“Okay, good luck, Crystal!”
“Thanks!” Crystal spun around and hurried out the front doors with a quick wave.
“About time,” muttered Garrett, as Opal started walking towards the door, Garrett kept pace with her. “So, Opal, do you have time to talk now?”
“Not about The Council. I’m volunteering at the Undecided shelter like I do every Fourth Moon.”
This time, Garrett rolled his eyes. “Come on, Opal, you’ve done that for what…three years now? Can’t you skip this Fourth Moon just once?”
Opal pushed open the outside door. “No, Garrett, I really can’t. To be honest, I can’t believe you’re even asking me to do that. You know how much I love it. They’re the reason I wanted to become a lawyer in the first place. If I blow them off just because you want to conspire against The Council, it gives the impression that I don’t care about them as much as I do. It wouldn’t be right.”
Garrett groaned in annoyance. He loved and respected Opal for her kindness, but sometimes he wished she’d be a little more selfish and take time to do other things.
“Don’t groan about it. Take the time to decide which careers you’re going to revisit tomorrow. I know you weren’t working on your Life Plan today, so maybe you can gain some insight into what you might want to do by revisiting some of the occupational tour locations. If the pre-approval for my Life Plan is released today, I can probably obtain permission to go with you on the occupational shadows tomorrow.”
Before Garrett had a chance to groan about this new idea, a wide grin began to grow across his lips as another idea popped into his head. He knew how he could uncover more information about The Council.
Chapter 5
The transporter slid to a gentle stop at the last station on the line. Opal waited patiently for the doors to open, then exited onto the uniform white mosaic-tiled ground. Most of the other passengers took a left, toward the residential area, but she took a right.
The transporter line ended about half a mile from the Undecided sector of the city, which meant Opal would have to walk the rest of the way, but she didn’t mind. She loved walking. It helped to clear her mind.
Walking alone on the ever-narrowing path from the transport station, her mind began to wander back to when she’d first done this three years ago by accident. She’d been reading a book about the different climates of the provinces for a research project at academy when she realized that she’d missed her stop. Figuring that the transporter would simply loop around and she’d have another chance to exit at her stop, she’d stayed on board. To her surprise, it had stopped at a station where everyone remaining on the train disembarked. Confused, she sat in silence until a voice on the intercom admonished her for not getting off.
Disoriented, she had taken a right from the station instead of a left like everyone else had. The other passengers had long gone, and she couldn’t tell which way they’d gone. Confused, she’d kept walking until her internal compass told her she was going in the wrong direction, but a magnetic pull forced her ahead. Before long, she stumbled upon the Undecided sector of the city.
In her thirteen years, she had met few Undecideds, but knew they lived in a different area than she did. Unlike her part of the city where most people lived in single-family homes, the Undecided sector was dominated by apartment complexes, townhouses, and duplexes. The white mosaic ground had transitioned to a hard-gray brick style that she’d never seen before. The streetlamps shone less bright and flickered from time to time. The faces of the people were more haggard than she’d ever seen. Fear had crept up inside her forcing her to quicken her pace further into the suburb in search of a transporter that could return her to her side of the city.
“Hello there, sweetie. Are you lost?” asked an old granny who’d had a kind smile and yellow teeth.
“Yes, I am. Can you help me find a transporter that will take me close to Macon Street?”
“There are no transporters from this side of town to that one, my dear. In fact, the nearest transporter is back in the direction from which you came.”
Opal recalled tears coming to her eyes when she’d realized just how lost she was. But now, in the present time, as the familiar apartment complexes of the Undecided sector came into view, she simply smiled. To think that she’d ever been afraid of this place seemed silly now.
A ball rolled to her feet and she bent down to pick it up.
A boy came running in her direction, beaming when he recognized her. “Hi, Opal!”
“Hi, Danny, how have you been?” Opal gave him the ball back and ruffled his short brown hair.
“I’ve been good. I couldn’t wait until you came back this week. All the other kids and I have prepared something special for you since it’ll be your last day with us before you start living your Life Plan.”
Opal’s eyes widened. “A surprise?”
“Oh yes, we’ve been working on this for a long time now. Ever since you left last week to be exact.” The boy did his best to tuck the ball nearly twice the size of his head under his arm and grabbed Opal’s hand, leading her towards the nearest building. “Come inside and we’ll show you!”
“All right.” Opal allowed Danny to lead her to the imposing three-story brick structure that lay to the righthand side of the street. Three short steps led from the ground to the short walkway before the front door which was propped wide open. The spotless windows appeared like eyes into
