In the end, Christmas Dino was the overall victor of the race with a five-feet gap between her and Jing who got second place. Definitely Not the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons came in third by a few centimeters.
Definitely Not the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons was disappointed she was not Number One, but accepted the results with grace, satisfied that she got to have a fun challenge for once in a long time.
While the three frontrunners went over to a tent set up as a rest area and talked amongst themselves, the coffee shop Owner and the others continued to weave around the obstacles. At this point, everyone was just treating the race between the three frontrunners and the race between the rest of the racers as two separate races. Much of everyone's focus right now was on the coffee shop Owner and the rest.
The coffee shop Owner and the Head Magus were neck and neck in the lead while the Royal Guard Captain trailed behind them by a foot or two. Stonecrest was not too far behind. Dead last was Sir Wilder who wheezed and sweat buckets as he slowed down to a snail-paced jog about three blocks back.
"Well folks," said Howard, "this is it! Once our racers turn that corner, it's a straight shot to the finish line! At face value, it looks like the winner will either be the coffee shop Owner or the Head Magus. But I wouldn't count the others out just yet. It's anyone's guess who comes out on top. Well, except for Sir Wilder. That guy's definitely going to lose."
From the second-floor balcony of a restaurant, George clapped his hands and cheered, "Whoo! Go Dad, go! You can do it!"
And then he tore his eyes away from the giant magic mirror floating close to the balcony like a giant balloon, and said to the older lion man, "I need to go potty."
Norman blinked and stared at his nephew and said, "Seriously? Right when we're close to your adopted father's big moment?"
The lion cub replied back, "I drank a lot of orange juice. Be right back!" And then he ran off to the little boy's room.
Norman shook his head, sighed, and then mumbled, "Kids."
On the race track, the coffee shop Owner muttered, "I don't know why, but I feel like something mildly ridiculous just happened."
"What's this?" went the Head Magus. "Spacing out in the middle of the race? You must have a lot of confidence to do that when it's me you're up against."
"Yeah, well, it's not like you've ever beaten me once," said the coffee shop Owner.
The Head Magus fired back, "I've beaten you plenty of times before!"
"In your dreams, maybe."
"Why you-!"
But then and idea flashed in the Head Magus' mind, and then she pointed over the coffee shop Owner's shoulder and cried out, "Look! A ghost!"
The vampire scoffed at her. "Yeah, right! I'm not going to fall for that. How old do you think I am?"
But then, at his ear, a creepy little girl's voice whispered, "I hunger for your soul."
"WHAT THE-!?"
Startled, the vampire jumped and turned around. But the only thing behind him was a pair of big, red plastic lips giggling back at him as they broke apart into sparkling rainbow glitter that swirled away. After watching the glitter disappear into the sky, the coffee shop Owner swiveled his head back to the Head Magus who was now ahead, laughing.
"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be, huh?" said the vampire. "Well, two can play it that way!"
He cupped his hand over his mouth, puffed out a breath and then threw it like a baseball pitcher throwing a straight ball. Whatever he threw whizzed past the Head Magus.
"Ha! You missed!" the Head Magus taunted.
To which the coffee shop Owner responded with, "I wasn't aiming at you. Look ahead!"
"Huh?" The Head Magus raised her eyebrow. She returned her gaze to what's in front of her and stopped in her trackers, finding herself face to face with a cockroach the size of a grownup cow. A string of words spewed out of her panicked mouth that made a lot of parents glad the magic mirrors their kids were watching the race on did not have sound.
While the Head Magus freaked out, the coffee shop ran past her. He ran up the side of a building all the way up to its roof and hopped from one building to another, crossing three buildings in all, before jumping back down onto the road, all the while giving the magically grown bug wide, wide space.
"Well, folks!" went Howard. "It looks like our racers are finally starting to try and sabotage each other. Honestly, I'm surprised it took them this long to do that.
"Anyway, things looked a bit dicey for the coffee shop Owner for a second there, but now he's in the lead with a growing gap between him and the Head Magus. And that gap's just going to keep growing unless the Head Magus gets moving again. But who can blame her when there's a gross, giant roach in the way?"
SPLAT!
"AND THE ROYAL GUARD CAPTAIN JUMPS HIGH INTO THE AIR, PULLS OUT A HUGE SHIELD FROM OUT OF THIN AIR, AND SLAMS DOWN RIGHT ON TOP OF THE GIANT COCKROACH USING A COMBO OF HIS WEIGHT, THE SHIELD'S WEIGHT, AND GRAVITY TO POP IT LIKE A BALOON! THIS IS THE GROSSEST THING I'VE SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, THE SECOND BEING THE ROACH ITSELF! I JUST KNOW I'M GOING TO HAVE NIGHTMARES TONIGHT BECAUSE OF THIS!"
