by Tina Chan
“So, we meet again.” Dr. Hanson strolled into the living room. “I hope you are in better shape than before, Kristi.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“And also, thanks for making reservations at the Rex Hotel for us,” Chelsa added.
“I assume you found the headquarters, correct?”
Kristi nodded. As glad as she was to meet Dr. Hanson, she wanted to unlock the electro-slate now. She was itching to know what the slate contained.
Dr. Hanson must’ve noticed her restlessness because he said, “Kristi, you seem eager to do something.” The tone he spoke in implied he already knew about the electro-slate Tiffany had given her.
“The slate!” Chelsa exclaimed. “I’ve been so caught up in my own problems I’ve completely forgotten about the electro-slate your parents left for you.”
Everyone crowded around Kristi as she removed the slate from her pocket and powered the screen on. Words glowed to life:
Fingerprints of the Naturals required for Access.
“Here it goes,” Kristi said mostly to herself.
She pressed her thumb onto the screen. A small beep emitted from the electro-slate.
Troop, Chelsa and Finn followed her example with Dr. Hanson, Jaiden and Finn’s parents looking on with great interest. Finn, the last Natural to scan his finger, removed his thumb from the slate and two icons appeared on the screen.
One of the icons was a blue folder with the words Disappearance Case labeled on it; the second icon looked identical to the first except the words Individualism Case were written on it.
“Of course,” Finn’s mom murmured. “Those are the cases Shelly and Kyle were working on for the last five years. It only makes sense for them to want Kristi to complete them.”
Kristi tapped on the Disappearance Case icon and a document popped up. She shifted into a comfier position on the sofa and started to read:
Case: The Disappearance Case
Assigned Member (s): Kyle and Shelly
Note: Kristi, if you are reading this, then we (Maria and Don) must either be dead or as good as dead. You have been a wonderful daughter to us and we regret we couldn’t have spent more time together. Nevertheless, if you have gotten ahold of this electro-slate, then you must know about the Revealers. We hope you forgive us for keeping this part of our lives a secret from you and Jaiden. If you have unlocked this slate (which you obviously have if you’re reading this), then you must’ve found the other three Naturals. Best of luck in completing the cases we have left behind.
Situation: Where are the Accidents disappearing? Every year, thousands of Accidents, most under a month old, disappear from the records without a trace. Why is the government collecting them and where are they keeping them?
Information gathered:
All Accidents—save the Naturals—are under two months when they disappear
People who have questioned where the Accidents are died shortly afterwards
Stevey is more than he seems
Stevey probably knows where the missing Accidents are; the only problem is getting him to talk
Possible locations where the Accidents may be found:
San King, East Region
Waterfront, West Region
Klisbury, East Region
Kristi finished reading and no one spoke for a moment. The sound of Ghost’s tongue rasping as he washed his paws was amplified a hundredfold in the otherwise soundless room.
It was Kristi who spoke first. “But that still doesn’t explain why there are four Naturals. Any member of the Revealers could’ve completed this case.”
“Read the second file,” Troop suggested.
She exited the document and selected the Individualism Case. Then she started to read once more:
Case: The Individualism Case
Assigned Member(s): Kyle and Shelly
Situation: Many would argue that humanity has become perfected with science. Diseases and conditions such as cancer, stroke and heart attacks are unheard of. Everyone is more or less genetically perfect. Or are they? Has the human race forgotten what perfect is? The truth is, while it may be true that people nowadays have perfect vision, faster learning skills and better physiques than before, the overwhelming majority of the population has forgotten how to think for themselves; they have accepted “perfect” as who they are; no one has individual opinions anymore. This may cause serious problems in the future as the population has a standardized mindset, thus allowing everyone to be manipulated easily. However, what is most troubling is that the human race seems to have forgotten “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” “Perfection” is merely an opinion, not a state of being. The people have to be reminded that having genetically perfect DNA does not make the human race perfect if their minds and humanity are growing weaker.
