A Phoenix First Must Burn

by A Phoenix First Must Burn (retail) (epub)

  “No, I think I’m ready.”

  Dr. Nadeen nodded. “If you feel uncomfortable at any point, just let me know.”

  After plugging wires into my cuff, the assistant gave Dr. Nadeen a cue. The lights shut off, the room so dark I couldn’t see my hands on the armrests in front of me.

  A few seconds later, an icon appeared, a voice welcoming me to Sequence. I stared at the icon as it flashed across the screen, processing my information.

  My name appeared. Then the question I wanted Sequence to answer:

  Should I tell Margot that I like her?

  I shut my eyes, scared to see how my life would play out—this time if I followed through. This time if I told Margot how I really felt about her.

  How would she react when I told her? What if everyone else found out? Was I really ready to tell everyone? Was I ready for the reactions that’d be hurled at me? From Margot, from Forrest or Lily, from everyone who expected different of me?

  Was I overthinking this?

  When I heard the sound of glasses clinking, people chatting, and music pumping, I opened my eyes, my life playing out in front of me.

  B.

  I opened the sliding glass door and stepped into Simi’s backyard. The city shined brightly in the distance as party guests huddled in circles, safely enclosed in the private terrarium. Servers walked past me with trays full of hors d’oeuvres, and I saw Lily waving at me. Forrest stood beside her, smirking in her bright white lipstick.

  “Where’ve you been? We’ve been looking all over for you!” Lily nudged her head over at the pool house, where Travis stood talking to Margot. “It’s almost time for you to make your move,” she whispered. Forrest just shook her head and rolled her eyes, scrolling through messages from her white cuff.

  I cleared my throat. “I just had to freshen up.”

  “Sure you did.” Lily winked at me. “Anyway, I was just showing Forrest something. You have to see it!”

  “You mean that program that predicts how your future will turn out based on the decisions you make?” An advertisement popped up in the air from Forrest’s cuff. She deleted it before checking if her studs were still in her ears. It was a habit of hers, since she was prone to losing them. “It’s just a glorified Magic Eight Ball.”

  “It is not, Forrest.” Lily flipped her braided ponytail over her shoulder. “Do you always have to be a cynic?”

  Forrest glanced at her before getting back to her messages. “I’ll treat that as a rhetorical question.”

  “Wait, what did you show Forrest?” I asked, interrupting their usual banter. Once she realized I was still standing there, Lily stopped and turned to me, her scowl instantly morphing into a smile.

  “I was showing her my Sequence!”

  Forrest nodded, adjusting the zipper on her jacket. “Yeah, watching Lily’s life decisions play out has been super eye-opening.”

  “People have used Sequence when they’ve had to make life-changing decisions, Forrest.”

  “You mean like your life-changing decision of whether to study or go to this party?”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “Anyway, would you try Sequence, Eden?”

  “Why would Eden waste her credits on crap like that?” Forrest interrupted.

  They went back and forth while I watched everyone around us, the crowd dancing at the far end of the dome, the groups gathered around the empty pool and the pool house. My eyes landed on Margot as she continued to talk to Travis. They had moved to an area away from their lingering friends to talk. Their conversation couldn’t have been anything good, considering how obnoxious Travis could be. Margot was the type who’d see right through his act.

  Lily stepped into my line of vision. “Hello? Eden? Are you even paying attention to me?”

  “Sorry, what?”

  She crossed her arms over her purple blazer, a smug smirk at the edge of her lips. “Too busy looking at Travis, huh?”

  I exhaled. “Sure, Lily.” I glanced across the pool again, my eyes on Margot. “I’ll be right back. I need to talk to Margot.”

  “Margot?” Lily narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

  I hesitated for a moment while Forrest and Lily watched me. I shrugged, hoping I could play it off. “I just have to ask her a question. I’ll tell you later.”

  Before either one of them could respond, I strolled around the pool, slipping past others just to get near the pool house. My heart started to pound out of my chest the closer I got to Margot. I still didn’t know exactly what I wanted to say. But I knew I wasn’t going to leave until I told her how I felt about her.

  I stepped from behind Travis, who was bragging about how many credits he had. Margot didn’t look impressed, but she did look grateful that my presence interrupted him.

  “Hey, Margot.” I glanced at Travis for a second. “Travis.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Hey . . . who are you?”

  “Eden.” I looked back over at Margot, a piece of her hair hanging in front of her face. She pushed her long hair over her shoulder, the Z pattern of her strands more noticeable in the light. Her gold necklace shined, matching her metallic gold cuff. She pulled at the sleeves of her black turtleneck and adjusted the band of her tight skirt. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

  Margot nodded, looking as if I’d saved her from a lifetime of boredom. She followed me behind the pool house, where we had a full view of the city and the cluster of trees on the mountains beside us. There were other terrariums in the mountains around us, some dark, some illuminated. We gazed at the purple lights circling the city, when Margot nudged me.

  “Thanks for saving me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of there.”

