Phoenix

“Wake up,” Jewel said. I pulled my cheek from her head and realized with a shock of horror that I drooled in her hair. I was trying to think of a way to wipe the drool away, but she didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes were fixed on the view out the bus’s window. I followed her gaze.

Beyond the glass, the world turned from rolling desert with sage brush to red-streaked sand and rocks with vibrant green cedars poking up everywhere.

“Where are we?” Pete asked, leaning over us. His seat was a few rows away, but he stood in the aisle. Dark circles hung under his blue eyes, standing out against his sickly pale skin as he stared out at the scenery.

This place wasn’t exactly what I’d seen in the vision, but it was so close it took my breath away. We were close now. I could feel it.

“We’re coming up on St. George,” Jewel said. “We should probably get our things.” She started packing things into the bag she carried. I absently tried to help, but I was too distracted by the city lights that seemed to appear out of nowhere, set against the towering black bluffs. There was a big white building in the center of the city that seemed to glow, ornate and simple at the same time. For some reason, it seemed special, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

The bus took Exit 6 for Bluff Street and I saw a McDonalds. It seemed like that’s where we were going.

“Fantastic,” Pete said. “I’m starving!”

Jewel rolled her eyes, but she smiled too.

The bus rolled to a stop and we shuffled out with the other passengers. It struck me then how crazy this all was. Here we were, three kids in the middle of a city we’d never been to, not knowing where we were going or where we were going to stay or if anything would work out.

Why the hell did I think this was a good idea?

We tried to go into the McDonalds but it was closed.

Luckily, there was a Denny’s just across the street. We went through the door and there was a little stand full of brochures. Jewel stopped to look at them and Pete and I went to the podium to see the hostess, but she wasn’t there. It was late and they probably weren’t expecting anybody. Pete and I stood there dumbly for a minute until Jewel came in with a couple brochures and rang the little bell.

A tired-looking woman in a red shirt with an apron tied over her black pants came up to the podium and, taking a look at our little group, grabbed three menus.

“Right this way,” she said, walking away from us.

“Hold on a second,” Jewel said to us. A greasy-haired busboy looked up from his slow wiping of a table to eye Jewel up and down, rudely. I wanted to punch his face. But I didn’t.

“What?” Pete said.

“Order light,” Jewel said. “We are almost out of money.”

“Fine,” Pete said, but I could tell he was a little pissed. Being hungry and tired didn’t sit well with him.

The hostess seated us in a little booth and we slide in as we take the menus.

“The St. George Express,” Jewel said.

“What?” I said, flipping open the menu. I was hungry. Everything looked so good.

“That’s how we’re going to get to Zion National Park,” she said. “It’s farther from here than I thought, but this service goes right to it.”

“I miss your car already,” Pete said flipping through the menu.

“Me too,” Jewel said giving him a level look that he didn’t see.

“So that will get us there?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, “But we’ll have to walk to the pickup place.”

“Where’s that?” I ask.

“Best Value Inn,” she said. “It’s just down the road.”

“That seems really convenient,” I said.

“Well,” she said, “it’s not that convenient. The earliest shuttle leaves at 12:40.”

“AM?” Pete asked hopefully.

“PM,” Jewel said.

“We’ve got twelve hours to kill,” I said.

“Can we go check into the hotel?” Pete asked. The black circles under his blue eyes now seemed to drain his face of all other color, and I started to feel really guilty about making him sleep on the floor at the last motel.

Jewel shook her head.

“We don’t have enough money,” Jewel said.

“So what do we do?” I asked. “Hang out at Denny’s until they kick us out?”

“Yeah,” Jewel said.

“But we can get food, right?” Pete asked. “I really am starving.”

“Why don’t you guys order and I’ll go make reservations on the shuttle?” Jewel said. Pete looked at me and shrugged. Anything to get food. Now.

“It’s just after midnight,” I said. Jewel turned around to look at me. “I’m pretty sure they’re not open.”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling sadly. Her shoulders slumped forward. “Probably not. I’m so tired, I can’t think straight.”

“I’m tired too,” I said. I leaned back and closed my eyes.

Startling cold popped my eyes right back open. I was in Eloria again, but I wasn’t running any more. I could barely walk, but I kept trudging forward toward the Pillars looming on the horizon. Lexia walked slumped forward in the pale light.

The shadow image of Lexia’s face screaming in a wall of flames danced across my mind. It was the last thing I remembered from the night I burned my hands on the night she died.

I shook my head. She’s not dead, I told myself. None of that was real. But I realized I was losing her again.

“Do...you need...to stop?” I asked. I had already stopped, resting my hands on my thighs and bending forward.