"You and me, both, Howard," said Daisy. "You and me, both."
Peggy felt close to throwing up while watching the race on the magic mirror.
"The cockroach is gone, said Howard, "but the Head Magus still doesn't seem like she wants to go on. Why? Well, probably because the whole street's covered in giant bug goo now. And I mean the WHOLE, ENTIRE street, including the building sides. So no scaling up to the rooftops like the coffee shop Owner did for the others. I feel sorry for the guy who has to clean that up later.
"Wait, what's that? We're the ones cleaning everything later? Me too? Do I have to? Well, crud.
"Anyway, the coffee shop Owner's still in the lead, with the Royal Guard Captain now in second place. Wow, that guy's hardcore to run through all those roach bits without flinching. Thanks to those two, we've now got a new (albeit really, really gross) impromptu obstacle for the rest of the racers. The Head Magus finally got moving again, quickly catching up to the Royal Guard Captain using the same trick she used to get through the Glue Shower, running on a bridge of water over all that bug goo. Stonecrest at fourth pulled out a pair of long, long stilts and is using them to traverse over the bug splatter.
"But it looks like Sir Wilder's out of the race. That X sign he's making with his hands over his head while standing just a few feet from the bug goo means he's thrown in the towel and quit. You can tell what he's thinking just by looking at his face, and it is saying, 'Yeah. No way. Definitely cannot.' I can't say I really blame him.
"That just leaves the coffee shop Owner, the Head Magus, the Royal Guard Captain and Stonecrest. The coffee shop Owner remains in the lead with the Royal Guard Captain right next to him. But the Head Magus has caught up and is now neck and neck with the other two, an unbelievable turn of events! Stonecrest remains far behind.
"They're almost at the finish line, running as hard as they can. It's still anyone's guess who'll come in first. No, wait! Both the coffee shop Owner and the Head Magus have overtaken the Royal Guard Captain. Once again, it's just the two of them!"
"Come on, Nephew!" Uncle Theo shouted. "You can do it!"
Peggy and Alan both yelled, "Go Boss, go!"
"Come on, Trickster!" screamed Roy through cupped hands. "You got this!"
Everyone crowded at the balcony railing, cheering at the top of their lungs as the vampire and the sorceress neared the town square. Some cheered for the coffee shop Owner and some cheered for the Head Magus. They were just seconds away from the finish line.
"Aaaaand . . . IT'S A TIE! The coffee shop Owner and the Head Magus both crossed the finish line at the exact same time!"
The crowd went wild with cheers and applause. Caught up in the excitement, Peggy added her voice alongside Alan and Roy, going, "YEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"What an amazing turn of events, folks! This race has truly been an edge-of-your-seat competition. With this, both the coffee shop Owner and the Head Magus share top spot over the normal racers. Too bad that doesn't mean anything when the actual first, second and third places have already been taken!
"In another surprising turn of events, Christmas Dino is the overall winner of the Featherkeep Grand Prix, with Jing the Crimson Storm as runner up. Honestly, I was certain the Crimson Storm would take first. Definitely Not Queen of the North Mountain Dragons takes third place.
"But before we go, let's give all our contestants a well-earned round of applause! This is Howard - "
"- and Daisy - "
"- signing off!"
**********
It was late at night at the coffee shop, so late that it should actually be called morning now. The party held to celebrate a job well done in the race for the Owner and the Head Magus had long since ended and everyone else had gone home to sleep.
George was the first to leave for bed. Honestly, he wanted to stay up later, but being a kid, Ten o'clock was the latest that his father would allow. Peggy, Roy, Alan and Timmy went home an hour and a half later. They traveled together partway and then split up at the end of the road. And then few minutes later, the Head Magus also went home.
As for George's uncle, Norman, he only stuck around for a few minutes after the race. After a brief exchange of words with the coffee shop Owner, he departed for a train ride out of town.
Only the coffee shop Owner and Uncle Theo were left. They waited in the dimly lit storefront, just making small talk at a round table until the front door swung open and in crawled a crocodile.
Most people would be alarmed to see a huge, carnivorous lizard suddenly pop up out of nowhere, but both the vampire and the man with a house for a head just took the beast's presence in stride.
The coffee shop Owner took one look of the crocodile, frowned and said, "About time you showed up. What took you so long, Mother?"
"Sorry, sorry," said the crocodile. "But you know how it is with these parties. Everyone wants to stick around until the very last minute."
The coffee shop Owner's mother who had been the Christmas Dino in the race and now transformed into a crocodile, crawled over to the others and sat down on a chair between her son and her cousin.
"Well?" the coffee shop Owner said. "How'd it go?"
"Well . . ." said the crocodile. She told the others about her talk with the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons and the legendary alchemist Jing the Crimson Storm, leaving no details out.
By the time she was done, the sun had still not started to rise yet.
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