Tina Chan - imperfect

With all his instafications completed, there was really nothing Kristi could hold against Troop. In a way, she felt like she’d grown closer to Troop just by listening to him make all those calls.

“That took a lot more effort than I anticipated,” Troop said.

“Not many people have the courage to do what you just did,” she replied.

“Thanks. A compliment from you means a lot to me.”

“Did I just hear Kristi say something nice about you?” Jaiden asked.

Chelsa gave Kristi a look that read: Did you take my advice?

Kristi nodded.

“One more day until we reach Oppidum,” Jaiden announced.

Chelsa frowned a bit, but brightened up when Jaiden gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“What do you think Finn looks like?” Kristi wondered out loud.

“I think he’ll be tall,” Chelsa said. “Finn sounds like a tall-person name.”

“Really? You’re judging a person by his name?” Jaiden shook his head slowly.

“And Jaiden sounds like a short and ugly-person name,” Chelsa joked.

“Hey!” Jaiden protested and put on a scowl.

Kristi rolled her eyes at their affection for each other. Troop mimicked her when he saw her doing so, earning himself a punch to the shoulders.

“I’m worried about Chelsa,” Kristi told Troop later that day.

They only had a few hours left of riding until reaching Oppidum.

“She seems fine to me.”

As usual, Chelsa and Jaiden were riding side by side ahead of them and out of earshot.

“She’s way too quiet,” Kristi said. “She hasn’t been talking a lot lately and Ghost seems to be frustrated with Chelsa as well.”

As she spoke, Kristi realized Ghost was no longer hitching a ride on Chelsa’s horse; he had mysteriously disappeared again.

“Maybe Chelsa isn’t a talkative person. Granted, I haven’t known her as long as you have though,” Troop said.

“I guess I might be over reacting,” she admitted. “But I still feel like something’s nagging Chelsa more than she lets on. Hopefully she’ll be back to normal by the time we find Finn.”

“Have you been to Oppidum before?”

“I’ve never left the that city where I grew up in until a month and half ago.”

“I wonder what unlocking your electro-slate will reveal.” Troop changed the subject.

“No clue. Whatever my parents left me on the slate better be good.”

They tossed ideas back and forth about what could possibly be so important that the fingerprints of all four Naturals were required to unlock it. Their ideas ranged from a hidden vault of gold, to the secret elixir of immortality, to a cache of dinosaur DNA. The more they hypothesized, the more ridiculous their ideas got. Both of them eventually concluded that it was highly unlikely the electro-slate contained directions to the cave of a troll, after half an hour of debating.

“ That’s Oppidum?” Jaiden’s exclamation brought Troop and Kristi out of their discussion. “How are we supposed to find Finn in that architectural jungle?”

Oppidum sprawled before their sights, a pulsing mass of fiberglass, steel and bricks. A lazy river plowed its way through the city. The center of Oppidum could be seen a mile away. A huge dome nestled in the heart of Oppidum, casting off a glow under the sun’s rays.

The city was arranged in a circular pattern, much like a bull’s eyes. On the outskirts were the less wealthy parts of the city; the houses were smaller and crammed together. Moving inwards, the houses started to space out and there was the occasional patch of green from a garden to be seen; last but not least, a mixture of mansions and skyscrapers dominated the center of Oppidum. Arches graced the skylines and spires reached towards the heavens.

“This might take a while,” Troop said.

“Agreed.” Chelsa said the word forcibly.

They approached the fringes of Oppidum. Kristi drank in the sights all around her; the hustle of people doing their errands, the hawkers calling out their wares and the constant babble of news being updated on the public news-screens.

“In which part of Oppidum do you think Finn is most likely to be found?” she asked to no one in particular.

Not one person responded, which only made her more aware of how clueless and unprepared they were.

Three hours later, they had made absolutely no progress. They had asked people on the streets if they knew a kid named Finn. The answers they received were all the same: “No.”

“Do you want to call it quits for the day?” Chelsa asked.

They were all tired, hungry and feeling hopeless.

“I’m not sure what curfew time is in Oppidum, but it’s a bit past seven,” Chelsa continued on.

“Excuse me, sir,” Kristi called out to a stranger passing by.

The man stopped and said, “Yes?”

“Do you know what time is curfew?”

“8:30 sharp,” he replied, then walked away after she thanked him.

“Yeah, let’s call it quits,” Troop said. “Does anyone have a place in mind where we ought to stay for the night?”

“We walked by a decent hotel called Wayland Hotel a few blocks from here.” Kristi pointed vaguely to the direction of the hotel. “Want to spend the night there?”

“Sounds good.”

They walked past shops that were preparing to close up for the night: an empty learning center, Urban Clothes and a droid-repair shop. Kristi led the way, as she was the person to suggest staying at Wayland Hotel. After another ten minutes of walking, she began to suspect she had somehow gotten lost in the maze-like streets of Oppidum.

“Didn’t we pass by this restaurant already?” Jaiden asked. “I’m pretty sure I remember seeing Moon’s Eatery at least three times already.”

“Yeah, I think I might be a little lost,” Kristi admitted. “I’m terrible with navigation in general. But I could’ve sworn I was walking in the right direction of Wayland Hotel though…” Kristi paused midsentence, noticing a kid coming their way on crutches. He was moving surprisingly fast with an injured leg or foot (she couldn’t tell).

Troop took a half step towards the kid while Jaiden and Chelsa studied a map. “Hey there, do you live around here?”

The kid was more or less Kristi’s age. He cocked his head like a bird, observing them with mild interest. “Yeah.”

“Can you give us the directions to Wayland Hotel?”

“Sure. Continue down this street then take a right at the first intersection you see. A few buildings down Crescent Street you should be able to find Wayland Hotel.”

Something about the kid on crutches bothered Kristi—not necessarily in a bad way—but she couldn’t place her finger on what about him that was throwing her off.

“Thanks,” Troop said.

“No problem.”

The kid turned his neck to scratch an itch and Kristi noticed what had been bothering her: one of his eyes was hazel while the other was a stormy gray. This was something she had never seen before with any Perfect, which must meant—

“Are you Finn?” she asked.

“That would be me.”

“Who’s Finn?” Jaiden asked, looking up from the map.

“Him,” Kristi said, gesturing towards Finn who had straightened up his posture.

“Well, finding you didn’t take as long as I feared,” Troop said.

“You guys were looking for me ?” Finn looked perplexed.

“Yeah,” said Kristi. “And it took long enough.”

A patrol officer strolled down the street and called out, “Curfew will be enforced in ten minutes!”

“You’re a Natural,” Kristi told Finn. “Just like us. Well, just like Troop, Chelsa and me. Jaiden’s not one.”

“I’m a what? Who are Troop, Chelsa and Jaiden? And where did that leopard come from?”