“Yes,” Lexia said. “I need to stop this morning, just as I needed to stop last night, just as I needed to stop yesterday afternoon. But what I need more than that is to find Light and free this land from the cursed Darkness. I need that more than I need life itself.” She walked on.

I clenched my teeth and straightened to follow her.

My feet shuffled ever onward, ignoring my body’s screaming protests to stop. There was more light in the sky now than there had been in days. That had to mean something. That had to mean we were winning. Even though we didn’t seem to be any closer to Light than we were at the beginning of the journey. There was light to fight the Darkness.

I could almost see my feet.

Lexia broke into a shambling run down into a chasm in the shadow of the Pillars. I followed her in the space of a heartbeat. I didn’t have to think about it. I ran, headless of the slippery red rock and the perils on the trail. If I had fallen into the chasm beside the trail, I’m not sure how much I would have cared. I ran. My body screamed in protest.

And I told it to shut up.

I don’t know how I kept going. I had no feeling in my feet or my hands. But I kept running, following behind Lexia.

“Whoa, NIx,” Pete said, his voice dragging me back to Utah. “You okay?”

His hand held my shoulder, steadying me in the booth.

“Yeah,” I said, but really, I wanted to puke.

We sat in silence for a while. Jewel colored the kids menu she’d asked for. Pete stared with hooded eyes, blinking every now and then and giving himself a shake as though he would fall asleep sitting up.

“What are you drinking?” the waitress asked. I hadn’t even noticed her standing beside the table.

“We all want water,” Jewel said. “And I think we’re ready to order.” The waitress nodded, pulling out a pencil to write on her notepad. “I want a chocolate shake,” Jewel said without hesitation. “And, like, three scrambled eggs. And do you have any avocadoes?” The waitress nodded, raising her eyebrows as she mouthed the letters and wrote it down.

“That’s really strange,” I said. Jewel scowled at me from across the table.

“What?” she asked. “It’s super late and I’m out of my mind. It’s what I want.”

“What about you, sir?” the waitress asked me. I panicked a little bit. I wasn’t actually ready to order. I blurted out the first thing I can think of.

“Hamburger,” I said. “With sauerkraut and pickles and onions and everything you can think of. Except cheese. No cheese.”

“What was that about strange?” Pete asked.

“You?” she asks, tipping her notepad to Pete.

“I want a Grand Slam,” he said.

“Well,” the waitress said, smiling, “At least one of you eats normal food.”

“Is there such thing as normal food at one o’clock in the morning?” I ask.

“None of this is real,” the waitress said, looking at me with eyes that flashed silver. I sat up straighter, my eyes opening wide.

“Did you hear that?” I asked Pete when she’d gone. “Did you hear what she said?”

“That’ll be up in just a minute?” Pete said.

“No,” I said. “She said none of this is real.”

Pete’s brows drew down and his lips compressed into a line.

“Is that what you heard?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Great,” Pete said, throwing his hands in the air. “He really is crazy. We ran away with a crazy. We are in freaking Utah at one o’clock in the morning eating at Denny’s with a crazy person!”

There was a person in a booth a couple tables away and he looked up from his newspaper at Pete’s outburst.

“Shut up,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Boys,” Jewel sighed. “Let’s face it, we’re all crazy.”

“But, come on,” Pete said, ignoring both Jewel and me. “None of this is real? What a load of crap.” He reached around the table and slugged me in the arm.

“Ouch!” I said, grabbing my arm. “What the—“

“There,” he said. “See. It’s real. If it wasn’t real, that wouldn’t have hurt.”

“That’s dreams, dummy,” I said, glaring at him. “You aren’t supposed to feel pain in dreams,” I told him. “This isn’t a dream. It’s just not real.”

“If it’s not real,” Pete said, “and it’s not a dream, what does that make it?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “A different plane?”

“Like from Magic?” Pete asked. “Really? I can’t believe I trashed my SIM card for this!” Pete leaned forward and scrubbed his hands through his shaggy hair.

The waitress showed up then, carrying a tray on her shoulder. She handed out the food, but I couldn’t eat. I sat there watching Pete devour his Grand Slam and Jewel pick at her eggs.

“What about you?” I asked Jewel. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

“If you leave that hamburger there when we have no idea when we’ll eat again, that’s crazy,” she said, sipping her shake. I just stared at her. “But,” she said, reaching forward to put her hand on mine, “I don’t think you’re really crazy.” Her hand lingered there for a moment, cool against mine.

This plan of mine to chase the Scepter in this world and go to the place Lucius had shown me while he was dying was going to work. I would climb to the top of the mountain and find Light, somehow get it back to Eloria, and all of this craziness would end. I felt it in my bones. Like hope.