  I smiled. “Anytime. He can be a little—”

  “Annoying, overbearing, and arrogant?” she said. “I don’t understand how so many girls like him.”

  I shrugged, gazing down at the dome beneath us. “Me neither.”

  The music seemed to get louder, filling the silence between us as we looked beyond the glass. After a few moments, Margot leaned her back against the glass and crossed her arms. “So since when do you go out, Eden?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, the Eden I know wouldn’t be wasting her time here, having to endure meaningless small talk while going through the motions of trying to impress everyone.” Her gold cuff lit up, but she ignored it. “I’m just shocked to see you here.”

  I looked at her dark-brown eyes. “I go out sometimes.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since now.” I smiled. “Things change.”

  “I guess so.” She glanced back out into the distance. “So what did you want to talk about?”

  My heart started to pound again as I bit my bottom lip. I heard a splash behind us, followed by some yelling and laughing. Margot didn’t seem distracted by it, her focus set on me while she waited for an answer.

  I still didn’t know how I was going to tell her. I still didn’t know what she’d think of me after I told her. But all I wanted to do was tell her how I felt.

  I exhaled. “I really like you.”

  Her eyes shifted to me. I could tell she wasn’t expecting me to say that. “What do you mean?”

  I clasped my hands together, looking out at the trees around us as if they’d give me strength. “That I . . . really like you.”

  “Oh.” Margot looked down at her cuff as it blinked. The music seemed to echo everywhere. “I don’t know what to say—”

  “I’m not looking for an answer about whether you’d . . . want to go out with me or anything,” I said. “I just wanted to tell you—”

  “I understand.” Margot nodded, taking a step back. She clutched her arm.

  My heart started to sink. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.

  Margot glanced at her cuff. She didn’t s
ay a word.

  I definitely shouldn’t have said anything.

  She scratched the back of her head, the silence between us growing with every second until she spoke up again. “Sorry, I just . . . didn’t see this coming in my Sequence . . . So I don’t know what to say.”

  I looked down at the grass. As far as I knew, this was over. “So you’ve tried Sequence, too?”

  “To stay in accordance with Society’s life plan for me.” She shrugged. “That’s what the elders in my family tell me, anyway.”

  “Me too.” Even though this exchange wasn’t going the way I’d hoped, I still managed to give her a smile. As low as I was starting to feel.

  She held up her gold cuff, waiting for me to do the same. “So you’ll call me?”

  “What?” I gazed up at her. She just chuckled.

  “Will you call me? I need your information.” She pointed to her cuff. “You know . . . so we can get together.”

  I didn’t believe what I was hearing until she waved her arm to get my attention. I lifted my arm, my heart pounding out of my chest. A band of green light shined around my black cuff once our information synced. “I’ll call you.”

  Margot leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. My entire face grew warm as she strolled back to her circle.

  “Can’t wait.”

  * * *

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Even after the assistant peeled those pads off my skin, it still felt like they were all over my body.

  I rubbed my arms as I stood in the train station, waiting for my train to arrive. My cuff lit up, the message I’d been waiting for sitting in my inbox. Before I left, Dr. Nadeen told me I’d receive a copy of my Sequence by the time I got home, but I didn’t think it’d be this fast, considering I just left the office five minutes ago.

  My cuff lit up again. This time a message from Lily.

  Lily: Are you still coming to Simi’s party tonight? I have to tell you about Sequence!

  I gazed at the message, thinking of what to send back.

  Eden: Will Margot be there?

  The train pulled up as I hid my hologram, my cuff lighting up when I received another message from Lily.

  Lily: I think so. Why?

  When the train doors opened, I stood aside, letting everyone file out. I grabbed a seat in the corner of the car after the doors closed, the automated voice stating the next station. Seconds later, the train glided over the glowing blue tracks, leaving the brightness of the city, into the lush mountainside.

  My last Sequence ran through my head over and over again.

  I sent a message back.

  Eden: I just need to talk to her.

  Eden: That’s all.

  A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

  It’s not every day you get to work with such an incredible group of authors on such an incredible book. What I love about this collection of stories is that, while all are fictional, some are pulled from and inspired by real life events, settings, and cultures. For instance, Dhonielle Clayton’s story is steeped in Southern folk magic, and Karen Strong’s is based around the Gullah/Geechee myth of a Boo Hag—an evil haint who goes around stealing a victim’s life breath. And, the setting is inspired by the Georgia Sea Islands, specifically Sapelo Island, which is significant because Karen is Georgia born and raised and it’s a community that has kept so much of its culture; nearly all of Sapelo’s residents are direct descendants of enslaved West Africans.

  Then there’s Elizabeth Acevedo’s tale, set on the eve of the first major slave revolt in the Americas in 1522. Was actual magic used? That’s up to Elizabeth’s interpretation. But there was a revolt in Santo Domingo, where enslaved people led an uprising on the sugar plantation of Admiral Don Diego Colón, son of Christopher Columbus. Many of them escaped to the mountains, where they formed independent communities.

