imperfect (22 page)

“
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.”