The Perfect World (The Perfect World Series Book 1) (37 page)

When Cyrus arrived at his house, he ran into Scott on his way to his room. His best friend was playing a computer game out in the living room. As Cyrus walked in, Scott turned around and asked, “So, how was the pizza?”

“It was good. It always is at that place.”

“What did you guys talk about?” Scott inquired in a voice that said he suspected something had happened.

“This.” Cyrus grabbed the laptop from Scott’s lap and opened an internet browser. He quickly opened the text from Julian, pulled up the petition and asked, “Could you sign this?”

“Sign what?” Scott replied as he stared at the screen. He read the petition quickly enough and then turned back to Cyrus with a puzzled expression on his face. “Why did you make this?”

Cyrus glanced back and forth and asked, “Where’s Mom?”

“Oh, she went to bed a while ago. You don’t have to worry about her.”

“Promise you won’t tell her what I’m about to tell you.”

Scott looked uncomfortable. “As long as it’s not something life-threatening, then I promise.”

Cyrus laughed. “It’s nothing like that.” His laughter faded as he sat down on the couch. “It’s about Melody. I asked Julian to take some of the secure files from the perfect world off of the computers at his workplace.”

Scott’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair. His eyes widened so much that if it wasn’t for the situation, it might have been comical. “Wait, you asked Julian to do that and he
did
? Do you know how much trouble he could have gotten into for that?”

“I do.” Cyrus sounded as guilty as he felt. “I don’t think I can ever repay him.”

Scott snorted. “You wouldn’t have been able to if he got caught. Anyway, what about Melody?”

“I looked at the sheets listing everyone’s destinies. Julian ran a search and found her name.” Cyrus’s green eyes met Scott’s dark ones and there was a plea in his voice. “They are going to kill her, Scott.”

Scott looked down at his lap. “I was afraid of that.” His shorter friend pointed to the screen. “Is that why you’re doing this?”

Cyrus nodded. “Yes, but that’s not all.”

“There’s more?” Scott sounded worried.

“A lot more.” In spite of himself, Cyrus grinned at his friend’s obvious apprehension. “Julian and I talked it over. If this petition doesn’t work, and Julian doesn’t think it will, then we’re going to form our own raiding party.”

Cyrus waited for that to sink in as Scott wavered between looking horrified and looking shocked. His jaw fell open as he stared. Finally, he gave Cyrus a look that told him his friend thought he was crazy and said, “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“But—” Scott stammered, trying to talk too quickly. “You could get killed! The trained raids were extremely dangerous as it was and the last one ended in disaster. How do you expect a bunch of untrained kids to do any better? It’s crazy!”

“Crazier than sitting here and doing nothing about the perfect world?” Cyrus countered. “Crazier than just letting them win and kill innocent people without firing a shot?”

To his relief, Scott seemed to have no retort for that. He stared back down at the computer and shook his head. “I want to do something too, Cyrus, but what can we do against the perfect world?”

“Anything is better than nothing,” Cyrus answered firmly. “Sitting around and waiting to be attacked isn’t a plan. It’s just plain old surrender.”

Scott looked up at his words. His mouth opened as if to argue, then closed without a retort. Cyrus noticed that some of the fiery intensity returned to his friend’s eyes. Scott turned back to the computer, his decision made. “So, where do I sign?”

Cyrus was pleased as he pointed to the correct place on the screen. Scott quickly inputted his name, and Cyrus asked, “So, are you with me?”

“You have a short memory span, don’t you?” Scott teased as he looked over the petition. “I told you before that I’d help you no matter what. I meant it then, and I mean it now. I’ll follow you wherever the path leads to, except if what you plan is completely crazy.” Scott gave him a look.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to rush into this without a solid preparation,” Cyrus reassured him. “I want to save Melody, more than anything, but I’m not going to risk my life or anyone else’s on a suicide mission that won’t work. That won’t get Melody back for me after all, and it won’t do anything against the perfect world.”

“Then, I’m with you one hundred percent.”

“Thanks, Scott.”

Cyrus and Scott talked a bit more about his plans, much as he and Julian had. After an hour or so of steady conversation, Cyrus grew tired and went to his bed to sleep. The next morning, Cyrus went to physical training as per usual and looked for Xavier. The tan young man walked onto the field about ten minutes after him, yawning noisily.

“Morning, Cy,” he said as he rubbed his eyes. “Not going to go so far as to call it ‘good’ though. It’s cold out here.”

“It is a bit cold,” Cyrus agreed, although he knew Xavier got cold much faster than he did. “Hey, can I talk to you about something?”

Xavier looked interested. “Sure, shoot.”

“I was wondering if you could do me a big favor. I want you to sign a petition that I’m trying to get put into the local government.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a petition to get the raids started again on the perfect world.”

Xavier whistled. “That’s quite the petition. Why did you start that?”

“I started it to try to help someone I know within the perfect world.”

“Someone important to you?”

“Very.” Cyrus put his hands in his pockets nervously. “Will you sign it?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” Cyrus said as he went on to the real question on his mind. “Listen, I need to ask a really big favor of you. I know that you know a lot of people, and I need at least two-thirds of the dome to sign this petition to even get it looked at. Do you think you could help spread the word about it?”

“Spread the word about what?”

Both of them turned to see Priscilla standing beside them, stretching her arms. She was looking between the two of them, wondering what they were talking so intently about.

“Cyrus wants me to sign a petition to get the raids going again in the perfect world,” Xavier explained quickly. “He’s doing it to help someone he cares about who’s still stuck there.”

Cyrus saw Priscilla’s face fall a little at the statement. He briefly wondered if Xavier had chosen his words on purpose, but decided not to think about it too much. She would have found out eventually anyway, at least that’s what he told himself.

