by Tina Chan
Jaiden flung open the door of their room, looking for Dr. Hanson. His light footsteps could be heard tapping down the hallway. Chelsa and Kristi looked at each other, mirroring each other’s stunned expression. After a few minutes, Jaiden returned.
“He’s gone,” Jaiden announced after searching the entire inn. “The innkeeper said he checked out as soon as he left us.”
“Did you find out where he is heading?” Chelsa asked.
“No.”
“Well, we better get going as well,” Kristi said. She popped a painkiller into her mouth and swallowed it dry.
“Didn’t you hear Dr. Hanson’s instructions?” Chelsa said. “You’re not supposed to move around for the next few days.”
“We can’t delay our progress anymore. And anyways, Dr. Hanson gave me at least a week’s worth of pills. I should be fine.”
With the painkillers doing their job, Kristi felt back to normal. She was slipping the three pill bottles into her pocket when she noticed there was a slip of paper within one of them. Curious, she pulled the bottle back out from the pocket, and with some difficulty, managed to extract the slip of paper. On the paper it read:
Address for Revealers’ Headquarters:
213 Nova Street
Charleston, West Region
Burn this when you’re done reading this
“Jaiden, Chelsa! I think you should come and see this.” She clenched the paper so tight she was afraid she might accidentally rip it.
“What is it?” Chelsa asked, coming over to read the message over Kristi’s shoulders with Jaiden right behind.
“Do you think the address is legit?” Jaiden wondered.
“Well, Dr. Hanson did know our names,” Kristi pointed out. “And visiting 213 Nova Street is worth a try, since we’re already going to Charleston.”
Chelsa entered the address onto the electro-slate and said, “Who has the lighter?”
Jaiden found a lighter from his backpack and handed it to Chelsa. She lit the paper aflame and brushed the ashes out the window.
Everyone grabbed their respective backpacks and headed out.
A speck appeared on the horizon and Kristi pointed it out, “Is that Charleston?”
“Yeah,” said Chelsa. “Come on, we only have forty minutes before curfew.”
Their backpacks were considerably lighter than they used to be, the result of camping overnight for the past five days in a row. At most, they could last another two days with the food left.
“Why do you think Don and Maria want us to locate the Revealers?” Kristi asked to no one in particular after making sure there were no potential eavesdroppers around.
“Maybe they left something for you and Jaiden in the possession of the Revealers,” Chelsa said. “Jaiden, what do you think?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
The smudge that was Charleston continued to grow. Soon, individual skyscrapers, bridges and other architectural landmarks could be distinguished against the horizon. Charleston was one of the biggest cities in the United Regions with a population of almost 2 million. It was also one of the most technologically advanced cities.
Over 700 miles of air-train tracks ran throughout the city. Many famous companies, such as Megatronics, Instafood, Green Furniture and Urban Clothes, all have headquarters in Charleston. It was both a gift and curse that Charleston was so massive; on the bright side, Jaiden and Kristi would be able to blend into the city easier with so many people around. However, on the flip side, there was a greater chance that someone would recognize them.
“Welcome to Charleston!” Chelsa declared, the welcome gate to Charleston looming ahead. She checked the time and said, “Hurry—only ten minutes until curfew.”
The gate would be lowered once curfew time arrived and they would be locked out of the city. With this threat hanging over their heads, Jaiden, Kristi and Chelsa urged the horses into a gallop and hoped they wouldn’t run out of power before reaching Charleston. The horses needed to be recharged as soon as possible.
“Gate closing in five minutes,” a gate guard announced over the speakers. “All citizens must be inside a building in five minutes.”
“I only have 1% charge left,” Chelsa said.
Kristi checked Mist’s charge: 1.5% remaining.
“Three minutes until the gate is closed,” the speakers blared.
Kristi was so close to the gate she could make out the facial features of the gate guard. He was young, like he had just graduated from college. His uniform, which was tailored to fit him perfectly, boasted him of a rank one law enforcer.
Mist barreled through the gate just as the gate started to crank down. Jaiden and Chelsa pulled in after her.
“ID?” the gate guard inquired. Although he was a low ranking enforcer, he spoke as if he was the captain.
