The Foxhole Court
By Nora Sakavic
4/5
()
About this ebook
Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He's short, he's fast, he's got a ton of potential—and he's the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.
Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn't need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.
But Neil's not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil's new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can't walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he's finally found someone and something worth fighting for.
Read more from Nora Sakavic
The King's Men Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Raven King Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to The Foxhole Court
Related ebooks
The Sunshine Court: All for the Game, #4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elysium Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running with Lions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Deeper Waters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fascinators Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in the Maze Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reverie Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Love Interest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5All Kinds of Other Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark Rise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master of One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Why They Hate Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Charm Offensive: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Star Host Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reality of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Legend of the Golden Raven: A Novella of The Wicker King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sky Blues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wicker King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make a Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alpha's Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fool Without A Master: The Wallace Treager Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHowl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So This Is Ever After Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silver-Lined Secrets: Trick Questions volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGentleman's Club Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife After Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kamikaze Boys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Him: Him, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Any Way the Wind Blows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
YA LGBTQIA+ For You
All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Where It Ends Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tricks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sleeper and the Spindle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Both Die at the End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Wicked Fate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Truly Devious: A Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Upside of Falling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What If It's Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clown in a Cornfield Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lion's Legacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girls Made of Snow and Glass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last to Let Go Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flash Fire: The Extraordinaries, Book Two Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radio Silence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Why They Hate Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Miseducation of Cameron Post Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before I Let Go Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Extraordinaries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Upside of Unrequited Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River Has Teeth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond the Black Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inexplicable Logic of My Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin and Her Misfits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rest of Us Just Live Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Burn Down, Rise Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Foxhole Court
476 ratings22 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a strange and intriguing story about a sports team with complex characters and conflicts. While some reviewers acknowledge flaws in the writing and find it bizarre and implausible, they still love the book and feel attached to the characters. The story is gripping and the relationship between Neil and Andrew is honest and real. Although there are mixed opinions, many readers thoroughly recommend this series and find it exciting, dangerous, and romantic.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely amazing,it leaves you wanting more. A most read honestly
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/54,1 stars
I knew going in that enjoying this book requires some heavy suspension of disbelief. Which is probably the reason why I was able to enjoy it as much as I did. Mostly this first book sets the scene for the rest of the series (I'm assuming) and introduces the reader to the world of the imaginary sport Exy, as well as the brutal world of teenagers running away from what is effectively the mafia.
Overall, this book is just very entertaining. I thought the pacing was good, the characters were decent, and I feel like there's a lot of potential for the rest of the series. The initial hazing and "initiations" were really not to my liking, but I'm hoping we're starting to be past that now that Neil is more a part of the team.
I hope I'll like parts two and three even more. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book captured my attention. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to [email protected] or [email protected]
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A little unpolished, but the story is best considered as a whole series. I absolutely loved the character portrayals, every OC had a clear personality.
Romance: The first two books will only hint at the final pairing, but the last book was simply glorious. One of my favourite MM couples, truly.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Been curious about this one for a while, with various references I'd seen on social media. I knew it was considered problematic by some, adored by some, etc., but I wanted to make my own assessment. I'm now...intrigued, I suppose. The description of the gameplay was the weakest point for me, and I found it hard to keep my attention on it. There are questions that are going to eat at me if I don't read the next book (what's up with Renee?), so I guess I've been pulled in for now.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I dont think Ive really picked a story about sports since the Gordon Korman and Chris Crutcher books I read in high school, but I had this recommended to me and thought I would give it a try... and then proceeded to finish it in under 24 hours.
Are real life college athletics and organized crime anything like they are in this book? Probably not. But since the book I read before this featured a house that grew fur and then ate people I figured I would just roll with it. I found the cast of characters varied and fascinating (though thoroughly dysfunctional), and actually got into the sports aspects of the book more than I thought I would. I dont know if most people would enjoy this book but I did and cant see myself not finishing the series. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this trilogy. The characters have depth and the story line is gripping. I enjoy how the story evolves read the whole trilogy in just a few days.
Niel and Andrews relationship is honest and real. I teared up while reading some of the more violent scenes and my heart bled for them. Not something I would normally read but thoroughly recommend.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a fun book. Definitely the first in the series. It seemed to mostly set up all the conflict that will happen later in the series but it was still pretty good on its own. All the characters were interesting. I liked that they were all so interesting and that they didn’t feel like the stereotypical “heroes.” I listened to this on audiobook and it was pretty good. Very fast as well. The audiobook was only seven hours. Since I’m in college right now it’s a lot easier for me to listen to audiobooks. Only this first book is available as an audiobook right now so I’m not entirely sure how long it will until I read the rest of the series but I definitely want to continue. This is the type of story I love, even if the plot is a bit unrealistic. For fiction like this I’m not reading it for the realism but as a fun escape. Excited to see what happens in books 2 and 3.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Much like many of the reviews I've read since I finished this book, I picked it up without any real expectations. It was available for free and looked mildly interesting, but it definitely surprised me and made me incredibly glad I took that chance.
