The Hidden Orphan (The Chronicles of Mistar - Book 2)

Nine · · · Dest (.2)

Walking over to Ryn, Dest grabbed the sand board that was laying next to his feet. She then walked over to Mell and Theo, who were waiting to start the race, and squeezed between the too. Mell was strong, and Dest knew that, but she also knew that with one shove from Theo, Mell would be on her knees tumbling down the dune just like Ryn had.

This time, there was no countdown. Kast shouted an exhausted go, neither Dest, Theo, or Mell ready to take off. All of their starts were late letting Dest use Mell's shoulder as a good push start.

"Hey!" Mell yelled, grabbing onto Dest's arm when she started sliding down the hill.

When they finally had a good momentum going, Mell let go of Dest and bent down on her board so she sped easily past both Dest and Theo. Dest did the same, copying almost every single one of Mell's moves. She hung right behind Mell so she didn't take all the heat from the wind and the sand.

Mell glanced back and laughed. "Drafting on my butt, are ya?" Smiling she added, "Didn't know you could do that in sand boarding."

Surprised that Mell knew what drafting was, Dest replied with, "Well, I guess you can."

Halfway down, Mell pressed on the front of her board and stood making her board slow down and come down on the front of Dest's board. Dest almost shot forward as Mell sideswiped her, spraying sand in Dest's face. Through the sand in her eyes, Dest could see Mell make her way over to Theo. Dest winced just as she thought he was about to push her over, but ducked as if she had expected it. Mell slammed her body into Theo's gut, making him fall over. Dest laughed at him as Mell slid into first place at the bottom of the dune, her own board right after the princess.

"Woo!" Kast yelled from the top. "I know she'd whip y'alls butts!"

As he said this, Kast had stood and started jumping in circles as he pumped his fist in the air. Looking at Mell, Dest saw the girl blush as she swayed back and forth. She no longer looked intense or vicious as she had looked on the slope. Dest couldn't even see those traits in her as she looked the princess over.

"She's ruthless!" Kast kept calling.

Wondering aloud, Dest called back up to him, "How'd you know she'd win?"

Replying, Kast said, "She told me."

"I saw you guys," Dest fired back. "Before the race, I saw you guys talking and she didn't say anything like that!"

Kast shook his head smirking. "Not there. On Pezda, she told me that she races. Like zumo flyers and stuff. But I guess sand boards work too."

Dest turned back to Mell to see her still blushing. Staring at Mell, Dest watched her shrug her shoulders before the princess bent down to pick up her sand board.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dest spotted something flash through the sky like fire. Through the darkness, she watched it soar through the sky and crash into the distant desert, hopefully not on a small town. Dest was pretty sure that she saw a small black dot drop from whatever had flown through the sky.

"What was that?" she heard Theo whisper under his breath.

"Don't know," Dest replied out loud for him to hear.

"Did everybody else see that?" Kast called from the top of the hill. Dest turned to see him elbow Ryn and push him down the dune towards the rest of the group. Roppy followed them silently until they were almost to the end of the hill and she ran to Theo's side.

"Should we check it out?" she asked, her voice hesitant.

Theo sighed before he replied, "Don't know, to both of your questions." Rhetorical, he then asked aloud, "Are my eyes tricking me?" Draping one arm over Roppy's shoulder, Theo used his other to scratch in his head in confusion.