Jackal (6 page)

I groaned. “You sound just like my parents.”

“They are very intelligent people.”

“I know they are, but they don’t have to do all the traveling and training and stuff.”

“Give it some more thought, please,” Ryan’s mom said. “You’ll have your entire life to ride for fun. The window of opportunity for racing is very narrow. You need to jump through it while you can. You have a gift, Jake. Use it.”

“I hear you loud and clear, Mrs. Vanderhausen. Thank
you for the advice. I mean it. I know you’ve spent a lot of time in the bike racing world. If I decide to go, you’ll be the first to know besides my parents.”

“I appreciate that. Now go take a nap. Your body thinks it’s seven a.m. instead of ten because of the time change from California. By this evening, you’ll have run out of gas.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

“All right, then. Goodbye, Jake.”

“Goodbye.”

I hung up the phone. So much for hanging out with Ryan.

I dialed Phoenix’s home number.

It was busy.

I shook my head. Phoenix didn’t own a cell phone. Apparently, his landline didn’t have call waiting, either. It shouldn’t have surprised me. He and his grandfather didn’t have much money. Many of the kids at our school were rich, and a lot of them ripped on Phoenix behind his back for being poor. I wouldn’t call him poor, but he did wear his clothes a little longer than most people would, and the mountain bike he rode to school was pretty rough. I actually respected him for it, though. Phoenix rode the worst bike in every mountain bike race he ever entered, and unless he crashed, he always won.

I dialed his number again.

Still busy.

Not cool. I didn’t feel like waiting around anymore.

Phoenix only lived a mile or so from me. If I jumped on my bike, I could be at his front door in less than five
minutes. If I got there and he was too busy or asleep or something, I could just ride back home. Or maybe Hú Dié was awake and could hang out. She was staying with him.

I turned off the TV, grabbed my mountain bike helmet, and headed for the garage.

It took me only four minutes to reach the end of Phoenix’s street, but I paused before going any farther. I began to wonder if I was making a mistake. I knew where he lived, of course, but I’d never actually been to his house.

Phoenix’s grandfather was really weird about having people over. I used to think it was because he was ashamed that their house was old or a lot smaller than most people’s or something. I now understood that it was because he had dragon bone stashed away there. Ever since thieves broke into their house to steal it, though, Phoenix’s grandfather had changed his attitude and begun to let people who knew about dragon bone visit.

Even so, I hoped it wouldn’t be a big deal that I just showed up out of the blue. I took a deep breath and continued on.

Phoenix’s driveway was long and winding, a gravel path between dense trees. The trees opened to a wide, grassy area, and in the middle of the grass was a small, tidy house. I couldn’t see through the thick trees beyond the house, but I knew that the White River was back there. Our huge house was cool and all, but I’d switch houses with Phoenix in a second. It was sweet.

The garage door was closed, and Phoenix’s grandfather’s
old pickup truck was parked in front of it. Behind the pickup was another car that I was pretty sure belonged to Phoenix’s uncle Tí.

I coasted toward the house, thinking about how much fun I’d have doing tricks on a BMX bike in all this soft grass, when I heard someone shouting inside. It was Hú Dié. Phoenix sounded like he was trying to calm her down.

I eased closer to an open window, feeling like the sneaky jackal Hok had labeled me back in Chinatown.

“Why can you not do this for me?” Hú Dié asked.

“Because it’s not mine to give,” Phoenix replied.

“Oh, so you can take it, but you cannot give it?”

“I took it from my grandfather, so the only person I can give it to is him.”

“I will ask him, then.”

“No! He’ll kill me if he ever finds out that I took it.”

“That makes no sense. You plan to give it back to him anyway.”

“In ten years,” Phoenix said. “I’ll have figured out what to say to him by then.”

“I cannot believe this,” Hú Dié said. “What am I going to do?”

“What about Hok?”

“She said that she will consult with PawPaw in China about alternatives, but it will take time. There may not be much time left. That is why I have come to you.”

“I don’t know,” Phoenix said. “Even if I could help you, how would I do it? It’s not like I can travel that far without my grandfather or Uncle Tí coming along. I’m going to have to think about this.”

“Argh!” Hú Dié shouted. “Just forget it!”

I heard a door slam.

Five seconds later, she came tearing around the back of the house, riding a mountain bike while strapping on her helmet. She was nearly on top of me before she even realized that I was there. She skidded to a stop beside me and I saw that she was sobbing. Huge, sloppy tears poured down her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Hú Dié sniffled and blinked, trying to stem the flood. “It is my mother. She has taken a turn for the worse. I must return to China today. Phoenix’s uncle Tí is taking me to the airport in two hours.”

“Oh, no!” I said. “I’m so sorry!”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“Where are you going?”

“I … do not know. I need to get out of that house for the moment.”

“Why?”

“Phoenix. He can be impossible sometimes.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes,” she said, wiping her face. “Ride with me, Jake.”

I chased after
Hú Dié as she rocketed along Phoenix’s long, serpentine driveway at breakneck speed. She rode as if she were being chased by demons.

Maybe she was. I just hoped she could ride fast enough to escape them, at least for a little while.

The gravel drive was at least a quarter of a mile long, and she reached the end of it several bike lengths ahead of me. She kidded to a stop, and a cloud of dust rose around her, sticking to her now-sweaty face and bare arms. Tears still streamed from her eyes, leaving muddy trails across her cheeks. She was breathing hard, but the intensity of her effort seemed to already be helping her feel better. I was gasping for breath myself, wondering if I’d be able to survive many more sprints like that.