Neil Josten has been running from his past for as long as he can remember. When his skill in a sport known as Exy get the attention of a recruiter at Palmetto State University, however, he has a decision to make: keep running or take some time to pursue playing the sport he loves. And the fact that the team's new star player is someone that he knew in his past seems like a point in the favor of either decision.
The way Nora Sakavic builds the world and slowly introduces the characters is something that really keeps the reader engaged (at one point, I sat down to read a chapter and got up nearly 10 chapters later) and demonstrates a skill in storytelling that I haven't seen in a while. One has to suspend some disbelief to accept aspects of the story (I just settled on the idea that it takes place in the near future to explain some of the differences in societal norms and regulations), but Sakavic makes it very easy to do so. For a book that is touted as having m/m romance elements, it is a bit light on that front (they're mostly hinted at in this book), but I expect they will continue to build in the future books in the series. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is very interesting to say the least. I'm not exactly sure where I stand with any of the characters yet, and I don't know if I actually like any of them. But they intrigue me, and make my fingers itch to start the next book in the series. The novel comes off very much as a fanservice type book, and that's not a bad thing: I feel like Sakavic wrote the exact type of book she would have loved to read, and that just happens to be the same type of book that us fans out here love to read. One of my main critiques about this book is that for a sports book, it's really lacking sport. I have no idea how Exy is played other than that it is very aggressive, is a lacrosse hybrid sport, and that the player can only walk 10 steps with the ball. More game play would be nice, but I get that the book is more about the bizarre and broken characters than the game itself; but if the game is a part of the players and their connections to each other, then I believe game play is important.
Anyhow, this is a very strange and interesting book, and I look forward to reading more and (hopefully) letting these characters enter my heart.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I adore this series! Read it twice and would recommend anyone and everyone to read it too! Excitement, danger, sports, daring, and romance - a must read!!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wtf did I just read? This was weird and convoluted but not awful. Most likely going to continue just to understand how in the world Neil and Andrew end up together.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book can be described with one metaphor: The Foxhole Court is like a car crash, so horrible and astonishing that you can't look away. From a neutral standpoint, this book and the entire series has many, many flaws, but nevertheless, I absolutely loved it. Neil Josten is my baby child and if anybody hurt him, I would kill everyone in the room and then myself. This book isn't the best form of modern literature there is, but I'm completely okay with that. I got attached very quickly to these characters, and I think their personalities and conflicts carried the story. Anyways, it's not the most well-written, but I love it.
3 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm more so writing a review for the whole trilogy. Overall, very good! I still think about the characters from time to time even though I read this last year. However I would literally never reread because it was incredibly stressful. A little bit too much edge for my tastes. Also not a fan of sports, even a little bit.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was absolutely amazing.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Foxhole Court is the opening volume of what ends up being a fast-paced, intriguing trilogy. However, the first book does not completely emulate these traits. The novel is busy, with multiple plot factors, but they tend to be difficult to follow and slow moving. It can be argued that's the point of any first novel in a series, world building, and this book does need adequate time to do so with a new sport and an entire underground organized crime unit. Still, this first novel of the trilogy seems to drone on more than capture the reader's interest, at least for the first chunk of the text.I can't say there was a specific point where that switched over for me, from feeling like I was trudging along to the end result of buying the last two books of the trilogy the moment I finished the first, but I'm very pleased to say that it did. I don't want to err into spoiler territory, but I'd say when Andrew's character really began interacting with Neil and trying to figure out his past was when the story began picking up and felt as if it was moving forward. There were points in the plot where I felt a character's actions or an event came out of nowhere, but it didn't detract too much from the flow. By the end of the first novel Neil felt far more sympathetic and interesting than he'd started out seeming, and the other major characters like Kevin and Andrew had begun feeling more fleshed out. If you're looking for slow build, LGBT+ literature and enjoy sports narratives- even if they are made up sports- then this series is excellent choice. One major warning, though. This series is extremely dark with a great deal of potentially triggering plot lines. The first book in particular includes a scene of a character being drugged and kissed against their will, even amidst a great deal of vocal refusal. The following books are even more graphic. Exercise caution, but if you feel you can handle graphic plot lines then I fully recommend this series.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/527/01/2017
reading this feels like coming home. in retrospect things make so much more sense. but the most painful part is neil's character development. he's grown so much.
