The Perfect World (The Perfect World Series Book 1) (44 page)

He got up from the grass, brushed himself off and turned away. Before he started walking off, he said, “If you continue on the path you’re on and your desire succeeds, you will be sent to fight, along with anyone who is willing to follow. Many of those who will follow you in your raid could die. You yourself could die. Remember that, and make the best preparations you can. Otherwise, you will regret everything. More importantly, you might lose everything.”

Huo Shen walked off, and the sun seemed to shine off the back of his black suit. The light seemed to embrace him and he glowed, almost with a fire. Cyrus watched the tall figure bathed in light walk back towards the government building, and he smiled. Someone, somewhere was in for a fight if they got in his way. He almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

Cyrus turned away from the departing man and his eyes focused back on the scenery in front of him. The sun was setting behind the clouds, and the warm rays of light were fading from him. He shivered involuntarily, watching the sun retreat from him.

Getting up, he pushed his messy brown hair from his eyes and started walking back to his house. He mulled over Huo Shen’s words as he plodded his way down the street. As Cyrus walked, the sun seemed to flee from him and shadows clung to his path.

He knew that he would be alone at the house today. Scott had plans with Sahane tonight, which Cyrus suspected was a way to get them out from under their mother’s watchful eye. Ms. Linda had been very good at making sure the two of them didn’t get up to any “mischief” under her roof as she called it. She had even made Scott promise he would call her if the pair of them were going to be out later than expected, a promise that Scott was incredibly glum to make. His mother was also supposed to be busy at work tonight, so when he arrived at his house and walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to see that Ms. Linda was waiting for him.

“Hey, Mom,” he said as he put his backpack on the floor. “I wasn’t expecting you until later.”

Ms. Linda raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s not exactly the nicest greeting I’ve gotten upon arriving home early.”

“Oh—I didn’t mean it like that!” Cyrus protested and was about to say more when Ms. Linda smiled for him.

“I’m teasing you, Cyrus. Well, mostly,” she added with a look.

Cyrus decided a subject change was in his best interest. “Are you making dinner for us, then?”

“That’s the plan. After all,” Ms. Linda stood on her tiptoes to reach the top cabinets that contained the mixing bowls, “I’ve been feeling terrible about the amount of take-out food you boys have had to get in the last two weeks.”

Ms. Linda had been super busy at work recently, which left Cyrus and Scott to fend for themselves. Neither one of them minded, but Cyrus would be lying if he said he wasn’t craving a home cooked meal. He watched as she pulled some fish from the refrigerator, along with eggs, flour and breadcrumbs.

“Well, since you asked me about being early, may I ask you about why you’re back late?”

“You may,” Cyrus replied cheekily, delaying his answer.

Ms. Linda stopped what she was doing to give him a glare for his impudence. He quickly gave in.

“I saw Huo Shen after our raiding team practice today.”

“Did you?” Her face was impassive, though her voice held some note of surprise. “How was he?”

“Almost pleasant,” Cyrus remarked and smiled when Ms. Linda’s expression told him she clearly didn’t believe him. “No, really. It was fine. Actually, he asked how you were doing.”

She blinked at that, then shrugged her shoulders casually. “I suppose I left an impression on him after our last meeting.”

Cyrus grinned broadly at the memory. “That’s an understatement.”

“Don’t tell me he bothered you just to ask about me.”

“No, not entirely,” he admitted. “He mostly dropped by to tell me a story.”

“A story?”

Cyrus briefly recounted what Huo had told him while his mother started preparing to bread the fish. When he finished, she was breaking the eggs and throwing the shells into the garbage.

“Not exactly the most uplifting of stories,” Ms. Linda commented afterward, coating one of the fish filets with flour. “Though I do appreciate him dropping by to provide you with a first-hand cautionary tale.” She rolled the fish around in the eggs and began coating it with breadcrumbs. “I imagine it was difficult for him to talk about that.”

The conversation petered off for a long moment as Cyrus’s mouth went dry.

“Are you worried about Scott and me? That the same thing could happen to us?” he finally asked.

Ms. Linda started becoming more caught up in her work. “You shouldn’t waste time asking questions you already know the answer to.”

Cyrus hung his head a little. “Do you want us to quit?”

The question caused the small woman to pause in her cooking. “No, I don’t,” she replied after a moment. Then she let out a big sigh and washed the soggy breadcrumbs from her hands. Once she had dried her hands she went back to Cyrus.

“I don’t want you to stop what you’re doing Cyrus.” She ran a hand through his thick, messy hair, tousling it. “I’m prouder of what you’ve managed to accomplish so far than there are words to express it.”

