“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?”
Ghost had slunk back to them in the meantime and was checking out Finn’s crutches.
“You’re a Natural,” Kristi said hurriedly, not wanting to be caught on the streets past curfew in an unfamiliar city. “A surviving Accident. I’m Kristi; this is Troop, Chelsa and Jaiden.” She pointed out each person. “The leopard belongs to Chelsa and is named Ghost.”
“Alright, that makes sense so far,” said Finn. “But why the heck are you looking for me?”
“We’re looking for the four Naturals to unlock a slate that my parents left—“
“Wait, did you say your name was Kristi and you have a brother named Jaiden?” Finn cut her off.
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you, like, a wanted person?”
“I guess.”
“She’s really not that scary,” Troop inputted.
“But that’s beside the point,” Kristi said, waving off the interruption. “We’re trying to complete this quest and need the fingerprints of the four Naturals to unlock the electro-slate my parents left behind.”
“You’ve lost me,” Finn said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Curfew in five minutes!” the same guard barked, doubling back past them. “You kids better get going.”
“Why don’t you guys come over to my house for the night?” Finn offered. “My parents are constantly having random people stay over, so they shouldn’t mind if you want to stay in the guest rooms tonight. You can keep your droid-horses in our spare garage.”
They set off after Finn on his crutches, winding deeper and deeper into Oppidum until they arrived at a decent sized house made up of tinted glass panels.
A woman in her mid-thirties came out of the houses and said, “Finn, why are you home so late? And who are these people with you?”
“I lost of track of time,” Finn replied, taking his last minute guests up to the front door. “And these people say I’m a Natural like them.”The word “Natural” must’ve made sense to Finn’s mom because she jolted her head up and looked at them.
“Well,” she said, “do come in. I think there is someone who is very interested in meeting you three in the house.”
chapter thirty
“So, we meet again.” Dr. Hanson strolled into the living room. “I hope you are in better shape than before, Kristi.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“And also, thanks for making reservations at the Rex Hotel for us,” Chelsa added.
“I assume you found the headquarters, correct?”
Kristi nodded. As glad as she was to meet Dr. Hanson, she wanted to unlock the electro-slate now. She was itching to know what the slate contained.
Dr. Hanson must’ve noticed her restlessness because he said, “Kristi, you seem eager to do something.” The tone he spoke in implied he already knew about the electro-slate Tiffany had given her.
“The slate!” Chelsa exclaimed. “I’ve been so caught up in my own problems I’ve completely forgotten about the electro-slate your parents left for you.”
Everyone crowded around Kristi as she removed the slate from her pocket and powered the screen on. Words glowed to life:
Fingerprints of the Naturals required for Access.
“Here it goes,” Kristi said mostly to herself.
She pressed her thumb onto the screen. A small beep emitted from the electro-slate.
Troop, Chelsa and Finn followed her example with Dr. Hanson, Jaiden and Finn’s parents looking on with great interest. Finn, the last Natural to scan his finger, removed his thumb from the slate and two icons appeared on the screen.
One of the icons was a blue folder with the words Disappearance Case labeled on it; the second icon looked identical to the first except the words Individualism Case were written on it.
“Of course,” Finn’s mom murmured. “Those are the cases Shelly and Kyle were working on for the last five years. It only makes sense for them to want Kristi to complete them.”