A thud of footsteps from upstairs. That must be what I heard. Brent’s up there. This building plays tricks on my mind. I continue past Brent’s dorm and the laundry cupboard.

The lights click off. Total darkness. I hate that stupid timer. Where’s the bloody switch? Still clutching my ice pack in one hand, I pat the wall with the other. The ice is melting and dripping everywhere, making the floorboards slippery, and the last thing I need is to fall again. I creep forward, groping my way along. There has to be a switch somewhere.

A draft rushes in behind me. Was that a door opening? I turn, eyes straining into the blackness. “Hello?”

Is someone in the corridor with me? My fingers flap for a switch. Yeah—here!

As the light comes on, something disappears around the corner. I stifle a gasp.

I didn’t see that. I couldn’t have.

It looked like a flash of white-blond hair.

CHAPTER 30

TEN YEARS AGO

I text Curtis. How’s Jacinta?

Broken femur. They’ve taken her down to Grenoble.

I’m so sorry.

Poor Jacinta. That’s her season over.

I lie awake for half the night debating whether to tell Curtis about his sister’s role in the accident. I’m almost certain the black thing, whatever it was, came from Saskia’s hand. Yet I couldn’t swear to it; it happened so fast. It might just have blown past her in the wind. And if it did come from her, she could have dropped it accidentally. My gut tells me she dropped it deliberately, but even so, she probably only intended to distract Jacinta and make her bottle out of her spin.

Anyway, telling Curtis wouldn’t achieve anything. Saskia would say it was an accident and the damage is already done. Hopefully she’s learned her lesson.

At the pipe the next day I can’t get the accident out of my head. Every time I’m about to jump, I find myself looking around to see where Saskia is, to make sure she can’t drop something onto me.

Okay, she’s coming up the tow, so I’m safe. Deep breath. Come on, focus!

With ten weeks to go until the Brits, I’ve pushed aside the idea of trying a Crippler for now. It was scary enough watching Brent do one yesterday. Instead, I’m trying to go bigger, so I’m dropping in from farther and farther up the pipe. Of course, Saskia soon caught on and now she’s doing the same.

This time I drop in from twenty meters up and nearly lose it on my way down the wall. My first hit shoots me higher than I expected; I flap my arms like mad for balance and somehow I land it. A few more speed wobbles and a sketchy spin on the last hit. I skid to a stop, amazed I’m still upright.