Clang!
Finn accidently dropped one of his crutches.
Troop retrieved it for him and said, “I’ve been meaning to ask but keep on forgetting: how did you hurt your leg?”
“Hiking accident.”
“That stinks. How much longer until you’re off crutches?”
“Um, never.”
“Never?” Kristi asked.
“I paralyzed my left leg four years ago.”
“Couldn’t the doctors do anything? If they can bring back the dead, surely they can mend a paralyzed leg.”
Finn shrugged. “I hurt my spinal cord pretty bad. The spinal cord, which is part of the nervous system, was too messed up to be fixed. As a result, I lost all sense in my leg.”
“I’m not trying to impose on your personal preferences, but have you considered getting a prosthetic?”
“My parents and I did look into it, but we couldn’t find a surgeon willing to perform surgery on me to remove the paralyzed leg; none of the surgeons we approached wanted to help an Accident. To quote the last surgeon we visited, ‘This is natural selection doing its job of making sure only the fittest survive.’”
Troop snorted. “That’s BS.”
Kristi couldn’t have agreed more. “Couldn’t Dr. Hanson remove your paralyzed leg for you?”
“He’s not a surgeon,” Finn explained. “He isn’t trained to perform operations.”
“Someone better wake Jaiden up,” Chelsa said. She had been so quiet this morning Kristi had forgotten she was still in the room. “He doesn’t know we’re leaving in a few hours.”
“Want me to do it?” Kristi offered.
“Yes, please,” Chelsa said gratefully.
Kristi left the kitchen and headed up to the guest bedroom. Jaiden was already awake and seemed to be deep in thought, sitting cross-legged on the bed.
She gently coughed, as not to startle him when she spoke, “Are you alright? We’re going to be heading out soon.”
“I don’t think I’ll be coming,” he said.
“What do you mean? Surely you’re not so furious about Chelsa you’re planning on staying behind.” Kristi couldn’t imagine solving the two cases without Jaiden. He was her brother, her friend.
“I’ve already spoken with Finn’s parents,” Jaiden continued on like he hadn’t heard Kristi. “They’ve agreed to let me stay with them until I get a steady job and am ready to live on my own. They’re also nice enough to get me a new ID and paperwork—that’s the upside of being in contact with the Revealers.”
“Jaiden, you’re not serious! How can—”
“—it’ll be great. I’m getting the chance to have a fresh start. No one knows me in Oppidum and Finn’s parents have agreed to pose as my aunt and uncle.” Jaiden paused in his talking and looked at Kristi. “What do you think?”
She took a gulp and replied, “If this is really what you want to do, I guess I’m more than happy that an opportunity like this has presented itself to you. But at the same time, I’ll really miss you traveling with the group.”
“I want to stay here.”
Kristi dipped her head. “I respect your choice, but all the same, your company will be sorely missed. Are you still angry at Chelsa?” She asked before she could help herself.
Storm clouds rolled onto his face. “Not so much angry as hurt. I can’t believe she’s been playing us along the whole time.”
“Chelsa’s changed her loyalties.”
“That’s what you think.”
Kristi decided to keep her mouth shut to prevent herself from infuriating this touchy topic.
“Love is like an onion,” Jaiden said.
Kristi wasn’t sure how to reply to this random statement, so she said the first thing that popped into her mind, “I don’t see the connection.”
“A person, like an onion, is made up of multiple layers. When you love a person, you get to take away all their layers and truly see what they’re like on the inside. You may cry as you peel away each layer and discover not all of them are sweet.”
chapter thirty-one
“I think the driver Dr. Hanson promised us is here,” Finn said, looking out the living room window.
He had barely finished his sentence when the sound of a car’s horn was heard.
Troop slung his backpack over his shoulders and headed outside.
“I still can’t believe Jaiden is ditching us,” he said.
“I don’t think he really wanted to be part of this whole fiasco in the first place,” Kristi replied. “I’m pretty sure the only reason why he came with us was because I kind of pressured him to.”
The automatic front doors swished open and they walked down the driveway to the black van idling. A nondescript man in a polo shirt and jeans came out from the driver’s side of the car.
The man checked out the group of teens and said, “I’m sent by Dr. Hanson to drive you to segment 9 of Route 56.”
“That sounds right,” Troop said.
“The drive will take around three to four days, depending on traffic and what not.” The driver opened the doors to the van and ushered them inside.
The van was made to hold nine people, so the five of them (six if counting Ghost) fit comfortably. Kristi dropped her backpack into the trunk and crawled to the backseat. Troop joined her in the back as well and thought, Not bad. I have enough room to stretch out my legs if I want and there’s a mini-fridge in this vehicle as well.
Chelsa and Finn took a seat in a separate row each. Ghost curled up in the empty seat besides Chelsa. Once everyone was settled in, the driver locked the doors and pulled out of the driveway.
“I never thought a three day drive would feel so long,” Kristi moaned.
Troop laughed and said, “We could’ve always walked. That would’ve taken over a week.”
“Only three more hours until we arrive at your destination,” the driver informed them from up front.
“Thank goodness,” Kristi muttered good-naturedly. “My butt is so sore from sitting. What time is it anyways?”
Finn briefly consulted his watch. “A bit past three.”
“I think I’m going to take a nap to pass time. Wake me up when we arrive.” She grabbed a pillow from beneath her seat and fell asleep.
Troop watched her eyelashes slowly flutter to a standstill, like the petals of a flower stilling for the night. Her breathing slowed to a steady inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. A small smile graced her lips and she let out a soft sigh.
“Troop,” said Chelsa, “what do you say we do about Zala?”
“Did she ask for an update?”
“Not yet, but she’s bound to soon.”s
Troop grunted a noncommittal reply. Chelsa returned to her ponderings.
He removed his electro-slate from his pocket and trawled through his instafication inbox, which had reached an all-time high of two hundred and twenty messages; he’d been neglecting it. Not surprisingly, most of the instafications were from Jennifer. His mom had sent a couple messages to ask how he was doing. Darrel had messaged him several times asking where he was.
Troop gave his mom a brief but to-the-point answer, letting her know he was doing just fine and not to worry about him. For Darrel, Troop replied with a vague instafication of his whereabouts. He deleted all one hundred and thirty messages from Jennifer after reading the first one.
Troop, where are you? I swear, if you don’t show your face at school or answer my messages soon, I am going to break up with you.
He was tempted to respond Jennifer, telling her that he wasn’t aware that they had been going out in the first place. He smothered the urge to do so, though, knowing nothing good would come out of it. Instead, he blocked her off his contact list.