeping the Butcher on a leash was insane. ‘He didn’t have one.’
Riko pushed back, putting space between them right before Matt rounded the corner. Matt leveled a furious look at Riko as he moved up alongside Neil. ‘What is going on here?’
Neil ignored him and insisted, ‘He didn’t have one.’
Riko pointed a finger up at his own face and waited. Neil stared back as his brain refused to put the last pieces together. What Riko was suggesting was impossible. The Butcher was one of the biggest names on the eastern seaboard. He made Baltimore his home, but his territory extended from D.C. to outer Newark. He had a fiercely loyal syndicate and a penchant for grotesque executions. No one told the Butcher what to do. But Riko’s incensed reaction didn’t seem like an act and he had nothing to gain by lying to Neil, especially considering how easily Kevin could set things straight.
Kevin was going to say yes to all of this. Neil knew it, and he wasn’t ready to hear that yet. If the Moriyamas really were powerful enough to keep a man like the Butcher under lock and key Neil was so far in over his head he might as well be six feet under.
‘I don’t believe you,’ Neil said, but even he heard the dread in his voice.
‘Denial is more infuriating than ignorance,’ Riko said. ‘You will speak to Kevin at the next available opportunity and have him explain this to you in little words your small mind can understand. Learn your place. I will never tolerate this level of disrespect from you again. Do you understand?’
Neil was already in his coffin. He might as well nail it shut. ‘Yeah, I understand you’re a complete asshole.’
Riko took a step forward, expression murderous, but Matt put an arm up between them. ‘Leave my team alone, Riko. You pick another fight here at banquet and we’ll make sure the ERC suspends you. Have fun telling the press why you’re benched for a couple games.’
Riko didn’t even look at Matt. He stared at Neil for half a minute as he got his temper under control. The violent gleam never left his eyes, but his voice was calm and sure when he spoke. ‘Later you will come to me on your knees, begging for my forgiveness. I cannot wait to deny you.’
Riko turned and left. Matt didn’t drop his arm until the door slammed closed behind Riko. Then he wheeled on Neil, expression tight with equal parts anger and concern.
‘Neil?’
Neil was cold and shaken all the way to the core but his voice stayed steady. He stuffed his hands in his pockets in case they were shaking and held onto his phone for dear life. ‘I don’t think Riko likes me very much. Should I be disappointed?’
Matt looked skyward as if searching for patience. ‘Coach is going to kill you.’
‘What he doesn’t know won’t hurt me.’
‘This is serious,’ Matt said. ‘Riko’s got it out for you.’
‘He’s not after just me,’ Neil said. ‘He tried getting Dan, too.’
The dark look on Matt’s face said he wouldn’t forget that anytime soon. ‘He can try all he likes, but he’ll piss only me off. Dan’s not ashamed of the choices she made. This is different,’ Matt said, pointing at Neil. ‘I don’t know what Jean said to you, but Kevin had to get shitfaced to deal with it.’
‘It’s not what Jean said that upset Kevin,’ Neil lied. ‘It’s what I said. I told Riko Kevin and I mock him all the time and wouldn’t let Kevin explain himself to Jean. I spoke for him and refused to let him back out of this. I’ve basically made things a thousand times worse for him. I’m not sorry, though.’
Matt laughed. ‘You’re a piece of work, you know that? Let’s get back out there before Coach realizes we’re missing.’
They headed back into the stadium to find their team. The Ravens had dispersed, likely relieved from running interference upon Riko’s return. Dan and Renee were standing with Kevin and Andrew near one of the walls. Allison had joined them at some point, but Aaron and Nicky were still lost on the dance floor. Neil looked for Wymack and found him talking with Moriyama in the middle of the floor.
‘Oh, Neil came back,’ Andrew said. ‘I didn’t think you would.’
Neil pulled his fist from his pocket and uncurled his fingers. Andrew glanced first at the phone in Neil’s palm and then up at Neil’s face. Neil didn’t return the look but said in German, ‘I made a different call this time.’
Andrew laughed and rocked on his feet. His grin was wide enough Neil could see it in his peripheral vision. Neil didn’t really expect him to switch languages, because the conversation was likely more entertaining to him when they had an audience, but for now Andrew was willing to play along. ‘How interesting. How unexpected. Did it hurt a little?’
‘Not as much as my next conversation with Kevin will.’
‘Not tonight.’ Andrew waved a hand in dismissal. ‘I’ll give him to you tomorrow.’
Neil put his phone away and looked up to see the upperclassmen watching them. Neil knew Matt would talk to them later and pass on his vague explanation, so he wasn’t surprised when neither Dan nor Renee asked him what was going on. Instead Matt looked from Neil to Andrew and asked, ‘How many languages do you speak, exactly?’
‘A couple,’ Neil hedged, and distracted them by asking Andrew, ‘Who is Doe?’
‘Oh, that’s me,’ Andrew said. ‘I didn’t enter the foster system with a last name, so I was tagged as a Doe. Like John Doe. Get it? Ah, they think they’re clever. I changed my name when I was adopted. Yes? Nicky said he told you all about it.’
Nicky only would have confessed his indiscretion to Andrew if he felt guilty for giving so much away. Neil assumed that meant the subject was touchier than a drugged Andrew could let on, so he answered with a vague, ‘He summarized it for us.’
Andrew grinned and shrugged the conversation off. Neil was happy to let it die and gladder when his teammates didn’t bring up Riko again. Finally it was time for them to leave. Wymack rounded up his team, waited while they changed out into more comfortable clothes, and got them on the road. The others fell asleep within a few miles, but Neil spent the entire ride thinking about Riko and his father.