“Oh,” was all Priscilla said at first. Then, she smiled and told him, “Well, I’ll sign it too if you want.”

“You will?”

“Of course. You know how I feel about the raids. I want them to start up again as much as you do. Also, I want to help you.” Priscilla’s eyes shone at the words.

“I appreciate it,” Cyrus said neutrally, though again, he wondered if she had chosen her words on purpose to tick off Xavier.

“And I’ll make sure to tell all my friends about it,” Xavier spoke sincerely. “It’s important to me as well. I don’t think they’re doing enough to help the people stuck in the perfect world. My father and mother have both participated in raids, you know.”

“They did?”

“Yes, they both did so as part of their military service. If you want someone to support the raids, you’ve come to the right person.”

“Perfect. Thank you.” Cyrus wondered briefly if he could ever pay back his friends for their kindness. He was also surprised at how many of them were somehow connected to the raids.

“Don’t worry about it,” Xavier said with a thumbs up.

“Hey, Priscilla.” Cyrus addressed her next.

“Yes?” She seemed to be anticipating something.

“Remember what we talked about? About doing something about the perfect world?”

“Of course.”

“Well, if this petition doesn’t work, then it may be time to do something a bit more drastic,” he explained in a lowered voice. “If  I do, are you still with me?”

“Until the end.” Priscilla spoke without a speck of doubt.

“Me too,” Xavier piped in. “I’ll join you too, whatever it is your planning.

Cyrus’s heart warmed at the sentiment.”Thanks to you both. I wish there was more I could say.”

Priscilla just laughed. “Thank you is sufficient, but maybe you should wait until we’ve actually done something. Words are cheap, after all.”

“Would you go back on them?” Cyrus questioned.

“No, but I would take things with a little grain of salt. Also, I wouldn’t show so much gratitude when nothing has been done to earn it.”

Cyrus shrugged. “That’s how I feel, and I won’t lie about it, even if it is naïve.”

“That’s Cyrus for you. Honest to the core,” Xavier replied.

Priscilla nodded her agreement. “I hope that never changes.”

“Me too,” Cyrus admitted, and the pair laughed at that.

A whistle blew and drew their attention to the start of physical training. Cyrus saw Julian running towards the lines, huffing and puffing in an effort not to be late. He ended up standing next to Cyrus, and he gave the other boy a friendly wave as physical training began.

They practiced running and exercises as normal. When they finally got to have their short water break, Cyrus came over to Julian and asked, “Hey, how are you?”

“Could be better,” Julian responded, looking tired. “I really don’t like being almost late, especially since being late means even more running.”

“Why were you running late this morning?”

“Actually, it was because of what we started talking about yesterday. I was talking to my mom about the petition this morning. She got pretty excited about it. She likes it when young people get involved in this sort of stuff.”

“You didn’t tell her about the files, did you?” Cyrus couldn’t help but ask.

Julian looked at him as if he were insane. “No, no way! I would never do that. She’s all for young people getting involved in politics, but stealing files isn’t something she would support. Anyway, that’s why I was almost late.”

“So, it’s kind of my fault, huh?” Cyrus rubbed the back of his head.

“Yeah,” the word slipped out of Julian’s mouth unintended and he quickly blushed and tried to backpedal. “I mean, no.” Cyrus gave him a look, and he gave in. “Can I go with kind of?” 

Cyrus grinned mischievously at the attempt. “It’s okay, Julian. I’m just giving you a hard time. All the same though, thanks for getting your mom involved.”

“As I said before, no worries. She likes this kind of stuff, anyway. My mom will be happy to help you.”

“I wish there was some way I could repay her.”

“Well, my mom mentioned that she wanted to meet you,” Julian admitted with a grin. “That could be your thank you, if you want.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“And easy,” Julian added.

“That too.”

“Did you talk to Xavier about it?”

“Yes, and he said he’s willing to help us. Priscilla too.”

“Great!” Julian sounded enthusiastic. “Between him and my mother, we should have all the signatures we need in no time flat.”

The whistle rang across the grounds again, and soon they were back in their lines for physical training. The rest of the week passed quickly as Cyrus watched his petition gather more and more signatures. He was happily looking at it from his electronic notebook  when Ms. Linda snuck up on him.

“What’s this I hear about you starting some petition?” she asked him abruptly, causing him to jump.

“How did you hear about that?”

“Some people at my work were talking about it. Said that Mrs. Inez asked them to sign it and that you and her son started it.”

“You mean Julian?”

“Who else?” Ms. Linda answered him shortly. “How come you didn’t tell me about this, Cyrus?”

Cyrus glanced back at the computer, feeling guilty. Truthfully, he had wanted to tell his mother about the petition, but he was afraid that she might find out more of his intentions. He knew she’d be okay with the petition, but it didn’t take a genius to know she might not be okay with him forming his own raiding party. Swallowing nervously, he knew he had to choose his words carefully.

“It’s just that I was afraid of your reaction.” Cyrus tried to keep his voice neutral as he came up with what he thought was a plausible explanation. “When I first heard about destiny and what it meant for the people of the perfect world, it really upset me. I wanted to do something so badly, yet I was told there was nothing I could do.”

Cyrus’s voice got quieter as he continued. “It seems like the very mention of the perfect world and the concept of destiny makes people from the domes nervous. My friends don’t seem as affected by it, but for others, I feel like they’d rather pretend it just didn’t exist. Maybe it’s because I’m from that place, and I know how terrible it is to live there. How awful it is not to have any choices and how much I wanted to escape. I don’t know how many people living in this dome understand how I feel because the perfect world is nothing but a story for them. They want life to continue for them as it always has, and my wanting to take action makes them uncomfortable.”