Race to the Sun

Nizhoni, exhausted and afraid, weeps when she can’t find Davery. She feels unworthy of hero status, having lost both Mac and Davery. A Holy Person appears in the form of a doe and helps Nizhoni recommit to her quest. She determines that her mom was brave and decides to be strong like her mom and continue toward the House of the Sun.

Nizhoni follows the Rainbow Road to a massive, pueblo-style house, built out of turquoise. A sign encourages her to “take a number” from a red dispenser (244). Two bears at the entrance refuse her admittance, sparking Nizhoni’s temper. When she shouts that she has come for weapons to fight monsters, they hurriedly change their minds. They say that her “friend” has already arrived; Nizhoni hurries inside to find the real Mr. Yazzie sitting with Jóhonaa’éí, a Holy Person known as the “Merciless One.” Jóhonaa’éí asks to hear about each trial and what Nizhoni learned. She reports the events of each trial, ending with a confident declaration that she is “a monsterslayer, just like [her] mom” (251).