by Tina Chan
12 days. 288 hours. 17,280 minutes. That was the amount of time that had elapsed since Troop had lost Kristi. The Revealers had dispatched a search party, but came up with nothing. The search party was cancelled three days ago. The trail had gone cold.
Nick, Jane and Dr. Hanson hadn’t tried to sugarcoat the situation by telling Troop that Kristi was probably fine, and for that, Troop was glad. Then again, he hadn’t seen a lot of the three Revealer members a lot lately.
He lay on his back, tracing the ceiling cracks of his new bedroom. Yeah, he had moved again. His mom insisted on it the moment he stepped over the threshold of their old living quarter Charleston.
“Somebody’s here to visit you,” his mom said, tapping on his bedroom door.
“Who is it?”
“Jaiden.”
“Jaiden?” Troop repeated to make sure he hadn’t misheard.
“That’s what I said.”
What does Jaiden want from me? He probably wants to beat me up for letting Kristi get into danger. Nevertheless, Troop slipped off his mattress and clumped down the stairs. Jaiden stood waiting for him by the front door.
Troop jerked his head to the living room. “Want to talk in there?”
“Nah. I can’t stay long; I have to catch an air-train to Middleton in twenty minutes.”
“Are you meeting Finn and Chelsa?” Finn’s family had relocated to an obscure little town named Middleton; Middleton was only an hour’s drive away from Troop’s new address. In the meantime, Chelsa was staying with Finn’s family until she worked out some other living arrangement.
“Yeah. Like I said, I just have a quick message for you,” Jaiden said.
“What is it?”
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Feeling sorry for yourself. Quit moping around. If Kristi was here, do you really think she would want you having a pity party of one?”
Emotions collided within Troop. Anger. Realization. Sadness. He reined in his temper.
“Oh, yeah?” he said, keeping his tone as even as possible. “What do you want me to do then?”
“Something productive.”
“Like what?”
Jaiden let out a long exhale, “Do I really have to spell it out for you? The Revealers could use some help; not that I’m an avid fan of the organization, but it would benefit the world if you helped them a bit.”
Troop swallowed a lump of guilt. Ever since his video had been aired, the Revealers had begun to receive an overwhelming amount of instafications and publicity, courtesy of the contact information Troop provided at the end of the film. His mom had been at her wits end for the past week until the Boss had forced her to take a week long vacation.
Riots had broken out on the streets. Some citizens sided with the Revealers and were furious with the government for conducting human experiments. Others sided with the government; they agreed DNA testing on Accidents was for the greater good of the Perfect citizens.
“Alright,” Troop said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Jaiden gave a nod of approval and opened the front door to leave.
“Say ‘hi’ to Finn and Chelsa for me,” Troop added.
“Will do.”
The door slammed shut. Jaiden was right. It was time to start doing.
the story continues on in:
flawless
acknowledgments
Without the help and support of so many people, there was no way imperfect could’ve been the book it is today. A huge “thank you” to Jenn Rosenberger, Heather Sowalla, Heather Rose, Lani, Jess, Miriam and Kirsty for going through all those early editions of imperfect and whipping it in shape. Also, a “thank you” to my family for putting up with my craziness when I was writing this novel.
About the Author
Tina Chan lives in New Hampshire with her family and two tanks of fish. An avid reader and writer, Tina enjoys blogging book reviews. When she’s not reading or writing, you can probably find her either running, playing racquetball or listening to music. Visit her at www.thebooklanders.com.