by Andy Mientus
“What do you remember?”
“At the pizza place, Mom said that we’d had enough and it was late and Dad said, ‘We’ve had enough when Phoebe says we’ve had enough,’ and Mom said—”
“‘You’re right.’ I remember, too.”
“And we ate so much.”
“SO much.”
“I miss that.”
“I miss it too, Phoebe.”
“I miss everything. Cold and warm and hungry and full and dancing and Mom and Dad—”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you, too. And life. I miss life.”
“Life misses you, Phoebe.”
“Really?”
“So much. It’s not the same. Not even close. That’s why I came all the way here. I wanted to try to find you and bring you back. Back to life. Because it hasn’t been life without you in it.”
“But to get here—how did you get here?”
“I died, too, Phoebe.”
“No! That’s too far, Chloe.”
“I know. I made a mistake. And I got a lot of people hurt.”
“Can we fix it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can we try?”
“I don’t know.”
“Of course we can. We can always try. We might fail, but if we don’t try, we failed already.”
“That’s you, Phoebe! That’s my sister. I always loved your attitude. Oh!”
“What, Chloe?”
“When I took your hand just now, as soon as we touched—look! We’re glowing!”
“We are? Oh! We are.”
“We’re glowing, Phoebe! Like stars!”
“Like fireflies!”
“Like candles!”
“Like magic jewel-covered mermaids!”
“You remember!”
“I remember!”
“We’re brighter now, Phoebe.”
“I can see the way now—the way back.”
“Yes, we’re lighting the way!”
“Let’s hurry. Don’t let go of my hand, Chloe.”
“I won’t. I won’t ever.”
“Here, this way! Oh.”
“WHO GOES THERE?”
“I am Phoebe Murphy and this is my sister, Chloe Murphy. Who are you?”
“WHO AM I? I AM THE END OF THE DARK ROAD. I AM THE FINALITY. I AM THE SHADOW.”
“Phoebe, I’m so scared.”
“Don’t be scared, I’ll protect you.”
“I AM THE LAST CURTAIN.”
“Okay! We get it!”
“Phoebe!”
“It’s okay, Chloe, I’m not scared of it. I’ve been to the end of the road. I’ve gone into the shadow. I watched the curtain fall. None of it could drown out this light!”
“Phoebe, we’re getting brighter!”
“My sister crossed the barrier between life and death to find me and help me remember. And I do remember! Our love survived your shadow and it always will!”
“It’s filling the theater! Like the sun!”
“IT BURNS! IT BURNS!”
“Now begone, you cold, creepy thing! You aren’t welcome here. Chloe is a Backstager and I am an Onstager and you are a guest in this house! And you aren’t WELCOME HERE!”
“IT BURNS!”
You know when a big musical number or a particularly dramatic scene ends in a quick blackout? Think of the opposite.
CHAPTER 18
Chloe opened her eyes. The Arch Theater was alight with a beautiful amber glow as all of its lanterns, foot-lights, sconces, and hanging lamps hummed back to life. She still held Phoebe’s hand tightly, but when she looked over to her sister, she saw that she had transformed somehow. Phoebe hovered just above the stage, a luminous halo shining around her. She held the broken ghost light like a scepter and appeared very much like a fairy queen.
“We did it,” Chloe whispered.
“Yes,” Phoebe said. Even though she was still in her nine-year-old body, she spoke with a grace and serenity far beyond her years. It was as if she had grown into an adult in those few luminous moments when her light engulfed and defeated the Arch Ghost.
“Let’s fix the light, fast, and get back to Genesius!” Chloe started to head toward the wing and the cases of equipment.
“Chloe, I can’t go back with you.”
“What? Why?”
“You could fix the light, sure, but then someone could break it again and the Arch Ghost would return. It was the light inside of me, the light of our love that defeated it this time. And that light is eternal.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I will stay here and guard the door. I will become the ghost light.”
“Forever?!”