“ID?” Chelsa said. “I didn’t know you needed an ID to enter a city.”
“Charleston is an important city,” the guard replied. “ID verification allows us to keep the city safe from terrorists and other dangers to the public.”
Kristi shot Chelsa a worried glance. She didn’t look anything like Kelly Harrison’s picture on her ID card, especially since she dyed her hair. Jaiden, who didn’t resemble Zach Wares much in the first place, now looked completely different from Zach’s picture on the card after his hair cut and dye.
Chelsa petted Ghost and whispered something into his ears while she pretended to locate her electro-slate from her backpack. She swiped the slate to show the guard her ID. The guard grunted and allowed her to pass.
“Your IDs?” he said to Jaiden and Kristi.
Ghost unexpectedly leapt down from Chelsa’s horse and onto the guard. Jaiden and Kristi both realized Ghost was distracting the guard to let them pass through into the city.
“Get your droid-cat off of me!” the guard barked, clumsily locating his gun—he was clearly inexperienced.
Ghost was offended by being called a “droid-cat” and snarled.
Kristi ignored the gate guard’s plight and galloped Mist right by him with Jaiden hot on her heels.
“Meet me at the Rex Hotel—there’s a reservation for us there,” Chelsa said to Kristi when she rode past her. Chelsa thrust the electro-slate into Kristi’s arms.
“I will shoot your droid-pet in ten seconds!” the guard yelled, prompting Chelsa to finally call off Ghost.
Kristi slowed down Mist enough so that she could type the directions of the Rex Hotel into the electro-slate.
“This way,” she said to Jaiden, taking lead.
Kristi checked the time. Two minutes until curfew. Fortunately, the Rex Hotel wasn’t too far away and they found it within a minute.
The Rex Hotel was magnificent. That was the only word that popped into Kristi’s mind when she saw the castle-like building. Even the word “magnificent” didn’t do the extravagant hotel justice. Everything about the hotel—from its gilded arches, stained-glass dome to the marble bricked walkway—screamed rich! She wondered if Chelsa was crazy for choosing the Rex Hotel to spend the night. Five hundred points would probably get them a broom closet in such a pretentious hotel as this.
There was a stable-hand ready to take the droid-horses into the stable located behind the hotel. Jaiden and Kristi entered the hotel lobby, feeling sorely out of place among the richly dressed people. Grave looking businessmen in fine suits strolled around the grand lobby, discussing trades and oversea commerce with their peers. Many adults cast them disdainful looks. It couldn’t have been more obvious they didn’t belong in this lavish world.
“There you are,” Chelsa said. She ambled through the massive, gold-gilded double doors of the hotel just as the city clock bonged to announce the curfew was in act.
“Are you kids lost?” a bellhop asked with an air of aloofness. “Perhaps you arrived at the wrong address. The Regional Inn is across the street from the Rex Hotel. Oh, and we only allow domestic droid-animals inside the hotel,” he added, s
potting Ghost by Chelsa’s heels.
It is a sad thing when a bellhop is better dressed than you at the hotel you are staying at, thought Kristi.
“No, we’re at the right address,” Chelsa replied. “And I’ll assure you my leopard is very well behaved.”
The bellhop sniffed and said, “Very well.” He spun on his heels and click-clacked away.
“Chelsa, why in the world did you reserve us a room at the Rex Hotel?” Kristi asked. “We’re not going to be able to pay for it. There’s less than one hundred points on your account.”
“I didn’t make the reservations,” she said.
“Then who did?”
Chelsa shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that there was an instafication sent to my electro-slate asking me to confirm our stay at the Rex Hotel. Everything has already been paid for.”
“Doesn’t that seem a bit suspicious?” said Kristi. “We might be walking straight into a trap.”
“There’s not much of a choice left,” Chelsa replied. “Curfew’s already in act and we can’t leave this place now. Might as well spend the night here.”
“Yeah, but don’t you think we should at least make a reservation for a different room in case the reservation that someone else gave us is a trap?”
“Like you said before, we don’t have enough points for a room here.”