“Man,” Pete said, and Jewel pulled her hand back. We purposely didn’t look at each other and the air felt like electricity between us. Pete was oblivious. “I’m so hungry. I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.” He looked longingly at my hamburger and I pushed the rest over to him. He pulled the sauerkraut off and finished it in two bites.

“Still,” he breathed, “Hungry.” But there was no more food.

We asked for more water and ordered hot chocolate. At five o’clock, I ordered a piece of toast, but the waitress’s patience was wearing thin.

“Look guys,” she finally said, bracing her hand on an impatiently thrust-out hip. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you’ve been here for hours. I really need this table.” I looked around. We were the only table occupied now. Maybe what she really meant was she needed a break.

“Oh,” Jewel said, fiddling with a straw wrapper. “Sorry. Can you bring our check?”

The waitress rolled her eyes and walked away. She came back a little later with a slip of paper and Jewel handed her some cash.

“Let’s go,” Jewel said, sliding out of the booth.

We walked out of the Denny’s into the darkness. We still had six hours to kill before we could get on the shuttle and get to Zion’s park. I shimmied down into my coat, wishing it was my old Northface. It wasn’t cold here in the same way Washington was cold, but it was still cold.

“Okay,” Pete said, “Now what?”

“Now we wait,” Jewel said. We followed her over to the Best Value Inn and settled down on the curb to wait.

Red and blue lights brought me back to Utah. I held up my hand to shield my eyes against their glare. A policeman walked toward us, flashing his light in our eyes. I shrank back.

“What are you kids doing out here?” he asked. I couldn’t see his face behind the lights.

“Waiting for the shuttle,” Pete said. “To Zions.”

“Those don’t leave until the afternoon,” the policeman said. He held his light down from our eyes. “Why don’t you go back to your hotel?” he asked us.

“Outta money,” Jewel said, shrugging. “No hotel.”

“Well come on guys,” he said. “You can’t camp out on the curb all night.”

I looked up at him and shrugged.

“We don’t have anywhere else to go,” I said.

“Are you..” the cop asked. He looked from Jewel to me to Pete. “Are you running from something?”

“No,” I said. My voice sounded strange in my own ears. “We’re college students. You know, from UUV?” The officer cocked his head.

“You mean UVU?” he said.

“Yeah,” Pete said. “Don’t mind my friend. He’s a little tired.”

“How about some ID?” the officer asked.

“Uh,” I said. “We don’t have any.”

“None?” the officer said. I could tell he was beyond suspicious. He knew we were lying. The gig was up. “That’s a little hard to believe.”

“Are we being accused of a crime?” Jewel said.

“Have you committed a crime?” the officer asked.

We all shook our heads together.

“Well then,” he said. “How about some ID?”

“We don’t have any,” Pete said.

“Look,” the officer said. “It’s cold out here. You guys are obviously up to something. Why don’t you just get in the back of my car, I’ll take you to the station, and we can get it all straightened out. It would be a whole lot better than sitting out here on the curb.”

Jewel looked at Pete and Pete shrugged. I started to shake my head, but Jewel spoke.

“Okay,” she said, getting to her feet. “This sucks anyway.”

“What?” I said. “We can’t. We have to—“

“We have to go get in the cop’s car,” Pete said. He looked at me. He was trying to tell me something with his eyes, but I couldn’t figure out what. He too, got to his feet.

My stomach fell. We had come so far. I couldn’t believe they were giving up now.

Pete lurched forward, taking a swing at the officer. He was so surprised, he didn’t react. Like Dr. Banks, Pete felled the cop with one punch. The man fell to hands and knees, and stayed there, slowly shaking his head. Pete punched him again and he fell face first onto the sidewalk. Jewel grabbed his radio and the keys off the officer’s belt.

“Come on,” Jewel shouted, running for the car. She pulled open the passenger side door. “Guess what, Pete,” she said, tossing him the keys. “You can drive.”

“Sweet!” he said, sliding across the hood. Or, he tried to slide across the hood. He fell off halfway across.

I looked back over my shoulder as I pulled the back door open. The cop was completely still. The car lurched into motion and I had to throw myself into the seat. The door swung and then slammed shut as the back end fishtailed.

“You better be right about none of this being real,” Pete shouted at me, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. “’Cause if it’s real, I’m totally screwed! He fished in his pocket and pulled out his phone. Get us directions,” he told Jewel, tossing her the phone.

“No brains!” she yelled. “You destroyed the SIM card, remember?” I was flattened against the back seat as the car rocketed forward. We were on the freeway now, headed north. The car just kept going faster and faster.

We’re all gonna die.

“I can wing it,” Pete said, like it didn’t matter. “I mean, it’s a national park. How hard is it gonna be to find it?”