03/09/2016
i would give it a thousand stars if i could. so much better the second time around when i actually understand what's going on. i cried a lil bit at the end, when andrew does the thing.
22/03/2016
this book was...... different. didn't think i would like it because i'm not a very big sports fan, but i ended up loving it somehow. it wasn't that i fell madly in love with it, it was just that it kept me reading. i feel like it's very much a character driven story? but i never once felt bored.
i probably enjoyed it so much because of the characters, characters who were so realistic?? and actual human types? all of them had layers to their personalities and they had complex stories and they were all three-dimensional and i absolutely loved it. most of the time i had no idea what i was supposed to feel towards any given character this is genius.
and the sport itself is very creative though i can't really imagine it, but i did like how it was described and how it was the central part of the story without being shoved in my face.
and then there's neil. i have very mixed feelings about him. mainly because i don't really know a whole lot about him?? we are given information about his past and childhood and current situation and his thoughts were all there but i still wouldn't be able to tell what kind of person he is? what gestures he makes what are his qualities or flaws or just anything?? i guess that's kind of good because he has to kind of act a certain way to live the life he is living but still. i hope we get to know him better as the series goes on.
and the absolute best thing about it is that THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO ROMACE ISN'T THAT JUST FANTASTIC though i do ship neil and kevin heh
all in all i thoroughly enjoyed this book and i can't wait to start the next one.2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I wanted to like this book. I went into it optimistically. I found it due to my love of The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I have to say, I have no idea why comparisons have been drawn there. The only similarity is that each series has a book called The Raven King. They have absolutely nothing in common.
The first thing I have to address is the writing. It's...not great. I had a hard time following it sometimes. I actually had to start the book over at one point because I had no idea what was going on. I'm going to blame that on the book and not myself. I'm an experienced reader. A YA sports novel should not be more difficult for me than James Joyce.
I think one of the major reasons I was confused is because there is no exposition at the beginning. I'm not saying there necessarily has to be, but it seemed frequently like the book was assuming knowledge that it hadn't given me yet. And then the backstory was revealed seemingly at random, with nothing really prompting the expository segments.
The dialogue is pretty bad. The characters all sound the same, and none of them sound like real people.
I won't go into too much detail about the actual sport of Exy, since I know very little about sports in general and pretty much nothing about the NCAA. I will say that I am at a complete loss to tell you how Exy is played, what the equipment looks like, how a player scores points, how a team wins, or basically anything you might want to know about a sport. This one may be partially on me, but I think a lot of it isn't.
None of the characters are very likable. Anyone who isn't a complete irredeemable asshole is flat and uninteresting.
Most of them are complete irredeemable assholes, though.
I need to talk about Nicky for a second. Sure, it's nice to see an openly gay character on a sports team who mostly gets along well with his teammates (except for Seth spewing slurs at him, which is not treated as a big deal at all. But then, of course, Seth dies, so maybe that's his punishment for being a homophobe? More on that later).
Nicky is an extremely negative stereotype. There are many stereotypes about gay men to be found in media. The flamboyant gay man. The fashion-obsessed gay man. These may be overused, but they're not inherently harmful (there are situations where they might be, of course).
Nicky, however, is a harmful character. The predatory gay man. The one who hits on all his straight friends all the time, who can't stop talking about all the sex he wants to have with them, even after they make it clear they're not interested and he's making them uncomfortable. It escalates to him forcing himself on Neil, in order to force Neil to take drugs. That is assault. That is horrific and his casual apology to Neil doesn't even begin to make up for it. He and his friends are criminals.
Speaking of criminals, what the hell is up with Andrew? He doesn't have any treatable condition as far as I can tell. He's portrayed as a complete psychopath with no regard for human emotion or any type of morality. That cannot be treated by a pill. Even if that pill is some sort of magic fictional pill that can cause withdrawal after hours and, after that same period of time, is completely undetectable in the body (considering the fears that people could find out that Andrew was off his meds for the game. It's very doubtful). Also, the continued usage of the word "sober" was infuriating. Please don't conflate psychiatric medicine with addiction. Are we supposed to like Andrew? Apparently we're supposed to think he's better for Kevin than Riko is, even though they're both violent and controlling abusers.
