The First Whistle

But street vendors understood traffic. Outside the stadium, they sold two kinds of Mason merchandise. One mocked the Broken Prince. The other was simpler: PROVE THEM WRONG. In the hotel meeting room, Hayes announced the starting lineup. Goalkeeper. Defenders. Midfielders. Striker: Ethan Miller. Mason sat in his chair without changing expression. Lucas glanced over and lowered his voice. "You good?" "I'm on the roster." "You're not starting." "Only people on the roster get to wait for the eighty-fifth minute." Lucas stared at him and could not quite smile. At eight that night, the match kicked off. The sound inside Metropolitan Stadium seemed to rise from under the earth.