“You should’ve thought about this before telling Jaiden and me to meet you here.” Kristi felt annoyed Chelsa hadn’t thought through the risks of accepting a stay at a first-class hotel from a stranger. Her jaw tightened slightly and her back stiffened.
Chelsa started to form a reply. “Kristi—”
“Stop arguing,” Jaiden interjected. “Chelsa, I would really appreciate it if you told Kristi and I if something like this happens again in the future. Kristi, Chelsa’s right; we’re just going to have to stay here for the night and hope everything’s going to go smoothly.”
The girls shut up and followed Jaiden to the reception desk. A steward fiddling with his ruby studded watch looked at them apprehensively as they made their way over. He, like most of the other people in the hotel’s grand lobby, seemed less than pleased to have a rag-tag trio of teenagers tramping around in a world-class hotel.
“How may I help you?” The steward’s nose wrinkled, reminding Kristi of Speaker Quincy when he spoke to her. The steward also had the same condescending tone as the bellhop.
“We need a room here for the night,” Jaiden said.
“You do realize the cheapest rooms at the Rex Hotel cost four hundred and seventy-five points, right?” the steward said.
“Oh, we already have reservations,” Chelsa said.
“Reservation number?”
“1047.”
“Name?”
“Chelsa Bright.”
The steward opened a drawer and took out a laminated card.
“This card has all the information you need for hotel services. It also doubles as a key to your suite. There are two ways you can unlock the door to your suite: by sliding this card through the card reader or by scanning the barcode sent to you via instafication for the room confirmation. There’s a one hundred point fine for losing this card.” He handed the card to Chelsa.
“Friendly people, eh?” Jaiden commented, walking away from the steward.
“I’m sure we’ll be treated better once we’ve cleaned up a bit,” Chelsa said.
“Assuming we’re not walking into a deathtrap,” Kristi muttered.
“Just drop it!” Jaiden threw his hands up in exasperation. “If we’re walking into a trap, then at least we’re not completely oblivious to it. If there is no trap, then so be it.”
Kristi realized she wasn’t making things easier by arguing and tersely apologized to Chelsa. “I guess I’m just stressed out.”
“I think we all are,” Jaiden huffed to himself.
“We’re on floor twelve,” Chelsa said. “Let’s go find the elevator. Here, why don’t you hold onto the card?” She passed the room card to Kristi.
The electric-magnet-powered elevators were located at the back of the lobby. Kristi slid the card through the card reader and the elevator door hissed open, revealing the largest elevator she had ever seen. It could easily hold fifty people. The marble floor glistened and the window that looked out to the streets of Charleston was so clear she could’ve sworn the back of the elevator was open; Kristi wouldn’t have been surprised if she walked right through the window and into thin air.
The pulsing light of the city threw neon colored beams onto her awe-struck face. Kristi’s eyes enlarged at the spectacular cityscape before her.
“Please enter desired floor into keypad,” an automated voice instructed.
Jaiden entered “12” into the keypad and the elevator ascended so swiftly and smoothly Kristi would not have known they left the ground floor had the voice not announced “Floor 12.” The doors slid open with a soft sigh and the three of them stepped into a wide hallway carpeted with plush velvet.
“Well, we’re still alive,” Jaiden said a few hours later. “And there doesn’t seem to be a trap.”
“I suppose,” Kristi said.
She was in a good mood after exploring their suite. It was the most luxurious suite that existed on the face of the Earth. It was comprised of a kitchen, a living room, four separate bedrooms (each equally and excessively furnished) and two master bathrooms. All the furniture and technology offered were state-of-the-art quality.
“I wonder who made this reservation for us. He or she must be very well off points-wise,” Kristi said.
“Let’s not worry about that.” Chelsa kicked her legs back on the couch. “And just enjoy this stroke of luck.”
“What should we do? Watch the news? Play a card game? Visit the bowling alley? Try out room service?” Jaiden ticked off each activity with his fingers.
“How about we watch a movie?” Chelsa suggested.
“You brought a movie?”
Chelsa grinned slyly. “I have a couple of illegal DVDs I like to keep around all the time. Have you heard of the Titanic?”