She drew her hand away from him and allowed a bit of uncertainty to cloud her features. “I’m proud of you,” she repeated slowly. “I know what you’re doing is the right thing. That doesn’t keep me from worrying about you since it is still a very dangerous thing.”

Cyrus gently clasped one of her hands in his and squeezed it. She squeezed back and took in a shaky breath.

“Some people come back from the raids perfectly fit and healthy. Others get injured and end up in the hospital. Some don’t leave the hospital the way they came in if you understand my meaning.”

“Yeah, I’ve thought about that,” Cyrus admitted, still clutching at her hand.

“I’m sure you have,” his mother said before she turned her head away. “We shouldn’t have talked about this. You have enough to worry about without thinking about upsetting me.”

Cyrus was startled by her honesty. He had always seen Ms. Linda, his caretaker and the woman he now called mother, as this unflappable force that couldn’t be shaken. It shocked him a little to hear her even admit the possibility that him going on a raid might upset her.

“Is there anything I can do to make it better for you?”

Ms. Linda smiled at him for that. “Live your life the way that makes you happy. Do the things you feel are important to you and don’t let anyone, even me, persuade you from them without good reason.” She leaned down and kissed him on the top of the head. “Seeing the curious little boy grow into a man and come into his own is something I wouldn’t trade for all the peace of mind in the world.”

Unexpectedly moved, Cyrus wrapped his arms around the small woman and held her tight. She returned his hug with an equally tight one of her own.

“Just promise me you’re going to be careful, okay?”

“I promise.”

A short moment later, she pushed him away from her with some impatience. “Enough of that. If we keep this up, we’ll be having fish for a midnight snack.”

“Sounds tasty.”

A glint came into her dark eyes. “Well, if you don’t want to eat your dinner now, I suppose I could always freeze it for—”

“Joking! Joking. Honest,” he added as she hit him with a hard stare. Then an amused smirk lightened her face and she went back to cooking.

The evening passed normally after that. Scott got home late, just as their mother had predicted. Cyrus loitered in the hallway to watch his friend get chewed out for not calling the house when he should have. He spent a little time talking to Scott after that before he retired to his room. 

As he lay down on his bed, he thought over Huo Shen’s story and Ms. Linda’s fears. He also reflected on his own goals and the possibility of failure.

Make the best preparations you can, Huo’s voice echoed in his mind. Otherwise, you will regret everything. More importantly, you might lose everything.

Cyrus drew the covers up to his shoulders and brought his knees up to his chest.

Nothing’s been decided yet, he told himself firmly. The only known outcome I have is if I do nothing. No matter how it ends, I still have to try.

He closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.

For the next two weeks, Cyrus was restless. No matter how much he tried to concentrate on his training or his classes or, well, anything at all, he still felt a sense of foreboding. He would wake up in the middle of the night with his mind fully alert. As if he were waiting for some sort of signal or even an attack. Even though Cyrus had no evidence, he knew that something was going to happen and soon.

Early in the morning on the last Sunday in October, Cyrus found himself awake again. He stared up at his ceiling for a long time, tossing and turning as he tried to go back to sleep. When he realized his efforts were futile, he got up and decided to go make himself a cup of tea. Sometimes, the warm liquid relaxed him and allowed him to get a few more hours of sleep in.

He walked into the kitchen as quietly as he could, hoping he wouldn’t wake up the rest of the house. As he made himself a cup of warm, milk tea, he was startled when Scott’s voice piped up behind him.             

“Still having trouble sleeping?” Scott asked, causing Cyrus to curse as he spilled hot tea on himself. “Oh, sorry! Here, let me get you some towels.”

Scott ripped a few paper towels off the roll and handed them to Cyrus, who used them to wipe the hot liquid from his left hand and leg. When the burning had stopped, Cyrus gave his friend a wry look.

“Well, if I wasn’t sleepy before, I certainly won’t be now.”

“I said I was sorry,” Scott muttered irritably.

“I know,” Cyrus’s voice was placating. “Did I wake you up?”

“No,” Scott admitted as he turned away from Cyrus, “I actually couldn’t sleep tonight either. Maybe your restlessness is contagious or something.”

“So, I gave you restless syndrome?” Cyrus smirked. “It serves you right for all the colds you gave me last winter.”

“Don’t blame me if you have a weak immune system,” Scott retorted.

“Says the man who is the first person to catch the latest of whatever bug is going around.”

“Hey, I can handle it. I’m only ever out for a day and then I’m better.”

Cyrus snorted. “Only because you make Mom and me sick, instead.”

“What else is family good for?” Scott grinned.

