He was terrifying.

I didn’t know if it was just because of all those things my grandma said, the scars, his size, his presence, or the hate spewing from his eyes but I felt the urge to turn my bike the other way and ride as fast as I could away. To drive my damn bike in the water and swim as it sunk into the ocean. But then he passed me and fear washed away to confusion.

He was…beating me? That couldn’t be possible. I’d never lost a game in my life, not even to a family member. I was lucky, even for a leprechaun, so this just wasn’t possible.

With that confusion bubbling inside me I pushed my bike forward, forcing the fear down with a vicious desire to win because I couldn’t lose. Not ever.

Frustration began to bloom into rage as I failed to catch him. Each fast turn I took yielded a moment of leeway only to have him catch up and pass me on each straight away.

Disbelief and confusion warred inside me until I convinced myself there was no way this was happening, that at any moment something would happen to make the odds uneven—he’d hit a pothole and crash, his bike would suddenly run out of gas. Anything, something!

Our bikes pushed towards the end where the spectators waited. Roman saw Dullahan beside me and his eyebrows rose high on his forehead, his mouth popping open slightly in shock, as if he simply couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. The moon glared behind hazy clouds and the streetlights seemed to shake as the entire street rumbled with our furious race. I felt my vision go green, an opaque sheen on the land as my eyes flared with glowing, menacing Greed. I saw the reflection of my eyes on my bike and ignored it, baring my teeth and forcing my bike to go faster.

Our tires were even now and our bikes grew closer together, just five feet apart. I looked over as outrage poured through me but it all bled away as I saw the Dullahan’s face cracked in a smile that would haunt my dreams.

The scars on the side of his face had split open a couple inches on each side, making his smile stretch macabrely, with too many teeth on display. His eyes were wild in delight and so wide open I couldn’t even see his eyelids. His dark hair thrashed around him.

I fumbled for the first time in my life. The bars jerked as I momentarily lost control. I gripped them but it was too late, my front wheel was going wild and I felt myself start to tip over. I shook my head in utter disbelief as it happened. It couldn’t happen. It shouldn’t.

My bike slammed on its side and I had to protect my head. Pain radiated over the side of my body. There was a moment of honest panic bursting inside me like no previous thrill I’d ever had. I gasped from the jolt it gave me. Something was wrong and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. My luck wasn’t working.