Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
But Neil's feet stayed planted, and he opened his eyes again. "No."
"Don't be stupid."
"Running won't save me this time," Neil said. "If the Moriyamas really do think I'm a threat they'll send people after me. My mother and I could barely outrun my father. How am I supposed to escape his boss?"
"At least you'd have a chance," Kevin said quietly.
"A chance to die somewhere else all by myself," Neil said, and Kevin looked away. Neil put his hands in his pockets, feeling his keys in one and his phone in the other. He twisted his fingers through the key ring, tracing ridges with his fingertips until he found the key to Nicky's house in Columbia. Andrew gave it to him in August when he first promised to protect Neil.
Neil looked down at the fox paw they were standing on. As he spoke his fear seeped away and was replaced by an unhappy calm. "If I was going to run, I should have done it in August. Andrew told me it was my last chance to get out. I decided to stay. I wasn't sure he was enough to stand between me and my father but I wanted this too much to care about the risks. Maybe I didn't fully understand the stakes then, but this hasn't changed."
Neil crouched and pressed his hands to the orange paint. "I don't want to run. I don't want to be a Raven. I don't want to be Nathaniel. I want to be Neil Josten. I want to be a Fox. I want to play with you this year and I want us to make it to championships. And in spring when the Moriyamas come for me I'll do what they're so afraid I will. I'll go to the FBI and tell them everything. Let them kill me. It'll be too late by then."
Kevin was silent for an endless minute, then said, "You should be Court."
It was barely a whisper, but it cut Neil to the bone. It was a resentful goodbye to the bright future Kevin had wanted for Neil. Kevin recruited Neil because he believed in Neil's potential. He brought him to the Foxes intending to make a star athlete out of him. Despite his condescending attitude and his dismissals of Neil's best efforts Kevin honestly expected Neil to make the national team after graduation. Now Kevin knew it was all for naught; Neil would be dead by May.
"Will you still teach me?" Neil asked.
Kevin was quiet again, but not for long this time. "Every night."
Neil swallowed against the hollow ache in his chest. "Matt and Dan want us to make it to finals. Do you think we stand any chance?"
"We have a chance to make it to semifinals if Nicky starts pulling his weight and Andrew cooperates," Kevin said. "We can't get past the Big Three."
USC, Penn State, and Edgar Allan were considered the "Big Three" of NCAA Exy. Edgar Allan always placed first. USC and Penn State usually stole second and third, though they were constantly upsetting each other in the rankings. The only way to finals was by beating one of those teams in semifinals.
"Guess that will have to be good enough," Neil said.
He got to his feet again and looked around, first at the orange lines and paw prints on the court, then through the walls to the stands. Andrew had apparently finished the stairs because he was now jogging laps around the inner court. Neil envied the stamina Andrew's medicine gave him.
"Kevin, what does he want?" Neil asked.
Realizing Kevin had no way of following his train of thought, he gestured in Andrew's direction. "Andrew doesn't know who I am, but he knows I have a price on my head. Despite that, he said he'd protect me for a year. Not for my sake, but because he thought training me would distract you from the Ravens' threats."
Neil looked back at Kevin and said, "What does he want that he'll risk so much to keep you here?"
"I made him a promise." Kevin dragged his stare away from Neil's face to follow Andrew's progress. "He's waiting to see if I can keep it."
"I don't understand."
Kevin said nothing for so long Neil almost gave up waiting for an answer. Finally he explained, "Andrew on his drugs is useless, but Andrew off his drugs is worse. His high school counselor saw the difference between his junior and senior years and swore this medicine saved his life. A sober Andrew is…" Kevin thought for a moment, trying to remember her exact words, and crooked his fingers at Neil as he quoted, "destructive and joyless.
"Andrew has neither purpose nor ambition," Kevin said. "I was the first person who ever looked at Andrew and told him he was worth something. When he comes off these drugs and has nothing else to hold him up I will give him something to build his life around."
"He agreed to this?" Neil asked. "But he's fighting you every step of the way. Why?"
"When I first said you would be Court, why were you upset with me?"
"Because I knew it'd never happen," Neil said, "but I wanted it anyway."
Kevin said nothing. Neil waited, then realized he'd answered his own question. It startled Neil into silence for a minute. Disbelief warred with discomfort, but Neil didn't know where that unease came from. He shifted on his feet and folded his arms as tight across his chest as he could.
"So, what?" he asked in a low voice. "You think he'll sober up next summer and suddenly realize he likes Exy after all? I thought you didn't believe in miracles."
"Andrew is crazy, not stupid," Kevin said. "Even he will grow bored of being a failure eventually. When his medicine is out of his system and he can actually think for himself again I will have an easier time getting through to him."
Neil doubted it, but he said, "Good luck."
It surprised him that he meant it. Andrew was hell to deal with most of the time but he really was doing his damnedest to keep both Neil and Kevin at Palmetto State. The least they could give him in return was something of his own. Neil couldn't deny a little bit of bitterness that Andrew would have the future Neil couldn't, but he'd come to terms with that eventually.