Page 18 of Phoenix Chosen 3

Airos raises a skeptical eyebrow. “You can’t be serious. Need I remind you that Aelonos is known for its dark market activity?”

“I know the town well. Alyx and I kept a hideout in the hills just outside of it, and if he traveled through the region, I’m certain he would’ve gone there. It might give us some idea of where he is now. At the very least, there should still be a cache of supplies there.” I search for the phrase Tyler taught me. “Uh, a little bit of kolumay, a little bit of kolomee.”

“Column A and column B,” Tyler corrects.

“You have a better idea, Airos?” I say.

“We go east for Delphos, and take a sailing ship around the coast, following it south, then west. There are friends of my order who can arrange this for us.”

I snort in disbelief. “What? That’s like scaling a wall when there’s a perfectly good door right in front of you. It’d add days—no, weeks—to our journey.”

“Better to scale a wall than use a door that’s watched and guarded,” he retorts, throwing the tail of his cloak over his shoulder dismissively.

“And we could miss Alyx going that way!” I exclaim.

“Hey, come on, guys,” Tyler says, waving his hands. “We don’t need to argue about this…”

“What would you choose, Tyler?” Airos asks. “You’re the third vote in this group, it’s your choice.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. That’s way too much pressure. This isn’t like choosing between Coke and Pepsi here. I don’t know shit about either of these choices.”

“Coke,” I say firmly.

Airos stares at me, arms folded over his chest. “This is a dilemma. How do we stand a chance at succeeding in our mission when we can’t even agree on how to begin it?”

“Well, the first thing to realize is that we’re all in this together,” Tyler says calmly. “And we’re all still getting to know each other. Even you and me.” He puts his hand on mine. “Fated, Chosen, whatever, there’s still no getting around that.”

It’s certainly a reminder of how well Alyx and I know each other’s minds. We’re brothers.

“I know! There’s a thing we do where I’m from to help settle disputes,” Tyler says, and he holds out his hand. “This is paper. This is rock, and this is scissors. Paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper. Both of you, put your hands out like this. Then go, ‘rock, paper, scissors, shoot!’ Get it?”

Airos and I look at each other, then at Tyler.

“Why does paper beat a rock?” Airos asks.

“Come on, I thought you were smart,” I say. “Think about it. Paper is made from plants. Plants grow through rocks and crack them into pebbles.”

“Pebbles are still rocks,” Airos says.

Tyler almost laughs. “I think it’s just because a paper can wrap around a rock.” He places his hand over my fist.

“Well, that’s stupid,” I mutter.

“Let’s do it.” Airos sticks out his fist. “And no freezing time. I’ll know.”

“Obviously.”

We slap our fists into our palms.

What would Airos play? My first thought is rock, simply because of his phoenix powers. But I’m certain he’s aware that I’m thinking he would play rock, which means he might play scissors. Or would he take it one step further?

It all depends on how much credit he gives me. Does he think I’m a complete idiot, or does he think I would try and read into his strategy?

“Rock… paper… scissors…”

I realize it doesn’t matter. Both of them lead to the same place. I have to play with my intuition.

“SHOOT.”

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