Phoenix: The Rising (29 page)

An hour later, the police deposited Eli back at his front door. Eli was correct in his assumption about the video. Their surveillance cameras caught him stuffing the envelope with the evidence into the water department slot. What it didn’t catch was that he actually deposited two envelopes at one time, and one of them was the Sullivan’s water bill with his fingerprints all over it. The evidence envelope, on the other hand, was spotless. They could never trace it back to him. In the end, they had no reason to hold him. He looked at the time on his cell phone. If they had identified him ten minutes later, he and the girls would have been safely on their way to White Mountain Lodge. Now he had to catch up to them on his motorcycle. Thank God the sun had already set. If Penemue were on the road during the daylight hours, there would be no way he wouldn’t recognize him.

Eli slid his cell open and hit 1 on speed dial. Julie answered on the third ring.

“Eli? Is ev—thing –ay?” Her voice crackled. They had to be in the mountains. Cell reception was notoriously horrible near
Yosemite
. This was one thing he hadn’t thought about.

“Yes. I’m on my way.”

“Eli? Are you there?”

“I’m on my way.” Eli yelled into the phone.

Silence.

They were in the dead zone.

****

“Was that Eli?” Lucy looked over to Julie who had spent most of the trip sleeping. She looked like shit.
Good. The weaker, the better.
It would only make her job easier.

“The display said it was, but I couldn’t hear a thing. The reception up here is terrible. I lost service after just a few seconds.”

Lucy held back a smile and pulled into the packed parking lot of White Mountain Lodge. “Oh, well. I’m sure he’s just fine and on his way here. I’ll go check us in.”

She hopped out of the cab and ran into the lodge, bypassing the front desk, then made her way to the women’s room.
Five minutes
. Five minutes would be long enough to trick Julie into thinking that she attempted to check in.

It was a stroke of luck that Eli was detained by the police. His absence made it much easier for her to make a second reservation at another motel, one so out of the way that there would be no way Eli would be able to find them. In fact, Eli had actually spurred that idea when he told her to reserve two rooms. Two rooms morphed into two reservations. Of course, Eli didn’t know that. All it took was a pit stop at a rest area while Julie slept to get that accomplished.

Lucy couldn’t wait to see the look on Eli’s face when she showed up at
Mono
Lake
without his
girlfriend
in tow.
Julie wasn’t feeling well and so I left her at the other motel
. Why did she go to the other motel?
Because I thought I saw Kas’s pickup at the
White Mountain
Lodge. I tried to call you, but we didn’t have service.
The answer would be simple enough. She’d make sure she left out the part about Julie being comatose from a drug overdose. Then, she’d explain that she was the Fire-Child, and that she needed his help. He was blood. He would understand. She hoped. Of course, Kas would show up, and she had already planted the idea that he was a Nephilim into Eli’s head. All she had to do was kill him, and Simon’s little pistol would take care of that. Then, she’d claim her birthright and live out her new life with Eli by her side. With any luck, Julie would be dead from the overdose by the time Eli went to check on her. Death was one of the little perks of being fully human.

Lucy stopped at the courtesy counter and poured a large coffee to go without bothering to put a lid on it, then made her way back to the pickup without spilling a drop. She sat back in the cab, put the coffee in the cup holder, then slammed the door, startling the sleeping Fire-Child into a sitting position.

“Oops. Sorry.”

Julie yawned. “Did you get the keys?”

“Well... ” Lucy pursed her lips to the side. This was going to be so much fun! “We don’t exactly have a room. Here, anyways.”

“What?” Julie’s eyes grew wide with concern. Lucy wished she could snap a picture.

“Seems they overbooked, but they said there’s another lodge just a few miles away that is never very full. Of course, it’s a bit more ... rustic, I guess is the word I’m looking for. They apologized, and called the other place for us.” Damn, she was good! She should have been an actress! “I’ll just call Eli and let him know.”

