Zak agreed with an upbeat yelp, even though he probably had no idea what I was talking about. I didn't think organized sports were much of a thing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.
“Ready?" Nero asked.
Ready as I'll ever be to get my butt whooped."Yes."
"Three… Two… One… Go!"
Nero took off like a shot. His sandpapery yet streamlined body took off like a silver bullet through the waters, rushing through them like there was no resistance whatsoever. Even in my slightly sour mood, he was awe-inspiring to watch. I'd known sharks were powerful, but I never realized they were so magnificent.
Me, on the other hand…
If a shark was the cool athlete that everybody liked in school, then a koi fish was probably a combination of the weird art kid and the dumb blonde. Harmless, easy on the eyes, nice to feed when you're at the fishpond but ultimately forgettable.
I wasn't as fast as Nero, yet somehow I managed to keep up with him. There wasn't even a finish line—in his enthusiasm to get started, he forgot to mention one, but another branch further upstream seemed like a good compromise.
Something came over me. I swam as fast as I could, pushing my muscles to the limit. I didn't want to lose to Nero anymore. I wanted to be the best at something that wasn't looking pretty for once.
I saw him from the corner of my eye, his pale scales looking almost ominous in the water. To my surprise, he was slightly behind me.
My competitive streak flared, but was followed by confusion. Realistically I knew he could've beaten me by now. Why hadn't he?
I suddenly grew suspicious. I slowed down on purpose, not too jarring, just enough to seem natural.
And then Nero slowed down too.
I whirled at him, my fins flaring. "What are you doing?"
"What?"
"You're doing that on purpose!" I spat.
Nero seemed caught between telling the truth and keeping up his white lie. "Um-"
"Don't um me. I know exactly what you're doing. You're losing to try to make me feel good, aren't you?"
"Nishiki, I-"
"Don't bother," I said. "I don't want to hear it."
Without waiting for his response, I turned and sped upstream. Nero could've easily caught up with me but I knew from the guilty look on his face that he knew how upset I was. He wouldn't be following me for a while so I used that to my advantage and got far, far away.
I was livid. My blood felt hot against the cool stream of the water. Why did he have to do that? I would've been less angry if he had just beaten me like he always did. It would've hurt less.
One layer of my frustration was that I didn't knowwhyI was so angry. When me and Nero had spats like this, my feelings usually passed quickly. Nero was my twin after all. I couldn't stay upset with him forever, even when he was being a jackass.
But for some reason, the fire burning inside me right now was uncontrollable. Did this have something to do with me being an alpha? As the thought entered my mind, I slowed down. Judging by the vibrations, or lack thereof, in the water, I knew Nero hadn't followed me. At least his massive form was easy to track.
I swam more casually, trying to shed my mood and failing. Being an alpha sucked. What good did it even do me? I could turn into a fish and sometimes I got angrier than usual. Great.
Maybe things would be better if I just disappeared.…
And then—
Suddenly the air was rushing all around me. The familiar pulse of the water was gone. The world was spinning, I was getting higher and higher, the landscape falling away beneath me.
Trees were getting smaller. The river grew thinner until it was a slight blue line.
And I was uncomfortably aware that I couldn't breathe.
My body thrashed, seized by automatic instinct, but with no proper limbs it was impossible to release myself from whatever had me in its clutches. Panic coursed through me. I flopped back and forth in desperation, and only freaked out more when sharp points dug in harder in response.
As I gasped for oxygen in the water that wasn't there, I looked up. The sky was blocked by two large wings that were attached to a bird with a very sharp beak.
And then I knew I wasreallyscrewed.
