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Brooks slugged Hondo in the arm. “Call me that again, and I’ll drop you from the top of a mountain.”
Brooks? An it girl? I wasn’t even sure what that was, but I guessed it meant she was part of the cool crowd. But that made no sense. I mean, cool girls don’t usually wear beat-up combat boots, basic black hoodies, and zero makeup. And they for sure didn’t talk to me.
18
We piled into Hondo’s black F150 truck. The thing was a beast on huge wheels. Hondo spent much of his free time waxing her to a shine, and most of his money tricking her out.
We were on the open highway a few minutes later. I let the window down and leaned out. The cool night air whipped through my hair. I’d put Ms. Cab’s pinkish eyeball (it looked like it once belonged to a giant rat) in a plastic sandwich bag and carefully stashed it in my backpack on account of not wanting it to pop like a grape in my pocket.
“Looks like we should take I-10 straight through Tucson and Phoenix,” Brooks said, studying a road map Hondo had picked up.
Hondo grinned and turned on some really bad punk rock that rattled my bones.
I’d never been out of New Mexico, so crossing the state line into Arizona felt like a get out of jail free card. The whole landscape changed from familiar yucca and mesquite to funny-shaped cactus with arms—Hondo called them saguaro. In the dark, the tall cactus looked like living things that could uproot themselves and chase after us. Okay, so I was paranoid. But who wouldn’t be after the day I’d had? Fighting off demon runners, swimming through darkness, cutting deals with the lord of the dead, talking to a very angry chicken, and saving a life. Bet that’s even more than you gods typically do in just a few hours.
It was already close to midnight and the exhaustion was settling in. My whole body felt like it had been battered with stones. Hondo must’ve seen me fighting sleep. “Go on,” he said. “Take a snooze.”
“I can stay awake,” I said. “Talk to you…”
“Nah, I’m used to being up all night. Go on,” he insisted, “catch some z’s.”
I looked over my shoulder at Brooks in the back cab. She was slumped against the door, fast asleep. Even though I’m terrified of becoming a soldier of death, I thought, I would still make the same deal to save her. A few minutes later I closed my eyes and fell into a foggy dream world.
I was in some kind of night jungle. The trees were made of aluminum and had sharp clawlike branches. A distant howl drew my attention toward a narrow dark path. Strange whispers bounced off the trees. A single bar of moonlight crept through the silvery branches, and that’s when I saw her. Standing on the path right in front of me.
“Rosie!”
I took off running. My legs were long and lean and fast. It was incredible, even better than flying in a dream. I could run like this forever. As soon as I reached her, I fell to my knees to wrap my arms around the old goof… but she turned to mist and disappeared.
The trees shimmered with a strange image.
There were dozens of her reflected in the shiny trees. I felt like I was in a house of mirrors trying to find the real Rosie.
I went over to one to get a closer look. The metal was cold and the dog in the reflection was black. I glanced at the next tree. This Rosie had yellow eyes, and the next one had long fur. I realized they were all bad imitations of my dog.
A wicked burst of wind blasted through the trees and the metal branches scraped against each other, making a screeching sound that sent chills down the backs of my legs. The full moon shifted color from bone white to blood-red. Rain pummeled the earth, instantly flooding the jungle. I found myself riding a giant wave toward a million lightning bolts violently striking the earth, setting fire to a vast desert landscape. A terrible burning started in my hands, and yellow and red sparks jumped from my fingertips. Just as I was about to be thrown into the flames, I heard Ms. Cab’s voice: “You left me as a chicken!”
I woke with a start, yelling, “FIRE!”
Hondo jumped in his seat, and the truck swerved. “What the heck, Zane? You scared the bejesus out of me!”
Brooks groaned and sat up sleepily. “Way to ruin a perfectly good dream.”
“Sorry, guys.” I rubbed my eyes, trying to shake off the vision that had felt so real. I swear I could still feel the heat of that fire in my fingertips. And if Ms. Cab was going to yell at me about being a chicken, I was going to toss that eyeball onto the highway. “Where are we?” I looked out at the darkness whizzing by.
“The desert,” Hondo said with a chuckle.
Brooks glanced out the window. She opened the road atlas, studied it, then looked out again. “Um…Hondo?”
“Yeah?”
“I think you missed the fork to I-10.”
Hondo craned his neck to see her in the rearview mirror. “You said to head straight.”
“On I-10.”
Hondo threw his head back and groaned. “I’ll turn around.”
