FORESIGHT and SCOPE: BOOK TWO

C H A P T E R E I G H T E E N

THIRD PERSON POV

Fern sprinted all the way back to the riot race arena. With a million thoughts swarming her brain and clouding her vision...

I have to warn the others...

What exactly am I going to tell them?...

Omega...She must know something, right? She pondered, then squeezed her eyes shut as she violently shook her head. No, if she was a Generation One clone, Omega would have been much too young to remember. Especially if the Kaminoans did erase every single trace of —

CRASH!!!

Fern's body went spiralling across the dirt after she collided with a passerby in the crowd. She hugged her right shoulder and bicep as she groaned, the blazing sun blinding her from above.

"Watch it, will you!?"

"Hey, are you okay?"

Fern ignored the gathering audience as she scrambled to her feet, disregarded the obvious bruising that itched up her shoulder and under her arm, and shoved her way until she finally arrived at the course. The first place to check was the garage, where she found all three clones gathered around a scrapped version of Tay-0...

"Fern, you're back!" Omega cried happily, hopping down from the platform that suspended the busted speeder and wrapping her arms around the female clone's waist. The latter half-noticed the young girl, patting her back with one hand and catching her breath.

"Tech—cough—I need to tell you—what in the Force happened to the speeder? And is that Tay-0?" She finally took a moment to observe the setting she stumbled into and did not like what she was seeing. Her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed, and she growled, "Where's Cid?"

"Ahh...yeah, about that," Wrecker, who was sitting on the edge of the platform, rubbed the back of his bald head. Omega stepped back and looked up at Fern. "We lost the race, but I managed to convince Millegi to give us one more chance. Double or nothing. He took Cid, but we will get her back if we win tomorrow's race!"

"What?"

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FERN'S POV

"Oh, boy." Wrecker pulled the young girl away from me, for I was fuming up to my ears.

"Why did you do that, Omega?" I groaned deeply, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"We couldn't just let him take Cid!"

"Why not?" I waved my hand in logic, glaring down at her. "She lost her bet. Apparently, she couldn't cover it, per usual. And now you have potentially dragged all of us down with her! What were you thinking?!"

"Hey, take it easy, Fern." Wrecker said.

"'Take it easy'?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing! "I was gone for less than an hour! I come back and find out — Ugh!" I smacked my forehead repeatedly, catapulting my palm more rapidly with each strike.

"Fern," Tech called to me. He set down his tools and stepped forward. "You are a mess. What happened while you were away? Where is your jacket?"

I stared at him in utter disbelief. How could any of that possibly matter right now?! Then, I peered down at my appearance: I was drenched head to toe in sweat and my short-sleeved black top with a high neck had suctioned itself to my sticky skin. Dirt coated my arms and face, and my braid had come loose in areas to where my baby hairs were flying around my hairline and jaw in the humid breeze. As I was examining myself, my encounter with Athena flooded back in my memory. Her very-serious threats. But now wasn't the time anymore to address it...Now, I had to fix this new problem. "I got in a scuffle with a drunk passerby. He took my jacket. It's not a big deal." I breathed in deeply to calm rattled nerves and exhaled slowly. "Okay...Where are we in winning this race?"