Page 101 of Oh, Flutz!

“They didn’t think you’d come back from your back sprain, did they? But you did. They didn’t think you’d come back from being kicked out, and now you’re a Prix medalist, perhaps soon to make it onto the Olympic team.”

“I guess I am.”

Irina looks at me in a way I can’t decipher. Almost…sad. “I’m happy for you, Katya. Really. It’s a good thing that this happened. I know it may not seem like it, but it is.”

“What do you mean?” I ask uncertainly, brows creasing. “How?”

“You know what happened to me, don’t you?”

Everybody does.“I was there,” is what I say quietly, and she laughs softly.

“That’s right. You were.” Irina pushes her hair back, biting her lip. “I was like you once. I believed that my team had my best interests at heart, so I listened to them. I tried to impress them. I pushed through injuries and pretended like everything was fine when it wasn’t. Because winning, proving that Ideservedto win, meant more to me than my health did. I ignored all the signs. And I suffered for it.”

I try to swallow, but I can’t. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you need to be careful. When you get on that plane and go back to America, don’t look back. Don’t believe that you’d be better off here, at your old camp. You’re not. Do you hear me?”

“But I—"

“Katya.” Irina grasps my wrist, forcing me to look at her, her eyes almost manic. “Listen to me. Whatever they tell you, promise me you’ll keep your eyes open. You can’t trust anything they say. They’ll turn around and stab you in the back the second you’re not looking.”

What the hell?“I know,” I say, trying to keep the confusion from my voice. “Believe me. Only an idiot would trust thefederatsiyaafter everything. And I’m not even in the same division anymore.”

“I’m not just talking about them, Katya.” Something strange flashes across her face again before she blinks, as if catching herself. She sits back, clearing her throat, looking away from me. “Just—keep your eyes open.”

Wait a minute.“Hold on. Are you talking about Tatyana?” I scoff. “Wow. They got to you too? I wouldn’t have thought that Sokolovskaya would give in to the jealous gossips that easily. I thought you had more backbone than that.”

She shakes her head. “When something happens, remember this. Remember that I warned you.”

Is she high? I shake my own head. “It’s not like they’re ever taking me back.”

She eyes me. “Keep it that way.”

“Ms. Andreyeva, you're reallya great chef,” Bryan says through a mouthful ofsolyankaat the dinner table, after we’ve spent the day freezing to death exploring the Christmas market.

“Don’t say that, she may kidnap you and keep you here,” Dedushka says wryly, earning a chiding slap to the shoulder from my mother.

“Well, Bryan,mal’chik, it’s nice to know that someone appreciates my cooking around here,” Mama says with a smile. “These two like to complain, but I don’t see either of them in the kitchen.”

“That’s because I’m allergic to gas stoves,” Dedushka grumbles.

I meet Bryan’s eyes, both of us trying not to laugh, and he not-so-subtly has to leave the room to go control himself so he doesn’t choke on his soup.

Just then, a knock sounds on the front door.

“I’ll get it,” my grandfather grouses, attempting to get up from his chair, but my mother ignores him, beating him to it.

“Katya, it's for you again,” Mama calls, and I look up from my plate just in time to watch Mikhail walk in.

“Hello, everyone,” he says, offering a slight smile.“Kak dyela?”

“You’re late for dinner,” I say pointedly.

Mikhail grins smugly. “Is it my fault I’m in such demand?”

I subtly flip him off so my mother doesn’t see, and the dark-haired man at the receiving end just laughs.

“Come on, I have to talk to you first.”

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