Chapter 13: Wren
Practice feels wrongtoday.
The ice is too loud.
The energy is too sharp.
Kael is wound tight enough to snap, Finn keeps glancing at me like I might disappear, and Atlas...Atlas is skating like he’s trying to outrun something inside his own head.
Coach blows the whistle and calls for a full-ice scrimmage.
Great.
Exactly what this team needs—more chaos.
The puck drops.
Bodies explode forward.
Atlas launches himself down the right side with terrifying momentum.Jensen, one of the rookies, tries to take the inside angle and cut him off.
My stomach twists.
“Don’t—” I mutter under my breath.
Jensen does.
They collide at full speed.
The sound that follows is horrible—an echoingCRACKthat shoots lightning through the rink.
Jensen hits the boards and falls.
Atlas hits a millisecond later, shoulder first, head snapping back against the glass.His legs buckle.His stick clatters.His breath punches out of him in a violent, sickening rush.
And then—
He doesn’t move.
My body reacts before my brain does.
I’m running.
Down the bench.