On the note of mental health, there was the line about how Seth doesn't need his antidepressants when he's with Allison because she helps him in some way? That's not how depression works.
That's not how any of this works.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Foxhole Court series is a wonderful series that we have all been blessed with! I loved it so much. It contains: understanding, friendship, love, courage and diversity. I swear that this series are just the best to lose yourself in and experience the amazing universe of the exy sport and the junkies that exist in it. If you read this before you know what I am talking about;)
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Read this for diversity December - research informed me that the MC is demisexual, which was a new term for me. I probably wouldn't have picked this book up otherwise, because sports fiction is just not my thing, and I rarely read books with so much testosterone flying around, ha.I still don't fully get what the sport Exy is; I keep imagining ice hockey, but then I remember it doesn't actually take place on ice. There are many characters in this book, and I found the beginning to be kind of all over the place. The story is more character-driven than plot, and I wish there was a better balance between the two because the plot is very thrilling, but the overly detailed descriptions of Exy made some parts tedious to read. Also, nothing in this book is actually realistic. But then again, this is YA and when is it ever realistic, lol.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I picked up this series because of the good reviews I'd seen, so now I'm here to return the favour by telling you to go read these books. I'm writing this after reading the full trilogy, so with that said, here's my review for The Foxhole Court:
This book was a strange one for me. I was pretty confused at the beginning, what with wrapping my head around the fictional sport Exy, trying to understand Neil and his situation, and keeping track of a large cast of characters who get introduced in quick succession. But the writing style was simple and easy, and I could feel potential, so I kept going. I'm glad I did, because the more I read the more interested I became.
This is a story about a sports team where Issues™ is literally a sign up requirement. The Foxes are a very strange team made up of very interesting individuals. It's a lot of central characters for a book to have, with ten teammates plus their Coach and physician, so it took me a while to get to grips with who's who, but each character is a unique and complex person. They aren't all nice people, but I found myself super invested, and wanted to know more about all of them. Particularly Andrew, who I am deeply fascinated with and desperate to find more about. He's a huge mystery and I'm very caught up in it.
As for the plot, the book mainly revolves around Neil integrating into the team, and playing Exy with them. I'm not a sporty person, so I was surprised to find myself enjoying these scenes, particularly when it came to the more exciting full games. It was pretty fast-paced, and had me on the edge of my seat rooting for the Foxes. And then there's the whole crime boss father thing. This was something that really drew me in from the description, but I wouldn't say it features too heavily. We learn some things about Neil's life on the run, but because of his secretive nature we don't find too much out. I get the feeling this situation is building up to be something bigger in the following books.
This is a somewhat rocky start to the series, and I'd say it confused me at times, but it provides a pretty good setup and like I said: there's potential. I'd say this book is more about getting to know the characters than anything else, but they're characters worth knowing. I can't wait to dive into the sequel and see what they do next.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I found this book bizarre and implausible.
1 person found this helpful
Book preview
The Foxhole Court - Nora Sakavic
THE FOXHOLE COURT
Nora Sakavic
ALL FOR THE GAME
The Foxhole Court
The Raven King
All the King's Men
Copyright 2013 Nora Sakavic
Smashwords Edition
CHAPTER ONE
Neil Josten let his cigarette burn to the filter without taking a drag. He didn't want the nicotine; he wanted the acrid smoke that reminded him of his mother. If he inhaled slowly enough, he could almost taste the ghost of gasoline and fire. It was at once revolting and comforting, and it sent a sick shudder down his spine. The jolt went all the way to his fingertips, dislodging a clump of ash. It fell to the bleachers between his shoes and was whisked away by the wind.
He glanced up at the sky, but the stars were washed out behind the glare of stadium lights. He wondered—not for the first time—if his mother was looking down at him. He hoped not. She'd beat him to hell and back if she saw him sitting around moping like this.
A door squealed open behind him, startling him from his thoughts. Neil pulled his duffel closer to his side and looked back. Coach Hernandez propped the locker room door open and sat beside Neil.
I didn't see your parents at the game,
Hernandez said.
They're out of town,
Neil said.
Still or again?
Neither, but Neil wouldn't say that. He knew his teachers and coach were tired of hearing the same excuse any time they asked after his parents, but it was as easy a lie as it was overused. It explained why no one would ever see the Jostens around town and why Neil had a predilection for sleeping on school grounds.
