imperfect (16 page)

Troop lowered his eyes, afraid he might’ve
been too forward with his earlier words. “Yes, sir. Give me another
chance. I won’t let you down.”

Vikens pulled out another
piece of paper from his folder and passed it to him. “Let’s try
again. Fifty Facts about the Formation of the New Countries. Time
starts now.”

“
The
hack was a success
,” said Jack. “I
changed Tompkins’ grades as you requested. I only boosted them a
few points though—didn’t want to make it look
suspicious.”

“
Nice work,” Troop
praised.

“
I also raised a few other
members’ grades a point here and there.”

“
Did you try to raise mine
as well?”

Jack paused, not sure if Troop was asking
him a trick question or not. Troop had made it clear to everyone
not to delve into his private information.

“
No,” said Jack after a
second’s hesitation. “I didn’t try to change your grades. I could
if you want me to. Just give me the word and I will.”

He brushed Jack’s offer
away. “No need. My grades are fine the way they are.”

“
Troop! A word with you,”
Bruno called across the school courtyard.

“
Later,” said Troop to
Jack.

Bruno waited for him
beneath the shade of an elm tree. The shadows cast by the branches
upon Bruno’s face gave him a twisted, sinister look.

“
What do you want?” Troop
asked.

“
You moved here a few
years ago.”

“
I thought you already
knew that.”

“
Why?”

“
That’s none of your
business.”

“
Your profile’s blocked,”
said Bruno.

“
What are you talking
about?”

Bruno continued on as if
he hadn’t heard him. “I couldn’t access your school records even
after Jack disabled the network security system. I could access
everyone’s records
but
yours.”

Troop grew stone cold. “And why, Bruno, were
you trying to get into my records?” His voice could’ve froze
boiling water on the spot. “You know better than that.”

“
I was
curious. I wanted to know
why
all your information is
classified—ID number, past school records, your
address—”

“
Curiosity killed the
cat.”

Bruno gave Troop a suspicious squint.
“There’s something going on here. I don’t know what you’re up to,
but I’m going to find out if it’s the last thing I do.”

“
I simply prefer not to
share my personal information with the world,” said
Troop.

“
You’re hiding
something.”

“
I’m hiding something?
What would I want to hide? You’re being ridiculous.”

“
Maybe.” Bruno shoved his
hands into his jean pockets. “But remember this: one misstep and
I’ll be waiting to take your place at Ludus.”

“
I don’t
make mistakes,” said Troop.
I’m
perfect.

“
We’ll see about
that.”

“
If you’re making a
threat, Bruno, you may very well end up being the next target of
VicDay.”

The corners of Bruno’s
mouth lifted slightly. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure. It wouldn’t be
wise to target the heir of Ludus High—no matter how popular you
are.”

“
Was that a threat?
”

Bruno shook his head. “No.
Merely a warning. Consider yourself warned.”

Troop locked his glare
onto Bruno’s icy blue eyes. Bruno held his gaze, but eventually
lowered it. The first bell rang and the two boys went their
separate ways.

Troop remained composed and in control on
the outside, but on the inside he was shaking. No one could find
out the truth about him.

chapter
seventeen

[ Kristi ]

Kristi’s jaw dropped open.
“
What?
” she
asked, thinking,
Am I
seriously hearing
Chelsa confess
murder?

Jaiden pulled them behind a gardening shed
for some privacy. Chelsa swiped away at her wet eyes.

“
You heard right. I killed
my boyfriend.” She swallowed and continued on. “And I live with the
guilt everyday. Ghost is all I have left of him. Alex gave me Ghost
when he was just a cub. He snuck Ghost out of the lab where he
volunteered because they were going to exterminate him.”

Neither Jaiden nor Kristi could come up with
a reply. One of the droid-horses nickered, reminding them that they
were still around and getting edgy.

“
Come on, let’s check in
at an inn for tonight. We also need to find a stable for the
horses,” Kristi finally said.

Chelsa numbly followed Jaiden and Kristi,
allowing them to lead her to Quick Wink Inn. The innkeeper, a bored
looking girl in her early twenties, showed them to their room then
left.

“
Jaiden, will you go find
a place for our three droid-horses to spend the night? I’ll ask
around for a droid-pet buyer and purchase some supplies as well.”
Kristi turned around and pushed Chelsa back onto the bed when she
tried to get up. “And you’re staying in this room for
now.”

She picked up the electro-slate and went
outside. Kristi untied the four horses to be sold from the hitching
post. Looking up at the public news-screen, a picture of Jaiden and
her declared to be wanted persons flashed by.

Even though the pictures displayed were
taken before their haircuts, Kristi reminded herself to buy some
hair dye as soon as possible. The newscaster appeared on
news-screen. She displayed her pearly whites—Kristi supposed it was
the reporter’s attempt at a smile—then said:

“
Two sailors were found
dead this morning behind a warehouse. The police aren’t sure how
they died, but wounds suggest they were stabbed to death. Citizens
should report to the authorities right away if they see any
suspicious activity or know of any information regarding the two
murders.”

The pictures of the murder victims appeared
on the screen. Kristi stifled a small gasp; they were the same two
travelers she had been eavesdropping at Troll’s Tavern.

Chelsa has killed another
person before. And she saw those two sailors at the Troll’s Tavern
as well.
Kristi whipped her head back and
forth, clearing her thoughts.
I refuse to
believe Chelsa murdered those two people. I bet it was that shady
merchant who committed the crime. Yeah, that must be it.

She checked the time scrolling across the
bottom of the news-screen. It was 5:47 p.m.; she still had a decent
amount of time left before curfew. Spotting a sign advertising
“Drake’s Droids”, she pushed open the door and entered the
shop.

