1. Hi! And welcome back to the Bohemian Legacy Chapter 4.14.
Last time, following Phoenixâs health scare, Generation 5 of the Bohemians, including a newly childified
Coriander, went on holiday to Three Lakes with their grandparents, leaving Requiem behind. Rhapsody
nearly burned the house down, Journey reluctantly bonded with Cori, and Elise obsessed over her
brotherâs health. After discovering half a formula for a cure for death left in the Three Lakes cottage by
its previous owner, Elise decided that the only way to save her brother was to track down the person
who had potentially invented this cure, one Mr.Goth of Pleasantview, and the Generation 5 teens
decided to embark on an adventure in a bus.
So, if youâre with me, turn the page for Roadtrip adventures!
3. âYes Daddy, Iâm sure.â It was only the eighth time River had asked her that question since
breakfast. Dee smiled amiably into her fatherâs shirt as he nearly suffocated her with a hug. âFood,
fresh clothes, sleeping bags, emergency medical kitsâŠIâm pretty sure I even caught Journey
lugging his guitar into the back earlier. Weâll be fine I promise.â
4. After several hours of brainstorming and systematically discarding increasingly elaborate lies to tell
their parents in order to be allowed to skip out on school and other responsibilities for an
uncertain stretch of time they had come up with the perfect ploy.
Tell the truth.
It was dastardly in its simplicity and surprisingly effective.
5. River released his daughter âWell be safe and have fun driving down to the beach.â
Ok, so not the whole truth. There were limits even with their parents. They were quite happy to
release their children into an irresponsible road trip to wander aimlessly in the general direction
of the sea side. They would most likely be somewhat less happy to release them on a very
deliberate mission to track down a potentially dangerous scientist and ask for his help in bending
the rules of humanity for Phoenix.
6. That was the moment Journey chose to lean on the horn and glare out the window impatiently at
his sister.
Giving her parents one last perfunctory goodbye hug Rhapsody dashed down the porch and
settled into the driverâs seat of the bus.
7. River wrapped his arm around his wifeâs waist as they stood on the porch and watched the bus
jerk its way down the road.
âTheyâre up to something arenât they?â
âAlmost definitely. Itâs cute that they think we havenât realized that though.â
8. No sooner had they left the scattering of houses that constituted their lost little corner of the
desert behind, it quickly became apparent to the seven teenagers that they were in for a
singularly boring scenery.
9. The desert was immense and empty. They drove for hours through the barren golden landscape,
following the straight road by sandy dunes and flat stretches of nothingness until it became
almost hypnotic.
10. âYou ok?â Turner shook Rhapsody out of her reverie several hours into the monotonous drive.
âYeah, Iâm goodâ she smiled, rolling her shoulders stiffly âI was just thinking about how if we
hadnât already seen the mountains and the lakes I might not believe there was anything but
desert in the worldâŠâ
Turner squinted ahead âWell even there isnât at least weâre not the only people who live there.
Check it out.â He nodded ahead âA townâŠsort of.â
11. Dee peered out the windshield into the dimming sunlight where Turner was pointing. Sure
enough, shivering uncertainly in the distance like some sort of heat induced mirage, she could
make out what was clearly signs of civilization.
Requiem stepped up beside Turner, a frown on her face, as they drew level with the houses lining
the asphalt highway âStrangetown?â She read a dusty metalic sign as they drove past âI donât
remember that from any of the mapsâŠâ
12. The others were already crowding around the windows as they began to roll past the first signs of
life they had seen since leaving home.
âHave we taken a wrong turn?â
âIâll check. Where did you put the maps?â Turner asked, automatically flipping open the glove
compartment. âDee? Maps?â
âRightâŠmapsâ Dee smiled sheepishly at her cousin âI knew I was forgetting something.â
13. âAre you serious?â Elise, overhearing the conversation was up beside them instantly âYou forgot to
bring maps and weâre already lost? How is that even possible! I looked at those directions and
thereâs only one road through the desert and itâs totally straight and weâre on that road! We canât
conceivably be lost!â
âOh man, is this going to turn into a teen horror flick where we end up hopelessly lost being
picked off one by one?â Journey grinned settling back into his seat as his sister needlessly paused
at the stop sign on completely quiet road, âHey Elise, start worrying, cheerleaders never make it
far in situations like these.â
14. âYeah and you definitely have horror movie survival skills Journey.â
âWell theyâre better than yours.â
âGuys! Weâre not lost and weâre not going to die. I promise. Iâll just pull in here and weâll ask for
some directions.â
âWell thatâs almost as bad as saying âIâll be right backââ
15. Satisfied sounds accompanied stretching as seven antsy teenagers piled out of the hot bus into
the slightly less hot outside.
âI am dying for a nice cold drink.â Cayenne sighed as she let a warm spring breeze roll across her
bare skin. Journey muttered something under his breath which she decided to ignore âI saw some
machines when we were pulling in. Whoâs in?â
There was a general noise of assent which was followed by some stiff staggering steps around the
bus to fulfill their quest for refreshments.