“Isn’t that a ship that sank on April 14, 1912?”
“Yes it is, Mr. Know-it-all,” Chelsa teased him.
Jaiden put up his hands in mock defeat. “I can’t help it if I memorize everything I learn in school.”
“What you probably don’t know,” Chelsa said, “is that the ‘Titanic’ is also a movie.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Duh. That’s because the government banned it.”
Chelsa walked over to her backpack slung haphazardly over a kitchen chair—it was the bag Jaiden had managed to save from their bandit encounter—and took out a DVD case. She flourished the DVD and said, “Prepare to be wowed by this film. It’s amazing. I swear, you haven’t lived yet if you haven’t watched this.”
Kristi wrapped a fleece blanket around her shoulders and settled into the couch in front of the smart-screen. “That’s one of the few things I’ve done before you have,” she said with a slight smirk.
Chelsa slid the DVD into the player and dimmed the lights.
“Are you sure this is the right address?” Kristi asked.
They stood in front of an imposing skyscraper made out of steel and fiberglass. All of the windows were tinted black and a plaque that read “Verus Real Estate” hung over the revolving door entrance.
“This is the place,” Jaiden confirmed. “Let’s go inside. No point in standing out here.”
Maybe the interior will look more like what I would expect of a spy headquarters, she thought.
The three of them, plus Ghost, entered through the main entrance. Contrary to Kristi’s prediction, the inside of Verus Real Estate looked like the typical real estate office. Staff in pressed suits bustled about, sorting files, sending instafications or negotiating deals with potential customers.
“Let’s go ask the receptionist for more information,” Kristi said.
They approached the least busy receptionist. The young woman in her mid-twenties looked up from the electro-note she was writing and said, “Yes?”
“Is this the headquarters?” Kristi asked, cutting straight to the chase.
“Yes, this is the headquarters for Verus Real Estate. Are you interested in selling, buying or leasing real estate?”
“The other headquarters. You know what I’m talking about.”
The receptionist frowned a bit. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kristi didn’t believe her. The receptionist had paused a second and glanced to her right before replying, which usually indicated the person was lying.
“Maybe Dr. Hanson gave us a fake address,” Jaiden whispered into her ear.
She ignored him and pressed on. “We have important information the Revealers might be interested in.”
The receptionist looked taken a-back for a millisecond before dismissing the notion that three teenagers could possibly have any useful information.
“I’m going to have to ask you three to leave if you are not here for real estate related business.”
Kristi let out a frustrated sigh just as a woman with black hair neatly pulled into a bun caught her eyes. Maybe she could help us. The woman glanced over and made a sign telling her not to leave.
“I think I’m who you’re looking for,” the woman said from across the room.
Could this woman possibly be Tiffany?
The woman approached them.
“Sorry, I was just about to send these kids out,” the receptionist apologized to the black haired woman. “I can deal with them; I know you’re always busy with your work.”
The woman waved away the receptionist’s words and said, “It’s alright. I’m sure these kids have traveled far to come here.” She turned to them and said, “Why don’t you follow me to my office? I’m sure you have a lot of questions and in retrospect, I have a lot of questions for you as well.”
“Who are you?” Chelsa asked.
“I’m Tiffany, of course. Let’s take the elevator to my office, unless you feel like climbing sixty-seven flights of stairs. Beautiful leopard, by the way.”
Ghost purred in satisfaction.
Tiffany looked to be in her mid-thirties; however, appearances are often misleading with Perfects. There was always the possibility that scientists had tweaked with her aging genes to slow the formation of wrinkles.
The elevator dinged and opened up into a large office. The office had a wide window showing a picturesque view of Charleston. Despite the fact that there must’ve been over twenty electro-slates and computers on the five desks in the office, it was a very organized room. By the window was a coffee table with five chairs encircling it.
“Take a seat,” Tiffany said. “Drinks? I have juice, soda, water, coffee and tea.”
“No, thanks,” Kristi said.
Jaiden and Chelsa also declined a drink.
Tiffany got herself a bottle of mineral water and sat down in the chair across from them. “I assume you enjoyed your stay at the Rex Hotel?”