Lucy flipped her phone open and scowled. “Crap. I’m just about out of juice and I forgot my car charger. I’ll try yours.” Julie’s phone teetered precariously on the dashboard, just above the steaming cup of coffee. Lucy grabbed for it and slid it towards the edge of the dash. A simple release of her fingers sent the phone plopping into the coffee.

“Ah, son-of-a-bitch!”

Lucy caught Julie’s hand just as her fingers brushed the top of the coffee in a foolish attempt to save her phone.

“Are you crazy? You’ll scald the shit out of your hand!”  Lucy grabbed the cup and poured it slowly out the window, letting the phone simmer as long as possible in the nasty stuff, and retrieving it once the coffee was low enough. A stream of coffee ran out of the phone, then slowed to a drip.

“I am so freaking sorry!” She almost laughed as Julie held an exasperated hand to her forehead. Instead, she stayed in character. “I’ll buy you a new one. I promise.”

Julie snatched the phone out of Lucy’s hand and attempted to use it. “Nothing. It’s toast.” She turned to Lucy. Her eyes looked tired. Dead tired. This was like the proverbial nail in the coffin for the Fire-Child. Lucy wanted to raise her arms in victory. “Now how are we going to let Eli know what’s happening?”

Lucy looked toward the ceiling as if she were coming up with some brilliant plan. “Well, we could wait until we get to the other lodge, and I could plug my phone in there and attempt to call him, or I could run in and leave a message at the desk here, for when he tries to check in.”

Julie nodded. “I vote for both. Just in case the service is bad at the next place.”

Lucy smiled and hopped out of the truck once again. This time, instead of heading for the restroom, she walked around the perimeter of the indoor swimming pool, then trotted back out to the pickup. Julie was attempting to dry the battery of her cell phone with a tissue as Lucy slid in. “All taken care of. They said they’d even give him directions.”

Julie popped the battery back in and pushed the power button. Nothing. Lucy sighed in relief and raised her eyebrows. “I really am sorry, Julie. Maybe it’ll dry out by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Julie whispered as she stuffed the dead phone in her pocket, “will be too late.”

You’re right
, Lucy thought as she backed out of the parking space.
T
omorrow will be too late. For you, anyways
.

****

“What do you mean, they didn’t check in?” Eli felt the twitch in his jaw go out of control. Something wasn’t right. “Check again. Lucy Temeluch. Lucy Temeluch-Sullivan. Julie Mason. You don’t have record of any of those names at all?”

The petite Paiute woman behind the counter shook her head as she scanned the computer. “No. I’m afraid not. Would you like to go ahead and check in?”

Eli didn’t stick around long enough to respond. Instead, he flew out the door. He knew something was wrong the moment he pulled into the parking lot. Simon’s pickup was nowhere to be found. Either they didn’t make it here, or something scared them off. He stood by his motorcycle and slid his phone open again, first trying Julie’s number and then Lucy’s. Julie’s went directly to voicemail, and Lucy’s rang several times before voicemail kicked in. At least he had service. Eli rotated his head on his stiff neck. One measly hour on his cycle felt like sixteen. Every muscle in his body ached. Eli climbed back onto his cycle. All he could do now was start checking the motels in the area, which was going to be practically impossible in the dark. And keep calling.

****

Three hours later, Eli pulled off to the side of I-395, just West of Mono Lake, and rested his head on his handlebars, defeated. He’d probably left a dozen messages on Lucy’s phone, but she just wasn’t answering. He could have kicked himself for sending them on ahead and separating from them. There were too many motels, too many side roads with obscure mom and pop operations to investigate, and now he was too weak to go on.

He had no idea it would be like this. This must be how Julie felt when she was undergoing chemotherapy. His only chance of connecting with them was to proceed to their rendezvous point at the North end of
Mono
Lake
. He also knew that Kas might also be lying in wait for them, but that was a chance he’d have to take. He couldn’t let them face him alone.

