I solemnly swear to be a loyal member of the Revealers.
From now on, I will do my best to reveal truths, solve suspicious mysteries that endanger the welfare of others and make sure the truth is heard throughout the world.
I swear to follow the rules set down by the founder of the Revealers.
I swear I will never betray information of the Revealers to outsiders.
I swear I will never purposely imperil any members of the Revealers.
I do solemnly swear this.”
They repeated after Tiffany and Tiffany smiled once more when they finished.
“See, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?” she said. “Congratulations, you are now official members of the Revealers. I just need you to sign these papers and you can leave.” She handed everyone a packet of papers.
Kristi flipped to the end of the packet and scrawled her name on the line, not bothering to even skim through the text. She handed her packet back to Tiffany.
“Thank you,” said Tiffany. “A copy of the Revealers’ rules has been sent to your electro-slate. I have also transferred five hundred points to your account, Chelsa. It should be enough to suffice your needs for a while.”
Tiffany called the elevator up for them and waved goodbye.
chapter twenty-four
Ludus High School was a wealthy private school. The school building squatted in the middle of a ten-acre plot of land in the center of Charleston. There was a well-maintained front lawn, a pristine track and the parking lot was jammed with expensive solar and hydro-cars.
“School should be out in a minute or so,” Chelsa said.
The words had hardly left her mouth when the massive front doors of the high school were flung open and students streamed out. Jaiden, Chelsa, Ghost and Kristi were semi-hidden behind a statue of Charles Landers, the founder of Ludus High School.
They figured they could easily pick out Troop from the mass of genetically perfect students, follow him and confront him once he was alone.
Like with most high schools, the school junkies were the first to escape the building. Next came the gaming whizzes that were eager to get to the gaming center as fast as possible. After the gamers usually came the popular crowd. Finally, the outcasts of the school exited the building last.
They didn’t spot Troop among the junkies or gamers.
“He’s probably an outcast,” Chelsa said. “Especially among all these rich, perfect kids. No offense to you, Jaiden,” she added.
Jaiden flashed her a quick grin to show that he understood Chelsa’s point of view.
They returned their attention to watching students file by. The wind carried their trills of laughter far and wide.
“Here come the popular kids,” Kristi said.
As customary, the ringleader of the crowd was surrounded by his posse. In this case, the popular guy was joking with his friends while all his followers hung on behind him. The guy in the middle was tall and had dark hair carelessly swept to the side. His friend, a muscular guy with the build of a personal bodyguard, whispered something to the dark haired boy and pointed to a girl hurrying out of the high school.
Kristi knew a bully when she saw one, and she was certain the girl was going to be the target of some bullying. She was right.
The dark haired boy left the protection of his circle of lackeys and sauntered over to the girl. The girl glanced over her shoulder, saw that she was being hounded and walked even faster. However, the boy had longer strides and easily caught up to the girl.
He grabbed her shoulder and said something into her ear. Whatever it was, the girl didn’t like what she heard and snapped back, “Take your hands off me, you asshole.”
“What did you call me?” the boy asked, raising an eyebrow.
The rest of his friends caught up with him. The girl cast her gaze around his friends; all of them were broad-shouldered, tall and probably more than happy to beat her to pulp if their leader told them to do so.
“I called you an asshole, because that’s what you are.”
“This isn’t going to be pretty,” Kristi said.
“The girl has spunk though,” Chelsa replied.
The girl wrenched her shoulder out of the guy’s grip, but his arms snaked out and grabbed her by her waist.
“Let go of me!” she said.
The boy’s friends snickered, watching the spectacle. The boy holding the girl seemed to be enjoying the attention.
“That’s it. I’ve had enough,” Kristi said and stormed towards the scene.
“Kristi, come back. We’re supposed to be looking for Troop,” Jaiden called after her.
Kristi answered over her shoulder, “Why don’t you go inside the school to look for him? He might be in some kind of school club. Don’t worry about me.”
She didn’t see what Jaiden and Chelsa decided to do because she marched on towards the crowd without a second look back.
“Let go of the girl,” Kristi said in the most commanding voice she could muster. “And while you’re at it, why don’t you go get a life instead of harassing people?”
She pushed her way to the center of the gang. This is probably one of the dumbest things I have ever done in my life.
A few guys whistled and someone called out, “Looks like you have a challenger.”
Mr. Popular was momentarily distracted and the girl took this advantage to free herself from his grip.
“Who are you?” he asked Kristi.
“Somebody who’s telling you to stop acting like a jackass,” Kristi shot back.
She felt whispers and fingers pointing her way.
“That girl’s obviously not from around here—”
“—everyone at the school knows not to mess around with Troop.”
“She better hope she’s not attending Ludus or else she’ll pay for this.”
“You’re Troop?” Kristi managed to ask before she was rendered speechless from shock. This doesn’t make sense! How can he get along with all these Perfects?
“That’s me. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re in some serious trouble with me,” Troop said. “I’m not going to let you make a fool out of me,” he whispered into Kristi’s ear, leaning too close for comfort. Kristi took a step backwards.
Wham!
Something big and furry landed onto Troop’s chest, knocking him down onto the brick sidewalk. He swore, and pushed himself up. Ghost sprung away from Troop.
“Let’s beat it,” one of Troop’s friends said. “The principal’s headed this way.”
Troop stood up. Kristi noticed him wince and felt a sense of satisfaction.
“Are you going to run away now?” she taunted him. “Is Troop going to follow all his little, Perfect friends and hide from the principal? You’re just a Perfect wanna—”
His slap caught her by surprise.
“They don’t know I’m not a Perfect,” he hissed. “And I would like to keep it that way.” He looked over his shoulders to his remaining friends and said, “You guys can leave. I’ll deal with this myself.”
“You sure?” asked the brown haired guy that had pointed out the girl Troop was harrying earlier.
“Go on,” Troop said. “Unless you want a chat with Principal Burnd.”
His friends left, not wanting to get in trouble with the headmaster. Chelsa and Jaiden walked over to Troop and Principal Burnd. The principal looked like he was in his early thirties.
“Is there a problem?” he said. “These two informed me that there was some trouble brewing up in the front of the school.” He scanned Troop, who had a few scratches on his arms and face, from head to toe.
“We just had an argument, sir. Everything’s fine now,” Troop replied slickly. “There was a slight misunderstanding. My fault completely.”