“It was you who made the reservation?” Chelsa said.
“Actually, it was Dr. Hanson who made your reservation. I am going to guess that you’re Kristi.” Tiffany shook her hand. “And you’re Chelsa.” She extended her slender hand towards Chelsa. “And you’re Jaiden.” Jaiden nodded.
“How did you know who we were when you saw us downstairs?” he asked.
“Dr. Hanson informed me of your arrival and provided me with pictures of all three of you. Not that I wouldn’t be able to recognize Chelsa and Kristi without the pictures Dr. Hanson gave me, despite the fact the last time I saw them was thirteen years ago.”
“Is it just me, or is this a bit confusing?” Jaiden looked around to Kristi and Chelsa.
“I suppose I should explain everything from the beginning,” Tiffany said. “Do you remember Stevey?”
“He’s kind of hard to forget,” Kristi said.
“Stevey used to work for the Revealers. He worked undercover at one of the government-funded labs for several years and provided us with invaluable information. However, a few days after a major promotion at the lab, Stevey began to go, ah, mentally unbalanced.”
“Why?”
Tiffany lowered her voice a notch, “We’re not sure. Ever since, it has become extremely difficult to communicate with him. However, we think that Stevey’s delirium is related to something that happened at the labs.” She raised her voice back to normal volume and continued on, “Dr. Hanson is Stevey’s caretaker. He checks on Stevey once a week to make sure Stevey has enough food, water and such. Well, he naturally became suspicious when Stevey started rambling on about three visitors with a leopard that seemed very interested in information about the Revealers. As a result, Dr. Hanson checked the tapes from the cameras at Stevey’s cabin to see who exactly the visitors were.”
“You have cameras installed at Stevey’s house?” Chelsa interrupted.
“To make sure Stevey doesn’t accidentally set his house on fire,” Tiffany said. “Anyways, after concluding that Stevey’s visitors were indeed who he suspected they were, Dr. Hanson sent me an instafication letting me know that you guys were searching for the Revealers’ headquarters.”
“And then Dr. Hanson recognized us at Country Inn and left us with this address,” Kristi finished.
Tiffany nodded. “Exactly. Dr. Hanson knew you were coming to Charleston, so he set up reservations at the Rex Hotel and sent me an instafication today when he spotted you three entering Verus Real Estate.”
“But what I don’t understand is why Maria and Don sent me to find you guys.”
“Do you mean Shelly and Kyle?” Tiffany asked.
Kristi then remembered her adoptive parents’ real names were Shelly and Kyle. “Yeah.”
“It’s because they left this behind for you.” Tiffany stood up and walked over to one of her desks. She entered a password to the padlock locking a drawer, then returned to them holding an electro-slate.
“They sent us halfway across the country for an electro-slate?” Jaiden sputtered.
“I think it’s much more than an ordinary electro-slate,” Tiffany said.
“You think?”
“Nobody except for Shelly and Kyle know what’s inside this slate.”
“Speaking of Shelly and Kyle, how did the trial go?” Kristi asked.
The sorrowful look Tiffany gave answered her question. They were dead.
Although Kristi hadn’t felt very close to Don and Maria—no, Kyle and Shelly—she couldn’t help but grieve at their deaths. After all, they had housed, clothed and fed her for thirteen years. She blinked back the tears threatening to trickle out.
Even Jaiden, who claimed he would never forgive his parents for not telling him they were spies, seemed a bit misty-eyed.
“Didn’t anyone try to crack open the electro-slate to view its content?” Kristi asked, changing the topic.
“Kyle and Shelly placed a lock on the slate. Go ahead, try to unlock the slate if you want,” Tiffany said.
Kristi powered on the slate and swiped her finger across the screen to unlock it. A message popped up:
Access Denied. Fingerprints of the Naturals required.
“Who are the Naturals?” Kristi asked.
“As you may or may not know, one of my jobs was related to Shelly and Kyle’s case. I was in charge of ensuring four chosen Accidents would survive. The government is very effective in making sure Accidents disappear,” said Tiffany.
“Why do you need four Accidents to survive?” Jaiden asked. “It seems kind of irrelevant, though I do appreciate you for making sure Chelsa and Kristi didn’t mysteriously vanish after birth.”
