A grinding click sets the rows of components into motion. Compartments shift in and out of gridlocked patterns until a baby-pink powder appears in front of you. The sealants of the container whisper open as the entire shelf frees itself from the surrounding compartments. It tilts, pouring fine powder until the first cube in your utility belt’s filled to the brim.

Those choices won’t surprise anyone. They’re the most reliable components for long-distance riding. Gasping Mercies grow healthier lungs and a healthier heart in a phoenix. Lingerluck pushes horses past their natural limitations. It’s the kind of combination that will have you carving out an excellent pace on what you’re hoping will be an unexciting second leg of the race at Bravos’s side. You wait as a golden powder filters into the second compartment.

When it finishes, you give the next order. “Fearfell and Rainroot.”

The mechanisms rumble to life again. Those two will raise a few eyebrows. Separate, neither substance is very powerful. Combined, however, they create the most sure-footed phoenix imaginable. The path you want to take Bravos down on the third and fourth legs is far from straight. It will require consistency. You want to feel fearless as you forge a path to the finish line.

The first four choices were easy. It’s the last one that has your stomach turning. Mother’s advice makes sense, but it’s hard to imagine what possible disasters can strike. You let your eyes wander through the lists of components and you feel more unsure than ever.

Waterlily? But how useful will it be for your horse to run on water? Most of the rivers you saw ran left to right, not forward. Onyx is interesting. Scaled armor might prove useful against the Longhand. There’s Nocturne, too, but a horse with night vision? Useless.

“You have one clockturn remaining, contestant.”

Closing your eyes, you draw on the memory of the map. You see the twisting roads and slashing rivers, the narrow forests and open plains. What do you really need? Your eyes open at the memory of the caves. The fastest route in this year’s Races goes straight through the dark underground.

If something goes horribly wrong, that’s the route you’ll need to catch up.

“Sunscape. I need Sunscape.”

The machine obeys your command, adding the final component to your remaining cube. A second later the judge walks over, seals the box, and waves you out of the room.

“Good luck, contestant.”