Lion (2 page)

Phoenix straightened. “Let’s head back to my house. I want my uncle Tí to see this.” Phoenix’s uncle was a doctor, and he’d been studying dragon bone.

“Forget that!” Jake said. “Let’s go to
my
house so that we can grab my camera. You’ll be a YouTube sensation!”

“No,” I said. “No video.”

Jake frowned. “Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

“What’s going on?” Jake asked.

“Nothing,” I replied. “It’s not a big deal.”

“What did your uncle do to you?”

“He didn’t do anything, Jake.”

“Seriously, bro. You go to live with your drug guru uncle for like six months, and when you come back you’re the most ripped kid on the planet. Now you’re healing like a mutant. What gives?”

I felt my face darken. “The only things my uncle ever gave me were vitamins and all-natural herbal supplements. I don’t know what’s going on with this cut, but my six-pack came from working out a
ton
. That’s all I did when I was with my uncle besides ride. It’s not like I had any friends. You guys stopped talking to me after my dad died, remember?”

“Come on, man,” Jake said. “Don’t be that way. You moved thousands of miles away from us.”

“You could have emailed or Skyped.”

“Uh—”

“Forget about it,” I said. “I understand why you guys might have thought I didn’t want to hang with you anymore. I’m over it, and I hope you are, too. Just don’t push me about this stuff, all right? It really bugs me.”

“Sure,” Jake said. He made a fist and raised his knuckles toward me. “Bros?”

I made a fist, bumping it with Jake’s. “Bros,” I said. “And for the record, I’m glad we’re all friends again, including Hú Dié.”

Hú Dié smiled. “Me too.”

Phoenix raised a fist and we bumped, but he didn’t say a word.

I wrung out most of the mud from my shirt; then I pressed it against my side while Phoenix grabbed my bike, and the four of us trudged up the slippery slope.

We reached the
trailhead of Town Run Trail Park to find the parking lot completely submerged. Hú Dié and Jake pushed their bikes through the ankle-deep quagmire while I waded behind them, still pressing my shirt against my side. Phoenix pushed his bike with one hand and carried my battered bike over his shoulder.

There was a crew-cab pickup truck idling off to one side of the parking lot. A man wearing a dripping-wet poncho climbed out of the driver’s seat. He waved.

Hú Dié removed a slender tire pump from her bike frame. She gripped it like a club.

“Relax,” I said to her. “It’s Smitty. He’s the trail supervisor. He’s cool.”

“Oh,” Hú Dié said, but she didn’t put the pump back.

“Phoenix!” Smitty called out. “Ryan! Jake! How goes it?”

“Slow and wet, Smitty,” Phoenix replied. “Ryan took a spill.”

Smitty sloshed over to us. “Are you okay, big man? Let me see.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Really.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Show me the damage.”

I reluctantly pulled my shirt away and was shocked to see that most of my cuts were now basically just scratches. The deep wound was little more than a scab.

Smitty laughed. “Seriously, Ryan? If you wanted to take off your shirt to impress the young lady, you could have come up with a better excuse than those scuff marks.”

Hú Dié smiled, and I shook out my shirt. As I put it back on, the rain slowed to a drizzle.

Smitty turned to Hú Dié. “Hi. My name is Scott Smith, but everybody calls me Smitty.”

“Pleased to meet you, Smitty,” she said. “My name is Hú Dié.”

“Hoo-DEE-ay?” Smitty asked.

“Yes,” Hú Dié said, sounding surprised. “You pronounced it perfectly.”

“Thanks. I studied some Chinese in college. Does your name mean
Metal Butterfly
?”

“Close,” she said. “It means
Iron
Butterfly.”

“Great name. Appropriate, too. You’re the girl who trounced all the fourteen-year-old guys at last Saturday’s mountain bike race, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Trounced?” Jake said. “She didn’t finish
that
far ahead of me.”

Smitty laughed again. “You got beat by a girl, Jake. Ten yards or ten miles, it really doesn’t matter.”

Jake stuck his lip out.

“So, how’s the trail?” Smitty asked.

“Not good,” Phoenix answered. “We tore up the last hill pretty bad, and the rest of the trail is washing out quickly, too.”

“I figured it must be bad when I saw you carrying Ryan’s bike. Have you guys seen the weather forecast?”

All four of us shook our heads.

“It’s supposed to rain like this for the next few days,” Smitty said. “Most of the other supervisors around here have closed their trails. I’m going to close this one, too.”

“When will it reopen?” Hú Dié asked.

“Hard to say. The White River bordering us is bound to overflow its banks. It always does. Once it stops raining and the water recedes, it will take about a week for the trail to dry out. Then it will take another few weeks of evenings and weekends for our volunteers to repair whatever damage the river and rain cause. Trails are a lot of work.”

“So it might be an entire
month
before anyone can ride here again?” Hú Dié asked.

“It might,” Smitty said. “Some of the other trails in the area could take longer. They have fewer volunteers than we do.”

Hú Dié glanced at me. I needed to sweat, and she knew it. Mountain biking was going to help break my bond with dragon bone.

“What about the summer mountain bike racing series?” Phoenix asked.

“It’s not looking good,” Smitty said. “There’s a phone conference about it tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we canceled it.”

“Oh, no,” Hú Dié said. “We were hoping to ride our mountain bikes a lot over the rest of summer vacation. I actually just built this one yesterday from some of Phoenix’s old parts. I only have a limited amount of time before I have to go back home to China.”

“I’m sorry,” Smitty said. “It might not be so bad for you, though, Hú Dié. The first race of the season didn’t count because Ryan was the only one to finish. We’ve only had one other race since, and you won it. You might just end up being our series grand champion.”

