by Tina Chan
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.
“This is so weird,” Chel
sa said. “How come the water isn’t entering through opening?”
Although they were still soaked through, they were standing on dry grounds. If he hadn’t known better, Troop would’ve thought they were simply inside an underground hideout instead of beneath a pond. From the looks of his surrounding, they were in an old subway tunnel.
“I think it’s because of this.” Finn pointed to a large metal cylinder with various tubes attached to it. There was a small screen implanted in the cylinder with blinking numbers and symbols Troop didn’t recognize. “It’s an air pressure controller.”
“So?” Troop said. “What does that do?”
“It manipulates the air pressure so that it nullifies the water pressure from above. Essentially, air is pressing against the membrane we passed through and keeping the water out of here.”
Troop unzipped his (thankfully) waterproof backpack and removed his electro-slate from it. The slate was still set on the GN channel, but Troop’s video was being played instead of whatever broadcast the government had planned to air.
He wondered if his film was being played a second time, since the entire clip wasn’t much longer than twelve minutes and he was sure it had been at least twenty minutes since Nick and Jane first overrode the channel.
Troop tried to change the channel, wanting to see what other news stations were making of the GN override. But no matter which station he turned to, the results were the same: the film he made was being played. He grinned inwardly; Nick and Jane had really outdone themselves.
“Hey, can I see your slate?” Chelsa asked. “I haven’t watched the completed video yet.”
“Yeah.” Troop handed it over to her.
Finn and Chelsa found a spot on the floor a few yards away from him and turned up the volume of the electro-slate. Troop paced beneath the trapdoor, expecting Kristi to come crashing through any moment. He counted the concrete tiles beneath his feet to pass time. I shouldn’t have left Kristi on her own, he thought. I know she’s prone to make hasty choices when under pressure.
He started to recount the tiles a second time. One, two, three, four…
“That’s it.” Troop turned to Finn and Chelsa. “I’m going back up to find Kristi. She’s taking way too long.”
“Don’t,” said Chelsa. “We don’t know if there are Searchers and Sniffers up there.”
Troop paled. What if the Searcher caught her? I should’ve stayed behind to dispose Finn’s crutch instead of having her do it.
“Troop, look at me.” Chelsa grabbed him by his dripping shirt and spun him around so that he was facing her. “I am being dead serious right now. Don’t risk all of our lives by going after Kristi. Our scents are all over the Meditation Garden which means the Searchers and Sniffers are going to be all over that place for a while. Wait until either Nick or some other Revealer member notifies us that it’s safe to go before leaving this hideout.”
chapter fifty
[ Kristi ]
“Where should I hide the crutch?” Kristi asked herself.
She willed her body to stop shivering from the cold. The crutch felt awkward in her hands, getting in the way of her feet when she walked. She spotted a low hanging branch and got an idea. Slipping her forearm through the crutch, she began to scale the tree.
“Let’s see how the Sniffers like barking up a tree,” she said.
Kristi hooked the crutch onto the highest branch of the yew tree then scrambled down; she had walked further from the pond than she would’ve liked. The leaves and gravel crunched beneath her feet; she wished her footsteps wouldn’t make so much noise.
A yowl seared the air. Kristi froze, not sure which direction the sound was coming from.
“They found a trail,” a voice rang out.
Sniffers! Her brain screeched. Get back to the koi-pond before they spot you. She traded caution in for speed, hurtling through the vegetation and not caring that she was trampling patches of meticulously cared for flowers and plants.
“Sir! I saw a movement to the left,” a female voice called out. “Requesting permission to investigate.”
“Permission granted.”
Kristi leapt over a rotting log and skidded around a muddy patch of ground. She backpedaled immediately. A Sniffer snapped at her ankles and let out a bark.
“Target located!” the Searcher behind the Sniffer yelled.
The other Searchers shouted back their replies, but Kristi was too distracted to make out their words. She sprinted towards the pond. Halfway to the pond though, she abruptly changed directions. What am I thinking? I’ll give away the hiding place if I go there, Kristi thought.
Something heavy pounced onto Kristi’s back, sending her sprawling across the ground. A Sniffer pinned her in place. Jeez, how much does the droid-dog weigh? 150 pounds? 200? The other dogs were onto her in an instant.