It wasn't that he didn't have a place to live. It was more that his living situation wasn't legal. Millport was a dying town, which meant there were dozens of houses on the market that would never sell. He'd appropriated one last summer in a quiet neighborhood populated mostly by senior citizens. His neighbors rarely left the comfort of their couches and daily soaps, but every time he came and went he risked getting spotted. If people realized he was squatting they'd start asking difficult questions. It was usually easier to break into the locker room and sleep there. Why Hernandez let him get away with it and didn't notify the authorities, Neil didn't know. He thought it best not to ask.
Hernandez held out his hand. Neil passed him the cigarette and watched as Hernandez ground it out on the concrete steps. The coach flicked the crumpled butt aside and turned to face Neil.
I thought they'd make an exception tonight,
he said.
No one knew it'd be the last game,
Neil said, looking back at the court.
Millport's loss tonight booted them from state championships two games from finals. So close, too far. The season was over just like that. A crew was already dismantling the court, unhinging the plexiglass walls and rolling Astroturf over the hard floor. When they were done it'd be a soccer field again; there'd be nothing left of Exy until fall. Neil felt sick watching it happen, but he couldn't look away.
Exy was a bastard sport, an evolved sort of lacrosse on a soccer-sized court with the violence of ice hockey, and Neil loved every part of it from its speed to its aggression. It was the one piece of his childhood he'd never been able to give up.
I'll call them later with the score,
he said, because Hernandez was still watching him. They didn't miss much.
Not yet, maybe,
Hernandez said. There's someone here to see you.
To someone who'd spent half his life outrunning his past they were words from a nightmare. Neil leaped to his feet and slung his bag over his shoulder, but the scuff of a shoe behind him warned him he was too late to escape. Neil twisted to see a large stranger standing in the locker room doorway. The wife beater the man wore showed off sleeves of tribal flame tattoos. One hand was stuffed into his jeans pocket. The other held a thick file. His stance was casual, but the look in his brown eyes was intent.
Neil didn't recognize him, which meant he wasn't local. Millport boasted fewer than nine hundred residents. This was a place where everyone knew everyone's business. That ingrained nosiness made things uncomfortable for Neil and all his secrets, but he'd hoped to use that small-town mentality as a shield. Gossip about an outsider should have reached him before this stranger did. Millport had failed him.
I don't know you,
Neil said.
He's from a university,
Hernandez said. He came to see you play tonight.
Bullshit,
Neil said. No one recruits from Millport. No one knows where it is.
There's this thing called a map,
the stranger said. You might have heard of it.
Hernandez sent Neil a warning look and got to his feet. He's here because I sent him your file. He put a note out saying he was short on his striker line, and I figured it was worth a shot. I didn't tell you because I didn't know if anything would come of it and I didn't want to get your hopes up.
Neil stared. You did what?
I tried contacting your parents when he asked for a face-to-face tonight, but they haven't returned my messages. You said they'd try to make it.
They did,
Neil said. They couldn't.
I can't wait for them,
the stranger said, coming down to stand beside Hernandez. It's stupid late in the season for me to be here, I know, but I had some technical difficulties with my last recruit. Coach Hernandez said you still haven't chosen a school for fall. Works out perfectly, doesn't it? I need a striker sub, and you need a team. All you have to do is sign the dotted line and you're mine for five years.
It took Neil two tries to find his voice. You can't be serious.
Very serious, and very out of time,
the man said.
He tossed his file onto the bleacher where Neil had been sitting. Neil's name was scrawled across the front in black marker. Neil thought about flipping the folder open, but what was the point? The man this coach had researched so carefully wasn't real and wouldn't exist much longer. In five weeks Neil would graduate and in six he'd be someone else somewhere very far away from here. It didn't matter how much he liked being Neil Josten. He'd stayed here too long as it was.
Neil should be used to this by now. He'd spent the last eight years on the run, spinning lie after lie to leave a twisted trail behind him. Twenty-two names stood between him and the truth, and he knew what would happen if anyone finally connected the dots. Signing with a college team meant more than standing still. It meant he'd be stepping into a spotlight. Prison couldn't stop his father for long, and Neil wouldn't survive a rematch with him.
The math was simple, but that didn't make this any easier. That contract was a one-way ticket to a future, something Neil could never have, and he wanted it so badly he ached. For a blinding moment he hated himself for ever trying out for Millport's team. He'd known better than to step on a court. His mother told him he'd never play again. She'd warned him to obsess from a distance, and he'd disobeyed her. But what else was he supposed to do? He'd run aground in Millport after her death because he didn't know how to go on without her. This was the only thing he had left that was real. Now that he'd had a taste of it again, he didn't know how to walk away from it.