“I do not care about that,” Hú Dié said. “I just want to be able to ride.”

“If the four of you scrounge up some rakes and shovels, you can join the trail maintenance team,” Smitty offered. “The more help we have, the sooner we’ll all get to ride.”

“Great,” Phoenix said. “Keep us posted. Thanks, Smitty.”

“No problem. I’m going to lock the gate now. How are you all getting home?”

“We were going to ride,” Phoenix said, glancing at my ruined bike, “but we can walk. The rain has almost stopped, and my house is only a couple miles from here.”

“How about a lift?” Smitty said. “I’ve got room for your bikes in my truck bed, and we can all pile into the cab. My pickup has two rows of seats.”

“Thanks for the offer,” I said, “but we’re soaking wet and muddy.”

“So am I,” Smitty said. “Besides, the inside of my truck is dirtier than you all. Let’s go.”

Jake asked to be dropped off at his house instead of going to Phoenix’s. He didn’t have a change of clothes, but my mom had dropped off a set for me at Phoenix’s house while we were riding. I’d planned to spend the whole day with Phoenix and Hú Dié, and I was secretly glad that Jake wouldn’t be hanging out with us because it meant that Phoenix, Hú Dié, and I could talk openly about dragon bone with Phoenix’s grandfather and his uncle Tí.

After dropping off Jake, Phoenix navigated Smitty down a few side streets until we were on a road that was surprisingly rural for being in the middle of a city. I only saw three gravel driveways, and Phoenix told us where to turn. The drive was long and winding, with trees lining it the whole way. You couldn’t even see the house from the road. It was cool. I’d never been there before.

The driveway led to a small house that wasn’t even a quarter the size of mine. Phoenix’s grandfather’s old Ford Ranger pickup was parked in front. Beside the truck was a car I didn’t recognize.

“Looks like my uncle Tí is still here,” Phoenix said.

Smitty parked beside the Ranger and we climbed out. We unloaded the bikes and thanked Smitty for the ride.

“My pleasure,” Smitty said. “Chauffeuring you guys around reminded me how much I need to clean out my truck.”

“No worries,” Phoenix said. “Thanks for the lift.”

“See you at the trail clean-ups?” Smitty asked.

“I hope so,” Phoenix said.

We waved, and Smitty drove off.

“Let’s put the bikes on the back porch,” Phoenix said.

Hú Dié and I followed him around to the rear of the
house. The rain had lessened a lot, and I could hear the White River rushing nearby beyond a wall of trees.

“This place is awesome,” I said.

“Thanks,” Phoenix said. “We have several acres. The house is kind of small, though.”

“It is not,” Hú Dié argued. “It is much bigger than most apartments in China, including ours. I just love all these trees and the river. It is perfect.” She turned to me. “Maybe now you understand why I chose to stay here, although I appreciate your mother’s offer to let me stay with you until my travel visa expires.”

“I totally get it,” I said. “Have you always lived here, Phoenix?”

“Yes. My parents bought this place before I was born. I’m glad Grandfather chose to stay here after that stupid car wreck.”

“It is so great that your grandfather moved from China to take care of you,” Hú Dié said.

“Yeah,” Phoenix said. “Grandfather can be grumpy sometimes, but he’s still the best.”

We reached the long rear porch, and the back door opened. A middle-aged Chinese man poked his head out.

“Hi, Uncle Tí!” I said. Phoenix’s uncle had been helping me with my dragon bone dependency, and I’d spent so much time with him lately that I also called him Uncle. So did Hú Dié.

“Hello, Uncle Tí,” Hú Dié said.

“The gang’s all here!” Uncle Tí said. “Come on in. I’m making fish head soup. Lots of collagen. Good for your joints.”

I cringed.

We took off our muddy shoes and wet socks, and Uncle Tí tossed us some towels. We wiped off as best we could and went inside.

We were in the kitchen, where a large pot simmered on the stovetop. It smelled
good
. However, I couldn’t bring myself to peer inside the pot like Phoenix and Hú Dié were doing.

“Have a seat,” Uncle Tí said. “Lunch will be ready in about half an hour. I’ll try to wake Grandfather now. He’s due to get up, anyway.”

Phoenix looked at me. “
Grandfather
is a Chinese term of endearment. My grandfather is actually Uncle Tí’s father.”

Uncle Tí nodded.

“Sure,” I said, not believing a word.

I’d heard from
my
uncle that Phoenix’s “grandfather” was actually more like his great-great-great-great-grandfather. Supposedly, he was close to four hundred years old. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t taken dragon bone. That stuff defied description. In my case, it gave me extra strength and stamina when I took large amounts of it, and now it seemed that it also healed wounds incredibly fast. My uncle claimed that a person could take it for a short time without any complications, but if someone took it for a long time, other factors would kick in. Mainly, the dragon bone would extend a person’s life indefinitely, like it apparently had with Phoenix’s grandfather. However, if the person ever stopped taking it, he would die.

Some guys had stolen Phoenix’s grandfather’s supply of dragon bone, and he would have died if Phoenix hadn’t
gotten it back. I’d heard that Phoenix’s grandfather was still in pretty bad shape, trying to recover from having been without it.

Uncle Tí returned, leading Phoenix’s grandfather by the arm, and I had a hard time looking at the old man. He was very tall and slender, and he normally stood ramrod straight. Now he hobbled forward, hunched over and shaky. His skin was gray and flaking, like a shedding reptile, and his previously long, thick hair had thinned. It hung in limp strands around his neck and shoulders. He glanced over at me, and I saw that at least his eyes were still clear and bright.