AN HOUR BEFORE the mushroom clouds scorched the land, an old van zipped down an empty desert road. In the cramped rear seat, Sophia yawned and stretched. She was tired. After a long shift where a patient experienced postpartum hemorrhage, she had rushed home to cook dinner. She was determined to talk to Tom before he got too drunk, and to keep the safety of the table between them. She would demand that he move out of her apartment while she was gone.
     Nervous about the confrontation sure to come, she’d picked at the food for an hour. He didn’t come, so she shoved the meat sauce into the fridge, scraped the spaghetti into the trash can, and went to bed. Having had little sleep, she was up at three in the morning to meet Zara at the curb. Tom hadn’t come home.
     Now, Tom and the breakup would nag at her all weekend.
     “Damn,” Zara called. “Those guys must be doing ninety.”
     The high beams caught the hypnotizing centerline as it raced under the hood. Pre-dawn’s milky sky tinted the rear window in pale rose and purple.
     “That’s those guys we met at the truck stop,” Edith said. “They want to meet up with us at the bottom.”
     The truck’s red taillights faded in a haze of dust. The empty road stretched before them, straight as an arrow.
     “Assholes,” Reagan muttered. She kept Zara company up front.
     “They wanted to be at the trailhead at sunup,” Aimee said. Sophia found the aroma of Aimee’s fancy perfume a little much this early in the day.
     Curled up in her seat, Sophia listened to the girls’ chatter. She already regretted going on this trip, but Aimee had insisted, as she always did; and Sophia had agreed, as she always did. It was just easier to agree without having to invent some lame excuse than to go through the usual ritual of being talked into what Aimee wanted. But Sophia convinced herself that a few days away from Tom and the job would give her a much-needed break. It would give her time to build on her resolve to break up with Tom when she returned home. Still … Maybe he was out screwing someone else last night. I don’t care. I just don’t care anymore.  … four days with her bickering friends when what she needed was some alone time? Time to think about her relationship and what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
     Zara turned onto the dirt road leading to the canyon. A cloud of red dust hung in the air. Left by the guys’ truck, Sophia figured. 
     Something furry sprinted across the road, trailing puffs of powder. The high beam reflected yellow eyes among the creosote. The smell of the dry desert entered the cabin.
     “Great.” Edith pointed to the big truck, the only other vehicle in the parking area. “No other party to take the best campground.”
     “I thought those guys would wait for us.” Zara grinned and shouldered her pack.They walked toward the opening in the low retaining wall. The eastern rim was dark against the rosy sky. Shades of gray outlined the canyon. Somewhere close, birds twittered in the shrubs.
     Sophia took a deep breath. The still, cool air smelled of dust and mesquite. Over the eastern rim, the sun dribbled liquid gold and left the canyon below in deep, layered shadows.
     Running a hand along the red sandstone wall to steady herself, Aimee took the first steps down the trail. The drop was several hundred feet to a slope of tangled boulders and scree.
     A pang of anxiety swept over Sophia. Three feet wide here, the trail clung to the vertical wall and looked scary steep. Aimee’s feet slid on the gravel with every step. If she lost her footing, she could fall.
If she can do it, I can too.
      Zara touched Sophia’s shoulder. Time to go. Again, Sophia shook her head. She was here in this gorgeous place and would just enjoy it. Leave Tom and her problems behind.
     “God, it’s beautiful.” Sophia shielded her eyes against the glare.
     “Yes, it is.” Still with her hand on Sophia’s shoulder, Zara stepped onto the trail. “Are you okay?”
     “I’m fine. You? You must be tired after all that driving?”
      Zara didn’t answer. Her sneakers slid on the gravel. The rising sun revealed shades of maroon, rust, and violet. Thousands of feet below, the river twisted like a narrow turquoise ribbon. Here and there, trees and scrub clinging to crevices and ledges added a sprinkle of green. Above, the glorious blue sky promised a beautiful, hot day. A large bird drifted on the current. An eagle or a hawk? Sophia wondered. “Ouch,” Aimee squealed and paused. “I have a pebble in my shoe.”
     At least Aimee wasn’t wearing her usual five-inch heels. Rust already dusted her new white Vans.
     “Sophia, let me lean on you.” Aimee grabbed her shoulder. “Zara, that’s those guys with the truck. Let’s hike down with them.” She waved over Sophia’s head.
     “They’re cute.” Zara giggled. “Hey.”
     A hundred feet down the trail, the rearmost guy turned and smiled.
     “Oh my God, it’s so beautiful. Let me take a picture,” Edith called. Last to enter the trail, she was only a few feet below the trailhead. “Everybody turns this way.” She ran her hands over her shorts’ pockets. “Oh, no. Where’s my phone? Has anyone seen it?”
     “Not since the van,” Reagan said.
     “Wait. Wait.” Edith undid her backpack and checked all the pockets. “Darn it. I must have dropped it. Wait for me.” Leaving her pack on the trail, she ran back up. “I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”
     “Is that safe, with the baby and all?”
     “Zara, stop it. She’s only three months pregnant,” Aimee snapped. “She’s fine.”
     Below, the men waited for them. The craggy, sheer wall sloped out above them, and the tanned, blond guy with the buzz cut leaned against the stone. “I’ll go down and keep them company.” Aimee grinned. “Zara, want to come?”
     Edith ran up the last few steps and vanished over the rim. Reagan caught Sophia’s eye as if to say, “Same old circus.”
     Sophia took in the view. The sun rose fast over the far rim, and the shadows inched down the colorful walls. The big bird still circled below. Everything was so quiet. Sophia filled her lungs with fresh air and sighed.
      Screw Tom. I’ll enjoy this and forget about everything else for a while.
     The swoosh-swoosh-swoosh of a helicopter echoed through the canyon, and moments later it appeared, flying low above the rim, the sun reflected off the glass bubble. The red machine circled and hovered over three slender stone columns rising hundreds of feet above the valley’s floor.
     “It must be beautiful up there.” Sophia waved. “What are those towers down there called?”
   In the chopper, smiling faces behind phones waved back. A child pressed its serious face against the plexiglass.
     “I saw a special about them once. They’re called the Three Sisters,” Aimee said.
     “They line up as a barrier to the middle canyon. A local tribe believed they guarded the entrance to the underworld, where the people came from. They believed—”
     “We get to experience this beauty on our feet.” Aimee rolled her eyes. Reagan would have been the one to have Googled the canyon before coming. “Tonight, we’ll have drinks around a fire down by the river. Them up there in that chopper will complain about their steaks in some fancy restaurant.”
     “Oh, I know. I’d still like to try flying in one someday,” Sophia said.
     The pilot dipped the nose and headed west over the canyon. Like the bird she’d seen earlier, its shadow flitted across the red walls, and the noise faded.
     Below, Zara and Aimee caught up with the guys, and their laughter echoed off the walls. In single file on the narrow trail, they walked down to join them.
     Here at the trailhead, the canyon was only a few hundred feet wide, and across the chasm, the smooth vertical wall now caught the morning sun in brilliant shades of pink, taupe, and rust. Colorful mounds dotted the canyon floor. Looks like little sugar cones with those pastel rings, Sophia thought.
     “I sure hope Mom will be all right by herself. If she falls and can’t get up …” Reagan said, and Aimee rolled her eyes. “Her bones are so brittle, and if she falls, she could die. She  …”
     Sophia tuned her out when they reached the guys. Reagan always talked about her mom’s brittle bones. The woman had suffered the same condition for years, and if you believed Reagan, she—
     The air shimmered rapidly in rippling vertical waves. A loud boom shook the canyon. The trail bounced, lifting Sophia off her feet. Her knees buckled. The others stumbled, too. Pebbles and stones tumbled down around them. A quickly building rumble grew to a deep, deafening roar.
     Maybe a low-flying jet? Sophia wondered and covered her ears.
     Smiling, Edith appeared at the trailhead, waving her phone. The sun caught her long, golden hair swept around her head. She looked back, froze, and in an instant was swept across the abyss. With her flailing arms and legs, and her unheard scream, the shimmering airwaves carried her incredibly fast. She slammed into the opposite cliff wall like a rag doll. In horror and disbelief, Sophia watched Edith hang on the wall for a moment, then slide down the jagged stone, leaving a trail of blood.