  It was such fun to work with these authors, to learn about what inspires them. Rebecca Roanhorse was influenced by the lives of African Americans in New Mexico and the West. The first element of her story comes from the legendary Mary Fields, also known as Stagecoach Mary: a pioneering mail carrier and notorious brawler, who took absolutely no bull from anyone. The second element draws from what is presently known about the all-Black settlement of Blackdom Township, Roswell, New Mexico. Marion Boyer, who fled the Ku Klux Klan, founded Blackdom in the early 1900s. The small utopian town supported a church, a newspaper, and many local businesses before finally disappearing into the history books.

  There’s something here for everyone. Whether it be Ibi Zoboi’s story, inspired by soucouyants from Caribbean lore; Danny Lore’s piece, which reimagines the Greek myth of Athena and Arachne; mine, inspired by a lifelong fascination with vampires; or the story by Charlotte Nicole Davis, who pulls ideas and insight from the Flint water crisis.

  We hope these stories have inspired you!

  —Patrice Caldwell

  ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

  ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is a New York Times bestselling author. She is the winner of a National Book Award, Printz Award, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, Pura Belpré Award, Walter Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize, amongst other accolades. Her books include Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths (YesYes, 2016), The Poet X (HarperCollins, 2018), With the Fire on High (HarperCollins, 2019), and Clap When You Land (HarperCollins, 2020).

  Acevedo holds a BA in performing arts from the George Washington University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC, with her love. She can be reached on social media platforms @AcevedoWrites.

  AMERIE is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, producer, and writer of fiction, as well as the editor of the New York Times bestselling anthology Because You Love to Hate Me. The daughter of a Korean artist and an American military officer, she was born in Massachusetts, was raised all over the world, and graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s in English. She lives mostly in her imagination, but also on Earth with her husband, her son, her parents and sister, and about seven billion other people.

  PATRICE CALDWELL is a graduate of Wellesley College and the founder and fundraising chair of People of Color in Publishing—a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members of the book publishing industry. Born and raised in Texas, Patrice was a children’s book editor before shifting to be a literary agent.

  In 2018, she was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree and featured on the Writer’s Digest podcast and Bustle’s inaugural “Lit List” as one of ten women changing the book world. Visit her online at patricecaldwell.com, Twitter: @whimsicallyours, Instagram: @whimsicalaquarian.

  DHONIELLE CLAYTON is the New York Times bestselling author of the Belles series, and the coauthor of the Tiny Pretty Things series and The Rumor Game. Her short stories have been included in the following anthologies: The Radical Element: 12 Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes & Other Dauntless Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood; Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp; Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet; Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi; Foreshadow edited by Nova Ren Suma and Emily X.R. Pan; and Vampires Never Get Old edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker.

  She hails from the Washington, DC, suburbs on the Maryland side. Dhonielle earned an MA in children’s literature from Hollins University and an MFA in writing for children at the New School. Dhonielle taught secondary school for several years and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is COO of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books and cofounder of CAKE Literary, a creative kitchen whipping up decadent—and decidedly diverse—literary confections for middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction readers. Dhonielle is an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief. You can find he
r lurking online @brownbookworm on the Twitterverse and Instagram.

  After years of working in apparel and home furnishings, J. MARCELLE CORRIE is now a marketing professional in publishing. She writes young adult science fiction featuring people of her community and beyond. When she isn’t writing or working, you can find her at bookish events across New York City. Visit her website at jmarcellecorrie.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @jmarcellecorrie.

  SOMAIYA DAUD was born in a Midwestern city and spent a large part of her childhood and adolescence moving around. Like most writers, she started when she was young and never really stopped. Her love of all things books propelled her to get a degree in English literature (specializing in the medieval and early modern), and while she worked on her master’s degree she doubled as a bookseller at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC, in their children’s department. Determined to remain in school for as long as possible, she packed her bags in 2014 and moved to the West Coast to pursue a doctoral degree in English literature. Now she’s writing a dissertation on Victorians, race, and theories of translation and world literature. Her debut novel, Mirage, was shortlisted for the Children’s Africana Book Award and received starred reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal. You can find her on Twitter @SomaiyaDaud.

  CHARLOTTE NICOLE DAVIS is the author of The Good Luck Girls, a young adult fantasy novel released in fall 2019 with Tor Teen. A graduate of the New School’s writing for children MFA program, Charlotte loves comic book movies and books with maps in the front. She currently lives in Brooklyn with a cat with a crooked tail. Twitter: @charlottendavis; Instagram: @cndwrites.

  ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON is the author of seven novels for adults and young adults. Her most recent novel for adults, Trouble the Saints, was released in spring 2020 from Tor books. Her young adult novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, while her novel Love Is the Drug won the Nebula Award for Middle Grade/Young Adult fiction. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, Feral Youth, Three Sides of a Heart, and Zombies vs. Unicorns. She has won two Nebula awards, the Cybils Award, and been nominated for the Indies Choice Award and Locus Award. She lives in Mexico City, where she has recently completed her master’s degree in Mesoamerican studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.