“Keeping each other company when one is suffering from chronic lack of sleep,” Cyrus suggested glumly.

“You still don’t have any idea of what’s causing it?”

Cyrus shook his head. “None. I just keep feeling like something big is about to happen. And soon.”

Scott raised an eyebrow. “Maybe it’s about time for our training to be put to the test?”

“I’ve thought about that,” Cyrus admitted. “It’s the only thing I can think of that would keep waking me up like this.”

Scott walked over to lean against the kitchen counter as Cyrus took a sip of what remained of his tea. The pair were quiet for a moment, just enjoying each other’s company, before Scott spoke again.

“It’ll be a relief to have it be over with.”

“Are you tired of training so much?”

Scott shook his head. “It’s not that so much as it is knowing what we’re training for. I like having goals to work towards as I try to better myself at something, you know?”

“We do have a goal,” Cyrus reminded him.

“I guess what I mean is that I like to test my skills after spending so much time building them up. I want to see if everything I’ve worked on for so long has been worth it. Except this,” Scott paused, trying to think of what he wanted to say. “This won’t be some test that we can just take again some other time if we fail.”

“We’re not going to fail,” Cyrus reassured him with as much confidence as his sleep-deprived self could muster.

Scott smiled weakly back. “I don’t think we will either. It’s just—I want it to happen already. Once we’re doing what we’ve been training to do, then I won’t have to think about it anymore. I won’t be kept awake by thinking about how innocent people might die if we fail or about how we might die. I want it to be over already!”

Cyrus was startled by the last fervent whisper and didn’t know what to say. It almost reminded Cyrus of the days back in the perfect world when he had been so desperate to calm Scott down when he had gotten too wound up. Scott must have realized that he may have said too much because he suddenly looked awkward and uncomfortable.

“Forget about it,” Scott spoke before Cyrus could reply. “I agreed to be part of this. I’m not going to back out on you now.”

The pair stood in silence for a moment. Cyrus knew that he had told everyone involved that once they were in that was it. They couldn’t get back out of it. Looking at Scott now, his best friend from the time they were kids, he wondered if he had made the right call by asking that of him. Of all of them.

“Hey, once we go and get Melody back,” Scott abruptly broke the silence, clearly trying to brighten the somber mood, “would you two want to go on a double date with me and Sahane?”

Scott was giving him a big grin, which Cyrus couldn’t help, but return.

“Sure,” Cyrus returned happily before faltering a bit. “Well, I guess that depends on if the two of us manage to hit it off again. She might not feel the same way after all this time,” he added with a shrug.

Scott was staring at him as if he were crazy. “You can’t be serious.” His friend rubbed at his eyes with his hands the way he did when he was processing something he considered to be particularly stupid. “Cyrus Wright, honestly you worry about the dumbest things sometimes.”

“But—”

“No! I’m not letting you start with that. Look, Cyrus I told you before I didn’t really get it when you wanted to start sending notes to Melody and such. But I was there, and I did see how the two of you looked at each other. Now that I’m older and, well, have some experience of my own,” he bragged ever so slightly, “I can tell that what was going on between you was genuine and strong. For both of you. She wouldn’t just forget about you because you two have been apart. If anything, that’s probably made her think about you more.”

Cyrus tried to say something, but Scott distracted him by grabbing the empty teacup from his hands and washing it out in the sink. He put the cup back in the cabinet and grabbed Cyrus by the arm, dragging him out of the kitchen.

“Just ask her yourself after we get her back,” Scott told him as they stopped by the entrance to the kitchen. “After all, when you find out she still really likes you then it can be a lifelong reminder of how I am always right.”

“And modest.” Cyrus rolled his eyes.

“Can’t help it if I have many good qualities,” he said through a noisy yawn.

“I’ll take that as a suggestion to go back to sleep.” He lowered his voice and added, “I wouldn’t want to be drop-dead tired if something really does happen.”

“Exactly,” Scott muttered as he started walking back to his room. “Make sure you wake me if something happens. Night, Cyrus.”

Cyrus went back into his own room and managed to get to sleep quite easily. He woke up feeling refreshed if still a bit restless, and sent a silent thank you to Scott for keeping him company.   

The next few days passed by without incident. His classes and raider training were conducted as they normally were. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Still, Cyrus couldn’t shake his uneasiness. The daylight was fading into a cooler evening as he was walking home when his cell phone went off. Pulling it out, he saw that it was from Julian. Opening the phone, he put it to his ear and said, “Hello?”

“Cyrus, I need you to come by my work at seven o’clock tonight.”

“Why, what’s going on?” Cyrus thought Julian sounded a little panicked.

