Eleven

A draft of a sci-fi story that I am writing.
Next installment: May 1, 2026

📖 Chapter 2

Phoenix Blue is looking up from their book, admiring the dust shining in a sunbeam, when they hear a loud rapping on the door.

“Come in!” they say with a smile in their voice, knowing who it is.

“So. Many. Stairs,” Ellery Tan pants, stopping in the doorway with her hands on her knees. He looks up at Phoenix with a pained expression. “How the heck do you do this every day?”

“The answer is simple,” Phoenix responds. “To get to my books.”

“That tracks hard,” Ellery says. “Anyway, hate to interrupt — LOL I’m not sorry though — but did you wanna get lunch today? I saw this uh-mazing-looking Chinese place that just opened up down the street.”

Phoenix looks down to hide their smile. “I think I can make time for that. By the way — ”

Ellery suddenly sprints over to Phoenix’s desk. “HEY! Don’t do that!” Ellery shouts. They reach out and pull Phoenix’s chin back up.

Phoenix’s eyes widen as they look down at Ellery’s hand. “D-do what?”

“Hide your smile,” Ellery says, grinning. Wide gray eyes meet smiling green ones for a moment.

Then Ellery drops his hand and steps back, realizing this was a reckless move. “Sorry.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” Phoenix says. They touch the spot where Ellery’s hands were on their chin; it is still warm.

An awkward moment happens, wherein Ellery shuffles her feet and Phoenix looks anywhere but at her.

Suddenly Ellery says, “Anyway! Blue!”

Phoenix starts. “Yes?”

Ellery looks at them expectantly. “Let’s go!”

“Right now?” Phoenix asks, eyebrows raised.

“Why not?” Ellery answers. He grabs Phoenix’s hand and pulls them out of the chair, then drags them all the way to the door.

“Whoa — slow down!” Phoenix says, laughing. They run down the stairs together.

🎵 Chapter 3

“It all comes down to this.”

Audrey has tunnel vision. She looks at her hands; the backs are adorned with red rhinestones that merge into her glittering orange sleeves. She is a girl on fire. Her heart is vibrating in her chest, beating a million times a second. She closes her eyes, seeing brightness, and feels herself burning up from the inside —

“Audrey, don’t say stuff like that,” interrupts a low voice.

Audrey blinks. “What?”

“It doesn’t all come down to this, Deedee. We’re chill.” Blaire is leaning against the hallway wall opposite her. Her outfit is the blue to Audrey’s red, with waterfalls of turquoise and sapphire sparkling across the tight-fitted suit. Blaire smiles at Audrey.

Audrey smiles back. “Chill as a wildfire.”

“Chill as a wildfire,” Blaire repeats. “We’re gonna crush this.”

Audrey shakes out her hands. “Knock ‘em alive.”

As they laugh, a booming voice vibrates the scaffolding hallway. “Everyone, please welcome … Bee-Tae!”

Audrey jumps in place, squealing, then breaks into a run. Blaire follows close behind, grinning.

The first thing they hear is a roar like a jet engine: the crowds going insane.

They emerge onto a huge outdoor concert stage. It’s afternoon, and the sky is still bright blue. A crowd of ten thousand surrounds the stage. They are all screaming for their lives — and for Blaire and Audrey.

So as not to disappoint, Audrey crosses the stage in a cartwheel and a butterfly spin. Reaching the piano, she jumps up onto the piano bench with two feet and slams an epic chord. At the same time, Blaire pulls out a mic and, voice booming over the speakers, yells the duo’s signature phrase. “Who’s ready to get down to this Bee-Tae!?”

The crowd whoops and screams louder. As Audrey’s fingers tumble down the piano, creating a cascade of sharp notes, Blaire hypes up the crowd. “What’s up, Minneapolis! Today we’re tryna light the matches, y’all. We want you on! Your! Feet! That’s right! We’re heating it up this afternoon with the second national tour of Bee-Tae!” She pauses until she can shout over the cheers again. “Rrroll and rrrumble, everyone.” Her tounge-roll reverberates across the stadium, spurring whistles and gritos.

As Audrey starts banging out a beat, Blaire shakes her body along with it, closing her eyes. “Let’s go. Let’s go.”

A drummer in the back starts accompanying them with cymbals and a breakneck bass beat. Blaire’s low, pure rhythmic rap escalates into a piercing belt.

After several high-energy songs that have the crowd on their feet, the climax is Audrey and Blaire’s version of “Girl on Fire.” Or, at least, that’s what the audience thinks the climax is. At the end of the song, the two have gone a cappella — no drums, no piano, just Audrey silently jamming out to Blaire’s last note. The word “fire.” It’s a breathtaking, jaw-dropping, record-breaking A5. In her mixed belt, this sounds like heaven itself.

The crowd might cause an earthquake, that’s how loud they are at this point!

But then Bee-Tae pulls off the stunt that everyone knew they would, yet didn’t expect, because Bee-Tae always goes one step further.

They stand still, holding out their arms, letting the roar blow over them. Then Audrey does a motion with her hands to silence the crowd. They wait a moment and let the suspense build, and then they do it.

What the audience sees is this:

The drummer raises his sticks at the ready.

At the same time,

Audrey sharply drags a pinched hand up the middle of her suit

and Blaire pulls at an invisible seam in her headband, releasing a translucent blue veil that she yanks across her body.

Audrey raises her hand up above Blaire’s head and releases her grip.

A moment of pure silence.

Then, as the the drums come crashing down and smoke guns fire up from the stage,

Blaire bursts into flames.

When the smoke clears, they’re gone.

“…”

“Bee-Tae, everyone!” booms the announcer’s voice.

The crowd goes wild.