Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Palmetto State's traveling band Orange Notes had found their spots at some point, and they blared the fight song with unabashed pride as soon as the announcer finished reading off the Foxes' roster. The announcer waited for the last note to fade out before moving on to the Ravens' line-up. Edgar Allan's fight song sounded as malicious as always, and the drums continued in a heavy beat long after the rest of the band went quiet. The crowd stomped along until the whole stadium seemed to be a writhing, angry mass. Neil didn't know if it was the reverberations of their madness or his chaotic pulse that was choking him.
Dan met Riko on the court for a coin toss and won the Foxes first serve. The crowd was still carrying on like they intended to go all night. Wymack had a few minutes before starting line-ups were needed on the court, so he pulled his small team close enough that they could hear him.
"I suck at this pep talk thing, but Abby threatened me with gruesome death if I didn't make some sort of effort tonight. This is what I've come up with after an hour of hard brainstorming. I haven't rehearsed it yet, so you'll have to pretend it's something polished and encouraging. Deal?"
He looked around at them, catching and holding each player's eyes for a moment. "I want you to close your eyes and think about why you're here tonight. Don't tell me 'revenge' because you've already gotten it just by being here tonight.
"This isn't about Riko anymore," Wymack said. "This isn't about the Ravens. This is about you. This is about everything it took you to get to this point, everything it cost you, and everyone who laughed when you dared to dream of something big and bright. You're here tonight because you refused to give up and refused to give in. You're here where they all said you'd never be, and no one can say you haven't earned the right to play this game.
"All eyes are on you. It's time to show them what you're made of. There's no room for doubt, no room for second guesses, no room for error. This is your night. This is your game. This is your moment. Seize it with everything you've got. Pull out all the stops and lay it all on the line. Fight because you don't know how to die quietly. Win because you don't know how to lose. This king's ruled long enough—it's time to tear his castle down."
A warning bell sounded overhead. Wymack clapped his hands at them and said, "Let's go!"
"Foxes!" they roared in response, and the starting line-up headed for the door.
The Ravens took the court first and settled into their places. Riko was the first one called out, so Neil assumed he'd play this game like he had last: showing up on the court for the first and fourth quarters of the game. Kevin was the first called out for the Foxes, but Neil was close behind him. They headed for the strikers' starting spots on the half-court line. Neil kept his eyes on Riko, knowing Riko had to have heard about Kevin's tattoo by now. He was right; Neil was still twenty feet away when he saw the icy anger on Riko's face.
Riko didn't speak until Kevin and Neil had gone still, and then he let out a slew of vicious Japanese. Kevin ignored him until Riko said something else, then slid a cool look Riko's way and answered. Neil didn't know what he said, but Riko twisted his gloved hands around his stick like he was imagining breaking Kevin's neck. Pissing Riko off right before such an important match was as stupid as it was exhilarating. Neil could no longer hear the crowd through the blood rushing in his ears.
He looked up at the clock as the last Fox went still and watched until they passed the ten-second mark. He glanced past the other striker to the dealer and his first mark, counting down in his head. At two he saw the goalkeeper, and he imagined the goal blossoming red with a Fox point. At one the buzzer sounded, and Dan fired off the first serve of the night.
It'd been almost seven months since the Foxes and Ravens last faced each other on the court, and it didn't take the Ravens long to realize they were facing an entirely different team. Last fall the Foxes wrote the game off as a sure loss before they even stepped on the court. They'd played the Ravens because they had to but they looked past it to the hope of spring championships. Tonight, buoyed by determination and half-drunk on desperation, the Foxes had the strongest start they'd had all year.
The Foxes were fierce, but the Ravens were angry. Neil could feel it like poison on the court, a bad vibe that set every survival instinct hissing. The laughingstock of the NCAA should not have made it this far or cost them this much. They'd lost Jean, suffered a thorough internal investigation, and put up with Riko's violent grief in the wake of his father's death. Their fans' attack on Palmetto State and Kevin's veiled accusations had brought a lot of bad press down on them. There were rumors Edgar Allan wanted to close the Nest and reintegrate the team with the rest of campus for their own psychological safety. Now Kevin showed up on their court with a sneer and a new tattoo, and the Foxes rushed them like they had no doubts they'd win.
The Foxes weren't the same team, but neither were the Ravens. They hadn't taken the Foxes seriously last fall. Now they had to, and they didn't pull any punches.
The game didn't start off violent, but it took no time at all to get there. Bodies slammed against court walls and the floor; sticks cracked together and barely missed glancing off jerseys and helmets. The clatter and skid of racquets sliding against the ground, forcefully knocked out of gloved hands, echoed in Neil's ears as he pushed himself faster. The Foxes' defense and dealers fought tooth and nail to protect their goal and clear the ball, but good intentions and grit couldn't hold out long. The backliners simply weren't fast enough to compete. Renee gave it everything she had behind them, but Riko and Engle popped balls past her in rapid succession. Every time the goal lit up red for the Ravens Neil flinched.