Defying Destiny
an excerpt

When the call hit him Devin was six feet in the air halfway through a stunt. Like gravity operating on a different axis, it pulled on his soul and threw him off balance. The engine whined as the bike slewed sideways beneath him, and with a sinking feeling he realized he'd lost control of his spin.

Cursing, he kicked free, sending the heavy bike off in one direction as he tumbled in the other so it wouldn't fall on top of him. His knees absorbed most of the force of impact with the ground, and he rolled forward with his hands up to protect his head in case the helmet came off. Now he just had to hope the rider who'd taken the jump right behind him would see him fall in time to avoid landing on him.

Lying curled up in the dirt with the wind knocked out of him, Devin fought against the continued tugging on his soul and listened for the sound of Greg touching down. It came a moment later with the roar of an engine and the meaty sound of the dirt being spun out from beneath the tires, but there was no searing pain associated with the sound. Greg had missed him.

"Carey? Devin? Dev, are you okay?" Greg was the first one to reach him, ditching his bike and running to kneel next to him, patting him down cautiously to look for broken bones.

With a groan Devin uncurled himself and rolled over onto his back, flipping his visor up. His hair had fallen into his face, the dark strands partially obscuring his view, but he could see the worry in his friend's eyes. "I'm fine, Hauser," he assured the other teen, coughing and wheezing as he got his breath back. "Nothing broken, I think."

He sat up with Greg's help, testing each part of his body before putting any strain on it. He'd be bruised, but as he'd hoped nothing was broken. Bruises he could deal with.

"What happened, Carey?" one of the other bikers asked as more people crowded around.

"That was about the craziest wipe-out I ever saw," another commented. "You looked perfect, then suddenly you just ditched for no reason I could see."

"Front wheel wouldn't straighten," Devin lied through gritted teeth. The pull on him was getting stronger now; he wouldn't be able to ignore it much longer. "I've been messing with it and I thought I'd licked it. Guess not. Really guys, I'm fine."

"Maybe you'd better borrow a bike for the rest of the night?" Greg suggested.

"Nah... it's getting late anyway and my mom will expect me for dinner," Devin said, hauling himself painfully to his feet. "I'll walk it home, that'll give me a chance to stretch out."

He brushed off more well-meant offers of help, insisting that he was fine and certainly could walk home by himself without a babysitter. Their concern for him was flattering on the one hand, but annoying on the other. He had to get out of here before he did something to give himself away.