Droid-dogs barked in cages, droid-parrots
recited the alphabet from their perches and droid-cats sauntered
around the store. Schools of droid-guppies zipped around in the
Plexiglas tank being displayed in the center of the shop, their
neon light pulsing beneath their opaque scales.

“
How may I help you?”
asked the man standing behind the register.

“
Do you buy droid-horses?”
Kristi said. “I have a few that I am looking to sell.”

“
I don’t deal with large
droid-pets. However, George down the street deals with
droid-horses.”

Kristi thanked the shop owner and left. She
looked down the street and made out a sign with the words “Oxfield
Stables” written on it. She grasped the droid-horses’ reins and
guided them over to the stable.

A broad shouldered man was brushing a
droid-horse. He didn’t look up when Kristi entered the barn; the
grooming job absorbed his complete attention. She cleared her
throat. He still didn’t notice her.

“
Are you George?” she
asked.

“
That’s me. Is there
anything I can do for you?” He stopped his cleaning and looked
up.

“
I have four droid-horses
I need to sell. The owner of the droid-pet shop up the street said
you deal with droid-horses.”

“
I’ll buy droid-horses if
the price is reasonable.”

“
The horses are outside,”
Kristi said.

“
Alright, I’ll come take a
look.” He led the droid-horse he was grooming into a stall then
came outside where Kristi had tied the horses to the sign. “Nice
droids. They all seem fairly new.”

He fondly scratched a brown horse beneath
the jaw. Next, he gave each droid a quick look-over. “I’ll give you
1,000 points for the lot.”

Kristi wasn’t sure if 1,000 points was a
good deal or not, but figured 1,000 seemed like a nice, even
number.

She stuck out her hand. “Deal.”

He shook her hand then transferred the
points onto Chelsa’s account. “Pleasure doing business with
you.”

Her next stop was the general store, where
she planned on picking up more food, camping supplies and hair dye.
The general store’s glass door was heavier than it looked, and
Kristi grunted with effort pushing it open. Inside, there were
shelves filled with a wide assortment of items, ranging from edible
gum to DIY solar-car kits.

Kristi obtained a hover-cart and started
shoving dehydrated food into it, not paying attention to what was
going into the cart. The hover-cart levitated a few inches above
the floor, suspended by repelling magnets stuck on the bottom of
the cart and magnetic tracks running beneath the linoleum
floor.

“
Are you cooking for an
army or what?” asked a store employee with a nametag reading:
Hello, my name is SAMMY.

Kristi checked out the contents of the
overflowing cart. Indeed, she could probably feed a small army with
all the food she’d tossed in there. She started replacing some of
the packages back onto the shelves. Sammy reached over and helped
her.

“
I’m going on a
droid-horse trail ride that requires me to camp over night for a
few days,” Kristi explained.

“
You’ll probably be
interested in this then,” Sammy said. She snitched a bottle off a
shelf. “It’s a water bottle with built in ultraviolet filters that
will make contaminated waters safe to drink. Saves you a lot of
time from boiling water if you run out of purifying
tablets.”

“
How much for a water
bottle?”

“
Twenty
points.”

That’ll be sixty points
for three water bottles,
Kristi
thought.
It’s not cheap, but hey, I have
1,000 points to spend
. “I’ll take three of
them.”

Sammy placed the bottles in Kristi’s cart.
“Let me know if you need any more help.”

Kristi wandered to the hair section of the
store and picked up a black dye, blonde dye and light red-brown
dye. She couldn’t decide which color to choose for Jaiden and her,
so she ended up placing all three dyes into the hover-cart.

Moving on, Kristi entered the outdoors
section of the general store. She snagged a second-hand tent, two
backpacks and three more sleeping bags since the bandits had stolen
theirs.

Something round and shiny being displayed
behind a glass counter grabbed her eyes. She walked closer to the
object, still not sure what it was. The thing was made of two
circular pieces of metal hinged together. One of the circles
contained a cross-like symbol.

“
That’s a compass,” Sammy
said, seeing Kristi’s interest with the object. “I
think
it still works.
It’s usually antique collectors who purchase old artifacts like
this.”

“
What does a compass
do?”

“
Tells you which way the
direction east lies…or maybe it was north. Nobody uses compasses
anymore though, when you can just use UnivMaps.”

“
I’ll take the compass.”
Kristi’s tongue blundered through the unfamiliar word.

Sammy unlocked the glass counter and took
the object off the black velvet cushion it rested upon. The chain
attached to the compass clinked against the glass when she laid the
compass on top of the counter.

Kristi picked the compass
up and snapped it closed with a
click.
There was a detailed etching
of a dove carrying an olive branch in its beak on the outside of
the metal disk. If the electro-slate ever fails, at least she would
still be able to find east/north, provided she figured out how to
work the compass.

Kristi looked over all the items in her cart
and did a rough calculation of how many points this cartload of
supplies was going to cost. After paying for everything, there
would be a bit more than two hundred points left in Chelsa’s
account. It wasn’t a terribly low amount of points, but it wasn’t a
lot either. They would have to ration their spending in the days to
come.

Somehow, Kristi managed to stagger back to
Quick Wink Inn with a week’s worth of food and camping gear.

“
Oh good, you can help me
carry some of the stuff up the stairs,” she said, spotting Jaiden
by the inn’s entrance. “Did you find a place to stable the
droid-horses?”

“
Yeah. There’s a barn
right at the back of the inn. The innkeeper said she’d just add an
additional charge of twenty-five points to our bill for keeping the
horses there.” He grunted as he picked up some of the bags of
purchased goods Kristi had set on the ground beside his feet. “What
the heck did you buy? An elephant?”