Page 30 of Phoenix Chosen 2

Kalistratos looks over his shoulder. “We must run faster!”

“Do I want to look?” I yell.

“Only if it’ll make you run faster!”

Jeff opens his door and gets out, gawking with his mouth hanging open.

“Don’t rubberneck!” I scream, waving my arms. “We gotta get outta here!”

Then my stupid legs decide to take a wrong step. I trip over my foot and manage to catch myself before falling flat on my face, but the little phoenix chicken figurine pops out of my pocket and rolls across the ground. I turn to grab it and see the shadow monsterskitteringtowards us like a fucking black tar centipede.

“Tyler!” Kalistratos shouts. “Leave it! Go!”

I can’t. I know it’s insane, but losing that figurine feels like losing a part of me. I can’t let it happen. I scoop it up and squeeze it to my chest. I feel it again—heat radiating from within it. Heat like the sun. Like phoenix fire.

The monster is on us. Its amorphous body compresses and reforms. It looks like a large man who’s just fallen into a thick tar pit. It advances, posturing to consume us.

No!I turn my back to it, shielding the figurine as I feel its heat spreading through my body. Then Kalistratos throws himself over me and pushes out his open palm. A jet of white flame erupts from his fingertips, engulfing the monster and setting the side of the nearby building ablaze. We sprint for Jeff’s car and dive into the backseat.

The storm clouds are clearing from the sky, and the sun shines brightly as if nothing happened. I look through the rear window as we drive away—flames crawl across the building as dark smoke billows from a torched hedge, but the monster is nowhere to be seen.

“Did you kill it?” I ask.

Kalistratos shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

“Christ, Tyler,” Jeff says from the front seat. “What kind of shit have you gotten yourself into? First the cops, then a damn alien blob monster?”

“Feels like I’ve been asking myself the same question every single day lately,” I say.

Kalistratos leans forward and claps Jeff on the shoulder. “You have my gratitude for that rescue.”

“Oh, sure, uh, no problem,” Jeff mutters. “So…am I taking you guys back to your place, or what?”

“No,” I say. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the cops are waiting for us there. Shit. A hotel would be way too risky, too.”

Where could we possibly go?

“Well…you could always come post up at my place,” says Jeff.

“Your place? No, no. We’ll figure something else out.”

“C’mon, Ty. Where else are you gonna stay? You know you don’t have any other reasonable options.”

“He’s right,” Kalistratos says. “It doesn’t seem as though your world has an abundance of empty caves for us to hide in.”

I give Kalistratos a look that says, “You’re supposed to be on my side, jerk.” But he’s not wrong. Neither of them are. It’s just fucking awkward.

Jeff’s apartment is a movie buff’s paradise. The walls are stuffed from floor to ceiling with shelves and shelves of Blu-rays, display cases with memorabilia, and framed posters. As soon as we go inside, he flips on the TV and unpauses the movie he had going on Netflix.The Clash of the Titansremake.

“What is this fresh madness?” Kalistratos asks, kneeling in front of the TV with his face close to the screen. “A window into another world?”

“That’s a TV, bro,” Jeff says. “You don’t have movies in your world?”

“No,” Kalistratos replies, engrossed in the action happening on screen. He jerks in surprise as a giant scorpion rises out of the sand and attacks the heroes.

“Oh, shit!” Jeff replies, turning to me. “So he’s never seen a movie before?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think this is the time for?—”

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