“Where … to?” I huffed.

“Town Run … Trail Park … I suppose,” she replied
between huffs and sniffles. “That is the only place … I know. I have only traveled there by car, though.”

“Your call,” I said. “It will take … thirty minutes to ride there and back if we hammer, plus another thirty to … do the whole trail loop at top speed.”

Hú Dié frowned. “I do not have an hour. Maybe I should just … go back to Phoenix’s house.”

“No,” I said. “I know a place. We’ll be back in half an hour. Forty-five minutes, tops. We’ll have the place to ourselves.”

Hú Dié half smiled. “That sounds perfect. I knew I could count on you, Jake. Thank you.”

“No problem. Follow me.”

The place I had in mind was an old gravel pit that was surrounded by trees. Nobody ever went back there. It was Phoenix’s secret getaway place, and he showed it to me last year. I felt okay taking Hú Dié there, though. Her being upset was Phoenix’s fault.

I pedaled hard to the end of Phoenix’s street, then turned and bombed along a wide asphalt pedestrian path. Hú Dié kept pace with me, riding next to me instead of in my slipstream like we’d trained to do on road bikes. Whether she did it because she wanted the company or because she wanted to suffer as much as possible, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I ran out of gears and reached my maximum possible speed, and she was still next to me, keeping pace.

The girl could
ride
.

“Turn … here,” I gasped, and I tapped my brakes. I cut my wheel onto a narrow deer run that was barely visible through thick ivy that hung from a wall of towering trees.

Hú Dié expertly eased behind me, following along the game trail. Shaped by animals, it meandered wildly on its path to the river. It hadn’t been groomed, and trees hadn’t been cut down to keep the trail moving in a straight line. Rocks, roots, and potholes jarred my bones, while low-hanging branches nearly took my head off.

In other words, it was awesome.

Hú Dié and I murdered that trail. By the time we snaked between the small lakes and reached the river, we were both covered head to toe in rotting leaves and rich black humus. We were so out of breath, neither one of us could speak for a full two minutes. I pulled my cell phone out of one of my cargo shorts pockets and checked the time. We’d only been gone twelve minutes, but it felt like twelve hours.

Hú Dié leaned toward me and looked at my phone.

“It looks like we have a little time to enjoy the view before heading back,” she said, turning to face the river. “It is so beautiful here.”

She was right. The river was close to a hundred feet wide at this point, and it was unusually clear. There wasn’t a house or car in sight, and the air smelled fresh and clean. Songbirds chirped all around us while a magnificent great blue heron hunted the shallows on the opposite side of the river. It was picture-perfect.

Hú Dié turned to me. “Thank you for bringing me here, Jake. I will always remember this place. I will always remember you, too.”

I felt my eyebrows rise in surprise. “What do you mean? You’d better remember me! It’s not like we’re never going to
talk again.” I paused. “I mean, you’re going to keep in touch, right?”

She shrugged. “I will try. You never know how these things will turn out, though. Nothing ever seems to work out the way I would like.” Tears welled up in her eyes once more.

Man, she was low. I felt so bad for her. “Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” I asked.

“Such as?”

“I don’t know. When I’m bummed, it usually makes me feel better if I talk about it.”

“That is not how I was raised,” she said. “I was taught not to burden others with my emotions. It is like this for many Chinese.”

“Well, you’re not in China right now. Let loose. What have you got to lose?”

“Your friendship, for one. I may have already lost a friend today, possibly more.”

“Who? Phoenix?”

“Yes,” she said. “Phoenix, and maybe his grandfather, as well as his uncle Tí. Perhaps Hok in San Francisco, too, if Phoenix tells her what I was asking for.”

“Why?”

Hú Dié sighed. “I suppose Phoenix will tell you once I leave, anyway. I asked his grandfather for some dragon bone to give to my mother. When he declined, I called Hok. She declined as well.”

“Are you sure dragon bone will help your mother? She has ALS, right?”

“Yes. It is a disease of the nerve cells in her brain and
spinal cord. Those are exactly the cells that I believe dragon bone connects with and enhances or repairs. She has lost nearly all control of her muscles, but her mind is still as keen as ever. It is a horrible disease.”

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Hú Dié’s mother must have been going through. “I am so sorry,” I said. “I wish I could help you somehow.”

She locked eyes with me. “Do you?” she asked. “Do you
really
, Jake?”

“Of course, I—” Hú Dié was looking at me funny. “Wait a minute,” I said. “What do you want me to do?”

She didn’t answer. She just stared at me.

And then I knew what she wanted.

“No way!” I said, putting one foot atop a pedal to leave. “Hok may have called me a sneaky jackal, but I will
not
steal from Phoenix’s grandfather or anybody else.”

“No, no, no, Jake!” Hú Dié said in a rush. “I would never ask you to steal anything from anyone! Please, do not leave yet.”

“Tell me what you want, then.”

She bit her lower lip. “If I tell you a secret, do you promise not to share it with anyone?”

“Now you sound just like Phoenix, making everyone keep quiet about his family’s secrets.”

She suddenly scowled, and for a second I thought she was going to punch me. But then she lightened up. “Maybe you are correct, for this is his secret, too.”