“Forever is a long time, yes, but look at this place. Can you imagine a better place to spend eternity than on a stage like this, at the heart of everything that makes theater magical?”
Chloe looked around. In this light, the Arch Theater looked regal and gorgeous. Peaceful, even. A tear rolled down her ghostly cheek.
“But what will I do without you?” Chloe asked. “It’s been so hard.”
“Don’t you see, Chloe? I’ll be right here, protecting every show you ever work on. Even if you never return to the Arch Theater, you can find me in any ghost light in any theater you set foot in. I’ll always be with you.”
“Okay,” Chloe said, wiping her tears. “I guess this is goodbye, for now.”
“For now,” Phoebe said, smiling. “I can’t wait to see all the great things you do.”
“Thanks, sis. I’ll do my best.”
“You should get back to your friends now.”
“Where is everyone?”
“I lit their way home. I’ll light yours, too.” Phoebe raised her ghost light scepter into the air, and the light from her glowing halo began to gather where its bulb had been. The ball of light grew brighter and brighter.
Chloe shielded her eyes as the light became blinding, and then she was falling. She plummeted down and down, what felt like miles, until she slowed and landed, quite gently, back in her own body. She opened her eyes and gasped for air as the circle of Backstagers surrounding her let out a cheer.
“Better late than never!” Beckett shouted, gripping his chest in relief.
“Yeah, we thought you were dead for REAL,” Sasha said, beaming.
“We were all dead for real,” said Aziz, brushing sawdust from his sweater. “But I feel surprisingly okay. Not even a headache.”
“What . . . what happened?” Chloe asked as she tried to rise to her feet.
“Take it easy now,” Timothy warned, swooping in to help her up. “It took us all a second to get fully . . . back.”
“That thing gobbled us all up,” Jamie said as he brought Chloe a paper cup of water. “It was pretty dark and awful in there—like the saddest, darkest days of your life all mashed up into one feeling. But then there was this light, this totally . . . beautiful light. And then we all woke up here.”
“Except for you,” Jory said. “So we were worried.”
“It was Phoebe,” Chloe told them. “She saved us. She saved everybody. She’s the light inside the ghost light.”
They all turned to look at Genesius’s own ghost light emitting a friendly glow at the lip of the stage.
“Thank you, Phoebe,” Hunter said to the light. “I would have loved to meet you, but we are all so grateful.”
The Backstagers all nodded and whispered their own thanks to the light. Chloe could feel her sister’s presence and knew she could hear them.
“What time is it?” Reo asked, clearly feeling the fatigue of a long night spent battling across life and death.
“Almost five!” Timothy replied. “I bet the sun is coming up.”
“What do we do now?” Sasha asked, yawning.
“Look at this place!” Jamie said, surveying the rubble all around them. “We get to work cleaning this up before rehearsal tonight! We have a show to do!”
Everyone smiled and nodded, gra
teful to be alive and excited to be Backstagers again.
CHAPTER 19
“What do you MEAN she can’t play the role?! We are weeks deep into rehearsal!”
Kevin McQueen was, understandably, not taking the news about Chloe Murphy’s departure from Phantasm well.
“It’s the rules, Kevin, I’m sorry,” Timothy replied. “The guest actress has to be a current student at Penitent Angels, and Chloe lied.”
“Well, CHANGE THE RULES,” roared Blake. “She’s the only Crystalline we could find!”
“We are holding an emergency work session tonight for Bailey Brentwood,” said Jamie. “She’s been working on the material and wants another shot. This time with no spooky, near-death surprises.”
The McQueens took a simultaneous deep breath.
“Fine,” Kevin snorted. “If anyone can catch up, it’s Bailey, but if she doesn’t have that high note—”
“Let’s just see what she’s got,” said Timothy.
In the wing, Beckett was once again a sweaty mess. This was equal parts due to the fact that he had kept himself awake all day drinking more Diet Cokes than he ever had before, and the fact that Bailey’s second chance was moments away. As he stood there sweating and spinning, a dark figure crept up behind him surreptitiously. It dropped a pale hand onto his shoulder and Beckett nearly jumped out of his body once again. He turned to the figure and let out a sigh.