A quarter mile from the North entrance to
Mono
Lake
, Eli ditched his bike behind a stand of Pinons. He’d make the rest of the trip on foot, just in case Kas was watching for them. The tips of his boots dragged in the dry earth as he forced himself along, staying well off the road. Twenty minutes later he stood on the bank of
Mono
Lake
and scanned the horizon, looking for any signs of Julie, Lucy, or Kas. Nothing. He pulled his cell from his pocket and dropped to his knees in relief when he saw that he’d missed a text message from Lucy.
Sorry. Saw Kas’s truck at the lodge. Had to find a different place. Explain when I see you.
Negit
Island
. Five a.m.
Eli looked at the time of the text. She’d sent it when he was on the road to the lake. No wonder he hadn’t heard it or felt it in his pocket. Eli knew there was no turning back now. He was simply too weak. He typed out a quick message:
Already there. See both of you at 5.
Then, he hit
send.

****

The Great Moon hovered in the sky, reflecting off the still waters of
Eli’s
birthplace as he stepped onto the land bridge connecting the mainland to
Negit
Island
, the first of the two volcanic islands on
Mono
Lake
. As he waded, the water reached up and lapped at his neck. Eli lost track of time as he struggled across the land bridge, attempting to hold his cell phone in his mouth and out of the water. It was all in vain, though, when the earth under his feet suddenly disappeared and his head plunged beneath the water. He came up sputtering, his cell phone lost to the murky darkness surrounding him. At least he’d been able to send his message, and he prayed that Lucy received it.

Eventually, the water receded to waist level, and within moments, he was trudging across Negit, heading towards the far side of the small island.  Exhausted, Eli collapsed to the dry, warm soil and peered across the glassy waters at the pale shores of Paoha rising on the horizon a half-mile away. He was home.

Julie lay in deathly silence on the far side of the queen bed she was supposed to share with Lucy that night, but Lucy wouldn’t be touching that bed. In just a few hours it would be holding Julie Mason’s corpse. Julie squinted at Lucy, obviously trying to get her in focus. The drugs were doing their job.

“What time are we meeting him again?” Julie’s voice was already weak and raspy.

“Five o’clock. Now drink the rest of your hot chocolate and try to get some sleep. I’ll wake you when we have to leave.” Lucy rose from the chair she’d sat in for the last three hours while she kept a deathwatch on Julie, and pressed the cup to her lips until the bitch drained the last drop.
Her stomach seemed to leap up into her throat as she withdrew the empty cup, and an unexplainable feeling rushed through her. It almost felt like remorse. Guilt. That damned weak human side of her was rearing its ugly head once again! Lucy threw the empty cup across the room and flinched as it shattered against the wall.

“The bag. You need it
.” Lucy watched as Julie rolled to her side and pointed in her direction.
“
Eli said you have to—” Julie’s voice trailed off as she fell into unconsciousness. Finally.

Lucy
looked down at the backpack at her feet.
What the hell? Why would she mention my bag?
Then she saw it. The top of the medicine bag was sticking out of one of the zippered sections. Is that the bag she was talking about? Eli had been on her case about wearing it. Maybe Julie knew something she didn’t.

Lucy snagged the leather tether and carried the bag back to her chair, setting it on her lap. Julie moaned as Lucy loosened the cinching and let the pouch unfurl on her lap. She examined the contents once again. Still looked like turds and a feather, although she knew from Eli’s description that those “turds” were probably petrified pieces of umbilical cord. There had to be something in there that was more valuable. Lucy took a breath and poked a trembling finger at one of the dark colored remnants, then the room went black.

When Lucy opened her eyes, she was standing in front of a smoldering fire in the middle of a desolate landscape. She looked down and smoothed her trembling hands over the supple leather of the buckskin dress she was now wearing. At her feet lay a small, motionless bundle. A child. Her child. No. Not hers. Laylah’s. Dead! Her child ... Laylah’s child was dead! Her heart began to thrum as a whimper called her attention to the dying embers. Lying in the middle of the charred out area was a baby—a baby unlike any she had seen before. This one was moon pale. Hair the color of fire covered its head. The child turned its green eyes to her, smiled, and reached out.