Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 22 - Thunderbolts

Codi didn't really consider herself to be a superstitious person. She didn't indulge in traditions; didn't place undue value on particular calendar dates like birthdays and new years. However, this was one tradition she could happily get behind. Every year in the week's layover before the Gauntlet, the fighters who'd made the final team convened to celebrate and watch the final rankings being declared by the ever-watchful media and their cadre of experts.

This aspect of the Gauntlet was all new to Codi. Her old academy had been such a backwater minnow that no-one paid any attention to them until they started causing havoc in the contest itself. She had since learned that prior to the contest, the formidable army of analysts released a ranking list of the top fifty fighters, and Battlecast always featured heavily.

So the tradition had been established that the lucky graduates of Battlecast academy would assemble; congratulate each other, watch the ratings come in, and get well and truly drunk.

Codi sat in the comfortable back seat of a sky-lane taxi along with Ripple and Leela, watching the glittering lights of the city flash by. For a change she'd actually made a bit of an effort and opted not to turn up in her default attire of hooded top and leggings. It had been Ripple, of all people, who'd talked her round to the idea.

So now she wore a dress, a tightly fitted pine-green garment that left her shoulders bare and came down to just above her knees. She still wore a set of opaque black tights beneath the dress, but she had also accepted an offering of jewellery. Two sapphire studs shone against her earlobes, glinting in the night-light of Minneapolis Saint Paul.

She shifted slightly in her seat, hearing the clunk of the black heeled shoes she wore against the floor of the sky car. Heels – now there was a novelty she'd never indulged in back on Kantha. The old Codi James probably would have punched the new one in the face on sight, but she was happy, at least for tonight, to leave that violent, confrontational part of her to one side and just have fun. It had been a long time since she'd had a day to just enjoy. She remembered only a few hours ago looking at herself in the mirror while Ripple fussed and fiddled, and realising that when taken to task about it, she actually could make herself fairly presentable.

Around her neck was clipped her silver locket, the one thing that linked to the life she'd left behind, the last trace she had of parents that she now barely remembered. For the longest time she had worn it out of sight, tucked beneath her clothes, but today she decided that it paid greater tribute to have it on display for all to see.

A sudden realisation slammed into her like a cold breeze as she stared out of the window, absently twisting the locket between her finger and thumb. Her parents would never know, never see what their daughter had achieved. Never. It was something you wanted, wasn't it? To have your parents be proud of you? Codi would never get that chance, that validation. She had nobody.

Tears that she'd been holding back for years welled in her eyes and she shook her head, forcing those thoughts away. Tonight was a happy night and she wasn't about to spoil it for herself or anyone else. One trickle escaped to slide down her cheek, however, and she sniffed, quickly swiping it away.

But not quickly enough.

"Are you...are you okay?" Leela asked, looking at her in disbelief.

Codi smiled through shining eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, but she heard the wobble in her own voice. "Sorry, it's just...my life's been a bit of a rollercoaster. Now that we're here, going to a party, no responsibility – I've never had this before."

The younger girl looked aghast. "Never?!"

"Never."

"Then you're going to enjoy it more than anyone," Ripple interjected from the opposite side of the taxi without even looking over. "Relax and unwind. We'll make sure you have a good time." That glimmer of a smile hovered on her face as she continued. "You'd be surprised how good a party Bruno can throw."