Solution: We (Kyle and Shelly) have requested four babies with unaltered DNA to be brought up as normally as possible. The Revealers have agreed to provide protection to these four kids to ensure their survival (Tiffany Mendax is in charge of this). It is our goal for these four Naturals, as we have dubbed the four kids, to grow up as normally as possible and in time, show the world it is our differences that make the world a more interesting place. The Revealers have been relentlessly recruiting more followers and members since this project was launched. To date, there are roughly 125,000 Revealer members worldwide.
“125,000 members,” Kristi said. “That’s quite a lot of people.”
“Not really, if you consider there are over three billion people in the world,” Finn said.
“I’m sure the Revealer’s numbers have grown though,” Finn’s dad said.
Dr. Hanson nodded. “Last time I checked, which was about two weeks ago, our numbers were up to 500,000. Tiffany’s been a charm recruiting members.”
Then out-of-the-blue, realization dawned on Kristi. They were expected to fulfill these two tasks left by her parents. Four—five if counting Jaiden—teenagers were expected to fulfill two cases started several years ago.
Troop must’ve caught her thoughts because he said, “This is a lot to take in. Are we actually going to attempt to complete the two cases?”
“Of course we are,” Kristi said, her own words sounding uncertain even to her own ears. “Well, at least I will at any rate.”
“Count me in,” Troop said.
“And me,” Finn added.
“Chelsa?” Kristi prompted.
“Sure.”
Ghost purred his approval.
“Then I’m in as well,” Jaiden concluded.
Finn’s mom interrupted, “As sure as I am of the fact that the five of you are willing to finish the Disappearance and Individualism Case, I must say that is not going to happen.”
Finn’s dad nodded gravely. “You’re too young and inexperienced to be working cases as important as these two. It would be better if the assignments were turned over to other, more seasoned Revealer agents.”
“Mom, Dad,” said Finn, “shouldn’t that decision be up to Kristi to decide? After all, it was her parents who specifically gave her the two cases to complete.”
“Kristi has absolutely no knowledge in this sort of work,” his mom said. She turned to Kristi and said, “No offense.”
“None taken.”
But, she agreed with Finn; it was her right to choose whether she passed on the tasks Maria and Don had left her to better qualified people or not. I mean, I did just cross the entire country to unlock this electro-slate; I don’t want someone else to decide what to do with the contents on the slate.
“Derek and Mellany are viable candidates to work on the cases,” Finn’s mom said to the other adults in the room.
Her husband made an agreeable sound, adding, “Yes. Kelvin and Tom may be interested in this as well. What do you say, Dr. Hanson?”
“I agree with Finn,” said Dr. Hanson, startling everyone by siding with the kids. “It was clearly stated in their wills that Kristi is to receive this electr
o-slate containing information on the Disappearance and Individualism cases. Kyle and Shelly are smart people; they wouldn’t have done such actions without a good reason.”
Finn’s mom gave a curt nod. “I can see your reasoning, Dr. Hanson, but that does not mean I have to agree with it.”
Dr. Hanson acknowledged her opinion. Then he faced Kristi and said, “The law’s on your side if you decide to take on these two cases. Your parents unmistakably stated this electro-slate is to be for you to inherit. Because the files for the Disappearance and Individualism cases are on the slate, technically, they belong to you as well.”
“Kristi isn’t eighteen yet,” Finn’s mom interjected.
“That fact is irrelevant,” said Dr. Hanson. “I will do everything in my power to ensure you succeed if you choose to complete the two cases. I have many useful connections, so feel free to give me a call if you’re ever in a sticky situation.”
Neither of Finn’s parents looked happy, but they didn’t say anything either. I guess Dr. Hanson was right; the two cases legally belong to me, Kristi thought.
“I want to carry out the two cases,” she said.
“I beg you to think over your decision. You’re still young and will make impulsive choices,” said Finn’s dad. He perched at the edge of the couch, wringing his hands.
Kristi replied in a heartbeat, “I’m not changing my mind.”
“Fine,” said Finn’s mom. “I can’t tell you what to do. However, Finn isn’t coming with you, and I am legally entitled to prevent him from leaving this household.”
“Mom,” moaned Finn.
His mom glared at him. Luckily, Dr. Hansom came to their rescue once more.
