Kristi awoke. Strangely, she wasn’t sweating nor was her heart beating at overtime. I must be getting used to these nightmares, she thought, stepping outside of the tent.
It was only six-thirty in the morning. Streaks of purple could be discerned among the horizon in the dark sky if she looked close enough. Kristi searched around the camp and found Troop to be the only person around.
“Jaiden and Chelsa went to gather some kindling that hasn’t been dampened by last night’s rain,” Troop said when he saw her hunting for them.
“What else is new,” Kristi mumbled. “We don’t even usually make a fire in the morning.”
Troop didn’t grace her with an answer, which Kristi was completely fine by.
“I need to go refill my water bottle,” she said. “Do you need yours refilled?” she added in a moment of generosity.
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Be back in ten.”
She searched for a water source, making sure to always keep the tent in sight. Her boots made sucking noises in the oozy mud. Kristi crinkled her nose. An almost-but-not-quite-familiar scent reached her nose. The smell wasn’t unpleasant—in fact, it reminded Kristi of home. Squatting down, she combed the ground until she found the source of the fragrance. Rainflowers. Well, not quite. The flowers looked identical to rainflowers except they were orange instead of purple.
Kristi caught sight of a small creek cutting a course through the land and filled up her bottle to the brim. She had a few minutes before she needed to return back to the tent, so she chose to spend her extra time admiring the sunrise by the creek.
Kristi tilted her head. She thought she heard people talking.
“You’re too funny!” a voice in the distance said.
A person replied but was speaking too softly for her to make out the reply. Feeling curious and a bit adventurous, she decided to find the source of the conversation. Ears prickling with alertness, she followed the sounds.
“Don’t you think we should be heading back? We don’t want Kristi and Troop to worry about us.” It was Jaiden’s voice.
Kristi walked past a clearing in the woods and spotted Jaiden talking to Chelsa; she ducked behind a rock formation obscuring the view of them. Neither Jaiden nor Chelsa knew Kristi was listening to their conversation, and that made her sting with shame knowing that she was spying on them.
“I think we should be worried about Kristi and Troop tearing the camp apart,” Chelsa said. “I sometimes fear those two will bite off each other’s head by the time we reach Oppidum.”
There was a moment of silence and Kristi peered around the rock concealing her. Jaiden and Chelsa were locked in a kiss and seemed indifferent to the world around them. Kristi dropped back behind her hiding place and sat down for a second.
I should’ve known it was coming; Chelsa and Jaiden had been flirting with each other for a bit of time now, Kristi thought. But still, Jaiden’s my brother—my steady-as-a-rock brother. Kristi cleared her head. Get a grip on yourself.
Jaiden and Chelsa must’ve left when she wasn’t paying attention because when Kristi finally gathered herself together, they were gone.
“Are you alright?” Chelsa asked Kristi. “You seem kind of withdrawn today.”
“I’m fine.” Except for the fact, you know, I just got a mental slap to the face this morning.
“If you say so. We’ll be reaching Milton in about an hour. Aside from food, is there anything else you can think of that we might need?”
“No.”
“Do you want to re-dye your hair?” Chelsa asked.
“Nah. The government already knows I dyed my hair, so there’s no point in re-dying it again. Actually, it would be great if we could get some dye-remover. I kind of miss my normal hair color. How many points do you have left on your slate?”
“A bit under a few hundred points.”
Kristi frowned. “Do you think we have enough to make it to Oppidum?”
“Don’t worry. Rich-kid has over five-hundred points on his slate,” Chelsa motioned towards Troop.
“You checked my points account?” Troop asked, sounding indignant.
“Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”
“I don’t know if I should be worried or not,” Troop said in a low enough voice so that Chelsa couldn’t hear him from up front.
“I’d worry if I were you. You never know if one day she decides to buy out a store for the heck of it,” Kristi said.
Troop cracked a smile. “Was that a joke? I’ve never heard a joke from you yet.”
“That was sarcasm.”
They exchanged few words for the rest of the ride to Milton. Milton was a decent sized town with a bustling community. It was a Saturday and many residents were out and about in the center of town. Chelsa divided up the shopping list among the four of them.
“How does having lunch at The Last Supper sound?” suggested Troop.
“Have you been here before?” Chelsa said.
“Yes. The owner of The Last Supper is a member of the Company. She’s not a spy or agent; she’s more of a follower.”
“A follower?” Kristi scrunched up her nose a bit in distaste. “That makes the Revealers seem like some sort of cult…a cult I’m not sure I want to be part of.”
“The Revealers is more than just a cult. It’s an organization trying to—”
“—you sound just like your mom,” Kristi interrupted. “‘The Revealers are a group trying to bring justice to the world.’” She air quoted Tiffany’s words.
Troop contemplated her words for a few seconds, and then said, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You two done talking?” Jaiden asked. “’Cause I was thinking The Last Supper would be a good place to have lunch.”
Everyone agreed to this plan and set off on completing their shopping list. Kristi looked down at her list, which consisted of: hair dye removal, two pairs of socks, liquid toothpaste and a ball of twine. She should be able to purchase everything she needed at the convenience store, which was located just a few blocks down Main Street.
She fingered the electro-slate her parents had left behind for her. Last night, she had tried and failed to break its lock. To Kristi’s delight, though, she was able to access their point account without the fingerprints of all four Naturals. Shelly and Kyle had left a hundred points on the account; it wasn’t a whole lot of points to spend, but it would be more than enough to make the necessary purchases.
Kristi located the convenience store in no time. She dismounted from Flurry and looped her reins through the metal ring of a hitching post.
“Kristi, can I have a word with you?” Jaiden came up to her before she entered Mill’s General Store.
“Sure. What is it?”
“Did you see Chelsa and me together this morning?” he asked, not bothering to sugar coat anything.
“Um, yes. I’m sorry if I trespassed your privacy. I heard your voices and decided to find you guys,” Kristi said, feeling embarrassed of having been caught behaving like a ten-year old.
“I knew I saw someone in the shadows,” Jaiden said. “You don’t mind me being with Chelsa, do you?”
“Of course not! You don’t need my permission to date someone. Chelsa’s a good friend and a nice girl. I mean, it would’ve been nice if you had given me a warning about all this though…” she trailed off.
“Appreciate your understanding,” Jaiden said, sounding reassured. “I wasn’t sure how you were going to take it.”