Please go away,
he said.
It's a bit sudden, but I really do need an answer tonight. The Committee's been hounding me since Janie got locked up.
Neil's stomach hit his shoes at that name. He snapped his gaze from the folder to the coach's face. Foxes,
he said. Palmetto State University.
The man—who Neil now knew had to be Coach David Wymack—looked surprised at how quickly he put it together. I guess you saw the news.
Technical difficulties, he'd said. It was a nice way of saying his last recruit Janie Smalls tried to kill herself. Her best friend found her bleeding out in a bathtub and got her to a hospital just in time. Last Neil heard, the girl was on suicide watch in a psychiatric ward. Typical of a Fox, the anchorman had said in crass aside, and he wasn't exaggerating.
The Palmetto State University Foxes were a team of talented rejects and junkies because Wymack only recruited athletes from broken homes. His decision to turn the Foxhole Court into a halfway house of sorts was nice in theory, but it meant his players were fractured isolationists who couldn't get along long enough to get through a game. They were notorious in the NCAA both for their tiny size and for getting ranked dead-last three years running. They'd done significantly better this past year thanks to the perseverance of their captain and the strength of their new defense line, but they were still considered a joke by critics. Even the ERC, the Exy Rules and Regulations Committee, was losing patience with their poor results.
Then former national champion Kevin Day joined the line. It was the greatest thing that could happen to the Foxes and it meant Neil could never accept Wymack's offer. Neil hadn't seen Kevin in almost eight years, and he'd never be ready to see him again. Some doors had to stay closed; Neil's life depended on it.
You can't be here,
Neil said.
Yet here I stand,
Wymack said. Need a pen?
No,
Neil said. No. I'm not playing for you.
I misheard you.
You signed Kevin.
And Kevin's signing you, so—
Neil didn't stick around for the rest.
He bolted up the bleachers for the locker room. Metal clanged beneath his shoes, not quite loud enough to drown out Hernandez's startled query. Neil didn't look back to see if they were following. All he knew, all that mattered, was getting as far away from here as possible. Forget graduation. Forget Neil Josten
. He'd leave tonight and run until he forgot Wymack ever said those words to him.
Neil wasn't fast enough.
He was halfway through the locker room when he realized he wasn't alone. There was someone waiting for him in the lounge between him and the front door. Light glinted off a bright yellow racquet as the stranger took a swing, and Neil was going too fast to stop. Wood slammed into his gut hard enough to crush his lungs into his spine. He didn't remember falling, but suddenly he was on his hands and knees, scrabbling ineffectually at the floor as he tried to breathe. He'd puke if he could only manage that first gasp, but his body refused to cooperate.
The buzzing in his ears was Wymack's furious voice, but he sounded a thousand miles away. God damn it, Minyard. This is why we can't have nice things.
Oh, Coach,
someone said over Neil's head. If he was nice, he wouldn't be any use to us, would he?
He's no use to us if you break him.
You'd rather I let him go? Put a band-aid on him and he'll be good as new.
The world crackled black, then came into too-sharp focus as air finally hit Neil's tortured lungs. Neil inhaled so sharply he choked, and every wracking cough threatened to shake him apart. He wrapped an arm around his middle to hold himself together and slanted a fierce look up at his assailant.
Wymack already said the man's name, but Neil didn't need it. He'd seen this face in too many newspaper clippings to not know him on sight. Andrew Minyard didn't look like much in person, blonde and five feet even, but Neil knew better. Andrew was the Foxes' freshman goalkeeper and their deadliest investment. Most of the Foxes were self-destructive, whereas Andrew seemed keen on collateral damage. He'd spent three years at a juvie facility and barely avoided a second term.
Andrew was also the only person to ever turn down the first-ranked Edgar Allan University. Kevin and Riko themselves set up a meet-and-greet to welcome him to the line, but Andrew refused and joined the dead-last Foxes instead. He never explained that choice, but everyone assumed it was because Wymack was willing to sign his family as well—Andrew's twin Aaron and their cousin Nicholas Hemmick joined the line the same year. Whatever the reason, Andrew was blamed for Kevin's recent transfer.
Kevin played for Edgar Allan's Ravens until he broke his dominant hand in a skiing accident this past December. An injury like that cost him his college contract, but he should have recuperated where he'd have his former team's support. Instead he moved to Palmetto to be Wymack's informal assistant coach. Three weeks ago he was officially signed to next year's starting line-up.