The Searchers came into view. A woman officer knelt down besides Kristi and said, “Where are the other Accidents?” She made a command for the Sniffer to get off Kristi then wrenched her onto her feet.
“I don’t know,” Kristi said. “I lost sight of them.”
The Searcher snapped to attention when the commanding officer of the Search unit arrived. “Sir, requesting permission to search surrounding area for trail.”
“Permission granted.”
“Here, somebody take care of this thing.” The woman pushed Kristi away from her, as if she was infected with a transmittable disease.
She stumbled into a pair of open arms.
“Well, we met again, Freak,” said a familiar voice.
Kristi spun around. “It’s you.”
Mason smirked. “Who else would it be?”
He released Kristi for a moment, but it was only so that he could pull her arms behind her back to secure them in a pair of handcuffs before she had a chance to run away.
“I’ll take care of her,” said a Searcher, stepping out from the back of the group.
“Who are you?” Mason asked.
“Officer Holnes.”
“I don’t recognize you.”
“New member to this Search unit,” Holnes said. He made an attempt to grab Kristi, but Mason jerked her out of reach.
“Commander Klove, when was Holnes added to this unit?”
That was when Kristi noticed Commander Klove was missing.
“Imposter!” Mason yelled. He directed the remaining Searchers, “Seize him!”
The Searchers lunged for Holnes, but more people had melted out of the shadows. None of the newcomers were clothed in Searcher uniforms. Nobody knew who was on whose side. It was complete madness.
Now’s my chance to make an escape, Kristi thought. But she hadn’t taken three steps before a person tackled her to the ground. She fell on her back, her handcuffed hands digging into her lower back. Her attacker was Officer Holnes.
“Are you part of the Revealers?” she asked.
“No,” he said, then stuck a needle into her arm.
The world turned into a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns. The last thing Kristi thought before she lost consciousness was, At least I kept Chelsa, Finn and Troop safe for now. If only I could do the same with the Accidents in New Genes Lab.
chapter fifty-one
[ Troop ]
The trapdoor swung open and a body fell through the entryway. Troop jumped to his feet.
“Kristi?”
His heart sank immediately when he saw that the person was a guy.
The guy stood up and shook Troop’s hand. “I’m Pier. Nick sent me to let you know it’s safe to go back to their apartment. The door-to-door search has been called off for the day.” Pier ceased his talking for a moment to look about him. “I thought there were four of you.”
“There are,” Chelsa said.
“Then who’s missing?”
“Kristi,” Troop answered. “You haven’t seen her by any chance, have you? The last time I saw her was…about four hours ago.”
Pier shook his head. “Come on, we bette
r leave before curfew’s in place.”
“But what if Kristi comes back here and doesn’t know where we are?” He faced Chelsa and Finn. “You guys go ahead with Pier. I’ll wait here for a bit and see if Kristi comes back.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Pier said.
Chelsa flashed Troop an understanding countenance. “You stay here if you really want to. Don’t get caught on your way back to the Filches’.”
Pier didn’t protest against Chelsa. “See you in a while,” he said to Troop. “I’ll leave you a change of clothes behind the koi-pond plaque. You’ll attract too much attention if you walk around the city in soaked clothes.”
With that, Pier pushed open the trapdoor and allowed Chelsa and Finn to exit the hideout before him.
You can’t stay here forever, Troop’s conscience nagged him. It’s almost midnight. It’s time to face the truth: Kristi got caught. He clenched his fist and cracked his stiff neck. It was time to leave.
He repacked his belongings into his backpack and zipped it shut. Then he shoved the trapdoor upwards and jumped, breaking through the thin gel membrane acting as a barrier between the water and underground shelter. The sudden change of pressure shocked Troop for a second, and then he swam towards the surface.
The full moon radiated a strong glow, making the droplets of water suspended midair fracture the rays of moonlight shining through. Using strong strokes, Troop made his way to the pond’s perimeter and located the spare clothes. He exchanged his sopping t-shirt for a dry one and left the Meditation Garden.
chapter fifty-two
[ Kristi ]
She was a bird again. A dove, to be precise. Like in her previous dream, all species of flamboyant birds flocked around her, screeching, cawing, and squawking. The noise was not the least bit euphonious.