imperfect (17 page)

“
I don’t know what you’re
talking about, but the bags aren’t heavy at all.”

Then Jaiden noticed she had given him the
heaviest bags and chased her up the stairs. Kristi pounded on the
door of their room. Chelsa opened it and Kristi flung her bags onto
the bed.

Chelsa looked better; she had stopped crying
and her trademark mischievous glint had returned to her eyes.
Jaiden thundered into the room and dumped his load onto the tiny
bed. The cot creaked in protest.

“
Everything go smoothly?”
Chelsa asked. “Nobody recognized you?”

“
All’s good,” Kristi
replied. “Can you help me organize the supplies for
tomorrow?”

Chelsa came over and sorted the items from
the bags into three groups: food, camping gear and others. She
picked up the compass, running her fingers over the engraved
decorations. Then she popped it open.

“
Where did you find this?”
Chelsa asked. “I haven’t used one in years.”

“
General store,” Kristi
replied.

She peered over Chelsa’s shoulder, watching
her twist a thin layer of glass so that the needle was lined up
with the arrow painted on the moveable glass piece. Jaiden, who was
absorbed with taking the packaging off the ultraviolet water
bottles, didn’t notice Kristi and Chelsa playing with the
compass.

“
What else is in that
bag?” he asked.

Chelsa threw the pouches
of dried mango strips at his head as her answer.
Yep, Chelsa is definitely back to normal if she’s
throwing packaged food at Jaiden,
Kristi
concluded.

“
Okay, okay! I get it.”
Jaiden dove behind the bed for cover. “No need to be aggressive.
You could’ve just
told
me what else Kristi bought.”

Chelsa produced more items from the bag and
threw them at Jaiden. Some instant oatmeal. A box of dehydrated
fries. A couple protein bars.

“
Ow—wait, was that
a
compass?
”
Jaiden said and popped up from behind the bed.

“
Yeah, what else do you
expect us to use when we get lost?” Chelsa asked.

“
How does an electro-slate
sound like to you? And they hurt a lot less than a huge hunk of
metal being thrown at you.”

“
Have you ever thought
about what you would do if your electro-slate suddenly starts to
malfunction? Then what would you do? At least you can rely on a
compass to always point you north.”

“
Touché,” Jaiden said. He
dusted himself off and picked up the items scattered around him.
“Don’t throw any more stuff at me,” he warned Chelsa with a teasing
edge to his voice.

The streetlamps outside all went out at
once, signaling the start of curfew. They wouldn’t be able to leave
the inn until tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. without breaking the laws.
Not that following the laws mattered much anymore; Kristi had
transgressed the laws more times than she could count on her
fingers within the past few days.

She hauled two of the newly purchased
backpacks off the mattress and dropped them by the door where they
could seize them in a matter of seconds. She was tempted to press
Chelsa for more answers regarding Alex, but looking at her finally
happy after two breakdowns in a day, Kristi couldn’t bring herself
to harass Chelsa.

They couldn’t travel the
next
day. A freak snowstorm that was
supposed to last from morning until evening blew in. The wind
howled and rattled the window shutters, banging them against the
outside wall. The snow was coming down so thick Kristi couldn’t see
her hand in front of her face when she stuck her head out the
bathroom window.

“
Who’s ever heard of a
blizzard in the middle of September?” she mumbled.

“
Blame it on global
warming,” Jaiden said.

“
Global warming?” Chelsa
asked. “Isn’t global warming supposed to make the earth warmer, not
colder?”

“
Overall, yes. But it can
also seriously mess up the weather.”

“
Well, at least we can dye
your hair now. Who’s first?” Chelsa went into the bathroom and
filled a bucket with water.

“
I guess I’ll go first,”
Kristi said. “Can you prepare the red-brown hair dye for
me?”

“
On it.”

Kristi took two towels off the rack in the
bathroom and brushed out her hair. She returned to Chelsa and
allowed her head to be dunked into the bucket of dye. Once Chelsa
was satisfied every bit of her hair was covered in the dye, she
allowed her to towel dry.

“
How’s the color?” Kristi
asked.

“
I like it,” Jaiden said.
“I never imagined you would look good with a lighter hair
color.”

“
The color matches your
hazel eyes.” Chelsa motioned for Jaiden to come over. “You’re next.
Choose which color you want.”

Chelsa and Kristi went to the bathroom.
Kristi examined her new look while Chelsa dumped out the bucket and
refilled it with fresh water and mixed in the dye Jaiden had
chosen.

Dying Jaiden’s hair was much faster and he
was soon finished. Kristi had to do a double take to reassure
herself Jaiden was still, in fact, her brother; he looked like a
new person.

“
Anyone want to play cards
on the electro-slate?” Kristi asked. “We have plenty of time to
kill.”

“
Count me in,” said
Jaiden.

Chelsa poured the bucket of liquid down the
sink. “Me too.”

chapter
eighteen

[ Troop ]

Clang!

“
Ow!”

Troop awoke with a start.
He stared blearily at his clock.
Who’s up
at 3:34 a.m.?
He turned over on his side
and prepared to go back to sleep.

Crack!

He slipped out of bed and
peered into the hallway. It was empty and dark. He cocked his head
and listened for any sounds. There it was…the scuffling noise.
Tiptoeing, Troop snuck towards his mom’s office, where the sound
was coming from.

The office door was shut,
but Troop could see some light spilling out from the crack running
along the bottom. Fearing that there might be an intruder, he
brought along his electro-slate in case he had to make an emergency
call. Troop grasped the door handle and pushed it open, half
expecting to see his mom wrapping up some last-minute work and half
expecting to see a burglar.

It was neither.

“
What are you doing here?”
Troop demanded.

His father froze, caught red-handed.