“I can’t answer that question because even I don’t know the answer. All I know is that Shelly and Kyle requested there to be four Accidents, also known as the Naturals, in order to complete their assigned cases. I’m sure all of your
questions will be answered once you unlock the electro-slate they left behind.”
“Do you have the address of the other two Naturals?” Chelsa asked.
“No—”
“Great,” Jaiden said. “We get to go on another wild goose chase across the country.”
“What I was going to say,” Tiffany said, “before Jaiden interrupted, was that I have the address to only one of the other Naturals. To be more specific, he’s my son.”
“Who’s your son?” Chelsa asked.
“My son is one of the Naturals,” Tiffany said. “And he happens to be in Charleston right now.” She checked her watch. “He’s still in school, but should be out in four hours or so. His name is Troop.”
“So that means once we find Troop, all we have to do is find the last Natural who is somewhere in the South Region,” Kristi said. “Then we can unlock this electro-slate and find out why the four of us were needed to survive.”
Tiffany nodded.
“Why don’t you have the address of all the Naturals if it is your responsibility to ensure their safety?” Jaiden said.
“I was keeping close tabs on them. However, funds got tight and all the members of the Revealers had to work double. It wasn’t until three years ago when the Revealers were financially more stable was I given the chance to check up on the four Naturals. Unfortunately, by that time I had lost contact with Kristi, Chelsa and Finn’s family. Finn’s the name of the fourth Natural, in case you’re wondering.”
“Do you remember the last address where Finn lived at?” Chelsa asked.
“He has probably changed addresses during the twelve years I lost contact with him,” Tiffany said. “But, I do have the name of the town where he last lived in. It’s Oppidum.”
Chelsa typed “Oppidum” into her electro-slate. “Is there any other information you can provide us about the whereabouts of Troop and Finn?”
“Troop goes to Ludus High School, which is about ten blocks from here. Regrettably, I don’t have any more information about the location of Finn.” Tiffany exhaled and took a sip from her water.
Chelsa entered “Ludus High School” into her electro-slate as well.
“Are you going to come with us to meet Troop?” she asked.
“No. I’m much too busy with work. Finding Troop shouldn’t be too hard though.”
“Will Troop even come with us once we find him? After all, we’re just strangers to him and we’re asking him to come with us on cross-country trip across the United Regions,” Kristi said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Tiffany said. “I already sent him an instafication telling him you guys are going to meet him after school today.” She looked at the time once more. “I really need to get back to work. Are there any more questions?”
Jaiden and Kristi shook their heads.
Chelsa said, “Yes. Do you think the Revealers can provide us plane tickets for Oppidum? Traveling by air will take only a fraction of the time it takes to travel by road.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible for a number of reasons. First of all, airport security is very hard to fool. With Jaiden and Kristi both as wanted persons, the risk of having you guys travel by plane is too high. Second of all, the Revealers don’t have enough points to buy four—possibly five plane tickets.” Tiffany glanced at Ghost, who was cleaning his paws. “We have been trying to recruit more members and followers for the Revealers, and all of this underground promotion and recruitment requires a fair amount of points from our funds.”
“Fair enough, I just thought it was worth asking for.” Chelsa stood up from her chair and Jaiden followed her lead. “I guess we’ll be on our way.”
“Wait,” Kristi said. “Didn’t you say you had some questions for us, Tiffany?”
“Yes, indeed I did. Thank you for reminding me. I was wondering if any of you have seen any bandit activity going on? The Revealers suspect that the government is somehow involved with the increased bandit attacks occurring.”
“Shouldn’t the government be trying to stop the raids?” Kristi frowned.
“The world’s a messed up place,” Tiffany said.
“We did encounter some bandits on the way here,” Chelsa said.
“Tell me about it.”
Chelsa described their narrow escape on the droid-horses after the narrow encounter with the bandits along Route 56. Then Kristi also told Tiffany about the electro-slate thieves that, in a way, were the reason why she met Chelsa in the first place. Last but not least, Kristi informed Tiffany of the suspicious merchant she eavesdropped on at Troll’s Tavern.