The only thing a dismal team like the Foxes could offer Kevin was the goalkeeper who'd once spurned him. Neil spent this spring digging up everything he could find on Andrew, wanting to understand the man who'd caught Kevin's eye. Meeting Andrew face to face was as disorienting as it was painful.
Andrew smiled down at Neil and tapped two fingers to his temple in salute. Better luck next time.
Fuck you,
Neil said. Whose racquet did you steal?
Borrow.
Andrew tossed it at Neil. Here you go.
Neil,
Hernandez said, catching Neil by his arm to help him up. Jesus, are you all right?
Andrew's a bit raw on manners,
Wymack said, coming around to stand between Neil and Andrew. Andrew had no problems reading that silent warning. He threw his hands up in an exaggerated shrug and retreated to give Neil more room. Wymack watched him go before looking Neil over. He break anything?
Neil pressed careful hands to his ribs and breathed, feeling the way his muscles screamed in protest. He'd fractured bones enough in the past to know he'd gotten lucky this time. I'm fine. Coach, I'm leaving. Let me go.
We're not done,
Wymack said.
Coach Wymack,
Hernandez started.
Wymack didn't let him finish. Give us a second?
Hernandez looked from Wymack to Neil, then let go. I'll be right out back.
Neil listened to his footsteps as he left. There was a rattle as he kicked the door prop out of its spot and the back door swung closed with an agonizing creak. Neil waited for it to click before speaking again.
I already gave you my answer. I won't sign with you.
You didn't listen to my whole offer,
Wymack said. If I paid to fly three people out here to see you the least you could do is give me five minutes, don't you think?
The blood left Neil's face so fast the world tilted. He took a stumbling step back from Wymack, a desperate search for both balance and room to breathe. His duffel banged into his hip and he knotted a hand around its strap, needing something to hold onto. You didn't bring him here.
Wymack stared hard at him. Is that a problem?
Neil couldn't tell him the truth, so he said, I'm not good enough to play on the same court as a champion.
True, but irrelevant,
a new voice said, and Neil stopped breathing.
He knew better than to turn around, but he was already moving.
He should have guessed when he saw Andrew here, but he hadn't wanted to think it. There was no reason for a goalkeeper to meet a potential striker. Andrew was only here because Kevin Day never went anywhere alone.
Kevin was sitting on top of the entertainment center along the back wall. He'd pushed the TV off to one side to give himself more room and covered the space around him with papers. He'd watched this entire spectacle and, judging by the cool look on his face, was unimpressed by Neil's reaction.
It'd been years since Neil stood in the same room as Kevin, years since they'd watched Neil's father cut a screaming man into a hundred bloody pieces. Neil knew Kevin's face as well as he knew his own, the consequence of watching Kevin grow up in the public eye from a thousand or more miles away. Everything about him was different. Everything was the same, from his dark hair and green eyes to the black number two tattooed onto his left cheekbone. Neil saw that number and wanted to retch.
Kevin had that number back then, too, but he'd been too young to have it done permanently. Instead he and his adopted brother Riko Moriyama wrote the numbers one and two on their faces with markers, tracing them over and over anytime they started to fade. Neil didn't understand it then, but Kevin and Riko were aiming for the stars. They were going to be famous, they promised him.
They were right. They had professional teams and played for the Ravens. Last year they were inducted to the national team, the US Court. They were champions, and Neil was a jumble of lies and dead-ends.
Neil knew Kevin couldn't recognize him. It'd been too long; they'd both grown up a world apart. Neil had further disguised his looks with dark hair dye and brown contacts. But why else would Kevin Day be here looking for him? No Class I school would stoop so low, not even the Foxes. Neil's records said he'd only been playing Exy for a year. He'd been very careful this year to act like a know-nothing, even loading up on and lugging around How-To books last fall. It was easy to pretend at first, since he hadn't picked up a racquet in eight years. The fact he was playing a different position now than he'd played at little league helped, since he had to relearn the game from a new perspective. He'd had an enviable and unavoidable learning curve, but he'd still fought hard to not shine.
Had he slipped? Had it been too obvious that he had past experience he wasn't talking about? How had he caught Kevin's eye despite his best attempts to stay hidden? If it was that easy for Kevin, what sort of beacon was he sending to his father's people?
What are you doing here?
he asked through numb lips.
Why were you leaving?
Kevin asked.
I asked you first.
Coach already answered that question,
Kevin said, a tad impatiently. We are waiting for you to sign the contract. Stop wasting our time.
