Part 36 (1/2)

And as they watched this bizarre contest, the rest of the crowd joined in.

'GO BUG! GO!'

'GO BUG! GO!'

The Bug's little legs pumped up and down.

The Devil's Chariot gained speed.

Jason could only watch, helpless in his seat.

The Bug ran over the giant white letters painted on the road just before the Finish Line - 'START-FINISH' - just as the Devil's Chariot roared up behind him, accelerating...

...coming closer and closer and closer...

...and the Bug saw the Line - the actual Finish Line, a thick white band stretching across the road in front of him - and as the roar of the Devil's Chariot filled his ears and rushed alongside him, he dived...

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

RACE 50.

LAP: 51 OF 51.

RACERS LEFT ON TRACK: 4.

It would go down in Race School history as one of the most bizarre photo-finish photos ever.

It depicted the Bug, frozen in mid-air, diving over the Start-Finish Line, the Argonaut's steering wheel held in front of him in his outstretched hands - while the Devil's Chariot hovered, also frozen, in the background of the photo, its body blurred with speed...and its nose a bare ten centimetres short of the Line.

Thanks to the Bug's little legs, Team Argonaut had beaten Barnaby Becker by less than a foot.

Afterwards, Henry Chaser would ask if he could have a copy of the photo and the School gave him one.

It now hangs in the Chaser family living room.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

Pandemonium reigned in the pits after the consequences of Race 50 became apparent.

Jason leapt out of the Argonaut and threw his fists into the air. Sally caught him, also jumping for joy.

They knew the score.

The results of Race 50 had changed the Race School Champions.h.i.+p Ladder dramatically.

It now looked like this: INTERNATIONAL RACE SCHOOL.

CHAMPIONs.h.i.+P LADDER.

AFTER 50 RACES.

DRIVER NO. CAR POINTS.

1. XONORA, X 1 Speed Razor 313 2. KRISHNA, V 31 Calcutta-IV 305 3. PIPER, A 16 Pied Piper 285 4. CHASER, J 55 Argonaut 284 5. BECKER, B 09 Devil's Chariot 283 6. WAs.h.i.+NGTON, I 42 Black Bullet 283 7. WONG, H 888 Little Tokyo 278 8. SCHUMACHER, K 25 Blue Lightning 275 Suddenly the Top 4 looked very different.

Barnaby and Isaiah Was.h.i.+ngton had both dropped out of it completely, replaced by Ariel - who with her 10-point win had leapt up from 6th to 3rd - and Jason, who had gone from 5th to 4th with his 8 points for coming third.

Along with Xavier and Krishna, Jason and Ariel were going to New York.

Almost as pleasing to Jason was the result that Barnaby Becker and Isaiah Was.h.i.+ngton wouldn't be going anywhere.

But then something else happened - ripping Jason from his thoughts.

Dido ran into the pits.

She spotted Jason, smiled with joy, and hurried over to the Argonaut.

Dido threw her arms around Jason...

...but Jason didn't hug her back.

She noticed his lack of response immediately, and drew away. 'What's wrong, Jason? You did it. You made the Top 4. You won your ticket to the New York Challenger Race.'

At first, Jason didn't speak. Truth be told, he actually didn't know what to say. He'd never had someone so brazenly betray his trust before.

For a long moment, he just looked at Dido - scanned her eyes, her face, searching for something...anything. Something he could trust, something he could believe in.

But he found nothing there.

Both the Bug and Sally saw at once that something was very wrong - but they kept their distance.

'Jason? Are you okay?' Dido asked.

'I have something to tell you,' Jason said, 'something very personal...'

'Yes,' Dido said gently.