She is quiet for a moment, and the staff member pauses.
“No. It may invite unwanted attention, but we will deal with it. We were sent with a message. Show them that we are still out there.”
The woman hesitantly finishes, then sprays sweet-scented finishing spray over it. I thank her and get up.
Another staff member hands me a rifle and a grenade belt. “Not explosives, just powdered hormone enhancers. Do you know how to operate these?”
“Yes.” I sling the rifle over my shoulder, attach my belt ,and walk outside.
I find Jorusk talking with a huge blue Thorian who wears a grin as white as the snowcaps on the mountains that surrounded our farm. Jorusk adjusts the rifle slung over his shoulder and notices me.
“Oh, hey. Brynna, this is Hatchet. He and I met three years ago.” Jorusk motions to a woman who’s talking with another near the starting line. “Quinn is his mate.”
I offer him my hand. “Nice to meet you, Hatchet.”
He hesitates and glances at Jorusk. When Jorusk shrugs, Hatchet takes my hand and smiles. “Such a weird tradition.”
“Just a show of intent that I am unarmed and wish to have trust.” I release his hand. “But it also gives away a lot about the other person. It is in the strength, confidence, and texture of the handshake. Callused hands tell me you work hard. That’s just one example.”
“Interesting.” Hatchet eyes me like I’m some freak of nature. “I like your mate, Jorusk. She is covert in the way she hunts. But she gives away her secrets too easily. Soft hands but strong. So are you not a worker?”
“I…”
“She is,” Jorusk coughs behind a fist, trying to hide his smile. “Did a number on me this morning.”
Hatchet chuckles and tags Jorusk in the chest with a fist, making him chuckle and stagger a step.
Ohni zooms across the fields on her hoverpad and slows before us. “Is everyone ready for some sweet, sexy fun?”
Women and alien males cheer closer to the line.
“Guess it’s time,” Hatchet gives Jorusk a shoulder nudge. “See you around, my friend. Likely sooner than we want.”
“Yeah.” Jorusk looks concerned.
I rest a hand on his back beneath his wings. “What is it?”
“He knows about the approaching Neb forces and doesn’t want to be here any more than I do.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure what I want, even if it takes a little bit of medicine to get me there.”
Jorusk wraps me under one of his arms, and presses me against his side. “You really do want me?”
“Hellyes.”
He laughs bashfully.
“And since we’ve already got your extra prize. I think we’re mostly doing this for show and to have some fun. So what doyou say we wreak some havoc on this bitch?” I lift my rifle as the starting cannon goes off, puffing pink and purple plumes into the air that taste like candy and make everything around us glow.
I free a candy grenade from my belt, flick the pin off, and throw it into the maze. It explodes above the hedges, raining hormone-enhancing powder over the racers that pour into the labyrinth of vegetation, hoping to reach the golden egg at the center or find their way to the mountain maze for the secondary gold egg. “Come on.”
Jorusk hangs onto my hand as I lug him into the maze. He finally perks up and lifts his rifle, tagging an Alustrian male with a paint bullet laced with the same hormone enhancers but in bright green. Every bullet he launches at other couples switches to a different color, but they all have the same effect.
We skirt a corner in the hedge and find a couple getting hot and heavy in the corner.
“Whoops.” I apologize to them and sneak away.
Jorusk rumbles a hungry note and pulls me down a different passage.
