Page 139 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

The music intensified around her.

Alisa dropped into an Ina Bauer, her back arching deeply while one leg bent forward and the other extended behind her, the movement stretching dramatically across the rink like something breaking open emotionally.

Then she launched into a split jump parallel to the ice before dropping into a sit spin, extending one leg outward in a pistol position. She rose almost vertically from the spin, pulling herself upward into a catch-foot variation, body bending with unnatural flexibility as she rotated faster and faster.

And then came the backflip.

The crowd gasped and jumped from their seats.

Alisa landed it cleanly and immediately flowed into a fast cantilever, her body nearly horizontal as she glided low across the ice like gravity itself had loosened its grip on her.

She accelerated again. Faster this time. She was desperate.

Then came the quadruple Axel.

She launched into it with sheer force, rotating violently before landing on a dangerously unstable edge. Her leg wobbled hard beneath her, but she stayed upright.

That was what mattered.

Even so, she knew the judges would take points away for the shaky landing.

Everything was beginning to slip. The quads weren’t perfect. The program wasn’t unfolding the way she had imagined it.

So Alisa did the only thing she knew how to do.

She pushed harder.

Almost immediately she entered another combination that included a quadruple Salchow into quadruple flip. The exits were rougher now, exhaustion beginning to show beneath the perfection she was trying to maintain.

The pressure was crushing her.

And in a final burst of determination, Alisa accelerated across the ice once more and launched into another quadruple Lutz.

This time, she landed it cleanly.

The arena exploded.

And then, bursting with adrenaline and joy, Alisa threw herself into a butterfly jump, almost flying parallel to the ice before landing directly into a difficult step sequence.

Her blades cut deep arcs into the rink as she dropped into a hydroblade, spinning low in a circle, so close to the surface that it looked like she might kiss the ice itself. And she was smiling.

She had done it.

She hadn’t fallen on a single jump.

The realization hit her in waves as she exited the element through another intricate set of level-four steps, her exhausted body still forcing itself to move with precision despite the fire burning in her muscles.

Then came the final spin.

She entered a camel position, body stretched beautifully across the center of the ice before lowering into a sit variation, one leg bent tightly as she caught the blade with her hand. From there she pulled herself upward into a Biellmann position, back bending painfully as the spin accelerated faster and faster before transitioning into a needle variation.

The audience applauded continuously now.

Alisa abruptly stopped the spin and struck her final pose, arms spread wide like dark wings, a fierce, almost warlike smile crossing her face beneath the arena lights.

But then—

The music surged one last time.