No,
Neil said. There are a thousand strikers who'd jump at the chance to play with you. Why don't you bother them?
We saw their files,
Wymack said. We chose you.
I won't play with Kevin.
You will,
Kevin said.
Wymack shrugged at Neil. Maybe you haven't noticed, but we're not leaving here until you say yes. Kevin says we have to have you, and he's right.
We should have thrown away your coach's letter the second we opened it,
Kevin said. Your file is deplorable and I don't want someone with your inexperience on our court. It goes against everything we're trying to do with the Foxes this year. Fortunately for you, your coach knew better than to send us your statistics. He sent us a tape so we could see you in action instead. You play like you have everything to lose.
His inexperience.
If Kevin remembered him, he'd know that file was a lie. He'd know about Neil's little league teams. He'd remember the scrimmage interrupted by that man's murder.
That's why,
Neil said quietly.
That's the only kind of striker worth playing with.
Relief made Neil sick to his stomach. Kevin didn't recognize him and this was just a horrible coincidence. Maybe it was the world's way of showing him what could happen if he stayed in the same place for too long. Next time it might not be Kevin. Next time it might be his father.
It actually works in our favor that you're all the way out here,
Wymack said. No one outside of our team and school board even knows we're here. We don't want your face all over the news this summer. We've got too much to deal with right now and we don't want to drag you into the mess until you're safe and settled at campus. There's a confidentiality clause in your contract, says you can't tell anyone you're ours until the season starts in August.
Neil looked at Kevin again, searching for his real name on Kevin's face. It's not a good idea.
Your opinion has been duly noted and dismissed,
Wymack said. Anything else, or are you going to start signing stuff?
The smart thing to do was bail. Even if Kevin didn't know who he was, this was a terrible idea. The Foxes spent too much time in the news and it'd only get worse with Kevin on the line. Neil shouldn't submit himself to that sort of scrutiny. He should tear Wymack's contract into a thousand pieces and leave.
Leaving meant living, but Neil's way of living was survival, nothing more. It was new names and new places and never looking back. It was packing up and going as soon as he started to feel settled. This last year, without his mother at his side, it meant being completely alone and adrift. He didn't know if he was ready for that.
He didn't know if he was ready to give up Exy again, either. It was the only thing that made him feel real. Wymack's contract was permission to keep playing and a chance to pretend at being normal a little while longer. Wymack said it was for five years, but Neil didn't have to stay that long. He could duck and run whenever he pleased, couldn't he?
He looked at Kevin again. Kevin didn't recognize him, but maybe some part of him remembered the boy he'd met so many years ago. Neil's past was locked in Kevin's memories. It was proof he existed, same as this game they both played. Kevin was proof Neil was real. Maybe Kevin was also the best chance Neil had at knowing when to leave again. If he lived, practiced, and played with Kevin, he'd know when Kevin started to get suspicious. The second Kevin started asking questions or looking at him funny, Neil would split.
Well?
Wymack asked.
Survival instincts warred with need and twisted into an almost debilitating panic. I have to talk to my mother,
Neil said, because he didn't know what else to say.
What for?
Wymack asked. You're legal, aren't you? Your file says you're nineteen.
Neil was eighteen, but he wasn't going to contradict what his forged paperwork said. I still need to ask.
She'll be happy for you.
Maybe,
Neil agreed quietly, knowing it was a lie. If his mother knew he was even considering this, she'd be furious. It was probably a good thing she'd never know, but Neil didn't think good
was supposed to feel like a knife in his chest. I'll talk to her tonight.
We can give you a lift home.
I'm fine.
Wymack looked at his Foxes. Go wait in the car.
Kevin gathered his files and slid off his perch. Andrew waited for Kevin to catch up and led him out of the locker room. Wymack waited until they were gone, then turned a serious look on Neil.
You need one of us to talk to your parents?
I'm fine,
Neil said again.
Wymack didn't even try for subtlety with his next question. Are they the ones who hurt you?
Neil stared at him at a complete loss. It was blunt enough to be rude on so many levels that there wasn't a good place to start answering it. Wymack seemed to realize that, because he pushed on before Neil could respond.
"Let's try that again. The reason I'm asking is because Coach Hernandez guesses you spend several nights a week here. He thinks there's something going on since you won't change out with the others or let anyone meet your parents. That's why he nominated you to me; he thinks you fit the line. You know what that means, right? You know the people I look for.
I don't know if he's right,
he said, "but something tells