“I can’t explain right now. There are too many people still at my work.” His voice was hushed. “All I can say now is that there’s been a change in the schedule regarding the destiny of some of the students.”

“Including Melody.”

“Yes.” Julian paused and he heard a chair squeak back and forth as it turned from side to side. “Listen, I have to go, but I’ll meet you at seven tonight. Okay?”

“Okay. See you then.”

The call ended, and Cyrus put his phone away, his emotions in turmoil.

A change in the destinies? he thought worriedly. What does that mean?

Shaking his head, Cyrus continued on his way home, figuring he would just have to wait until seven rolled around to get his answers. As he entered the house and walked into the kitchen, he saw that Scott was already there, munching on an apple. He waved at Cyrus and was about to turn away when he seemed to notice something off about Cyrus.

“You okay? You’re looking paler than usual.”

Cyrus looked around. “Is Ms. Linda home?”

“No, she has a long meeting at her office tonight. She won’t get home until pretty late.” Scott raised an eyebrow. “So, what happened?”

“Julian just called me with some bad news. Apparently, the destinies of some of the students have changed.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, but Julian sounded really worried on the phone. I think something really bad is about to happen.”

Scott considered this. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to prepare for the worst,” Cyrus told him. He pulled the master key from his pocket and handed it to Scott. “Call all the others tonight and get the weapons ready. Tonight may be the night that we have to go in.”

His best friend looked at him with a bit of fear in his eyes, but it faded quickly enough. He put on his best look of resolve and said, “I’ll tell them. We’ll be ready to move if you need us to.”

“Thank you, Scott. I’ll let you know as soon as Julian gives me the information. I’ll be heading to his work to meet him at seven tonight.”

Scott nodded and quickly finished his apple. Then, he proceeded to make the phone calls to the others and started arranging meeting times. Cyrus gratefully left him to it, feeling a bit frazzled in his worry.

Soon enough, Cyrus was leaving the house to go to Julian’s work. He walked as quickly as he could, not wanting to waste any time. The wiry young man saw Julian waiting just outside his workplace and he waved at his friend, who was nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Good you’re here,” Julian said as he started walking into the building. “We don’t have time to lose. Come on.”

“What’s going on, Julian?”

“I’ll show you once we’re inside. Just hurry up!”

Julian went to the front door and typed in the numeric password to unlock it. When the lock clicked open, the pair of boys went inside the darkened building. Julian ushered them both upstairs and they came upon a room full of giant keyboards. Cyrus couldn’t even guess what half of the stuff was for as he followed Julian to a large rectangular panel at the end of the room. Julian placed his identification card inside one of the slots and the machine turned on. A large holographic blue screen suddenly whirred to life above the control panel and keyboard. Julian typed something into the system and it started working. The screen split itself into four sections, each trained on a different building.

“What am I looking at?” Cyrus questioned. Then one of the hallways caught his eyes and he snapped his fingers in recognition. “Hey, that’s my old dorm room!”

“Yes, all four of these locations are where students are being held. Two are all-female dorms and two are all-male dorms. There’re been some trouble in these four buildings recently. There’s quite a few rebellious students continuing to cause trouble for the perfect world.”

Julian stopped talking as the black armored guards appeared and opened one of the doors. Cyrus started as he realized that these guards were on his old floor. He even recognized his corner room off in the distance. Suddenly, he realized whose door this was, even before the tall, blond-haired boy had been dragged out.

“Will,” Cyrus whispered as he saw him being carried out between two guards. Will was clearly fighting them, wrenching his arms and trying to get free to no avail. He saw that the husky boy who had often sided with him and Scott when they had acted out was also being escorted by guards.

Cyrus’s green eyes moved from section to section and saw that similar scenes were playing out in the other dorms. He saw plenty of young men and women being taken out of their rooms against their wills, forced into lines and marched down the stairs. The camera continued to switch to different floors and areas, showing more and more terrified residents. Then, on the bottom right screen, he saw a familiar flash of red.

Cyrus started as he saw her. There was Melody being carried in between two guards, struggling and shouting. Behind her were some other girls, who were crying and screaming.

“What’s happening?” Cyrus demanded from Julian. “What’s going on?”

“They must have decided to do an early elimination run.” Julian grimaced. “A big one, by the looks of it.”

Cyrus watched in horror as Melody was dragged down the stairs, being shoved around by the hands of the dark armored soldiers. All of the girls were taken to a basement room and shoved inside. Then, the door was locked behind them. While the other girls huddled on the floor in terror, Melody got up and pounded against the door, screaming to be let out. After a few moments of this, Melody placed her back against the door and slid down it. She closed her bright blue eyes and she whispered one word: