A pair of sustained squeals filled the air as two figures went shooting through a large, winding, water-filled tube. One of those squeals was me, my voice shifting into a wild laugh while my eyes glanced sidelong toward the girl next to me. Izzy, of course. The two of us were side by side in this tandem waterslide, giggling as our eyes met briefly just as we went through another steep drop that turned our giggles into squeals once more. My stomach went into a rolling spin.

  Actually, my stomach had been doing that a lot, and it didn’t have that much to do with the slide. I was more than a little nervous about what was going to happen in the competition starting today. Well, the real competition, that was. It had been one thing to run through my little exhibition thing. Hell, that had basically just amounted to showing off for people. I was good at showing off. I'd been doing that for basically my whole life. That was what I did all the time.

  But now I was going to have to compete head to head against other people. More to the point, I would be competing against other Touched, many of whom did this sort of thing professionally. There was a part of me that was convinced I was going to make a total fool of myself out there.

  And yet, that part was basically being repeatedly drowned out by the much larger part of me that thought this was going to be the most amazing thing I had ever done. Sure, they had plenty of experience and training and all that, but I had raw enthusiasm and what amounted to a frankly dangerous disregard for my own safety. That stuff probably had to count for something, right?

  Sure, maybe I was being flippant about the whole thing to fight my own nervousness. But hey, at least I had Izzy here to help stop me from obsessing over the whole thing so much. She had already been up when I crawled out of bed that morning, dragging me off to get food in one of the big fancy restaurants downstairs before taking me to the arcade for awhile, and now to this wild waterpark. All things meant to distract me from what I was going to be getting into very soon.

  Some people might’ve thought that what I needed was some calm, peaceful time to reflect on what was coming, gather my thoughts, and really just put myself in the right frame of mind to compete. Or that I needed to rest and save all my energy. The fact that Izzy knew that was nonsense and that the best thing to do was take me to a waterpark so we could scream until our throats were hoarse as we were flung around at a million miles an hour through twisting, turning rollercoaster-like slides proved just how well she knew me by now. She had truly become my sister.

  This wasn’t just any ordinary waterslide either. It was the longest, twistiest, fastest, most absurd stomach flipping waterslide in the country right now. The whole park itself had been built on the grounds of their old international airport after they put in the new, much larger place on the other side of the city. So there had already been plenty of open space and already-poured cement for them to work with, and they incorporated the old buildings and towers both into the actual rides, as well as for things like the gift shop, food vendors, and their own arcade. There was even one large area of the old airport that had been converted into an awesome two story lasertag arena.

  The point was, this entire place had been turned into something amazing. I had no idea how Izzy had found out about it, but here we were. She found the best way to distract me from the fact that I was going to need to go out and compete with a bunch of people who had been doing all this for much longer than me. She knew that what I really needed was to throw myself into something that seemed stupidly ridiculous and dangerous so I could stop thinking about that.

  Well, not that it was actually completely stopping me from thinking about it, obviously. But it did help. There were times when thoughts of the upcoming competition really did leave my mind for as long as ten whole seconds, which had to be some sort of record.

  We hit another curve in the slide before shooting out into completely open air. Our arms and legs flailed wildly for what seemed like an eternity before we both dropped into the deep pool the slide opening had been positioned over. This was one of three different pools the slide could deposit someone into. Every time one person (or pair in our case) went through, several parts of the slide tubes were repositioned throughout its length in order to redirect the next person to a different pool. That way they could send people through much more quickly without worrying about one person slamming into another who hadn’t gotten out of the pool at the bottom yet.

  Still, it was best not to linger around, as the lifeguard standing at the side of the pool made clear as soon as we had oriented ourselves, waving his hand for us to come to the ladder and climb up. So, we did, clambering out of the water. The cement had been treated with some sort of special coating that stopped it from retaining much heat, so even though it was an even ninety degrees already (while not even being ten o’clock yet), we weren’t burning our toes on the hard concrete. Still, we walked right over to the nearby bench where we’d left our sandals and put them back on. The cement might be cool to the touch, but walking very far across it barefoot still seemed like a fairly bad idea for a multitude of reasons. Not the least of which was that small kids sometimes went on slides their stomachs really couldn’t handle. The park employees were pretty good about cleaning things up quickly, but still. It was just a good idea to have shoes on.

  Beyond shoes, I was wearing what amounted to a two-piece swimsuit, though the bottom was made up of boy-style swim trunks. There was a time-- very recently in fact-- when I would have been confused and embarrassed about what to wear out like this. A combination of a female top and male bottom clothing combined with the fact that said top didn’t have that much to cover to begin with? Yeah, I would’ve been conflicted to say the least. Which wouldn’t exactly have done that much to help with that whole ‘calming down and feeling better about the competition’ thing.

  At the very least, there was no way I would’ve worn a bikini top. No, before all this happened I probably would’ve been going around in a full shirt for this. But now I was okay. I didn’t care--or at least I cared much less about all that. I was wearing a girl top and a boy bottom because I felt like both a girl and a boy. It just made perfect sense, at least to me, and that was who mattered.

  After getting our sandals back on, I looked at Izzy and offered her a quick grin. “Well, I guess you were right, the Tsunami Tornado really was better than the Phantom Plunge. But the Plunge was definitely faster in that one spot. Speaking of which, we need to go back there and see if that piece of my stomach ever managed to find its way to the bottom so I can reconnect with it.”

  Izzy snickered a little before pointing over my shoulder. “Are you sure it didn’t just notice the sign for the Cosmic Vortex and run off to have its own adventure? Maybe it’ll meet us over there.”

  Looking that way and taking in the twisting, winding slide she was pointing out, complete with what looked an awful lot like a corkscrew part that went through a building that was probably pitch black inside (or might even have a lightshow), I made a noise of delight deep in my throat. “Oh yeah, it’s probably over there. I mean, it’d be downright irresponsible not to at least check.”

  So, we did. And when we didn’t find that missing piece of my stomach there (actually we might have left another piece behind on that one but who was counting), we tried several more slides and even the river rapids with the tubes. Then we did a thorough examination of the lasertag building on the off chance that my missing stomach pieces had decided to practice their urban combat skills. In the end, I might’ve left without all those parts of myself, but I was also leaving behind a hell of a lot of anxiety along with them. For those couple of hours, the two of us just had fun and forgot everything else. I wasn’t even thinking about the whole Dani being Pack situation. I wasn’t thinking about anything besides how fun it was to spend that time with Izzy.

  Eventually, of course, we had to dry off, get dressed, and leave. I might’ve been able to push thoughts of the competition out of my mind, but we really did have to get back there so I could put in an appearance with our family and find a reason to get out of there to actually participate.

  As we were waiting for the rideshare car to show up while standing out in front of the park, I checked my phone for what had to be the fifteenth time. I tried to be subtle about it, but Izzy noticed, waiting until I sighed before tentatively asking, “No more messages from Paige? I bet she’s trying not to distract you right now. She sent you that good luck message earlier, right?”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Blushing a little, I nodded and shoved my phone away. “Yeah, it’s no big deal. You’re probably right, she just doesn’t want to be distracting or put any more pressure on. I just kinda thought she would’ve said something else by now. It’s Paige, I half-expected her to dump a whole pile of information on me about my competition, advice about what to do, warnings about taking this seriously and not goofing off too much, just… I dunno, I guess I just thought I’d have to be the one telling her that I was fine and didn’t need dozens of texts about every last detail. It’s weird.”

  Izzy took my hand, squeezing it. “I bet Sierra pinned her down and blocked her from bothering you. Maybe Irelyn helped. Either way, they’re probably keeping Paige too busy to even think about bombarding you with all those texts. But they’ll all be watching when the games start.”

  “Everyone will,” I agreed, trying to stop my stomach from flipping over too much (and hey it looked like those missing pieces had managed to find their way back after all) as I returned her hand squeeze. “Wren and the others are already setting up for some big watch party. Peyton sent me a picture of the loft area and they’ve got three different giant televisions set up in there, each turned to a different station to get various angles, plus a couple computer monitors so they can see the streaming versions. Between all that and the beanbag chairs and blankets, plus the soda and pizza Fred went to pick up, they’re ready for a full day of watching every last game.”

  By that point, our ride had shown up, so we stopped talking about that. Or rather, we talked about the games in general and the fact that we were going to get to watch them from the actual stadium. Sure, there was a privacy screen that was supposed to make it completely impossible for anyone in the front seat to hear our conversation as long as it was up, but there was no way we would depend on that. I would’ve believed I could pick up the whole planet and chuck it right off into the sun before believing that there wasn’t a way to bypass that supposed privacy screen.

  Now that it was getting closer to time for the actual competition, I was getting nervous again. I checked my phone twice more during the trip, trying not to let myself get even more anxious about the fact that there still weren't any more texts from Paige. Izzy was probably right, she just didn’t want to pile on when she knew I’d be nervous. She was clearly just trying to be considerate or whatever. And sending a text to her wouldn’t help. I’d wait until this first round was over before even checking for anything again. Hell, I’d probably get a whole deluge of messages from her then. I’d have to tell her to slow down so I could actually read them all.

  Besides, why did I care so much about what Paige sent me? Yeah, maybe I’d been expecting her to hit me with all sorts of information about my competition. Maybe I’d even planned to set aside some time to pour through every detail she managed to dig up so I’d know what to expect. But all that wasn’t actually necessary. I just had to focus on doing my own thing. I didn’t need to get a bunch of homework from Paige just to tell me what sort of tricks the people I was going against liked to do. This was all going to be fine. I was going to be fine. Paige--everyone, the whole group, they all just wanted to avoid distracting me at the wrong time. It was just like Izzy taking me out to that waterpark. It was all about helping me get in the right headspace for this.

  Once we made it to the arena and made sure the driver got a good tip for getting us there so quickly, Izzy and I made our way through the crowds to the VIP entrance. The lady there took a quick look at our badges and compared our faces to what came up in her system, then had us step through a scanner that was making sure we weren’t using any sort of Incogniter or some other form of disguise. They really took entrance into this event seriously, especially when it came to the special entrances. But soon we made it through and went off to find our parents.

  They were already at the special luxury box, of course. So the two of us hung out there for a bit. I tried not to look at my phone too much, either to check for any other messages or worrying about the time. I really needed to get down there and make sure the people knew I was ready to participate, but I didn’t want to be too obvious. Fortunately, I was pretty sure Dad was going to make his own excuse soon enough, since it felt like Silversmith would need to be there. He wasn’t competing or anything, but this was the sort of thing that he’d make an appearance for. At least then I wouldn't be the first one to say anything about leaving the box. Maybe it was silly, but I felt like that would make the whole thing less suspicious. And given the danger of this game I was playing, it was probably a good idea to take every opportunity to be less suspicious.

  Either way, I found myself sitting with Bailey, Simon’s cat, in my lap while looking out at the field below. The stadium was only about half full by then, since there was still about half an hour before the first event was supposed to start. And that first event wasn’t one for me, so I still had plenty of time, as I kept reminding myself silently every time my eyes flicked toward the clock.

  At least I could calm myself by petting the cat. She purred happily and nuzzled my hand a bit, but for the most part she seemed to be paying attention to the field below, where some gymnasts were putting on a show to keep the crowd entertained. Bailey watched intently as one girl went through a truly impressive acrobatic routine on the mat, but when she was done and the crowd cheered, the cat just yawned and looked away. It was like she was saying, ‘Eh, I could do better.’ I had to remind myself she was just a cat. She didn’t know what she was looking at.

  Still, she definitely enjoyed watching people. And not just the ones putting on a show. While I scratched behind her ears, I could see the cat looking around to take in the whole audience too. She seemed particularly interested in any young children, eyeing them curiously while making soft mewling noises. Though that last bit was probably just because she enjoyed my scritches.

  “Hey, Simon,” I called toward my brother while he was fixing himself a plate of brunch food, “I think your cat might want some little kids to play with. She’s awfully interested in watching the ones out there. Maybe you should think about taking up babysitting. You could use a little experience taking care of someone who isn’t yourself, and as long as the cat stays at least a solid seventy percent in charge of things, there’s a decent chance you won’t lose any of them.”

  Rolling his eyes with a snort, Simon moved to sit next to me with a heavily-laden plate. “I kept you and Izzy alive, didn’t I?” With that retort, he took a smaller plate off his larger one and set it down on the floor between us. That one had a mix of fish and bits of chicken on it, along with little bits of egg. As soon as it was put in place, Bailey abandoned me, jumping off my lap before starting to dig in. And from the noises she was making, the cat definitely approved of her brunch.

  Glancing over my shoulder to look at Izzy on the other side of me, I exchanged a dubious glance with her before turning back to Simon with a teasing, “Well that hardly counts, both of us are old enough that you didn’t really have to do anything to keep us alive. Babysitting is totally different.”

  As if agreeing with me, Bailey looked up at Simon and gave a soft meow. But in reality, she was just reminding him that he’d forgotten something. Specifically, the small sauce cup with milk in it that was still sitting on his plate. He carefully put it down there, and she went back to ignoring us.

  From behind us, Mom spoke up casually. “I’m glad you’ve taken such a keen interest in your brother’s childcare capability, my principessa, but I’m certain it will be some time before that becomes a relevant skill.” She reached up, squeezing Simon’s shoulder gently and rubbing it. “He has far too much living and growing to do before he even thinks about children.”

  Simon, for his part, made a soft grunting sound. “Uh, yeah, let’s not even talk about that, please? Come on, Booster, you’re sitting here about to watch the first real event for the LEAT games and you’re talking about how good I am at babysitting? What’s wrong with you?”

  Okay, yeah, he had a point. I had been trying to distract myself from worrying too much about my own participation in the games, but maybe I went a little too far the other way. Still, I sniffed. “Hey, I’ve gotta do something to pass the time until the games start. This is taking forever.”

  “It won’t be long now,” Dad assured us, before checking his watch. “And speaking of which, I should probably go make my appearance in the governor’s box. He’ll be expecting some attention during these first events.”

  And there it was, just as I expected. With that, he headed out. Almost immediately after which, Izzy looked at me and casually asked, “You wanna go down and see if we can get a closer look before they start?”

  “Stay together,” Mom insisted, though that was her only real response. The two of us leaving the box to get down closer to the action wasn’t exactly surprising by this point.

  So, we headed out, leaving Simon, Bailey, and Mom alone in the booth. Only the cat seemed to pay any attention as we left, looking up to meet my gaze intently when I glanced back that way. Probably annoyed that I wasn’t going to be there to scratch her ears when she was done eating.

  Pushing that out of my mind, I took a breath and let it out as Izzy and I walked together, heading for a spot where we could safely split up so I could go change. “Well, I guess this is it. I’m really doing this.”

  “Don’t worry,” Izzy urged, “you’ll be fine. You’ve got this. No one’s even trying to kill you this time.”

  “Not so far,” I agreed. “But you never know what’s gonna happen in the next five minutes.”

  Izzy took my hand, squeezing it before insisting, “It’s okay. Good luck, Cassidy.”

  “Thanks, Izz,” With that, I gave the other girl a quick hug, before stepping back. “You’re right, I’ve got this.

  “Time to show everyone what I can do.”

  Joke Tags: Are We Sure Sierra And Cassidy Aren’t Actually Twins? Because They Each Started These Past Couple Arcs By Screaming While Flying Into Water