Chapter 2315
- The spectators along both sides of the track had long since risen to their feet, craning their necks and gripping their cheer boards tightly. Shouts and screams, wrapped in the roar of engines, churned above the empty circuit. Media reporters held up long lenses and short rigs alike, their cameras locked on the starting line; shutter clicks fused into a continuous rattle, and flashing white bursts kept strobing, freezing this hair-trigger moment.
- Up in the starter's tower at the end of the track, the race official had already taken his position, a bright red signal flag in hand. His sharp gaze swept over every car on the grid. From the radio came reports from safety marshals at each sector that they were ready; every link in the chain was tight, waiting only for the command that would unleash the run.
- Amelia sat in the cockpit. The sealed space filtered out most of the outside clamor, but it could not keep out the savage vibration of the engine, feeding through the seat and steering wheel without end, forming a strange resonance with her steady heartbeat.