Eleanor's POV
2 days later
The energy at the Serpent's Kiss was a tangible thing, a roaring, buzzing beast of anticipation and revving engines.
From my designated spot near the VIP entrance, I could see the grandstands filling with a colorful, noisy sea of people.
But a cold, leaden dread sat in the pit of my stomach, entirely separate from the crowd's fever-pitch excitement.
Today is the full moon. The thought was a relentless, pounding drumbeat in my skull.
Would you calm down? Beatrice's voice was a sharp reprimand in my mind. You came prepared, didn't you? Or did you just show up hoping for the best like a brainless squirrel crossing a highway?
"I'm prepared," I muttered under my breath, my fingers nervously tracing the outline of the key in my pocket. My new position had its perks. I'd 'requisitioned' a set of heavy silver chains from the track's security locker—chains I knew were kept on hand for the remote possibility of a supernatural being losing control.
