Kevin and Andrew looked her way and followed her pointing finger to the door. Neil couldn't hear what Andrew said, but Kevin shook his head. Andrew pushed Kevin's glove and armor against his chest and took a step back, and Kevin turned toward the court door. Dan squeezed his shoulder on his way by. As soon as Kevin was out of earshot she muttered something vicious under her breath and sent Gorilla a dirty look through the court wall.

The crowd outside greeted Kevin's arrival with the same enthusiasm they'd shown Matt. He'd only played half an hour, but for now it was good enough just to have him on the court.

"Line up for a foul shot," Dan said as Seth took Kevin's place on the court.

The referees left and locked them in. Foxes and Jackals moved out of the way to let Gorilla's replacement have a clear shot on goal. A buzzer gave the backliner the go-ahead. He took a couple extra seconds to weigh his options, then fired at the corner of Andrew's goal. Andrew slammed the ball all the way down to the far court wall.

Neil ran down the court as fast as he could, wanting more than ever for the Foxes to win this game. He knew they couldn't, but the way the Jackals were playing was infuriating. Gorilla really had been trying to hurt Kevin's hand his first day back on the court, which was unbelievably cruel. Neil hoped Matt had bruised some ribs with that punch.

He snagged the ball from the air as it came flying his way. He ran for the goal, making five steps before Leverett was right on his tail. He fired a shot at the goal that the goalkeeper just barely deflected. Seth dodged around his new backliner mark to catch the ball, but he didn't have a clear shot. He threw the ball back to Neil instead.

Leverett moved as if to intercept it, but Neil didn't let her. He slammed his stick into hers almost hard enough to send both their racquets flying. She cursed as she lost her grip, and then there was nothing to stop Neil from getting to the goal. He caught the ball and carried it all ten steps, calculating angles and the goalkeeper's body language as he ran. His last step was a half-step that helped tilt him forward and he put everything behind his throw.

The goal lit up red as Neil's ball hit home. The buzzer went off overhead, and Neil wheeled around for half-court as his teammates cheered.

Leverett stepped in front of him. "You got lucky."

"You're getting slow," Neil said.