17. Or rather, stared at.
In complete silence.
And with obvious curiosity.
It was incredibly disconcerting and the only thing they could really do was stare back. Journey
voiced what they were all thinking first âWhat is up with their clothes?â Elise jabbed him in the
ribs with her elbow in response.
18.
19. âTesting! Testing! 1 2 3! Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain speaking. Guess who found the
speaker system!â
Cayenneâs enthusiastic voice echoed around the empty walls where they had set up camp. Night had
fallen quickly after the Strangetown teens had left, and the sound of rain beating on the windows made
everyone grateful they had somewhere dry to spend the night.
20. âWhatâs more!â Cayenne continued into the microphone, âThanks to this familyâs questionable,
priorities, while we donât have any maps we do have about eight billion CDs, soâŠâ Cayenneâs voice
crackled out to silence for a moment before being replaced by the blare of loud music.
No I donât know where Iâm going, But I sure know where Iâve been
Hanging on the promises, In songs of yesterday
And I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more timeâŠ
21. âŠBut here I go againâŠ
âIdiotâ Journey remarked offhandedly abandoning their makeshift fire to sink down next to
Phoenix a little way off.
âMe or her? Or just people in general?â Phoenix asked, laughing.
âHer obviouslyâ Journey scowled âAlthough while weâre at it, youâre a bit of a jerk.â
âWhat did I do this time?â
22. âI finally worked it out today. Iâd been wondering you know. Yeah, donât think I donât notice these
things Phoenix.â The blonde boy glanced over his shoulder to notice his cousin scowling angrily at
a neon lighting fixture.
âYouâre going to have to help me out here Journey, Iâve got no clue what youâre talking about.â
âIâm talking about this whole roadtrip thing. Ever since Elise started mucking about with those
papers and this trip you havenât said a thing about any of it and I finally worked out why. You donât
think we can save you do you?â
23. âŠThough I keep searching for an answer, I never seem to find what Iâm looking forâŠ
Phoenix smiled tiredly and leaned his head against the crumbling brick work âNo I donâtâ
âThen why the hell are you letting us all trek across the desert and put ourselves all through this if
you think weâre just going to end up being disappointed in the end? You jerk.â
Phoenix supressed the smile, he knew Journey well enough to know he was lashing out at him out
because he was upset, and he didnât want him to think he was laughing at him. That rarely went
down well with Journey.
24. âMy mom once told me that the hardest thing about dying wasnât the dying bit, or the being dead
part. At least not for her. She said it was coming back and seeing how much everyone who loved
her had suffered. Grandma and Grandpa, your Dad, aunt SaffronâŠâ Phoenix pushed the hair from
his brow as he looked at his sister, deep in conversation with Requiem around the fire âI donât
want to die Journey. But what sucked the most when I was sick last time was how much it sucked
for you guys. So if thereâs even a tiny chance that this can save me Iâll go along with it because it
makes Elise happy to have some hope, because not letting her try would be more selfish than
demanding that you doâŠâ
âBecause weâre the ones who have to live without you if you die. Not the other way aroundâ
Journey completed.
25. âYouâre the most annoyingly selfless dying person I know Phoenixâ
âI try.â
âŠand Iâm gonna hold on for the rest of my days, âcause I know what it means, to walk along the
lonely street of dreamsâŠ
26.
27. âNnnnnnggghhhhâŠtoo earlyâŠ.so tired⊠donât want to driveâŠ...going to crashâŠunable to form
proper sentancesâŠâ
âThereâs nothing to crash into Cayenne, itâs the desert, the worst you can do is drive us into a sand
dune.â
âDo not get cute with me Elise. Who sets a cell phone alarm clock for 6 a.m when weâre going to sleep
at 3 a.m?â
âI wanted to get an early start. Itâs our own fault for getting caught up in Deeâs project that we were up
until 3.â
28. âWhat can I say, I hear art project and my common sense goes on holiday. Itâs a family weakness. And
Dee was right, thereâs nothing quite like making a statement. Also we look snazzy.â
âStill if you wanted to get more sleep-â
âElise shut up and admit we look snazzy.â
âWe look snazzy.â
âNow admit that youâre just as tired as I am.â
29. â Aaaaaand Iâm ignoring you. Now, if we can be serious for a second! Even without maps Iâm pretty
sure Iâve got this itinerary figured out. We can probably start getting out of the desert by this
afternoon, and then I think we can probably be in Pleasantview in two days.â
âYeah right, that seems like itâll happen.â Journey leaned over Cayenne to get to the stereo âWho
wants some driving music?â
âIf we drive through the night, and donât get distracted any more we can make it in two days.â
âEliseâ Journey sighed, giving his cousin a withering look âLighten up.â He jammed a CD and hit
play. As it turned out he was right. It definitely took them more than two days.
Whooo umm yeah...
30. Well, life's like a road that you travel on
There's one day here and the next day gone
31. Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind