imperfect (44 page)

Nine floors left. So far
so good; no one has noticed us yet.
Troop
resisted the temptation to watch his film being played. From the
sounds coming from the streets, it seemed that the citizens had
finally notice something was amiss with the news-screens.
Five floors to go. I think we’re actually going
to pull this off.

chapter
forty-eight

[ Kristi ]

Kristi was worried. She
knew Finn was tiring, even though he
worked hard not to show it.

“
Three more levels to go,”
she muttered to herself, thankful they were low enough on the fire
escape to be blocked by the trees planted along the edge of the
apartment complex. “Three more left, three more left, three more
left,” she chanted under her breath. “Two more levels left, two
more left.”

“
Success.” Finn pushed off
the rim of the platform and awkwardly landed on the ground. He
braced his fall with his hands and knees then pushed himself onto
his feet. “You guys coming?”

Chelsa silently dropped
down beside Finn; somehow, Finn had surpassed Chelsa while making
his descent. Kristi shimmied her way down until she was only eight
feet above the ground before leaping off the fire escape. Troop was
beside her in an instant.

Finn hobbled over to his crutches and let
out a grunt. “Guess I’ll have to make do with only one for
now.”

He shoved a crutch beneath his arms then
tossed the other back behind the bushes; it was little more than a
piece of mangled metal after its thirty-seven-story plunge.

“
I’ll lead,” Troop
said.

“
I know how to get to the
Meditation Garden, too,” Kristi said. “I don’t mind taking the
lead.”

Troop raised his eyebrows.
“Allowing you to lead us to the Wayland Hotel was the last time I
trust you with directions.”

“
Point taken.”

Troop went out of his way
to make sure they took all the backstreets and dodged behind a
building every time a law enforcer came into view. Although, to be
honest, Kristi thought they could’ve walked down Main Street in
plain sight all the way to the Meditation Garden and no one
would’ve noticed. All eyes were trained on the public news-screens,
which were still exhibiting Troop’s film.

A few more turns and
backtracks later, they were at the Meditation Garden. There were a
few soccer matches being held in the city park, but the Meditation
Garden itself was void of citizens. Visiting the garden in
daylight, Kristi realized it wasn’t as big as she had imagined it
to be. At most, the garden took up an acre of space.

A small dirt path spiraled its ways through
the bamboo plants and trees until it reached the center of the
garden. A small pond with shimmering droid-koi splashing in the
water dominated the heart of the garden. Moss covered stone benches
surrounded the pond.

“
Did Nick say which bench
the trapdoor is beneath?” Chelsa asked.

“
No,” replied Troop.
“Start searching, everyone.”

Kristi dropped to her knees and peered
beneath the bench besides her. A layer of dead leaves obscured the
ground. She stuck her hand into the space to sweep aside the
foliage. No trapdoor. She moved onto the next bench. Same results.
Onto the next bench.

Chelsa pointed to the
bench Kristi was searching below. “I already checked that
one.”

“
Did we leave any
unchecked?”

“
I don’t think
so.”

“
Let’s recheck all of
them, then,” Troop said. “The trapdoor must be pretty well hidden
if it has to remain undetected for a while.”

Everyone got back onto
their hands and knees and started a second sweep through for the
elusive trapdoor. Well, everyone but Kristi.
A trapdoor beneath a bench in a public garden seems just a
bit too obvious,
she thought.
If I had to hide the entrance to a secret place,
where would I place it?

“
Kristi, why aren’t you
helping?” Troop demanded.

“
Hold on a second,” she
said.

He let out a
snort-slash-sigh. “In case you haven’t noticed, time’s not on our
side.”

Kristi ignored him and walked over to a
plaque positioned a few feet above the ground. It read:

Leonard Memorial Pond

Donated by the Klisbury Community Garden
Club

The sign was nailed to a
hunk of granite jutting out from the dirt; the granite didn’t have
as extensive of moss growth compared to the stone benches.
Which must mean the benches are older than the
koi pond,
Kristi thought.

She took off her sneakers and rolled up her
pants. Then she waded into the pond, scattering the fish when she
took her first step in. Her breath hitched a little; the water was
colder than she anticipated.

“
Kristi,” Troop said.
“What has gotten into you?”

“
I think the trapdoor’s in
the pond.”

“
Nick clearly told us the
entrance was beneath a bench.”

Chelsa and Finn looked at
each other and resumed hunting for the trapdoor, clearly
uncomfortable with the argument being taken place. Kristi took
another step and stepped off an underwater ledge of some sort. She
dropped down several feet and sputtered; the water reached her
shoulders.

“
Get out
of the pond
now,
” Troop demanded.

“
I don’t remember anyone
putting you in charge of us.”

She edged towards the
center of the pond; the water continuously got deeper and deeper.
By now, she had to tread water to keep her head from being
submerged. A rigid gust of wind blew through, making her teeth
chatter.

“
I think I found
something,” Finn said.

Troop shot Kristi a look
of disproval and mouthed,
“You should’ve
listened to me.”

Kristi remained in the pond and watched Finn
reveal what he had found. It turned out to be nothing more than a
large, flat slab of rock with the year the Meditation Garden was
built etched into it. Finn’s shoulder slumped in defeat.

Kristi took a huge gulp of
air and allowed herself to sink below the surface. She stretched
her legs and used her feet to feel around the bottom of the pond.
She shirked away from the gross texture of the oozy mud.
Stop being such a wimp,
Kristi chided herself. She drew in a breath and ended up
choking on pond water.

Gasping, she kicked her way to the surface
and slurped in a deep breath before going back under. Kristi forced
her eyes open to grasp a vague sense of her bearings.

Her foot connected with
the pond’s floor. Using her arms to keep herself upright, she
shuffled her way around. There was a muted
thunk
when her right foot hit
something hard.

Ignoring her throbbing
toe, Kristi dove down and found the object that she had hit with
her foot. Her fingers wrapped around a metal handle.
This must be the trapdoor,
she thought.

She wanted to stay down longer, but she was
running out of oxygen. She broke through the waterline to replenish
her lungs. The others were still busy looking beneath the
benches.

“
It has to be here,” Troop
muttered. “Nick wouldn’t lie to us.”

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

A group of people marched
by, obviously not attempting to hide their presence. Finn and Troop
simultaneously hid behind a bench. Chelsa nonchalantly played with
her fingernails with her back turned to the group of
Searchers.

“
It’s not fair we don’t
have the droid-dogs,” a Searcher whined from the back of the
group.

Kristi submerged herself until only her eyes
were above the water.

“
Will you shut up?” a
senior officer said.

“
We’ll never find the
Accidents if we don’t have the droid-dogs. They could be
anywhere!”

“
I swear, if you don’t
shut your mouth in a minute I will personally see you kicked off
the squad. I honestly can’t figure out why I agreed to take you
on.” The officer stopped in his tracks, right in front of
Chelsa.

Kristi completely dove underwater, praying
no one would think to search for a fugitive hiding in a koi-pond.
She waited beneath the surface until her ribs ached for air and
stars swam before her eyes. As seamlessly as she could, Kristi
pierced the surface of the pond for a quick inhale. The Searchers
were still talking to Chelsa when Kristi submerged herself
again.

She waited and waited.
Every time she went to the surface for air, she risked being
caught.
Just leave,
Kristi directed her thoughts at the Searchers.
Just go away and never come back.
A gold droid-koi zipped by in front of her eyes.
Kristi reached out her hand to touch it, but the fish darted beyond
reach.

She leaned her head back
and looked up. Although the water blurred her vision, she could
still make out the outlines of the Searchers.

Great, now I can’t come up
for air because the Searchers will definitely notice me.
She swam to the possible location of the
trapdoor. Once she felt the metal handle, she grasped it with her
hands and pulled on it with all her might. It refused to budge an
inch. What was worse, though, was that the exertion had depleted
her oxygen levels dangerously low.
Dumb,
Kristi. That was really dumb. Why do you never think your plans
through?

She began to propel
herself to back to the surface. Something big and heavy sailed
through the air and smashed through water, narrowly missing her
head. She splashed up and saw the disappearing backs of the
Searchers. A Searcher whirled around, catching the sound of the
disturbed water caused by Kristi.

Kristi sank below once more, but not before
she heard Chelsa call out, “Probably just a surprised koi.”

She allowed a minute to
slip past then deemed it safe to reemerge from the pond.

“
We have to hurry,” Chelsa
said.

Both Troop and Finn had
come out from their hiding places. Kristi’s wet hair plastered
against her back.

“
A second group of
Searchers will be passing through shortly,” said Chelsa. “And they
have the Sniffers.”

Sniffers were droid-dogs with a sole
purpose: to track down people by scent.

“
I’ve found the trapdoor,”
Kristi said. “But I can’t get it open.”

“
Who would put a trapdoor
in the middle of a pond?” Troop asked. “You wouldn’t be able to
enter the room without letting all of the water from the pond flood
it.”

“
I’ve found the entrance.
Check it out if you don’t believe me.”

“
Sniffers,” Chelsa
reminded everyone. “We don’t have time to waste.”

After a brief pause, Troop kicked off his
sneakers and said, “Alright, I’ll go look at the ‘trapdoor’.
Chelsa, can you walk around a bit and try to make a trail that will
throw the Sniffer’s off track? Finn, keep a lookout for other
Searchers. If you see someone approaching, slap the surface of the
pond to warn me and Kristi.”

Troop followed Kristi back
into the body of water. Kristi doggy-paddled to the deepest part of
the pond and said, “The trapdoor should be directly below
us.”

Without a word, Troop dove
to the location Kristi was pointing to. She followed him. By the
time she reached him, Troop was already tugging at the trapdoor’s
handle. A cloud of silt exploded in front of their faces as the
trapdoor suddenly sprung up. Troop slammed the door shut and
motioned for them to go back up to talk.

“
Did you find it?” Finn
asked.

Troop nodded, sending a spray of water
everywhere.

“
Good,” Finn said.
“Because I think a second group of Searchers are coming this way.
Listen.”

Kristi strained her ears; she could make out
the sounds of barks and yips.

A person crashed through the undergrowth. It
was Chelsa, wiping sweat off her forehead and breathing
heavily.

“
Searchers,” she gasped.
“And Sniffers. I’m not sure if they caught sight of me or
not.”

chapter
forty-nine

[ Troop ]

Troop snatched up his
sneakers and threw them as far away as he
could. “It’s to mislead the Sniffers,” he
explained.

Everyone else copied him and they all
splashed into the water. Kristi stopped when she was knee-deep
though, and said, “Finn, where did you leave your crutch?”

“
Oh snap, I forgot about
it,” he said. “It’s beneath the bench by the dragon
statue.”

“
I’ll go get rid of it,”
Kristi said. “Troop, you remember where the trapdoor is,
right?”

“
Of course.”

Troop located the trapdoor
and heaved it open. Then he came up and led Chelsa and Finn to the
entrance of the safe place. When he passed through the trapdoor, he
broke through some type of gel-like membrane. Then he dropped like
a rock and landed hard. Luckily, his backpack cushioned the worst
of his fall. Chelsa and Finn followed through.