“Jacqueline,” he said in his soft voice. “Do what you think is best for the greater good. I realize that you love your son, but sometimes love is also about letting go, not just holding on.”
Finn’s mom abruptly stood up. “Fine,” she said, not sounding fine at all. “Do what you will.” She left the room.
Finn’s dad looked at the doorway, as if wishing he could escape the room with his wife.
After what seemed like eons, he said, “Finn, your mother and I will deeply regret seeing you depart on this risky business if you choose to. But if that is what you want to do, I won’t do anything to stop you.”
“Thanks for understanding,” Finn said.
“No problem, son.”
Finn didn’t need to voice his answer out loud. They all knew he was coming with them.
“Finn, will you show the guests the spare bedrooms?” asked his dad in a somber tone.
Finn lightly hoisted himself up from the couch and grabbed his crutches, which were leaning against the wall. “This way.”
Thoughts whirled around Kristi’s brain like a blender set on high.
“Which case should we start on?” she asked.
“Probably the Disappearance Case,” Jaiden said. “It seems to be the most feasible case to complete.”
“Wake up.” Chelsa roughly shook Kristi awake.
Kristi directed her groggy eyes at the clock: 3:26am.
“What the heck?” she whispered.
“We have to go. Jaiden and Troop are already up. I have to go wake up Finn now. Hurry up and get dressed.”
She snagged Chelsa by the arm. “Why?”
“Look, I don’t have time to explain. We’re already six minutes late; waking Jaiden took longer than I expected.”
“I’m not heading outside at half past three in the morning without a good reason,” Kristi said. “Do you know how much trouble we will be in if we’re caught outside?”
“Alright, I’ll explain briefly,” said Chelsa impatiently. “I received an instafication notifying us there was someone who had something that could help aid us in completing one of the cases. The person’s meeting us at Jabber Boulevard at 3:20.”
“Doesn’t this seem a bit vague and skeptical? We haven’t even known about the cases for a day and we’re already being offered help in the middle of the night? Tell the person we’ll meet him or her during the day and at a place where we decide to meet.”
Chelsa let out a frustrated sigh. “Look, don’t you think we could use all the help we can get? The person said he wouldn’t be around tomorrow since he’s leaving Oppidum as soon as he hands us whatever he has to give.”
Jaiden entered the room with Troop.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“Can you go wake Finn up while I try to convince Kristi to get out of bed?”
Jaiden left in search of Finn’s room.
“Should I find Ghost?” Troop asked.
“Nah,” said Chelsa, then she turned back to Kristi, probably ready to yank her out from beneath the blankets by force if needed.
Kristi had already pulled on a hoodie was lacing up her sneakers though. Might as well get this over with, she thought.
“Oh good, you’ve finally come about to your senses,” Chelsa muttered.
Her shoulders bunched up with tension and Kristi began to doubt herself for agreeing to meet this mysterious person in the middle of the night. As far as Kristi was concerned, meeting strangers at three in the morning usually didn’t end well.
Jaiden returned to the room with Finn within five minutes.
“Let’s get going,” he said. “Chelsa, you said you know how to get to Jabber Boulevard, right?”
“Yes.”
Chelsa tried to leave the room, but Ghost blocked the doorway.
“Ghost, can you please move?” she asked.
Ghost raised his hackles and hissed at Chelsa. Kristi had never seen Ghost act so aggressive to her before.
“Don’t make this any harder than it is,” Chelsa said to Ghost in a low voice, prodding him with her foot in attempt to get him out of the way.
Ghost spat disdainfully and stalked away in a huffy manner.
Finn unlocked the backdoor and the five of them stepped out into the crisp night. Kristi was extra glad of the thick sweatshirt she had pulled on when a stiff breeze blew through.
“How far away is Jabber Boulevard?” she whispered.
“About a ten minute walk.”
The roads were eerie and void of life. Oppidum had transformed from a lively metropolitan to an abandoned city within hours. Chelsa seemed to want to say something several times while walking, but kept changing her mind last minute. Kristi wondered if she was regretting rousing them up to meet a stranger in the middle of the night.
“Oh, I recognize where we are,” Finn said. His voice sounded freakishly loud in the unoccupied roads. “Jabber Boulevard is only two streets away.”
They turned right at the end of the avenue and the street sign for Jabber Boulevard came into view. Chelsa, who had been leading the group the whole time, paused in her steps without a warning and spun around. Kristi took a hasty step back to avoid colliding face first into her.
“Are there patrols?” Kristi asked.
“No. Let’s go back to Finn’s house.”
“You’re kidding,” Troop said. “You dragged us out at three-something in the morning only to turn back now without even seeing if we can receive some help with the case.”
“No, I’m not kidding. Let’s go.”
“At least give us a good reason why we should turn back now,” said Jaiden.
“I lied.” Chelsa’s eyes evaded Jaiden’s.
“I don’t understand,” said Jaiden.
“There is no one waiting for us at Jabber Boulevard. At least no one that you would want to meet. Unless you want to be caught by the United Region Homeland Security law enforcers.”
“Are you saying you led us straight into an ambush?” Kristi said, not believing what Chelsa was telling her.
“Yes—get behind those recycle bins!”
Chelsa shoved Kristi behind several bins sitting by the curb just as someone walked off of Jabber Boulevard. Then she walked away from the bins and towards the person.
“Chel
sa, good to see you,” the person greeted her. The woman was dressed all in black, from her combat boots to her helmet.
“Greetings, Officer Zala,” Chelsa replied.
Officer Zala frowned. “You’re late by over fifteen minutes. And where are the others you promised you would bring? My people have been waiting for over an hour now.”
“I’m sorry. I thought I could convince the others to follow me with the fake instafication I sent myself. I was wrong though; they weren’t willing to break curfew.”
Zala ground her teeth, whether out of frustration or anger, Kristi couldn’t tell.
“I expected better of you,” Zala said. “I will call my men off duty then. Remember, the faster you bring the other freaks to us, the faster you’ll get what you want. I will be awaiting your next instafication and updates.”
“Is that all there is?” Chelsa asked.
Officer Zala gave a sharp nod and left. A few minutes later, three black vans pulled out of Jabber Boulevard and then roared off. Kristi quivered, thinking how close they had been with getting caught.
She looked at Troop, Jaiden and Finn, trying to gauge how they were handling this rapid turn of events. Troop and Finn seemed shocked; Troop’s jaw was tightly clenched, trying to hold back his fury of Chelsa’s betrayal. Jaiden was deathly still.
Kristi was glad Chelsa had a sudden change of heart and decided not to turn them in to the government. On the other hand, she was shaking with anger; Chelsa had the nerves to fake a friendship with her.
Chelsa started coming back towards them. Kristi had a lot of acrimonious words in store for her.
“How could you?” she asked. “I trusted you.”
Chelsa refused to meet her eyes and looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to. Nothing went as planned. I didn’t know this was the way things would turn out.”
“Sorry doesn’t change the fact that you almost killed us,” Jaiden snapped.
Ghost appeared out of the night and looked up at Chelsa.
“You’re right and I’m wrong, Ghost,” she said.
Chelsa reached down to scratch Ghost behind the ears. Ghost closed his eyes and rumbled.
Suddenly Kristi understood why Ghost and Chelsa had been in a fight; Ghost knew Chelsa was planning on betraying them. He had been trying to signal Chelsa not to turn them in.
“Let’s head back,” Finn said. “No point in staying out any longer than we need to.”
“Okay,” Kristi said, and then she faced Chelsa who still wasn’t meeting her eyes. “You have a lot of explaining to do once we get back to Finn’s house.”
“I promise I’ll explain everything.”
“You’re promises aren’t worth a lot to me right now,” Jaiden retorted. He sounded furious and wounded at the same time.
They speed-walked in an uncomfortable silence. The walk back to Finn’s home seemed both quicker and slower than before. Finn unlocked the door to the house and everyone slipped inside silently so as not to wake up the adults.
They headed into the living room and Kristi adjusted the lights to the dimmest setting. Jaiden, Troop and Kristi sat together on a couch while Finn remained standing by the doorway. Chelsa settled on the ottoman; the whole setup reminded Kristi of an interrogation being taken place.
“Start talking,” Jaiden commanded.
“First of all, I feel extremely guilty right now. I know that probably doesn’t mean much to you guys, but I truly apologize to you,” Chelsa said.
“You can save your apologies for later.”
“Just tell us why you pretended to be our friend,” Kristi said.
“It’s a long story.”
“We have all the time we need.”
“Do you remember Alex? Officer Zala contacted me shortly after Alex died. It turns out the government has known that there were four living Accidents for a while; however, the Revealers had done an excellent job of concealing our locations. By pure chance, Officer Zala happened to find me after being assigned to document Alex’s death. She offered me a deal: if I could somehow manage to steer the other three Accidents, which are you guys, into one place together where she could seize everyone at once, she would bring Alex back to life.”
Kristi closed her mouth when she realized it had fallen open in disbelief. “That sounds like something from a science-fiction book. No one has ever been brought back from the dead.”
“That’s true,” Chelsa said. “But Officer Zala knows several scientists that have been working on ways to revitalize the deceased; it’s a government funded research department and the scientists think that they will have a method to bring a person back to life using their DNA soon.
“At first, I brushed off her offer for two main reasons: first of all, the whole deal sounded preposterous; second of all, I had absolutely no idea how to find the other Accidents. Heck, I thought I was a one-of-a-kind-freak. But when I accidently met Kristi, I began to reconsider Zala’s offer. I told myself I would just pretend to befriend Kristi and let her lead me to the other Accidents then turn you all in and be done with it.
“I wasn’t expecting to actually befriend you guys. And I most definitely did not foresee myself falling in love with Jaiden.” Chelsa threw him a pleading look, which he returned stonily. She dropped her head to her hands and muttered, “I really screwed up, didn’t I?”
“You really, really screwed up,” Troop affirmed.
Chelsa’s face crumpled. She looked at Kristi, awaiting her verdict.
Kristi found her voice and said, “You hurt me, Chelsa, you’re one of the few people I trusted.”
“I know you probably don’t trust me anymore,” Chelsa said. “But will you at least not hate me?”
Kristi sighed. “I don’t know what to do or feel. I believed you were my friend—I wanted you as my friend. But your actions tonight proved otherwise. Yet, if you hadn’t changed your mind and decided to fork me over to Zala, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”
“Does that mean you’ve forgiven me?”
“I suppose. I do have a question though: was the government somehow involved with our lack of bandit encounters on South Lane?”
“Yes. As the Revealers have suspected, the government is working with several bandit groups. The bandits were instructed to leave us alone. It is also why the government didn’t try very hard to capture Kristi and Jaiden; they wanted to wait until Finn, Troop and Kristi were together before swooping in.”
Troop gave Kristi a look that read, “Isn’t that what I said before?”
“I haven’t known you for a long time,” Finn said. “But if Kristi thinks you’ve definitely had a change of heart, then you’re cool by me. But take notice, I’ll be watching your moves closely, so you better not screw up again.” Finn said the words as if simply stating a fact.
Troop didn’t offer his thoughts.
The rest of them waited for Jaiden to speak. He looked squarely into Chelsa’s eyes and said, “It’s over. Whatever we had going on between us is over.”
Then he stood up and strode out of the room.
This living room sure witnessed a lot of dramatic exits today, thought Kristi. First Finn’s mom and now Jaiden.
“Well,” she said, “just when I thought things couldn’t get worse they did.”
“You think?” Troop said sarcastically.
Jaiden didn’t join them for brunch that morning. The grownups seemed to have noticed some of the tension in the air, but to Kristi’s relief, they didn’t ask about it.
“Where’s Dr. Hanson?” she asked Finn’s dad.
Finn’s mom had left for her office shortly after making sure the teens had enough to eat. Kristi was glad she had departed—her interactions with Finn still seemed strained at best.
“He left already. He had some business to attend to and headed out when you were still asleep. He did leave this for you though.”
Finn’s dad handed her a sealed envelope. Troop put down his dirty
dishes in the sink and peered over Kristi’s shoulder.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Hold on. Have some patience.”
She carefully slid her finger underneath the flap and pulled out a single piece of paper. In neatly printed letters were the words:
If I recall correctly, your parents believe Stevey holds valuable information in which you may be interested. Stevey’s house: 41° 39' 58.1008” Burn after reading. Do not share this information. A driver will take you to a twenty-mile radius within Stevey’s house. The driver should arrive a bit after noon, so you will have time to gather your belongings. Your droid-horses will be transported to a stable run by a Revealer member. Good luck.
“As usual, he’s one step ahead of us,” Kristi said to herself, but loud enough for Troop to hear.
She entered the longitude and latitude into her electro-slate, then tossed the paper into the incinerator.
Clang!
Finn accidently dropped one of his crutches.
Troop retrieved it for him and said, “I’ve been meaning to ask but keep on forgetting: how did you hurt your leg?”
“Hiking accident.”
“That stinks. How much longer until you’re off crutches?”
“Um, never.”
“Never?” Kristi asked.
“I paralyzed my left leg four years ago.”
“Couldn’t the doctors do anything? If they can bring back the dead, surely they can mend a paralyzed leg.”
Finn shrugged. “I hurt my spinal cord pretty bad. The spinal cord, which is part of the nervous system, was too messed up to be fixed. As a result, I lost all sense in my leg.”
“I’m not trying to impose on your personal preferences, but have you considered getting a prosthetic?”
“My parents and I did look into it, but we couldn’t find a surgeon willing to perform surgery on me to remove the paralyzed leg; none of the surgeons we approached wanted to help an Accident. To quote the last surgeon we visited, ‘This is natural selection doing its job of making sure only the fittest survive.’”
Troop snorted. “That’s BS.”
Kristi couldn’t have agreed more. “Couldn’t Dr. Hanson remove your paralyzed leg for you?”
“He’s not a surgeon,” Finn explained. “He isn’t trained to perform operations.”
“Someone better wake Jaiden up,” Chelsa said. She had been so quiet this morning Kristi had forgotten she was still in the room. “He doesn’t know we’re leaving in a few hours.”
“Want me to do it?” Kristi offered.
“Yes, please,” Chelsa said gratefully.
Kristi left the kitchen and headed up to the guest bedroom. Jaiden was already awake and seemed to be deep in thought, sitting cross-legged on the bed.
She gently coughed, as not to startle him when she spoke, “Are you alright? We’re going to be heading out soon.”
“I don’t think I’ll be coming,” he said.
“What do you mean? Surely you’re not so furious about Chelsa you’re planning on staying behind.” Kristi couldn’t imagine solving the two cases without Jaiden. He was her brother, her friend.
“I’ve already spoken with Finn’s parents,” Jaiden continued on like he hadn’t heard Kristi. “They’ve agreed to let me stay with them until I get a steady job and am ready to live on my own. They’re also nice enough to get me a new ID and paperwork—that’s the upside of being in contact with the Revealers.”
“Jaiden, you’re not serious! How can—”
“—it’ll be great. I’m getting the chance to have a fresh start. No one knows me in Oppidum and Finn’s parents have agreed to pose as my aunt and uncle.” Jaiden paused in his talking and looked at Kristi. “What do you think?”
She took a gulp and replied, “If this is really what you want to do, I guess I’m more than happy that an opportunity like this has presented itself to you. But at the same time, I’ll really miss you traveling with the group.”
“I want to stay here.”
Kristi dipped her head. “I respect your choice, but all the same, your company will be sorely missed. Are you still angry at Chelsa?” She asked before she could help herself.
Storm clouds rolled onto his face. “Not so much angry as hurt. I can’t believe she’s been playing us along the whole time.”
“Chelsa’s changed her loyalties.”
“That’s what you think.”
Kristi decided to keep her mouth shut to prevent herself from infuriating this touchy topic.
“Love is like an onion,” Jaiden said.
Kristi wasn’t sure how to reply to this random statement, so she said the first thing that popped into her mind, “I don’t see the connection.”
“A person, like an onion, is made up of multiple layers. When you love a person, you get to take away all their layers and truly see what they’re like on the inside. You may cry as you peel away each layer and discover not all of them are sweet.”
chapter thirty-one
[ Troop ]