“You say this merchant has a fish-shaped birth mark and looked wealthy?” Tiffany asked.
“Yes,” Kristi said. “And the two travelers I saw him talking to ended up being murdered a few days later. I have strong feelings that it was the merchant who committed the murder.”
“I agree with you,” said Tiffany. “The Revealers have been after this merchant for a while. He is, in fact, one of the leaders of a large band of bandits. His name is Malik, and he has recently taken to posing as a trader, merchant or businessman at pubs in order to lure some drunks into a secluded place where he kills them and takes their valuables.”
I was right, Kristi thought. Chelsa didn’t murder those two sailors.
“Thank you for the information. Is there anything I can do to return the favor?” Tiffany looked at Kristi, awaiting an answer.
Kristi thought for a second. “I used to have a droid-horse named Flurry. However, I think the police seized Flurry when they arrested Shelly and Kyle. I would really like to have Flurry back.”
“I will see what I can do.”
“We’ll get going now. I don’t want to distract you from your work anymore,” Chelsa said.
The three of them headed for the door.
“Hold on a second.” Tiffany sprung up from her seat. “I need you to take the Oath.”
“The Oath?” Jaiden asked.
“You didn’t think I was going to let you leave with all this top-secret information without making sure you wouldn’t share it, did you?”
“You never said anything about taking an oath of secrecy.” Kristi crossed her arms.
“I’m not going to be able to let you guys leave unless you take it,” Tiffany said. “All you have to do is promise you will never tell anyone who isn’t part of the Revealers anything we talked about in my office today. Also, by taking the Oath, you are agreeing you are a member of the Revealers and must abide to our rules.”
“I don’t want to be part of some type of spy group,” Jaiden said. “Look at what happened to Shelly and Kyle.”
Kristi had to admit Jaiden had a point; she didn’t plan on dying anytime soon.
“The Revealers isn’t just a spy group,” Tiffany said. “It’s much more than that. The Revealers is also an organization dedicated to uncovering the truth to many corruptions of the world. We are a dedicated group in bringing more justice to the world.”
Jaiden rolled his eyes. “That’s what they all say.”
Tiffany gave him a frosty glare. “You are so naïve, young man.”
Chelsa sighed. “Fine, just tell me what to say or whatever I have to do.”
“Jaiden and Kristi, are you going to be reasonable like Chelsa and agree to become a member of the Revealers?”
“Fine,” Kristi complied. “But I don’t like how you sprung this on us unexpectedly.”
“Jaiden?”
Kristi could almost see Jaiden’s brain struggle to decide whether or not he should be part of an organization that his parents were part of and died as a result of. The silence dragged out. Defiance burned bright in Jaiden’s eyes. The silence continued on.
“Okay, but only because you two are taking the Oath too,” he muttered, shooting Chelsa a glance.
Chelsa’s cheeks reddened and Kristi got a funny feeling about her brother and Chelsa, which she decided to ignore for now.
“Wonderful.” Tiffany be
amed at them. “Now I just need you to hold up your right hand and repeat after me:
I solemnly swear to be a loyal member of the Revealers.
From now on, I will do my best to reveal truths, solve suspicious mysteries that endanger the welfare of others and make sure the truth is heard throughout the world.
I swear to follow the rules set down by the founder of the Revealers.
I swear I will never betray information of the Revealers to outsiders.
I swear I will never purposely imperil any members of the Revealers.
I do solemnly swear this.”
They repeated after Tiffany and Tiffany smiled once more when they finished.
“See, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?” she said. “Congratulations, you are now official members of the Revealers. I just need you to sign these papers and you can leave.” She handed everyone a packet of papers.
Kristi flipped to the end of the packet and scrawled her name on the line, not bothering to even skim through the text. She handed her packet back to Tiffany.
“Thank you,” said Tiffany. “A copy of the Revealers’ rules has been sent to your electro-slate. I have also transferred five hundred points to your account, Chelsa. It should be enough to suffice your needs for a while.”
Tiffany called the elevator up for them and waved goodbye.
chapter twenty-four
[ Kristi ]