“Reo, you scared me half back to death!” he whispered.
“Sorry, I’m not used to having friends. I gotta learn how to, like, approach,” Reo said.
“Did you bring it?” Beckett asked.
“Of course, my man,” Reo replied, pulling a necklace from his pocket. It was an orange stone dangling from a silver chain.
“I owe you, dude!” Beckett said.
“Ah please, it’s the least I can do. We’re a coven now!”
“Got anything for my nerves?”
“I could probably whip something up, but honestly, Beck, the magic is you. You’ve got this.”
Beckett nodded and closed his hand around the necklace, determined.
In the opposite wing, Bailey was doing a breath exercise to center herself. The call about the replacement audition had come in just a few hours ago and she didn’t have nearly as much time to prepare as she would have liked, but this was a second chance and she was going to give it everything she had. Beckett tiptoed up to her.
“Hey,” he said gently. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just wanted to catch you before you went out there.”
“Beckett! Hey, no worries, I was hoping to run into you. Can you believe this? I hope I didn’t, like, snitch on Chloe. It was so not my intention to get her kicked out—”
“No, no way, she came clean on her own. She felt really bad about the whole thing. She’s just been having a hard time since she left Penitent and wanted an outlet.”
“Of course. Well, I hope she’s okay.”
“I have a feeling she is.”
“So are all the lights secure this time? Or should I warm up my legs to dodge out of the way?”
Beckett laughed, embarrassed. “I literally triple-checked.”
“I like those odds.”
They stood there a moment in contented silence.
“Hey, so I got you something,” Beckett said. He held out the necklace and put it in Bailey’s palm.
“Oh Beck, it’s gorgeous!”
“It’s a citrine. The stone. It’s supposed to give you confidence. Not that you need it. You’re gonna kill it out there.”
“Trust me, I’ll take all the help I can get! Thank you, Beckett. That’s super thoughtful.”
“Of course! And one more thing . . .” Beckett’s words caught in his throat. “Can I actually borrow that back for one sec?” Bailey handed him back the necklace and Beckett clutched the stone, trying to grasp that bit of confidence he needed to say what he wanted to say next.
“No matter what happens, I’d love to see you more. Like, obviously I miss hanging like we used to at Penitent and I’d love any opportunity to see you more, but lately, to be honest, I’ve actually been wondering, if it wouldn’t be totally weird or like ruin our friendship or anything, if we maybe tried, just like once, just to see, tried going out for like—”
“A date?” Bailey asked with a chuckle. She didn’t chuckle because the idea was preposterous; she chuckled because Beckett was so adorably frazzled. His baseline energy was a bit frazzled, but this was supercharged. “Beckett, you’re not making a great case for the effectiveness of that magic charm. If you’re gonna ask me, ask me!”
Beckett sighed and laughed at himself. Then, feeling a surge of confidence that may have come from the necklace, the caffeine pulsing through him, or just that gut feeling when you know something is right, he looked Bailey Brentwood, the Coolest Girl in the World, right in the eye and asked, “Do you wanna go on a date sometime?”
“Yeah,” she said, trying to keep her growing smile casual. “Yeah, I think that could be cool.”
“Okay,” Beckett said as the reality of the moment began to spread across his face. “Cool.”
“Cool,” she repeated. They both laughed again. “Well, I better get myself focused.”
“Yeah! Yeah, totally.” He handed her back the necklace. “Break a leg.”
“Thanks, Beckett.”
As he walked away, he thought that all of the Diet Coke in the world couldn’t give him this kind of buzz.
Aziz sat in the auditorium, exhausted from the full day of rebuilding but also feeling a bit low. He forgave Chloe for lying to him and understood why she did it, but he also felt embarrassed for actually thinking she saw something special in him. He had felt so seen when he was improvising with the actors, but it was just a ploy. Now Chloe was gone and he was just another crew guy again. He knew that this was probably all he was cut out for, but it was hard to come back to reality after letting himself dream of being more.
“THERE you are!” Aziz turned to see Jamie’s fuzzy grin. “Mind if I join you?”
“Sure thing,” Aziz said. Jamie plopped down in the seat next to him. They looked up at the set.
“Man, I can’t believe we got all that done,” Jamie said. “Nothing like saving the world AND a major theatrical production in the same all-nighter and having no one ever know about it.”
“Ha. Yeah.”
“But that’s being a Backstager, isn’t it? Everyone just sees the secret identity, not the superhero.”
“I guess it is.”
“But I want you to know that I see the superhero. All us Backstagers do. Especially Sasha. He looks up to you most of all. Today at dinner break, he told Jamie and me all about how you’ve been picking up everyone’s slack around here while we were training Hunter. Building that candelabra, running lights, fetching props. That’s majorly impressive, dude! It’s future stage manager material.”
The light came back on in Aziz’s eyes. He tried to play it cool.
“But Hunter can talk to you about that next year when you’re a junior and ready to take the trials yourself.”
Jamie patted Aziz on the shoulder before getting up and heading off to other duties. A smile spread across Aziz’s face.
Sasha, who had been watching the whole scene from behind a set piece, lit up when he saw that smile. He unzipped his jacket slightly and whispered to the fuzzy secret he was hiding within, “I FIXED something! I FIXED SOMETHING!”
Friendo purred in approval against Sasha’s chest.
Back in the Club Room, Jory and Hunter were still deep in a perfect nap on the couch. An alarm on Jory’s phone wrenched them back to life.
“Noooooooo,” Jory croaked.
“I know.” Hunter yawned. “Time for rehearsal.”
“Five more minutes?” Jory asked.
“They do need to do Bailey’s audition. I think we’re safe.”
The boys leaned back on the couch.
“This is nice,” Jory said.
/> “Yeah.”
“I missed you.”
“Me too.” Hunter sat up. “Can this break be over, Jory? I thought I would be more focused without you as my boyfriend, but I wasn’t at all. I can’t help it. I have a serious Jory addiction.”
“I know what you mean.” Jory chuckled. “But it was important, I think. It was scary to get out on my own, but I made friends with Reo and look how that turned out. You needed space to work, and I needed space to find myself in this school. And I think we still need that. But maybe we can have both. Like, be two distinct people with two distinct lives who share those lives, rather than this, like, inseparable couple?”
“HuntJor?” Hunter asked. “Jornter?”
“Ewwwww!” Jory laughed. “Please, no!”
“HUNTY?!”
“NO!”
They fell out laughing and embraced. The moment was broken as Beckett burst into the Club Room and threw his fists into the air.
“SHE NAILED IT! SHE BOOKED IT! BAILEY GOT THE PART!” he shouted to the heavens. Reo, Aziz, and Sasha followed in behind him, laughing at their exuberant friend.
“And he’s leaving out one other crucial detail,” Reo said. “Beckett asked her OUT and she said YES!”
“WHAT?!” Jory gasped. “BECK! That’s my man!”
“No offense, Beckett, but I didn’t think you had it in you.” Aziz smirked.
“Kinda like how we didn’t know you liked THEATER GAMES, Aziz!” Beckett shot back. Aziz turned red with embarrassment.
“Let’s please never, never speak of that again,” he said.
“Look!” Sasha shouted. “We’re all HANGING OUT AGAIN!”
It was indeed a great feeling to have all of the Backstagers together again in the Club Room like old times.
“And just in time,” Timothy said as he descended the stairs and entered the room, followed by Jamie. “Hunter is going to need you all as he starts the trials this week.”
“This week?” Hunter blurted. “Oh man, do I have to go back to the Arch Theater? Battle more crazy creatures?”
“Even scarier,” Jamie said with a grin. “You have to run Phantasm.”
“WHAT?” Hunter was gobsmacked.