“
Get out, you low lying,
flea-infested slug!”

Footsteps pounded down the
hall. His mom hurtled into the office and looked from Troop to her
ex-husband. At first she looked confused, then she looked furious.
“Don’t you dare move,” she said.

Troop’s father put up his hand in
defeat.

Troop tried to figure out
what was going on.
Why is he snooping in
my mom’s home office?
His mother, on the
other hand, seemed to have a clear idea of what was happening. She
had taken out her electro-slate and was calling someone.

“
I need some backup,” she
said. “There’s a spy in my office.”

Troop’s father looked hurt. “I’m not a spy.
How could you accuse me of such thing?”

His mother ignored him.
“Yes, this is work sensitive information he is going through. I
don’t know how he found out the info is at my office.”

“
Don’t move,” Troop said,
noticing his father edging towards the window.

His father smiled a pinched looking smile.
“Feels awfully warm in here, doesn’t it? Some fresh air would be
nice.”

Troop lunged forwards, grabbing the tail of
his father’s shirt.

His father cracked a maniacal grin and said,
“Didn’t they teach you about personal space in school?” Then he
twisted out of Troop’s grip and threw a small object at the
window.

“
Troop, get back!” his mom
screamed.

The object exploded,
shattering the window and sending splinters of glass flying
everywhere. Troop ducked down, but not before catching the sight of
his father tumbling out of the building. The smoke cleared in a
matter of seconds. With his ears still ringing, Troop assessed the
situation.

Aside from several minor
cuts, both he and his mother were unharmed. The detonation had
completely demolished the window and knocked askew the desk
though.

“
What was he looking for?”
Troop asked, speaking louder than usual since his hearing was still
impaired.

“
Just information.” His
mom rushed over to her desk and pulled out its drawers, ignoring
the shards of glass strewn all over the floor. “At least I think
that was what he was searching for,” she added later. She let out a
small sigh. “Good, he didn’t find the file.”

Troop didn’t ask what type of information
his mom would possibly have that others would try to steal. The
Company did a decent amount of underhand work.

Somebody knocked on the
door. “Reinforcement squad.”

“
Just a bit too late,”
Troop muttered.

chapter
nineteen

[ Kristi ]

“
He returned!” Chelsa’s
shriek rang out the next morning.

“
Who returned?” Kristi
rubbed her crusted eyelids.

“
Ghost.”

Kristi cracked open her eyes; Chelsa was
hugging a very saturated Ghost. His fur dripped with melted snow
and tiny icicles had formed on his whiskers.

“
Can someone hand me a
towel?” Chelsa asked.

Jaiden handed her one.

Chelsa vigorously rubbed Ghost. Once Ghost
was dried to her satisfaction, she stood up beaming and said,
“Ready to go get the droid-horses?”

The landscape outside was
beautiful
and serene. It was the crack of
dawn and the tunes whistled by a symphony of mourning doves, larks
and warblers filled the air.

“
You need a name,” Kristi
said to her recently acquired droid-horse. “Mist. I’m calling you
Mist.”

Mist looked at her with an
expression that read:
Call me whatever you
want and I couldn’t have cared less.

She tightened the girth one last time before
walking Mist outside into the snowy wonderland. The virgin snow
blanketed the world with a dazzling sparkle, completely unmarked
except for the footprints made by Chelsa, Jaiden and Kristi on
their way to the stable.

Kristi clambered atop Mist and waited for
Jaiden and Chelsa to meet her outside. They steered the
droid-horses towards the unplowed road. The horses released steam
into the frigid air, plunging their way through two feet of snow.
Ghost opted to perch on the back of Chelsa’s horse instead of
toiling his way through the snow.

Two hours later, they reached a section of
Route 56 that had been cleared of snow. Nevertheless, the horses
only dared to take mincing steps, for patches of ice still appeared
every so often on the road. No one else but the three of them was
traveling on Route 56. Kristi supposed the hazardous driving
conditions turned off a lot of people.

A stillness inhabited the air, reminding her
of the calm before a storm hits. She shaded her eyes, observing the
tumultuous sea of clouds behind them.

“
Chelsa, can you check the
weather on the electro-slate?” Kristi asked.

“
Crud. There’s a weather
alert for this area. Another snowstorm is blowing
through.”

Jaiden took a look at the storm clouds as
well. “They appear to be a mile away, give or take. Do you think we
should make a dash for New Amsterdam?” New Amsterdam, the closest
town from them, was ten miles away.

Kristi dared another peek back to the clouds
and said, “The clouds are moving pretty fast. It’ll be a close race
to see who reaches New Amsterdam first.”

“
Let’s race for New
Amsterdam,” Chelsa said. “I don’t want to spend the night in this
storm.”

She clucked to her horse and drove it into a
gallop. Jaiden and Kristi spurred their horses after Chelsa. The
first two miles or so flew by, but the sky grew dark and ominous
with each passing minute. Then the storm hit them. Snow swirled all
around Kristi, confusing her sense of direction.

Kristi rocked back and forth in the saddle,
doing her best to steer Mist around the bits of black ice. The
heavy, stifling silence that suppressed the atmosphere wrapped
around her like a cloak. She shifted in her seat and made sure
Chelsa was still within sight.

“
Can you run faster?”
Kristi asked Mist.

She crouched low in the saddle. Chelsa began
to inch further and further ahead of Kristi. Mist huffed out a
breath then extended her strides. The warning light positioned on
Mist’s shoulder flashed at an allegro tempo. Kristi checked to see
if the other droid-horses were overheating as well. They both were.
Jaiden turned his head towards Kristi and she pointed to the red,
blinking light on Mist’s shoulder.

“
Chelsa, slow down! The
horses are going to malfunction,” Jaiden yelled into the wind that
was starting to pick up.